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Use iTunes4 smart playlist options for better randomization
Authored by: simX on May 14, '03 02:40:58PM

I don't understand what robg's problem with this hint is. You simply create a new smart playlist, and then add a condition to say "Last Played is not in the last 30 days" or whatever time period you want to define as not recently played. Then simply select Limit to 25 songs selected by random (or however many songs you want to view), and check live updating.

Now it will give you a list of random songs that haven't been played in the period you said. Even if you've recently ripped a CD, it doesn't always take it from that CD, since it's choosing at random.

So what's the problem?



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Use iTunes4 smart playlist options for better randomization
Authored by: h2o on May 14, '03 05:27:37PM

Good idea. Some notes/ideas:

1. No need to use the "kind" match, as suggested by others.
2. Limit to XXX songs selected by LEAST RECENTLY PLAYED.
3. Click the Shuffle button for that playlist (at the bottom).

*. If you only select 25 songs, it will likely fill with stuff that has never been played all the way through (as robg reports). Fix this by, for a time, bumping the song count up to a 100 or more. This will improve the randomness across around 10 CDs or so.

*. As songs get played, the randomness will increase over time as the mixes are mixed and mixed in turn.

*. CAVEAT: I chose 250 at one point, and the Shuffle-play becomes not-so-random (sequential, in fact). 100 seemed sufficient to preserve randomness. This may be due to the lag between iTunes4 reconstructing the LIVE playlist and the shuffle-selector code not getting a sufficiently fresh seed...dunno.

*. Using the "Match by LAST PLAYED NOT IN the last 30 days" and turning back on "Last XXX songs selected by RANDOM" would work fine, too, initially, to mix up the last-played timestamps. This will not work, however, to insure that your entire library is played-through before starting over. Neither does method #1 (entirely), but it comes close. The smaller the XXX, the more likely it will churn through them all, but at the expense of variety.



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