iPod iNgenius…

Posted: April 25, 2006 at 7:36 pm by John

So yes, I’ve become an iPod fanatic, because frankly it has added a new distraction to some of the duller parts of my life: commuting, flights, airports, expense reports. Well that, and that it has allowed me to dust off parts of my CD collection that I haven’t listened to in the Great State of California.

But let’s set the record straight: the iPod’s shuffle algorithm is NOT random. No way. I don’t care what Apple says. I have noticed that the same bands come up over and over…and I’m not sure this is a bad thing.

Being an inquisitive one, I did today’s equivalent of “in-depth research”; I did a Google search.

I didn’t find anything to substantiate my claim…although there are several pages dedicated to this topic, including lots of denials from Apple. Personally, I think that Apple should tout this “smart shuffle”. I think that it makes “random” more like how a DJ would program an iPod.

Let’s take my current shuffle session. I have 1153 songs today. About 30 of them are from Yes. I have heard 3 in the past hour. And honestly, every 5 songs since I have owned this iPod HAS TO BE from U2. (Tell me that Apple doesn’t favor U2.)

Anyhow, I think that the iPod is 1) clustering songs as it randomly selects artists, 2) favoring newly added items, and 3) repeating recently played items. This is smart programming, and I love it.

But, I can’t prove it and I’m rambling and you really came to this blog to see pictures. Tomorrow.

6 Comments for iPod iNgenius…

JamesF

Damn, your title just made me realize I should have created a blog called iThoughts.

BullBunky

Ooooo, very good.

Matthew J. Wilson

i’m not entirely sure about the favoring U2 part, although that would be bloody brilliant… however, it would make sense if, say, you had 10 songs. 4 of them are yes. so, you would hear yes 40% of the time…? no. i forget exactly how it works, but if yes, being 4 songs heavy, is the largest group that you have, it will disproportionately play them. i tried to work it out once… this isn’t correct, but a rough example: those 4 songs will take up 60% of the play time. then, each of those four songs has a similar percent based on its playcount.

i don’t know. they’re just weird.

in other news, i had senior pictures taken today… now, if i hear that you or uncle jeff do not like them, you are flat out crazy because i’m wearing my san francisco longsleeve in quite a few of them :).

bobgirrl

Perhaps the folks that designed the “shuffle” are the same who came up with blogger word verification which continually contains a Q!

-s

It wouldn’t surprise me. I use Winblows Media Player at work and have a 2400-song playlist and that hasn’t stopped me from hearing the same 20 songs every day. Argh.

BullBunky

Hmmmm, well, I think the theories (or conspiracies) are all possible and valid. But, like I said, I enjoy the well-timed repetition. I think it is pleasing. BUT, I just want an acklowledgement that we’re not all crazy 🙂 Hmmmm, but if WMP does the same thing, then maybe its just people finding patterns in chaos. I’ll ponder that for a while.