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Hi all,

I've got quite a few albums on my classic (upwards of 100 albums at present), but when I set it to shuffle tracks, I regularly get maybe 3 or 4 tracks from the same album within a few tracks of each other.

Anyone else noticed this, or is my ipod just not good at maths?

Hi FBSF. Yip know what you mean same here but not as frequent as you are having.  Did read somewhere either on this site or somewhere else, that others where havng the same problem, apparently it might be the software but, like you I would love someone in the know to give me, or find out why it happens. 

do you know if there is a way to shuffle a playlist, rather than the whole collection - I can do this on itunes using Salling Clicker remote software, but would love to be able to do it on the classic...

Do you regularly stop and start when listening? Just wondering if the tracks last played list is coming into play. I know with iTunes, you can select it to play tracks which have been played more often (thus insinuating you like those tracks more), so that these tracks are played more often when on random. Thus, if you only listen for 15-30 minutes, you'll only hear a certain number of tracks. When you play again, it's more likely to choose those tracks as they'll all have been played once as opposed to none. On the third hearing, a few of those tracks may been played twice, compared to none of the others so more likely to be chosen again etc. etc.

As I say, I'm pretty sure there is a way of controlling this in iTunes, no idea if it's the same on the iPod... Just a theory!

Sorry can't help,  just one of life's little annoyances we have t accept. 

I thought you could set 'shuffle' on in settings (as opposed to the 'Shuffle Songs' menu option), so that songs are always shuffling wherever you are?

I will check with my Nano.

Yup - Menu/Settings/Shuffle - then you can set 'songs' - and will shuffle in playlists - you get a little shuffle icon top right (on the nano anyway)

And there are settings in iTunes to favour higher rated songs - maybe that's what's skewing your shuffling (so to speak)?

Will give both of these a try - as my old Nan used to say, you're never too old to learn, if you're not too proud to be taught! Cheers JD...

Nope - no good!

On the classic's settings menu, I can choose to either shuffle all tracks in library, shuffle albums in playlist, or no shuffle.

Maybe if I shuffle things manually in the playlist (i.e. mix up the running order so that there is no two tracks from the same album next to each other) then the album shuffle will work better.

Watch this space...

This is odd, maybe the Classic has a different OS from the Nano - will investigate.

From the manual:

Setting iPod classic to Shuffle Songs

You can set iPod classic to play songs, albums, or your entire library in random order.
To set iPod classic to shuffle and play all your songs:

- Choose Shuffle Songs from the iPod classic main menu:
iPod classic begins playing songs from your entire music library in random order,
skipping audiobooks and podcasts.

To set iPod classic to always shuffle songs or albums:

1 Choose Settings from the iPod classic main menu.
2 Set Shuffle to either Songs or Albums.

When you set iPod classic to shuffle songs by choosing Settings > Shuffle, iPod classic
shuffles songs within the list (for example, album or playlist) you choose to play.

When you set iPod classic to shuffle albums, it plays all the songs on an album in order,
and then randomly selects another album in the list and plays through it in order.

To set shuffle options from the Now Playing screen:

- Press the Center button until you see the shuffle icon. Choose Songs, Albums, or Off.

I'll give that a go sir, will report back after my visit to Morrison's hot food counter (s0d the diet, I need lard...)

Well, I must remember to blindly follow the instructions on screen, even if they look wrong.

That did the trick (both the tip and the lunch!) - the playlist does indede shuffle correctly. I must stop trying to make things more complicated than they actually are...

Oh, and what address should I send the hobnobs to John?

JohnDuncan:

No probs FB - and no, that one you can have for free, the next one'll cost ye, as my dad would say.