I have a large playlist, about 1800 songs. I put it on shuffle and I always get the same songs/artists, with some variations here and there. Not quite randomised. What can I do?
There's a random option. Random and shuffle are two different things, however if you hold down Shift while clicking on the Playback menu, you'll find a Reshuffle menu item. It can also be added to the GUI as a button.
Hi there,
Yes, Shuffle order stays the same unless you manually use the
'Reshuffle' option - see the FAQ (http://www.foobar2000.org/FAQ#random_shuffle_playback_order).
For me the trouble is that it
'Reshuffles' the track order on every restart. So if you restart foobar often, you might end up hearing a track you heard yesterday, even with big playlists.
I figure there are two ways around that -
1) Randomize the entire playlist with
Edit > Sort > Randomize and set
Playback > Order to 'Default'. Much the same as the internal shuffle, except you can see the track order, and pick-up where you left off with no repeats after restarts.
2) Keep order on
'Shuffle (tracks)' and use Skip Tracks (https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_skip) to auto-skip recently played tracks, with the help of Playback Statistics (https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_playcount) field %last_played%. So use a skip query like this -
%last_played% DURING LAST 5 DAYS
(Adjusted for how long it takes you to get through the playlist)
Basically either of these methods, would play through the entire playlist without repeating a song across restarts. (Not necessarily what you were asking, I know)
On the other hand, it would do exactly that normally if you are leaving foobar open for the duration. In which case, you can only
'Reshuffle' / 'Randomize'. There is a
Preferences > Advanced option to
'Reshuffle on manual track selection' (double-click) which you could try, but that would not stop recently played repeats (and might even increase the chances)
Cheers
Hi there,
Yes, Shuffle order stays the same unless you manually use the 'Reshuffle' option - see the FAQ (http://www.foobar2000.org/FAQ#random_shuffle_playback_order).
For me the trouble is that it 'Reshuffles' the track order on every restart. So if you restart foobar often, you might end up hearing a track you heard yesterday, even with big playlists.
I have one huge playlist, which is maybe why I've never noticed, but what's the logic behind reshuffling each time fb2k starts?
Another option could be to remove a track from a playlist once it's been played, so even if fb2k does reshuffle, you shouldn't hear a repeated song until the playlist is empty. I'm pretty sure Playlist Attributes can be configured to do that for individual playlists, or for any playlist.
Thanks anamorphic, I'll try the randomise option and if that doesn't work, the other methods you mentioned.