how has the shuffle function changed your life?

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(surely this has been discussed before, but i didn't find it)
(stop calling me shirley)

how has shuffle, particularly on yr hard drive or ipod, changed your music listening habits? how often do you listen to albums straight through? etc.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I never listen to albums straight through on the first listen. The first listen is always on shuffle with the proviso that the single/song that made me want to buy the album is first in the shuffled list.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

The shuffle beat has affected my life more than the function.

― ___ (___), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't like shuffle at all, the only place I use it is on my dell dj, which has a feature where you can shuffle all the songs in a certain genre (I'm sure ipod has it too, I just don't have an ipod). Even then, I get pretty peeved at the algorithm, it never seems to work in a truly random way.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

its certainly opened up new possiblilties. sometimes i use it. often i just want to hear the album as is. as often i want to hear a whole shitload of stuff on random. i'll rarely fuck with an album like ed tho'

(ed i can't access gmail from home so apologies for no further response if indeed asked of me)

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

None required, Gaz.. saw you mention the access dilemma elsewhere.

It's not really about fucking with an album, it's more that I like to hear the reassuring song first and then be surprised. After the first listen they go from track 1 with one or two crap ones programmed out.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

surprise is a wonderful thing

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Funnily enough, I was thinking of starting a simillarly themed thread just about ten minutes before spotting this one. If anything, the nagging fact that my iPod currently holds 7,500 songs makes it virtually impossible to enjoy whatever song happens to be playing on it at the time. "Think of all the other things I could be listening to!", etc. It's also shortened my attention span...resulting in my forwarding to the next random selection before the current selection has reached completion.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 18 June 2004 20:46 (twenty-two years ago)

when you have a full ipod, it's damn hard to choose what you want to listen to. with shuffle sometimes you'll hear a song you've never even HEARD before.

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 18 June 2004 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I tend to skip around too, but I find that if I use random in a really disciplined, it actually increases my attention span. One of my favorite things in the world right now is just to put the iPod on random and go for a walk, and force myself not to skip songs. It makes me listen to songs I just otherwise would always skip because they are not in any playlists, or maybe are on part of an album I never get to.

It lets me discover songs I didn't really hear much of before, as well as hearing things in songs I would simply have never heard (because, like you, I would just skip ahead). Truly, a wonderful thing.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Friday, 18 June 2004 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Sequencing is important. I hate shuffle and have never used it (except for that "play songs off yer hard drive thread").

― Mil, Friday, 18 June 2004 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex is painfully otm.
With the shuffle function, I feel as though I'm processing my music quicker. With five CD's in the carousel on random play, there's always something different coming on, and the variety makes the time fly faster than if I listened to one artist at a time. Plus, I feel less of a need to hear entire albums because after a couple of hours I've gotten my fix of each artist.

I never really enjoyed playing albums multiple times in a row -- even with my upper echelon of faves, I seldom feel the need to hear them more than once a day. But with several albums in random play on the CD player or Winamp, I can swap in new material from time to time but not remove the faves from the playlist. Mixing the faves in among lots of other music helps keep things fresh.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 19 June 2004 00:44 (twenty-two years ago)

nine months pass...

Radwan Satellite - The Bedouin Lobby V
God in My Bed Z-Rock Hawaii
Head Cold Nurse with Wound
Boche's Dick Shellac
Clan In Da Front Wu-Tang Clan

― Dr. Eldon Tyrell (ex machina), Monday, 21 March 2005 03:45 (twenty-one years ago)

It forces me to take an occassional french lesson from the 8 Michel Thomas CD's I've got on there.

― bg, Monday, 21 March 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

So last night I was listening to "Girlfight" and right after it Minor Threat's "Bottled Violence" played...which I found amusingly appropriate. Oh, shuffle.

I have been told that because of the nature of algorithms nothing can ever be truly random. Hmm.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm still much more inclined to listen to albums straight through at home. The iPod is randomized, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I hardly ever randomize my iPod, but I love using party shuffle on a particular playlist. Right now I have it on a playlist of all my downloads from the past 2 weeks.

― Dr. Eldon Tyrell (ex machina), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i never ever use shuffle. well, that's a lie. i have probably used it 10 times the last decade. :-) i just don't like the idea of not knowing what's gonna play next. i want CONTROL. :-)

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I love how everything I am listening to now is like a combination of Sublime Frequencies, Anal Cunt, Keiji Haino, Cibo Matto, Mike Patton, Kylie Minogue and Steve Reich.... so fun. Playlist + random = win

― Dr. Eldon Tyrell (ex machina), Monday, 21 March 2005 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i own no ipod, and probably never will.

have used the shuffle function on my home CD player for years.

it's great, but there's nothing whatsofuckingever "new" about it.

― xhuxk, Monday, 21 March 2005 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

First getting a 250GB HD and then a 100GB portable mp3 player, and slowly but surely ripping ~2,000 albums has radically increased my enjoyment and appreciation of my collection. Shuffling helps me hear things that I might not have thought to seek out and play in months or years. Most days I'm in an "I love all good music" moods, and sometimes I want to hear a genre/period---I'm definitely less often in a "listen to lots of full albums straight through" mood since these devices came along. But all in all, the ability to carry with me the bulk of 12 years of personal musical history with me at all times has just been amazing.

― I.M. (I.M.), Monday, 21 March 2005 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I never use it, so I guess the answer is, zero.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 March 2005 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

My "shuffle function" consists of keeping my records in a permanent state of disorganization. Neither genre nor alphabet nor chronology can disturb the hazard of its hap. Strange records bubble up to the front pretty regularly, and I'm never sure how they get there.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 March 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Only time I ever use shuffle is when I'm excercising + I pick 3 or 4 upbeat albums/artists to shuffle between. Otherwise, pretty much never. I am a control freak, I guess.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 21 March 2005 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I get to hear those excellent tracks on Vision Creation Newsun a lot more often.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 21 March 2005 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex that is crazy. HAHAHAHA! It's like the kind of western attitude Tibetan buddhists used to parody in the 70's. My sister complained once that when she was hungry she couldn't enjoy her food because she'd eat the first serving fantasising about going to the kitchen and having herself a second serving.

― moley, Monday, 21 March 2005 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Because of shuffle (or actually, playlists created using random) there are some bands I like more now because I just couldn't listen to entire albums by them.

When mixed in with other stuff, Stereolab sounds awesome. Otherwise, albums get listened to once and then that's it. Just don't have the attention span to devote to them I suppose. Same with any Wu-Tang associated stuff.

― Viz (Viz), Thursday, 23 March 2006 00:05 (twenty years ago)

smart playlists for playcounts/genre/year + shuffle = "me" radio

― harshaw (jube), Thursday, 23 March 2006 00:30 (twenty years ago)

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