A celebration
my ipod shuffle has just played 4 Monster Magnet songs in a row.

it must love me.

and no, it's not entirely full of Monster Magnet, it's filled at random from my music collection.

no, my music collection doesn't entirely consist of Monster Magnet
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 11:53, 8 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I hate it on foobar2000 (my mp3 player on my PC) that "random" or "shuffle" isn't very random at all....
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 11:58, Reply)

Apparently
The shuffle function in iTunes used to be entirely random (well, as random as computers can make it)

However your brain is programmed to look for patterns and coincidences; in a random sequence there's still a chance of four Monster Magnet songs coming up, but your brain will flag it up and you'll think 'that's not random!'

They apparently had to modify the code to make the Shuffle function LESS random, so it didn't play songs by the same artist in a row, which makes it appear MORE random to your brain. Weird eh? There's options in iTunes now to determine the 'level of randomness' or something.

I don't know which of the Shuffle algorithms your iPod will be using...
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 11:58, Reply)

Now you mention it, I remember hearing that
probability is something I understand pretty well too ;-)

unfortunately however, the fucking battery just ran out!
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 12:10, Reply)

not entirely on topic
but while listening to MP3 players on shuffle/random/whatever the fuck you wanna call it, does anybody else have this weird ability at being able to predict the next song (occasionally)?
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 12:14, Reply)

Again flesh
that's your brain fooling you. You will get it wrong more than right, but the times you got it right stick out, so it feels like you have the power of prediction.

This is why scientists entirely reject anecdotal evidence ;)
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 12:16, Reply)

that's what I thought
and I don't always attempt it.

Just this morning, I was listening to something, and thought, Free Bird would follow nicely onto this. What was next? Free Fucking Bird. 'Twas weird
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 12:21, Reply)

I-Pod randomness explained
online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115876952162469003-f2A_i_8fe2ztclVw3xm1LpGxMLA_20061020.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Enjoy!
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 13:35, Reply)

If it could buy you Monster Munch,
I think you'd be sorted.
(The Oscillating Gibbon is eating curried squid, Tue 23 Dec 2008, 14:01, Reply)