trevor ([info]entropyman) wrote,
@ 2006-07-13 21:20:00
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Current music:Sonic Youth - Fried Mushroom
Entry tags:random music

randomness
I really like itunes. I like its smart playlist functionality a lot. But today as I was listening to stuff on random playlists, I kept hearing songs I had just recently heard. So I got to looking around at how others were using their playlists and found some useful suggestions about creating play lists to limit songs to ones played more than a certain time ago or with a play count less than some number, but those really didn't do what I would like to do.

It would be really nice if you could tweak the random song algorithm to do something like "give every randomly chosen song the chance to be played, but decrease that chance as the play count goes up".

Anyone got any ideas?


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[info]grandiva1968
2006-07-14 02:49 am UTC (link)

That's math, it makes my head hurt.

I created a tiered system of interlocking playlists comparable to a radio station's songwheel. iTunes can do that well, actually, but it does take a little tweaking over time.

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[info]entropyman
2006-07-14 03:05 am UTC (link)
The interlocking playlists are a really useful thing, and the more I play with playlists, the more I like them.

The suggestions that are closest to what I want to do are to create playlists that limit by play count and the last play date. I'm just being lazy and picky in that I'd like to write a fairly generic playlist rule and not have to go back and update it regularly. And, you know, even if I have listened to "Oops, I did it again" 47 times in the last week, I'd still like the chance of it coming up on random play. :)

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[info]sheilagh
2006-07-14 05:44 am UTC (link)
wow! you have the oops song on your list?? hehehe!

Um, if you have sites that give hints on using iTunes like this, would you share? my luddite sister just got one, and I haven't had the $$ to get one, but she'll still be calling me for tech support, so I should prepare to help her...

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[info]entropyman
2006-07-14 05:56 pm UTC (link)
Googling itunes + "smart playlist" turned up a bunch when I was looking for input.

Here's a good one to get started.

http://www.playlistmag.com/help/2005/02/brillplaylist/

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[info]sheilagh
2006-07-14 06:29 pm UTC (link)
much obliged, thank you!

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[info]entropyman
2006-07-14 11:26 pm UTC (link)
OK, here's one with all the crazy playlists.

http://smartplaylists.com/index.php?id=C0_7_1

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[info]grandiva1968
2006-07-19 06:00 pm UTC (link)

even if I have listened to "Oops, I did it again" 47 times in the last week

*raised eyebrow*

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[info]entropyman
2006-07-19 06:13 pm UTC (link)
Everyone's got their embarrasing secrets, right?

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[info]grandiva1968
2006-07-19 06:17 pm UTC (link)

Too, too true.

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