Random thoughts while drinking

[TonySmith]

I have a cheap outdoor stereo, am/fm cassette and cd. I made 5 cds, put them in and chose random play. Well it’s not random, some songs play more than once and some don’t play at all. Maybe the algorithm that makes the decision is defective, I don’t’ know the reason,
My question is does anyone else have a random play system and noticed it’s not randomizing correctly

[Bill86]

It's hard to say, I use Windows 7 Media Center and I think it does a pretty decent job. If it is indeed bias it plays a lot of Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Soul Asylum, Journey and Ben Folds. I ain't complaining one damn bit. It's plays through Polk Audio speakers so if I want the neighbors can hear it down the street. Or I can just hear it outside while I smoke and drink myself retarded.

I strongly recommend it.

By the way

[TonySmith]

Originally Posted by Bill86

I ain't complaining one damn bit. It's plays through Polk Audio speakers so if I want the neighbors can hear it down the street. Or I can just hear it outside while I smoke and drink myself retarded.

I strongly recommend it.

By the way

Amen, tgif

[jmsremax]

It's a shame we aren't neighbors Bill....for all the reasons you just mentioned and throw in your knowledge of beer....lucky neighbors

[Stick]

I remember a story on npr on this a while back, their math guy explained it. If it's truly random you could even get the same song twice in a row.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=89408926

[markem]

It is entirely possible that, for your system, random play does not equate to creating a random play list of all the songs. Some systems pick a new, random song at the end of the currently playing song. If that is the case, then under a random system, never being picked is entirely possible.

For my iPod, I tend to create random play lists and then play those sequentially as I get better results (for me) than random play off the computer or other media.

[Bill86]

Originally Posted by jmsremax

It's a shame we aren't neighbors Bill....for all the reasons you just mentioned and throw in your knowledge of beer....lucky neighbors

That's what I say! They don't drink beer, most of them....or at least not the beer I drink. There was a few.... we use to smoke CC's and drink beers, good times. Shame the good ones always move. But the ones that moved still got in while I had the cases of Three Floyds, so they got lucky. Woodford Reserve and Dreadnaughts all around.

[TonySmith]

You are probably right Mark, which was my question. Random isn't really random

[Salvelinus]

We are wired to detect patterns which is what you are doing. If you played your songs hundreds of thousands of times the plays would eventually even out. Just because you flip a coin ten times and it comes up heads 8 of them doesn't mean it isn't a 50/50 chance. Similarly just because you've heard a song a few more times than you think you should doesn't mean it isn't random. If your sample of songs is small, which 5 cd's is, you will probably regularly hear songs back to back.

[Wolfgang]

I think its the aliens messing with your flux capacitor Tony. GET THE TIN FOIL!

[Kreth]

Time for an upgrade. Higher-end systems have better randomization.
Posted via Mobile Device

[TonySmith]

Originally Posted by Kreth

Time for an upgrade. Higher-end systems have better randomization.
Posted via Mobile Device

If that's true I'm all for it.

[markem]

Originally Posted by TonySmith

You are probably right Mark, which was my question. Random isn't really random

Well, no, random is random. Each time a song is selected to play, all the songs available have an equal chance of being selected. That includes the one that just finished as well (the choice of the next song is independent of the list of songs previously played). For a very small sample size, maybe like less than a million songs selected and played, there may be a bias towards or against certain songs (which equate to a number in a list, so to speak). However, over time, one will find that, with a good random number generator (that's key) the number of times that each song has been played approaches the same number.

The coin flipping problem is a very simple case but on point. For a balanced coin (that's key, again), the odds are exactly even that the flip will result in heads or tails. That it comes up heads 10 times in a row doesn't mean that there is a greater or lesser chance of tails on the next flip (think of that as "independence" between coin flips). Similarly, that a song isn't picked in a specific window of listening doesn't mean that it isn't equally likely as any other song to be played next.

I've had a fair bit of tequila, so I'm going to stop here.

okay, maybe not stopped. Swing by random.org and have some fun with randomness. Their algorithms are quite good in my experience.

[awsmith4]

I like beer

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by markem

The coin flipping problem is a very simple case but on point. For a balanced coin (that's key, again), the odds are exactly even that the flip will result in heads or tails. That it comes up heads 10 times in a row doesn't mean that there is a greater or lesser chance of tails on the next flip (think of that as "independence" between coin flips). Similarly, that a song isn't picked in a specific window of listening doesn't mean that it isn't equally likely as any other song to be played next.

Yahtzee.

TonySmith, you're thinking of randomization with ascending odds for the unpicked songs. What the system is doing is not reducing the pool of songs to be picked from. Still random, just different odds.

If the songs played in order of their tracks, and cycled through the CD's in order, that would not be random.

[awsmith4]

Good music, good beer, randomize = Robert Johnson+Widespread Panic = Robert Randolph

[SvilleKid]

I have a Sony 10 disc change from at least ten years ago. In shuffle (random) mode, it checks off each song, on each disc as it plays , so it never plays the same song twice until all have played thru the first time. Only problem is, if you turn it off (verses just pausing), it starts all over again with all songs on all discs.

[markem]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

TonySmith, you're thinking of randomization with ascending odds for the unpicked songs. What the system is doing is not reducing the pool of songs to be picked from. Still random, just different odds.

When I make my song lists for my iPod, the random selection scheme looks like a drawing from a hat (where once a song is selected, it isn't put back in to the hat). I think that this is what many would like for their "random" selection - put all the songs in a random order without repeats until all are played.