Third Coast Software

So, I’ve long suspected iTunes of being not truly random when put into any kind of shuffle especially Party Shuffle mode. This morning, though, something happened that I can’t believe.

To preface this, here’s a screen shot of the details of my iTunes library:

So, you can see with almost 30,000 songs and 87 days worth of music that chances of two even remotely related songs coming up next to each other should be relatively slim.

But, check this out shot from my iTunes Party Shuffle window:

The same song played twice in a row! Now granted, it’s a great song that should be played multiple times, but still. I guess the odds of the same song playing twice are about 1 in 29,029 (the same as any specific song playing right after the first Karen), but still very surprising.

In iTunes preferences under the Playback tab, there is an option for “Smart Shuffling” that supposedly reduces the chances of songs from the same artist or from the same album being played sequentially. I have that setting all the way to “less likely” but not only did we get the same album and the same artist, but the same song too.

The fact that I’ve just written this much about the occasion probably means that I spend a little too much time obsessing about my music collection (or maybe that I Party Shuffle a little too often).

Music, Tech

Please click on the link above and visit Save Net Radio.

Internet radio is an amazing thing and should be allowed and encouraged to flourish, not mercilessly singled out to be destroyed.

Even better let your congressperson know!

Just in case you need to be convinced the Internet radio is about the only interesting thing happening in radio now, check out these two just to get a start:

• SomaFM
• 3wk
• Radio Paradise
• Monkey Radio

Music

A quick look at our last.fm profile shows you just how much we love The National. They are #1 on our list and the last time that I checked by quite a large margin. That is even despite the fact that they and Jeff Tweedy have the dubious distinction of being the only two acts to turn down GRIT’s interview requests when passing through Grand Rapids.

Nonetheless, today’s Audiofile song of the day is from their new CD. The song is called Fake Empire and it is amazing. It definintely doesn’t look like the new songs will do anything to change their position on our chart. It’s going to be tough waiting until May 22 when the new CD will be released.

Music