Mp3 players

[[JiF]ALargeWoodenBadger]

Arrrgh! I need a replacement for Windows Media Player! Something that understands the true meaning of the word “random.” A couple of years ago I set up a PC to act as a music source for my store. I ripped all of my CDs to Mp3 format and created a playlist of songs that are appropriate for our shop. The current daily playlist has 1207 titles (104 hours) on it and I use WMP 11 to play the selections in shuffle mode.

So why do I hear the same songs everyday? I’ve always found that WMP shuffle is anything but random but this is ridiculous. As a joke myself and the staff have started betting on the songs that would play in the next fifteen minutes based on the current selection. At first it was fun but I realized the accuracy of our predictions was way too high. Based on the current selection we can guess what songs will play in the next fifteen minutes with close to 30% accuracy. For instance if I hear Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind I know that sometime in the next three songs I will hear Carole King’s Will You Love Me Tomorrow. Why? I don’t know but I do know I won three bets in four weeks based on that exact combination. There are hundreds of other examples of this behavior and it makes no sense to me. It is consistent enough that my regular customers have begun to ask if I am simply playing a tape.

I noticed one other strange thing with WMP. On my playlist I have 12 Peter Gabriel tunes (or less then 1% on the total tracks), there are several artist who have similar representation in the list. Here’s the thing, if I hear one of the Peter Gabriel tracks I know I’ll hear every Peter Gabriel track within the next hour and a half. This is true of Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Robbie Robertson or Rufus Wainwright… once WMP plays a track of an artist with more then ten titles in the playlist it will return to that artist every two or three songs until it runs out of tunes.

I have used WMP 6, 7, 9 and I’m currently using WMP 11. They all perform about the same. I have stuck with WMP because of the volume leveling option, I never found this feature on any other player and it is a valuable feature in our environment. I have tried to work around the shuffle issue by manually reshuffling the list each night to no avail. I have turned shuffle on and off, I’ve reverted to WMP 6 without any noticeable improvement. I’ve tried everything short of sacrificing small animals.

I am looking for a replacement. It must be simple, capable of playing mp3s, capable of reading playlists saved in .wpl or .m3u format. Volume leveling would be nice but I can use MP3Gain to correct playback volumes if I have to. There is one thing more that I value, no stupid skins! I can’t stand these bizarre looking players. Why should I send hours trying to figure what button to press to achieve some function? What’s wrong with a button marked “play” or “stop.” Simple, clean and easy to understand would be nice. I don’t need visual effects and have no need of a player that seeks out radio stations or online music stores. OH yes – and a real honest to good random play function.


P.S. only 63% of the preceding message was “venting”.

[[JiF]Mentat]

I use WinAmp.. but as in the same problems you described the new versions all have funky skins, so I am still using version 2.81... lol
It uses .m3u lists but no volume leveling I know of.

http://www.winamp.com/

[[JiF]Lt Gav]

Have you tried Real Player.
You can create a playlist & then have the option to choose shuffle play & continuous play. If it plays all your playlist it then shuffles the list & plays it again.
No fancy skin, in fact it looks a lot like WMP!
Does have a volume slider & a small graphic equaliser.

[seadogs]

iTunes is quite good and randoming, but the random order is not random -.-

its guessable but seems to be better than wmp.

:S

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

WinAMP, Real Player, and Zune are all good for the randomizing of music. I suggest winAMP simply because it's prettier

As for iTunes, that program is a monstrosity. It's enormous, taking up a lot of space. I by far prefer Windows Media Player over iTUnes

[seadogs]

oh iTunes is awful i hate it! But... Until i get round getting my iPod talking to WMP or another program im stuck with it, and as i'm quite busy, getting round to it may take time.

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

I could bring my guitar and play, but I only know two songs and it's hard to randomize two songs. My other thought is for you and the other employees to take turns singing songs. Once in a while you could use the whole staff for a big musical number with a stairway for you to dance down in a big entrance and overhead camera to show your arms and legs do geometric movements while you all lie on the floor. You might even get the customers to join in the fun. I can just see you in a sequined tux.

I realize that this post had no productive input for your problem, but, as is well known, I'm not very good at fixing 'technical' computer problems. Truth be known, I had no intention of being helpful at all. Other than to agree with Mentat. Do whatever he said...maybe. Only if it works. He might be wrong too, but I'm sure he's closer to offering real help than me. Perhaps he can design the pool and fountains for your big acquatic finale.

You're welcome in advance,

Tissue

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

Seadogs, someone once told me winAMP and iPods can talk, so you may want to try that for a good substitute.

[[JiF]corn]

I like Thread Hijacks much better

[seadogs]

Seadogs, someone once told me winAMP and iPods can talk, so you may want to try that for a good substitute.

will ivestigate, thanks!