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The Perception of 'Random' on the iPod

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the learning-machines dept.

Robaato writes "Stephen Levy writes in the Guardian about the perception of randomness, or the lack thereof, on an iPod set to shuffle." From the article: "My first iPod loved Steely Dan. So do I. But not as much as my iPod did.... I didn't keep track of every song that played every time I shuffled my tunes, but after a while I would keep a sharp ear out for what I came to call the LTBSD (Length of Time Before Steely Dan) Factor. The LTBSD Factor was always perplexingly short." My first iPod shuffle refused to let me delete (sigh) Weird Al's Polkamon off of the flash memory.

3 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. Re:SLAYER!!!!!!!1 by Reaperducer · · Score: 0, Redundant

    My iPod like Bjork and Springsteen. I think it's manic depressive.

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    -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
  2. I've experienced the same by hbmartin · · Score: 0, Redundant

    My old iPod LOVED Moby.

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    Karma: Bizzare (mostly affected by varying internal caffeine levels.)
  3. Me too, me too by 1310nm · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I've noticed it too. There are songs in my MP3 collection that I'm not very fond of that I hear quite a bit of, and many that I like that I never hear on shuffle.