Quote:
Originally Posted by Target70
I don't see how it is so hard to get right...P
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It's not difficult, if they bother to do it correct. You take the alphabetical song list, number them 1 to x, then shuffle the entire list with no repeats. (technically you put the pointers to the songs in an array and shuffle the array). What you are basically doing is creating an on the fly playlist.
Some devices do a true random, basically picking a different random song after each one plays. and that is where you get into trouble for two reasons. That means you are tracking what's played so you get repeats. Also, on a computer there really is no such thing as a true "random" number. There are algorithms that approximate it based on time or some other system function it can attempt to run some formula against but a computer can't just randomly reach into a hat and pull out a song to play.