by Carrie Brownstein

I can't help but feel shuffle is making people dumber. I've always thought that songs are improved by context; a truly good album is more than the sum of its parts, and each individual song is better off for it. And I agree - it doesn't even have that personal meaning or logic given by a mixtape. In this day and age of disposable three-minute singles downloaded from the iTunes Store, the ubiquitous shuffle mode isn't really helping people appreciate music.

Though I guess it's more about the lack of choice than disliking surprises, at least for me. I still like all those songs - I just don't want to listen to them now. Especially 30-second dialogue interludes from concept albums or really terrible guilty pleasures, which always seem to come up first.

Sent by Richaod | 9:01 AM ET | 07-02-2008

You've read my mind. I'm more often disappointed than pleased with random. However, I have gotten pretty good at manipulating playlists and groups of playlists for better shuffle output.

Sent by Roger | 9:10 AM ET | 07-02-2008

Random shuffling is the pits, but by building Smart Playlists you can control the chaos and make your shuffled experience a lot better

Sent by Kyle | 9:17 AM ET | 07-02-2008

shuffle is no good when i'm on the subway and don't have a free hand to skip to the next track. that's why my life was changed when i discovered the 5-star rating and the "my top rated" playlist. i went through and asked myself if i ever really wanted to listen to this song again- if i felt strongly "yes" then it got 5 stars. i had a shuffling gone bad moment a few times before this where it shuffled to a certain classical song whose volume was 100 times the normal songs and my ears got blasted whilst i hugged the subway pole trying to get the ipod out of my backpack. then i got the flu the next week, coincidence?

Sent by Lauren | 9:36 AM ET | 07-02-2008

My experience entirely... especially with my partner's full size 60GB model.

My Nano is a bit easier as there's just less stuff on it so I have to pick and choose what I put on it in the first place. If I set it to shuffle now I get:

1. Portishead - Magic Doors. (I haven't listened to the album enough times to comment yet)
2. Raconteurs - Old Enough. (Not my favourite from the album by a long chalk, but I can still appreciate its fiddle-based folkiness)
3. Band of Horses - The General Specific. (Another recent purchase so I can live with it)
4. Arthur Alexander - Black Night. (Pleasant enough)
5. Dennis Wilson - Rainbows (Hum, another new purchase).

Actually what this reminds me is how much I use my iPod to listen to new purchases and how that means I never get round to listening to whole albums these days and frankly how unsatisfying that is.

Of course number 6 in the shuffle is Bon Iver's Flume which easily IS my favourite song off the album...

Sent by Julia | 9:50 AM ET | 07-02-2008

i can definitely identify with this-- though i've been keeping more on top of whittling down my itunes to albums/songs i actually like these days (better for the hard drive after all).

Sent by sarah | 9:52 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I agree, there is a certain thrill that one may feel from a well-sequenced set of music--that's why making music mixes is one of my favorite activities--trying to capture an elusive combination of flow, mood, and surprise. But I have to commend the shuffle feature (which I do use on an occasional basis) for "finding" interesting combinations of songs that seem to connect in a way I had never considered. Who would have placed that CYHSY song next to that Tindersticks song? Not me, but it sounded awesome! So, I have tried to use some of these happy accidents on my own mixes.

Sent by ken | 10:07 AM ET | 07-02-2008

Yesterday morning I got in the car, put the iPod on shuffle and heard nothing but great songs on the way to work. On the way home from work I had to skip about ten songs to get to something I wanted to hear.

Tried it this morning:

1. Cracker - Satisfy You (decent song I hadn't herd in a long time)
2. Guided by Voices - Zap (another good song I wasn't too familiar with)
3. TV on the Radio - Hours (I like it but I wanted to hear more guitars this morning - skip)
4. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Scuttle Buttin' (short instrumental, plenty of guitars - wish it was louder in the mix)
5. The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love (no loud guitars but it's great so I stuck through it)

Sent by John McAteer | 10:09 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I use shuffle about half the time. I use it as a jumping off point a lot. Just skipping through songs until I come across one that I'm in the mood for and throw the album on.

Here's my five:

Hot Young Priest - "Wintergreen"
Radiohead - "Where You End and I Begin (From the Basement)"
Jayhawks - Martin's Song
Captain Beefheart - Where There's Women
Europe - Rock the Night

An above average pull for sure, I laughed out loud when Europe came on, don't really remember putting that on there.

Sent by Brian A. | 10:30 AM ET | 07-02-2008

sonic youth, a long joanna newsom song, an old tom waits song, the unicorns, and then a sad josephine foster song.

needless to say, it was a bad experience

Sent by Kurt | 10:33 AM ET | 07-02-2008

Oh man, I'm completely with you on this! When I first got my iPod, I'd swear by the shuffle mode, assuming all the benefits you described. But then I gradually started to realize how stressful it made me-- always nervous that the next song is going to be another embarrassing or misplaced non sequitur. It also decreased my attention span in a surprising and unpleasant way. I found myself not even listening to the good songs straight through, thinking, "I'm on a roll! What's next?!" Shuffle feels like gambling, and the house always wins!

I've taken to unchecking songs that I pretty much never want to hear but don't want to delete, so they don't come up in shuffle. This has made shuffle noticeably better, but still not perfect. In the 5-song test I just performed, the first 3 were completely wrong, but the last 2 flowed really well and were of a genre I actually wanted to hear. 2 of 5 isn't horrible... I guess?

Sent by nikki | 10:36 AM ET | 07-02-2008

Although I have been considering the iPod classic, all I currently have is the iPod Shuffle. I look at it as a radio station with no commercial interruption. As the Shuffle does not have a display screen this made it a little tougher to remember the artists and song names.

1. "Last Kiss" - The Explorer's Club
2. "The Times, They Are A Changin'" - off The Beach Boys' album "Party"
3. "Battered Old Bird" - Costello
4. "A Good Start" - Maria Taylor
5. "We're All Gonna Die Some Day" - Kasey Chambers

Sent by mac coldwell | 10:44 AM ET | 07-02-2008

For me there's another downside to shuffle mode: as one song ends I find myself anticipating the song that would follow it on the album, and get confused/surprised/annoyed (depending on how much attention I'm paying) when something completely different arrives at my ears. Maybe it's just me..

Sent by glen | 10:44 AM ET | 07-02-2008

i am in the process of creating playlists at work, but the way I do this is by listening to everything. it is really embarressing when I have someone in my office and i am surprised by some loud song i do not want my colleagues to know i like. playlists are the answer for me for sure, and I can shuffle a playlist without problem.

Sent by tC | 10:47 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I love the shuffle - it's a radio station that only plays 'pre-approved' music. Sometimes I'll skip songs, but it's also a great chance for me to get to know songs I might otherwise not specifically choose to listen to.

Sent by Darren | 10:49 AM ET | 07-02-2008

Whoa! I was just talking about this but I still love the random feature. I don't have an iPod but I listen to music on my computer alot because I work from it so much. Although, unless I made a particularly good playlist I do find myself skipping alot...

My friend & I play a game with iTunes shuffle. We use it like a magic ball. For example "iTunes what should I do tonight" hit play...
answer: Nick Garrie "Evening"
hmmm....I guess Itunes wants me to feel lonely tonight. Ha!

While this games usually makes no sense it's fun.

My first five songs (no cheating):
the undertones - here comes the summer
guided by voices - chasing heather crazy
television personalities - part time punks
lauryn hill - lost ones
kristine sparkle - 8 days a week
the clash - sean flynn

Long live shuffle!

Sent by esme | 10:56 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I face this problem just about everyday when I'm driving. I'll literally fast forward through 12 songs before I can land on one that I can stick with. The problem is that I think I try to hard to set a mood. I know it's not my iPod's fault, but too often the songs that pop up in my shuffle are incongruous to either my mood or the setting.

Sent by Meagan | 10:58 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I put iTunes on shuffle and the first 5 songs were as follows:

1. I'm Only Sleeping - the Beatles
2. Are You A Hypnotist - the Flaming LIps
3. Do the Hansa - the Cure
the Rooster Moans - Iron & Wine
5. Kozo's Waltz - Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Certainly this mix would never have happened without shuffle. And you are right. I definitely ffwd a lot to get to a song i want to hear.

Next 5: Deerhoof, Beatles (again) Ugly Cassanova, Bob Marley and NWA.

Sent by tim | 11:02 AM ET | 07-02-2008

And that is precisely why I make my own playlists! More work for me, but at least I'm able to get through *most* of the songs.

Sent by Star | 11:03 AM ET | 07-02-2008

Just the fact that you have even one Ludacris song warms my heart and soul to an infinite degree. Which one is it? I still have strays from an album I owned of his during high school. Oh, memories.

I put my iPod on shuffle when I'm unsure of what I want to listen to, which happens every now and again. I've had an instance or two where I've magically had a perfect or near perfect playlist of songs I actually enjoy. But most of the time I find myself, too, skipping song after song in hopes of stumbling upon one I really want to hear. Sometimes I come to a song of an artist that makes me realize that I want to listen to that artist or band. And I switch to just listening to that instead of the random stuff. I also like the shuffle mode because it makes me listen to music I've had forever but never delved into. So when I want to find something new it helps in that department.

What size iPod do you have? Or rather, how much space does your music take up on your computer? What if there was a car company that started putting phonographs in cars? I feel like they would do that on Pimp My Ride if it wouldn't seem "outdated."

Sent by Jaime | 11:15 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I like to make playlists and then set the shuffle loose on them.

You should check out the blog below...
http://whatilistenedtoonmywaytoworktoday.blogspot.com/

Sent by comoprozac | 11:27 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I got to song 7. Then I was done.

Sent by Jack | 11:53 AM ET | 07-02-2008

I love shuffle play. Hearing songs out of context, butted up against other songs that don't "fit," our minds make connections ... I'm not sure we can help ourselves, but then, I've always thought life amounted to a fruitless attempt to create an artificial order out of inevitable chaos in order to get through the day, so I have a lot of faith that my mind will come up with something to "explain" odd segues. And I'm a Rhapsody user, which means I effectively have 5 million songs from which to shuffle, although the reality is I've only got around 25,000 on my hard drive as a "core" library.

First five songs on shuffle right this moment: Yo La Tengo, "Green Arrow," Aaliyah, "Are You That Somebody?," 13th Floor Elevators, "Slip Inside This House," Beatles, "Do You Want to Know a Secret," Flock of Seagulls, "Space Age Love Song."

Sent by Steven | 12:20 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I agree with you totally. I've never liked the random setting, because some songs I can only hear at very specific times and places, and sometimes only in the context of the whole album.

I did shuffle on my computer, and the third song was Go Sonics, the fourth song was a live version of Jenny, but the fifth song was by Ash. Why would iTunes ever think that succession was acceptable?

Sent by Anjanette | 12:31 PM ET | 07-02-2008

So true!

Sent by Rachel | 12:46 PM ET | 07-02-2008

One weird thing my iPod always does is, it'll be in the mood for a particular artist. Like, yesterday morning, every other song was the Dirtbombs. It rarely does two songs in a row by the same artist, but it'll do every other three, four, five times in a row. If it's really random, that can't happen as often as it does.

Sent by schroeder | 1:02 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I only computerized my music collection (not including vinyl) about a month ago, and got an ipod shortly afterwards. I spend a lot of time hitting skip, but occasionally something just right, which I never would have chosen, comes on. That's really sweet, and makes up for a lot of the prior annoyance.

This morning's first five:
"Not Even Jail" by Interpol [not my favorite song off the album, but okay]
"Darcy Farrow" by Nanci Griffith [I honestly can't remember ever hearing this before, though I used to listen to this album quite often]
"When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God" by Van Morrison [Van seems to come up disproportionately often, and I only have, like, half his records (which is still a lot, I know)]
"Catastrophe and the Cure" by Explosions in the Sky [I only know a couple of this band's songs by their title. This is not one of those songs]
"Thou Shalt Wilt" by Loose Fur [Hey, CB, you love Wilco. Any thoughts on Loose Fur? And why's the album art not showing up for this?]

Sent by piggy | 1:04 PM ET | 07-02-2008

1. Kooks - David Bowie
2. Rotten Peaches - Elton John
3. Tears of Rage - the Band
4. Making Flippy Floppy - Talking Heads
5. Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart

Sent by sarah | 1:32 PM ET | 07-02-2008

My personal opinion is that Apple's line of music-related gadgets and software weren't designed by people who love music, they were designed by people who liked the idea of being in love with music. They were designed by people who never explored music or went out of their musical comfort zones, by people who think that albums and artists and tastes can fit neatly into genre labels. By people who don't understand how fluid music is and how subjective, personal, and nuanced each person's taste is. The programs were designed as if music was a cause and effect thing ("I like rap, therefore I will listen to Clipse today"). But it's not, it's an exploration. If I'm in the mood for Clipse, I'm probably not in the mood for De La Soul, although I bet I'd enjoy pairing it with some Bad Brains or something else kinda riotous.

Unfortunately, we've all bought in to the mythology that iTunes and iPods are the only way of delivering digital music. But that's only 'cause it's they are the best solution *so far*. All those other companies out there creating music stores and MP3 players are just copying the formula and then getting pissed that their clone doesn't rake in the cash. What's sad to me is that Apple seems to be happy enough with the model they have created and are not really that interested in continuing to innovate. Sure, they break-out with Cover Flow and Smart Playlists, and an "intelligent" randomizer, but little of this actually makes interacting with the music any more pleasant or intuitive.

If seriously smart music lovers could get in a room with seriously smart engineers, I think something really rad could develop that would make enjoying music on a computer or gadget more than a chore, which is kinda how it feels now.

Oh wow, sorry for the long comment. I guess I had a lot to get off my chest there.

Sent by Nathan | 1:57 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Sometimes shuffle can be great, and the mixes I've gotten are occasionally surprisingly great, but I definitely find myself flipping through more often than not. The worst experience is when you're driving someone whom you would like to impress with your musical prowess, and all that comes up are the bad 80's one hit wonders that you keep for guilty pleasure moments.

My five were:
1.Mogwai - R U still in 2 it (good, but to drawn out for driving)
2.Op Ivy - One of these Days (also good, but not what I was looking for)
3.Nick Drake - From the Morning (this actually fit my mood pretty well)
4.John Lennon - Imagine (like the song, but rarely want to listen to it)
5.Bright Eyes - Lover I don't have to love (eh...)

Sent by Brian | 2:03 PM ET | 07-02-2008

It's funny, I hate surprises in general, except for shuffle on CDs and IPods. I enjoy the surprise of what will be next. Even though it seems like my IPod likes some songs better than others.

I listened to my IPod on shuffle this morning at the gym, and these were the first five full songs (I had ended my last workout midway through Modesto by Beck):

L'america--The Doors
Mixed Business--Beck
Forty Six and 2--Tool
Conquest (acoustic version)--White Stripes
Work Song--Nellie McKay

I like all those songs, but they really don't scream "exercise harder." I suppose I should learn the playlist function and put together ones that are better for killing time on the elliptical machine. Long songs just don't do the trick.

Sent by Laura E. | 2:14 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Here are my own my 5:

Mott The Hoople-I Wish I Was Your Mother (I like the fact that I wouldn't have chosen this one on my own.)

Eux Autres-Le Project Citron (I'm ready to move on.)

Pussy Galore-Cunt Tease (My ears are hurting. If this were a dinner party I would have a knot in my stomach and be waiting for it to end.)

Os Brazeos-Tao Longe De Mim (I often put this Brazilian psych tune on mixes and rarely get sick of it.)

Queen-We Will Rock You (I couldn't get to the fast forward button fast enough. After all, I'm not at a sporting event. I have now deleted this song from my iTunes.)

Sent by Carrie Brownstein | 2:43 PM ET | 07-02-2008

1. rilo kiley - execution of all things
2. rjd2 - work (had to skip the 7 minutes of silence at the end of the track)
3. they might be giants - birdhouse in your soul
4. aimee mann - choice in the matter
5. the mighty bosstones - noise brigade (jesus christ this is embarassing)

i was going to disagree with your thesis, but this was def a faulty start. theyre kind of fine on their own (and i wouldnt delete any of their albums), but not at all what i want to listen to right now. i do like when the shuffle creates an interesting juxtaposition (RK and RJD2), and also when it pulls up some deep tracks i rarely consider playing on albums i often don't give enough time to.

anyway, point taken...

Sent by justin | 3:13 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Oops...forgot to play the game and list my first 5 on my shuffle. Here goes:

1. He Doesn't Know Why - Fleet Foxes
2. Heart Factory - Sleater-Kinney
3. Roland - Interpol (???)
4. Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab
5. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths

Sent by Meagan | 3:22 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I rarely use the shuffle feature in my ipod, partly because it selects tracks I am either tired of listening to or a certain mood that I am in. After listening to the first five songs in my shuffle, you'll see why:

1. Godspeed You Black Emperor! "Kicking Horse On Brokehill" (from "Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada"

2. Midlake "Branches" (from "The Trials of Van Occupanther")

3. The Cinematic Orchestra "All Things" (from "The Man With The Movie Camera")

4. Berliner Philharmoniker-Jonathan Nott "Concert romanesc 4. Molto Vivace" from "The Ligeti Project II" (sheesh!)

5. Slum Village "Reunion feat J. Dilla--edited version" (from "Reunion 12")

Sent by Guy | 3:38 PM ET | 07-02-2008

When I first got my lap top and started putting my music on it I started with the two bands I knew I wanted to hear a lot: Sleater-Kinney and Belle and Sebastian. Both collections were the first on my computer in their entirety, and I slowly worked through everything else. The funny thing is that whenever I set to song-shuffle, absolutely nothing by either band played. On one hand it was nice to hear something else. On the other, how could I have 80% of my library at the time dominated by these two bands and have absolutely nothing play. It was irritating. My library is as diverse as my overall CD collection now, so I use album-shuffle. I get to hear albums I would otherwise overlook.

That being said, let's go back to song-shuffle and see what I get.

1)!!! - A New Name (I wasn't expecting that. It's got me groovin')
2) REM - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
3) White Stripes - The Nurse
4) Elvis Costello - Every Day I Write the Book
5) Bob Dylan - Watching the River Flow

I keep my iTunes up to date with what I really like. My lap top is 50% of my home music system. This is music I want to hear.

(6) Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Part 1)

Sent by Nick L. | 3:41 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I am telling you; the secret is rating your music. I give pretty much every song 1 star, except for shuffle-killers like "Sister Ray" or "Augmn," and everything that I wouldn't want to skip gets 3 stars. 4 stars is something I really really like, and there are only about 20 5 star jams, such as "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and "Visions of Johanna." When shuffling, the iPod will generally favor higher ranked tracks while doing it's best to hit all genres. I don't shuffle often because I like whole albums, but when I do I'm rarely disappointed.

Sent by MattG | 3:48 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Wow...I'd never heard of Os Brazeos before and just checked out their long abandoned MySpace page to hear that song. Is the rest of the album that wondrous and amazing?

You just made my day.

Sent by Vortex | 4:06 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Okay, let's see what happens...

"Mira!" by The Latin Playboys
"Bellat" by Barry Phillips (Scandinavian folk music performed by a string quartet - makes for awesome background while reading the Master & Commander books)
"Thursday Afternoon" by Rollins Band
"Origin of the Species" by U2
"Party Pit" by The Hold Steady
Turangalila Symphonie, 2nd movement, by Olivier Messiaen. (If you've never listened to it, try it; lots of crazy bird song noises)
"Crosses" by Jose Gonzalez
"E-Pro" by Beck
"I Am Talking To This Flower" by Camper Van Beethoven
"Dirty Fingernails" by Modest Mouse

Well, that could've turned out a lot worse; at least it didn't reveal my secret interest in 70s southern rock....

Sent by andy carvin, npr | 4:18 PM ET | 07-02-2008

here's who's on my first five:

1. Opportunist -- Joshua Fit For Battle (To Bring Our Own End)
2. Gameel Gamal -- George Abdo (Art of Belly Dancing)
3. Towner -- Spoon (Telephono)
4. Vajra -- Secret Chiefs 3 (Book M)
5. Graveyard --- Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Machine)

Not so bad... but, crap, 6 onwards was tough! :)

Sent by joe | 4:34 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I'm much too lazy to set my iPod to shuffle. If I feel like a random list, I close my eyes and scroll to a stopping point on the singles list. It's always fun when it lands on something from my Christmas collection and I hear the same song several times in a row. And they're all Christmas-y. Mostly, I listen to podcasts - in the car I still crave full albums.

Sent by Ann V. | 4:36 PM ET | 07-02-2008

If I don't know what I am in the mood to hear, I love the shuffle function. For me, it feels like to the best radio station ever. I really enjoy the album shuffle feature because I enjoy the music as a complete set, to get the flow of the music from song to song. Sometimes I know exactly what I want, and pick it. Some days I suffer from decision fatigue, since I make decisions all day long at my job. Sometimes, I let the iPod decide.

Sent by Amanda | 4:44 PM ET | 07-02-2008

How can you have too much Roxy Music?

When I use the "random" function, I find myself constantly skipping to the next song. I have to know what's next all the time and I can't enjoy anything.

God, I hope that's not a metaphor for my life.

Sent by Gina V | 5:02 PM ET | 07-02-2008

i think the only truly helpful thing shuffle does is tell me when i need to get rid of a song. if it comes up on shuffle and i groan, it's time to get rid of it and make room for something i love.

my top 5:
"lily (my one and only)" -- smashing pumpkins (i have to admit i don't listen to that one much, but i love my pumpkins)
"tell it like it is" -- aaron neville
"heaven knows i'm miserable now" -- the smiths
"girls on film" -- duran duran
"l.e.s. artistes" -- santogold

wow, that went better than it usually does. :)

Sent by sheena | 5:33 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I only use shuffle when someone brings it up. I then engage in the shuffle game. Here are my five:

1. Daniel Johnston--Running Water Revisited (I really need to be in a particular mood for this one.)
2. The B-52s--Summer of Love (Yep, pretty much my least favorite B-52s song.)
3. Unrest-Solemn Music (Haven't listened to this record in awhile. Totally forgot it was on here. Thanks shuffle!)
4. DJ Icey--A Weather's Point of View (Don't Cha Think)--(Everything on the Funky Breaks is worth a listen, but all the songs tend to bleed together. Weird having it as a standalone track.)
5. The Staples Singers--Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas (My second favorite Staples Singers song. Good job.)

After crunching the numbers, shuffle receives a rating of 3 out of 5 earbuds. Not bad, but definitely room for improvement.

Sent by East Coast Terry | 6:11 PM ET | 07-02-2008

1. Marvin Gaye - What's going on
2. Elvis C. - Kinder Murder
3. Neil Young - Roll Another Number
4. Neil Young - Let's Roll
5. Jerry Garcia - Positively 4th Street

Those 5 are ok, but I have to skip forward:

6. Dylan - I don't believe you
7. Patti Smith - Dead City
8. Husker Du - Don't Want to know...
9. Cornershop - Music + 1
10. Foo Fighters - Everlong

I can live with those 5, but I think I have to get some new music.

Sent by Matt | 7:29 PM ET | 07-02-2008

The Ipod in my opinion has made music more of something to consume than listen. I still prefer vinyl at home, and CDs for the car. Thurston Moore said it best when he said: "The Ipod is like the giant fluorescent bulbs in the grocery store." If that's the case, then nothing must look or sound very good underneath it.

Sent by Jack | 7:34 PM ET | 07-02-2008

i like my shuffle. i don't like all my music. i spend a lot of time updating my coolness factor. i like the challenge the shuffle presents. it forces you to stay on top of your game. otherwise, you are just lazy. i think of my shuffle as my own personal radio station and i am the disk jockey. i have failed myself if a song comes on and i want to change the station.

Sent by Jeff Selis | 7:36 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Sheesh -- I don't even understand the problem. It's an iPod, not a friend. It's silicon and software, it is not sentient.

I love my (generic music player), but it is merely a tool, that luckily, generally does what I want.

It's this sort of bizarre "convenience" urge, nameless and indefinable, that lets us get distracted by destructive nonsense like electronic voting.

And you probably willingly overlook that the Apple says one thing about DRM while doing another. There are other choices, some not warped by Jobsian (or Gatesian) reality distortion fields.

Choose your technology wisely, it all matters and largely under your control.

Oh yeah, stop whining.

Sent by tom jennings | 7:46 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Eh, gotta part company with you on this one. I use the shuffle feature constantly when I'm listening to music at my desk at work. Sure, I'll skip through a lot of stuff, but not because they're "bad" songs, exactly. (I've got one of the endangered breed of iPod Mini's, so there's not much room for bad songs.)

Sometimes the transition from one song to another is jarring, or to put it more moderately, sometimes listening to a metal song makes me want to hear another metal song rather than a brit-pop song.

Or sometimes the song is one I've heard enough of for a while. I skipped past Badfinger's "No Matter What" today, but I'll go to the mat for that song's greatness.

What happens most often, though, is that the song is unfamiliar. I buy music (and books, for that matter) at a far faster rate than I can reasonably consume it/them, and the shuffle function is my chance to force myself to eat my musical vegetables.

For example, I bought Zappa's "Hot Rats" album a few weeks ago. Couple of long instrumentals on that one. Before iPod it might have been listened to once and then banished to the far reaches of my record collection, but if I put it on the iPod, shuffle throws it at me every few days, with the result that I actually feel like I've absorbed it.

And now I don't feel quite so bad about banishing it to the far reaches, etc.

Sent by Liam | 7:49 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Well this did not go as well as cleanly as expected, but maybe thats why I appreciate the shuffle. As someone who only owns a shuffle I go through periods of randomly selecting one gb of songs for my shuffle and listening to them, and then periods where all I do is put albums on it. I found that more often then not I really enjoyed listening to my random shuffle, but I think some song skipping is unavoidable. I also like trying to figure out which "group I never listen to"'s song is playing. Always a good time. In the car, with a friend, no way. Not unless I had pulled the shuffle songs from a best-of playlist. Otherwise I'd be skipping left and right. Something about listening to my music around other people makes me self-conscious. Anywho, here's my five:

sole - salt on everything

doseone - track off Slowdeath (was not expecting two tracks from Anticon members)

Nick Cave - Deanna (prolly my fave song off this album)

Zombies - Care of Cell 44 (Backing Track) (I kept waiting for the vocals to kick, but guess what... they never did. painful.)

AYWKUBTTOD - Sigh Your Children (good but I'd rather hear something off Source Tags and Codes)

this has to be extended...

Larry Norman - Righteous Rocker (Hard Version) - Yes I downloaded this after your post, and quite enjoy it. He's just so damn honest about his music that the religious aspect doesn't bother me.

KMD - Boy Who Cried Wolf (good not great)

AYWKUBTTOD - Days of Being Wild (yes!)

Ok, song seven hasn't ended yet so I can wrap up this post. It also reminded part of why I like the shuffle, it makes the great songs that much better.

Sent by Lincoln | 8:00 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Ever since I geared back to about 6GB of music and took out some of the chaff, I've re-embraced shuffle as a wonderful thing. I love the surprises (like a deep-album track from an old Elvis Costello album) and the crazy juxtapositions.

Last 5:

Sean Hayes
Gossip
Wilco
Roots
They Might be Giants

Sent by ML | 8:22 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I tried this while cleaning my living room after my 3 year old son had demolished it. He's like a miniature Keith Moon.

1. Find The River--REM Wistful longing isn't as effective when picking up Dora the Explorer action figures. Skip.

2. Today is The Day--Yo La Tengo Very pretty, but you're not going to hear this on the next Tae Bo video. Skip.

3. ST 100/6--Big Star It's safe to say this is in the lower reaches of their canon. Too short to skip.

4. Treviera Trousers--The Mekons I wasn't familiar with this song. Now I know why. Will skip next time.

5. Surrender--Cheap Trick. Now we're talking. Or more accurately, rocking.

It was a messy room, so there were 3 more.

Sweet Ride--Moby Grape. Not as good as their legendary debut record, but still good enough to clean by.

In The Shape Of A Heart--Jackson Browne Jackson takes time out from critiquing US Central American policy to deliver one of his best songs. A keeper for sure.

Dried Up--The Ass Ponys This is one of the best songs of all time. If you're not familiar with it, you need to change that.

Verdict...started slow, then picked up.

Sent by Rick | 9:09 PM ET | 07-02-2008

FAIL:
1. Arnold Schoenberg - O Alter Duft from Pierrot lunaire (Skip. I'm not sure why I have any orchestral music on my ipod; it sounds sooo bad, even by mp3 standards.)
2. Nobodys - Track 15 (from a three-band live record I bought because of the Drags set. CDDB didn't have it, and I didn't even bother tagging the song names from the other two bands. SKIP!)
3. John Doe - A Little More Time (I like it, but on any given day I might skip it)
4. Desmond Dekker - (Poor Mi) Israelites (Would not skip. Shuffle, surrounded by other genres, is about the only time I can stand to listen to reggae/rocksteady/ska/etc.)
5. Pygmies of the Ituri Rainforest - Harp Song (would not usually skip. this file is making cd-skipping noises, though.)

But the sixth was Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds doing God's Hotel, so that was a win.

Sent by Tim U | 9:13 PM ET | 07-02-2008

1-Stairway To Heaven-Led Zeppelin [I can live with this, sure.]
2-Jason Lee-All Girl Summer Fun Band [This album is really only acceptable during the summer months.]
3-ABC-The Pipettes [Itunes seems to be in a really poppy mood?]
4-Steady As She Goes-The Raconteurs[Itunes, you are on a roll today.]
5-Frozen Roses-Spider and the Webs[Awesome.]

Shuffle is usually okay with me, except for the rare occasions where it appears that the program is reading my mood and playing every song that could possibly fit it, thus creeping me out.

Sent by Kirie | 9:22 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I'm lucky for today's playlist.... It's those songs from bands I haven't heard in a while or had avoided perhaps due to the lyrical content being too brutal(Westerberg,The Smiths) and the musicianship I assume becomes too technical that I get intimidated (Sonic Youth and yes, DCFC) with it... Still, I've had my affairs with them....

1. Death Cab-Soul Meets Body
2. The Smiths-Rubber Ring
3. Sonic Youth-The Diamond Sea
4. Paul Westerberg-Let The Bad Times Roll

Sent by Francis Aguilar | 9:54 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Oh, but then the next songs were by Mingus, Broadside Electric, X, Fiona Apple, Botch, Tinariwen, Zager and Evans, Billy Bragg, Black Flag, The Kinks, Bowie, Fugazi, Richard and Linda Thompson, Gil Scott-Heron, Lavender Diamond, more Kinks, and Danzig. I didn't skip any of those...

Sent by Tim U | 9:56 PM ET | 07-02-2008

A-friggin-Men! The IPOD is killing the life span of music. When you hear those few bad songs on shuffle, you have no interest is listening to that album, because you feel you've just heard it.Yes, it's makes the music we have more accessible, but at the same time, more disposable.

Sent by gcn. | 10:34 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I was pretty happy with my random 5:
"Bring the Noise" - Public Enemy
"Rosalita - live Bruce
"Love of my Life" - The Roots
"Idioteque" - live Radiohead
Vamos - live Pixies

... my main objection with shuffle mode is it plays the beeps from my fm radio adapter an awful lot.

Sent by mikey | 10:56 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I was pretty happy with my random 5:
"Bring the Noise" - Public Enemy
"Rosalita - live Bruce
"Love of my Life" - The Roots
"Idioteque" - live Radiohead
Vamos - live Pixies

... my main objection with shuffle mode is it plays the beeps from my fm radio adapter an awful lot.

Sent by mikey | 10:57 PM ET | 07-02-2008

My Mp3 player (a Sansa, not an iPod) seems to like certain artists whenever I put it on shuffle. One day it'll be all Tori Amos and Rilo Kiley, the next Tegan & Sara, and Ani DiFranco.

Anyways, here are the five songs that came up this time:
1. Sheryl Crow "Leaving Las Vegas" (an okay song that I'd usually skip over)
2. Belly "Judas my Heart" (I love Belly, but not too fond of this track...so again I'd skip it)
3. Indigo Girls "Reunion" (A song I really like that I'd rarely skip)
4. Jenny Lewis "Handle with Care" (another song I really like)
5. Janet Jackson "Let's Wait a While" (a good song that I have to be in the mood for, so skip)

Song 6 was The Breeders "Safari," which is better than all of the previous five except for the Jenny Lewis song IMO.

Sent by Carol | 11:40 PM ET | 07-02-2008

I agree wholeheartedly.

While shuffles can organize by "genre," they fail to organize by character or color of sound. I do not wish to listen to dark ethereal "night" music in the afternoon on my lunch break anymore than I wish to listen to blasting hardcore on a midnight drive from Poulsbo to Yakima, but if both have something vague and inane like "alternative" in their genre listings, shuffle can't tell the difference.

Sent by Scott Lindstrom | 11:55 PM ET | 07-02-2008

Well, the shuffle assumes that all songs are created equally.

Sent by Sean O'Neil | 12:06 AM ET | 07-03-2008

1. PJ Harvey - Working for the Man (yay!)
2. Michael Jackson - It's the Falling in Love (Jazzercise, anyone?)
3. Bobby Marchan - You Won't Do Right (awesome)
4. The Small Faces - Grow Your Own (made me air-cagedance)
5. Elliott Carter, composer ; Charles Rosen, performer - Night Fantasies (made my brain explode after a few minutes...I mean, in a way)

Mostly I like shuffle when I have music on as background music, but even then I still skip songs I'm not in the mood to hear. But when it's the focus, I still love the albums.

Sent by Michael | 12:20 AM ET | 07-03-2008

1. Temptations - Papa Was a Rolling Stone
2. Undertaker - Pussy Galore (Having any PG albums in your iTunes collection is reason enough to never use Shuffle with company over. Having Undertaker pop up is still miles better than Cunt Tease though. Yeesh.)
3. What Time Is Love - The KLF (Where the fuck did this come from?!? I remember getting a nostalgic itch for KLF when I was drunk a few months ago. I guess I actually tracked it down.)
4. Barrel of a Gun - Depeche Mode
5. Crushed - The Brian Jonestown Massacre

All in all, that's a truly horrendous mix of music right there. I only use Shuffle when I can't decide what to listen to and I can tell that I'm going to have to keep hitting the skip button a few more times before I land on something.

Sent by DuMaurier | 12:25 AM ET | 07-03-2008

Shuffling through a full collection can be pretty ludicrous, especially if there's a decent amount of concert recordings in the library.
My best shuffle solution: Manipulate the "most played" list so that it has a couple hundred or few hundred songs and shuffle through that playlist. You'll always get something you like, and the playlist is big enough to avoid having to listen to the same songs too often.

Sent by Catfish | 12:42 AM ET | 07-03-2008

That is exactly the reason I don't normally use the shuffle on my i-Pod. Half the songs that come up are songs that I might even like, but have no desire to listen to at that very moment. Additionally, bands that have been around for a long time and have lots of studio albums, and maybe a bunch of live ones as well, end up coming up a lot more than they would if I were to make the playlist myself, sometimes even with the same song more than once. Sometimes what I'll do is make a huge playlist of songs I know I'll want to hear, and then I'll just listen to that playlist on shuffle.

However, there are times when I find the shuffle really refreshing. Sometimes I really just feel like taking a break from the music I listen to a lot, and there is no specific album at the moment that I really feel like diving into from start to finish. The shuffle works well for those instances. I get a mix of songs I like but for whatever reason don't listen to much, songs I just haven't listened to in a while, songs I do listen to a lot, songs I almost forgot I had, songs I once downloaded from somewhere and threw on my iPod but never really got into, etc. It works really well when I'm in the right mood for it and I want something different, but there's nothing specific that jumps at me that I really feel like listening to at the moment.

Anyway, I just did your exercise. Songs 1-3 I listened to, but then skipped songs #4 and 5.

Sent by I | 8:59 AM ET | 07-03-2008

My shuffle today was actually pretty rad:

Sweater Song- Weezer
Falling Man- Blonde Redhead
Whistle While You Work- Louis Armstrong
5:11 AM The moment of clarity- Roger Waters
The Will of A Volcano- Cloud Cult

Sent by Maddie | 9:46 AM ET | 07-03-2008

I like shuffle except that sometimes a random (and embarrassing) Broadway musical song will come on and ruin everything. Cabaret and Bon Iver just don't go together very well.

Anyway, here's my random list from this morning...

1. Kanye West - I Wonder
2. Mogwai - Summer
3. Radiohead - Bullet Proof
4. Bottomless Pit - Dog Tag
5. Caitlyn Cary & Thad Cockrell - Begonias

Sent by Gretchen | 9:51 AM ET | 07-03-2008

As I sit down to work & am sipping my morning tea:
1) Clandestino - Manu Chau (not bad - wouldn't have chosen it though, as it brings back strange memories from another point in my life I don't care to revisit too often)
2) Hold on Magnolia - Songs:Ohia (not one of my favourites)
3) The Anvil - Dongas Tribe (a live recording of a young group of traditional folk musicians who wandered around the British Isles in the 90's - kind of an oddball track)
4) Sex without Stress - The Au Pairs (i dig it)
5) Can You Hear the Music - The Rolling Stones (excellent morning groove!)

And I will list number 6 because number 5 bled so well into it:
6)Feeling Free - Nicole Willis and the
Soul Investigators

In general, I avidly avoid the "shuffle" robot. In moments of utter indecision I will try it out, but mostly as a way to trigger a sonic craving. I think it is also connected to my obsessive approach to creating mixtapes for loved ones - good flow is essential. Technology can never simulate personal perspective of art.

NOTE: Shuffle is now off and I decided to dust off my copy of Goat's Head Soup on a sunny NYC morning. Success.

Sent by Natalya | 10:01 AM ET | 07-03-2008

For some reason, Shuffle is perfect for me in the morning on my drive in to work, but never quite works on the way home in the evening. The random connections seem to make sense in the morning, and I don't mind listening to things that I might not usually have the patience for. In the evenings, I usually just want something to sing along with.

This morning's very random mix:
1. Getatchew Mekurya "Ambassel"
2. Metallica "Damage Inc."
3. Make Up "The Choice"

Sent by Brian | 11:00 AM ET | 07-03-2008

I own a pizzeria and when my ipod is the centerpiece of entertainment for the kitchen staff I advise never to use shuffle. And if they do and something horrible comes on, I blame my wife.

Sent by Marisa | 11:01 AM ET | 07-03-2008

I like shuffle on my iPod (60gb). But not all the time. And I don't usually just play shuffle on the whole set of 10,000+ tracks. But I will also play shuffle for a specific artist.

I often make use of playlists. I have probably 60+ playlists on my iTunes. For all kinds of moods, etc. It's like my own mixtapes/cds. But in a convenient to carry around package. I'll play them in shuffle mode or not, depending on mood.

The thing about the iPod that I like is size/convenience. Pre-iPod, I would have at least a dozen cds in my car, since I never knew what mood I'd be in. And going on vacation? My wife would shake her head as I brought scores of cds. But now, I bring a little iPod with more than a month's worth of music on it. Love that.

Sent by Michael Farquhar | 12:19 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I'm almost always on shuffle...but I super-love variety!

Here's the five that just happened for me:

Family - Dim
Tomorrow - Real Life Permanent Dream
Kinks - Johnny Thunder
The Move - Useless Information
Tucky Buzzard - Whiskey Eyes

There's something to be said for being able to carry around a 20,000 song jukebox. I don't miss the Walkman days of listening to one tape...well, listening as long as the tape was being eaten. I do still have plenty of records at home though.

Sent by NewmRadio | 1:19 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I like surprises, but I don't like true random, so I use a program that uses various type of logic for selection. Works better for me.

Sent by Gary Drechsel | 3:09 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I agree that there cannot be too much Roxy Music, if you consider only the first 5 albums, that is.

Here's why I rarely use shuffle:

1. Drive-by Truckers-Cassies Brother
2. The Dresden Dolls-Necessary Evil
3. The Kinks-You Make It All Worthwhile (Live)
4. Pere Ubu-Blow Daddyo
5. Juliana Harfield-Bottles and Flowers (from a live bootleg 5-18-1995)

I think the person who listed Heart Factory was cheating...

Sent by bud | 3:29 PM ET | 07-03-2008

1. Smashing Pumpkins - Stumbeline
(not their best but I love the memories attached of driving around with one of the only friend I talk to from high school on late summer nights admiring the glow of the city lights.)

2. Alkaline Trio - We Can Never Break Up
(another nostalgic song from summer days 3 years ago)

3.Heavens To Betsy - Get Out Of My Head
(I fucking love love love this song. I love the surprise of a smile I get from a song I didn't expect to hear)

4. Reel Big Fish - Snoop Dog, Baby
(Ugh I really want to hit next soooo bad. But after listening to it for a bit it's not terrible)

5. Toots and they Maytals - Time Tough
(not bad, not one of the songs of his I would've picked. But he still can make a great song)

So yeah. Out of five, there was only one I would've put on myself. But I didn't mind the surprises and a chance to hear the music I payed for that I normally don't listen to.

Also I was really surprised to see someone else listened to All Girl Summer Fun Band. I thought I was the only one. Jason Lee is a pretty funny song. Especially since he's not infamous for being a great skater anymore.

Sent by Kevin McCallister | 3:49 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I go down the route of playing my mp3 on a playlist of 'full' albums from the present year.
So only stuff recently released will be played.

1. English House - Fleet Foxes
2. Day after day - New Bloods
3. UFO - Rue Royale
4. Hunter - Portishead
5. Still Life - Santa Marias.

That's not a bad shuffle as it happens. I will never skip a song even though I may not like too much. That said the album would not be on the playlist otherwise

Sent by Tim | 4:02 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I tend to like the variety too. In fact, just before I surfed over to this blog today, I had put my itunes on Party Shuffle. I like to do that every so often, and then go in and apply ratings to the songs that didn't have one already. (Plus it helps remind me of songs I haven't listened to in a while that I really like.) So my goal is to get through most of the songs in my itunes so they all have rankings, then set up an awesome party shuffle by selecting the "play higher rated songs more often" checkbox. I'm a complete nerd.

But here are the last five tunes played by my party shuffle:

1. The Slip - Suffocation Keep
2. Maritime - Tearing Up The Oxygen
3. Pernice Brothers - Amazing Glimmer
4. Blake Babies - Lament
5. Outkast - Hey Ah

Not bad, I gave them all 3s or 4s.

Sent by Kim | 4:05 PM ET | 07-03-2008

1. Glory Box- Portishead ("Give me a reason to be a woman." I love that lyric. This is a fantastic, sexy song.)

2. Never Ending- Kaskade (I love this artist but this isn't my favorite song. It's decent though. I don't have the urge to skip it.)

3. Under You- Better Than Ezra (From the album "How Does Your Garden Grow?" One of my favorites.)

4. I Love New York- Madonna (I love this song. When she played at Coachella this song really got to me. The bass line and guitar are fierce. "Los Angeles is for people who sleep.")

5. Little Mouth- Sleater-Kinney (Fucking awesome...."Damn you.")

Sent by Eagle Eye Smith | 6:44 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I have a iPod shuffle myself and unless I'm looking for a particular track it's never out of shuffle mode. I guess I like the surprise of it all.

Here's what happened when I played 5 tracks:

-Michael Andrews "Socks on Ears"

-Robert Johnson "Traveling Riverside Blues"

-Track from the CD Pop 'n' Music Vocal Best 3 (the title is some kind of language thats almost Japanese and a bit Egyptian)

-Breeders "Only in 3's

-Beach Boys "Fun, Fun, Fun"

Of those five the only locks to not get skipped are the Michael Andrews and Breeders tracks. The other three are all dependent on mood.

Sent by Donraleigh | 6:49 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I feel like there's several different kinds of "crap" an iPod or iTunes can produce while in shuffle mode. Sure there's the "accidental" Ashlee Simpson song that will pop up (I swear it was for a friend); that really crappy aircheck I made for the college radio station 10 years ago that somehow made it on to my external hard drive and thus my current iTunes setup; or the flow-maintaining (and shuffle-blasting) interludes from the likes of Turf Talk and e-40 ... these are the things my Apple products love to toss into shuffle. It tends to happen when I'm trying to show off my music-selecting chops to a lady or trying to be the holier-than-thou barista. Eh, it happens.

Shuffle Factory:
1. old Of Montreal
2. Bell Orchestre (that I never slow down long enough to listen to)
3. "Sweet Sovereign" (Lady Sovereign vs. Eurythmics vs. Shiny Grey)
4. "Bewlay Brothers," Bowie
5. "6," Labradford

Shuffle is schizophrenic in the worst possible way for me. Sleepy ambient town and sugar pop. No thanks.

Sent by sally | 7:49 PM ET | 07-03-2008

i never use the shuffle setting. but here it goes:
tegan and sara - so jealous
pretty girls make graves - blue lights
bratmobile - girlfriends don't keep
minus the bear - when we escape
luscious jackson - let yourself get down
the shins - phantom limb
victory at sea - the song of the high seas
black flag - white minority
billie holiday - our love is here to stay
the beach boys - little surfer girl
team dresch - the council
rush - spirit of radio
my morning jacket - i will sing you songs
kaki king - my insect life
jeff buckley - everybody here wants you
fleetwood mac - go your own way
sleepercar - stumble in
the go-go's - sonic superslide
liz phair - whipsmart
sufjan stevens - chicago
heather nova - walk this world
p j harvey - the mountain
northern state - mic check
elvis costello - is she really going out with him
cream - badge
poe - hey pretty
ted nugent - motor city madhouse
chris walla - it's unsustainable
bad religion - fields of mars
iron on - snow

as i typed each of the above song titles out, i listened to the beginning 10 seconds.
my discovery? yes, i want control over my ipod and i do not want a computer chip telling me what would be good for me to listen to next. but by using the shuffle setting, i have rediscovered songs that i haven't heard in a while. now i want to hear them. so maybe shuffle isn't the mind controlling, corporate devil i have made it out to be in the past.

Sent by brittani | 1:03 AM ET | 07-04-2008

I'm clearly a fat-fingered vulgarian, but I often find that random selections will highlight tracks on an album that I'd otherwise ignored. There are a bunch of songs that, in the context of the album, kind of escape my attention. When they are just randomly thrown at me, without the expected context, I notice and appreciate them more, and can then appreciate them when I hear them in the context of the album again.

Of course, to cement my status at a FFV, I really can't think of any of the tracks for which this has been true. Argh.

Sent by K | 2:07 AM ET | 07-04-2008

pavement - at & t
the ettes - we repel each other
king khan & the shrines - land of the freak
sunn 0))) - bow 2
the birthday party - zoo music girl

I'm happy with this shuffle except for the sunn 0))) inclusion. I didn't need that on my bike ride to work in the morning. That's more of a dinner selection.

Sent by mccormack | 10:55 AM ET | 07-04-2008

So true! I've actually taken the step to delete songs from albums that I don't like, but later find I'm irritated that I don't have the full album anymore.

My first 5:

"Old" - Danielle Howle
"Steve's Last Night In Town" - Ben Folds Five
"Never Be Like Yesterday" - Viva Voce
"Motion Picture Soundtrack" - Radiohead
"Starless" - King Crimson

Sent by Jamie Hellgate | 12:44 PM ET | 07-04-2008

@Nathan: The iPod and iTunes may or may not be the best solution so far but at this point you have a choice: use it or don't. You may yearn for the days of AM or have a nostalgic bent for cassettes and that's just fine. Maybe you will continue to use your iPod, but if we take some initiative and develop some personal Smart Playlists like Kyle mentioned we can get closer to what smart music lovers and smart engineers might come up with.

If your iPod is stocked, try creating a Smart Playlist with eight to ten filters. I find the results are not only satisfying, they are actually clever. I also limit the list to a fixed number of songs so I'm surprised by what comes next.

Sent by Brian | 3:17 PM ET | 07-04-2008

All great songs and artists on their own, but.....

Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor
Brendan Benson - Feel Like Myself
Menomena - Rotten Hell
Tegan and Sara - Don't Confess
Fiery Furnaces - Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second Street

...it just doesn't blend.

This brings me back to my appreciation when artists conceptualize a complete album, instead of making an album of songs just thrown together.

Isn't there a well-known band that refuses to sell individual songs on itunes, in favor of selling the entire album? I get where they're going with that.

Sent by Mary | 6:24 PM ET | 07-04-2008

My solution: alphabetical order by song title. It satisfies my need for a reason why one song follows another (albeit on a very simplistic level!), and it gives me a chance to hear EVERYTHING on my player without surrendering to the power of the shuffle (which I swear is rigged somehow). I've been listening this way for a few weeks and am currently working through the letter "R":

Reason to believe- Bruce Springsteen
Rebel Girl- Bikini Kill
The Rebel Girl- Hazel Dickens
Rebel Soldiering- Johnny Clarke
Red Right Ankle- the Decemberists
Reel Around the Fountain- the Smiths
Relative Surplus Value- the Weakerthans

Sent by Doubledutchess | 8:58 PM ET | 07-04-2008

Shuffle by song tends to involve a lot of track skipping, but it does keep me awake if I'm working for a long stretch... anyway here's my first 5 (you'd hang the dj if he put these together):

The Go Team - The Power Is On
Songs Ohia - Two Blue Lights
Beck - Sing it Again
Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize
Moon Turn the Tides - Jimi Hendrix

...I prefer shuffle by album (music = albums for me) - there's a bit more context that way

Sent by n | 8:38 AM ET | 07-06-2008

Your first mistake is having any Ludacris song on there.

I've got 9,000 songs on my iPod and I think the shuffle mode is a great way to listen to my collection. I end up hearing songs from my library that I would never pull out myself.

There's an odd combination now and then, but over all I love it.

Sent by Brian | 8:14 PM ET | 07-06-2008

Shuffle 5:

1. Roses from Leroy - Danielle Howle
2. Lost Highway - Hank Williams
3. Travelin' Man - Widespread Panic
4. I'm Not Gonna Cry - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
5. Rhythm in Hardtimes - Frogthroat Escapade

Sent by Darren | 1:20 PM ET | 07-07-2008

I've been shuffling for 678 songs since I last updated the big iPod (10,000+ songs), and I hardly ever skip songs. If a song gets skipped more than once, I delete it. Here's my listening routine: Buy cds about twice a month. Listen to them at home while I load them into my laptop. On Monday, listen to them again all the way through on the iPod, then go back to shuffle. Put the newest cds in the 6-cd changer in the car. Start over a week or 2 later. Here are the 5 that played after I read the post:

I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby - Captain Beefheart
I Want to be Alone - Vashti Bunyan
Hot Mama (Bonde Do Role Mix) - Edu K
Gal Sun - Partners in Rhyme
Beef Rapp - MF Doom

Sent by sean | 3:34 PM ET | 07-07-2008

i never shuffle, my wife does all the time. here's what i came up with. def more 'shuffle' in the future. great post:
1 bottom of the barrel (live) - grant green
2 postage stamp world - rogue wave
3 if i can't have you - zero 7
4 untitled - burial
5 teardrop - jose gonzalez

Sent by rick | 4:43 PM ET | 07-07-2008

I thankfully have a knob in my office that turns down the MUZAC, so I bring my iPod to work everyday, and plug it into an external speaker. So in essence, I am the keeper of my own MUZAC.

My problem with the shuffle feature is that if you reset it each day, as I tend to do, I tend to hear certain songs very frequently, and other tunes from the same album...never! That's when I usually skip to the next song. It must be something in the programming.

One way to mix things up is to go to the Song menu, pick a letter and listen to all your songs alphabetically.

Just for comparison, these are my 5 latest shuffles:

Toadies - The Minutemen
Above & Beyond - Dwight Yoakum
You've Got Your Head on Backwards - The Young Fresh Fellows
A House is Not a Motel - Love
Sympathy For the Mekons - The Mekons

Sent by Glenn | 12:31 AM ET | 07-08-2008

Great post. Not to be self-serving but I actually posted about this on a new blog I've been working on with a friend. We both have big ol' record collections - the kind that can make for bad shuffles. So we figured we'd hit shuffle and write about the first 12 songs that pop up. Shuffle albums. Some good, some bad, always interesting. If I haven't bored you yet...

http://splatmacumba.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/the-shuffle-album-vol-1/

Sent by Jim | 11:54 AM ET | 07-08-2008

I agree with you in many ways, and I am frustrated at how rarely I actually listen to a new album straight through.

But folks who have mentioned playlists here are completely on the right track. I have developed my own system of "tags" that I put in the comments section, and by combining these tags with the star ratings it is easy to make a variety of playlists that I can shift between. This started because I have a lot of non-music on my iPod too (spoken word, language instruction, old-time radio) and the pure shuffle made that stuff come up too. So I used the "Group" field to label everything that is, "music." then I started putting "instrumental" in some comments, and made playlists that don't include them (I usually like songs with singing).

Now, I often will listen to my best-best-best playlist, which uses several tags & star ratings to ensure it is all my very favorite things (about 4000 songs now). But I will often listen to one of my all or nearly-all music lists, with nearly 20,000 songs, often looking for new stuff to rank up higher and tag for the best-best lists.

I also tag music with "sad," and I generally don't let that stuff percolate up to best-best--I listen to the iPod a lot while I'm working and it is no fun to follow "I Will Dare" with "Man of Constant Sorrow"--most of the time.

And playlists for particular artists are important too. If you use the "play high rated songs more often feature," you get your favorites more often.

I feel certain that this tagging stuff will get built into the software in future versions--right now it requires too much customization and so only geeky types like me spend the time to do it...

Now the pathetic thing: the #1 played song on my iPod is The Mountain Goats cover of "The Sign" by Ace of Base! as John D says at the beginning, "I never get tired of this one"

Sent by David G. | 12:03 AM ET | 07-09-2008

I love my Ipod--because it gives me so much control. It allows me to quickly and easily access whatever music I'm in the mood for. No more lugging around all those bookfuls of cds, no more fumbling through, searching for that particular album that would sound just perfect right now. So I never, ever use shuffle.

But this morning I did, just for you. This is what I got:

1)Novocain Stain by Modest Mouse (off to a good start)
2)Electricity by The Avalanches (from "Since I Left You"--I admit, this sounded pretty good after MM))
3)Hangwire by the Pixies (meh. losing momentum)
4)Phantom Limb by The Shins (to me this song sounds all wrong on a hot summer day)
5)Teenage Piss Party by Pavement. (one of the few Pavement songs that I don't really love.)

Shuffle= off now.

Sent by Suzy | 12:52 PM ET | 07-09-2008

I find that everytime I use shuffle, which is quite frequently, I end up skipping 10 or so songs until I find one I like. Let's try:

1. Radiohead: Like Spinning Plates--not bad, but you really should be in a certain mood..
2. Bishop Allen-Eve of Destruction--good. I would not skip this.
3. Kind of Like Spitting-Thrill of the Hunt-meh, time to kill myself.
4. The Hold Steady-Stay Positive--OKay, i'd play it.
5. Modest Mouse-The Cold Part-I'd skip it.

You're right.

Sent by kayleigh | 10:34 AM ET | 07-10-2008

I find its best to make a playlist and then shuffle the play list rather than using my whole music library. However the problem with this is sometimes the shuffle won't do the shuffle so well and it will play either 3 songs in a row by the same artist or every ohter song will by by the same artist. This seems to happen the most with Morrisey, which is fine because I like Morrisey, but I make my playlists with multiple artists and then shuffle it with the hopes of hearing different artists. With that being said, here is my first 5 songs using my entire music library:
1.Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
2.Detriot Cobras - I Wanna Holler (but this town is too small)
3.The White Stripes - Hypnotize
4.Howlin' Wolf - Shake for me
5.The Beatles - Octopus Garden (I was with the shuffle until this one, and then I wasn't feelin' it so I had to see what the next song was)
6.Otis Redding - Tell The Truth

Not too bad, (and no Morrisey) but the beatles following howlin' wolf with octopus garden? no not so much.

Sent by Lauren | 10:43 AM ET | 07-10-2008

""Only play this song if I am driving between Seattle and Portland and I think about my old friend from high school""
dude, totally. I pretty much always have my itunes on shuffle, and it just reminds me of how much mega-wackness I have downloaded over the years. the real problem is finding the time and strength to purge the old crap.

Sent by jessamyn | 3:26 PM ET | 07-16-2008

I don't think I've ever really used the shuffle feature. It's something I did when I first got an iPod to re-discover my music collection. I've gotten into the habit of listening to entire albums whenever I go somewhere. I can usually listen to at least one, maybe two, on whatever my daily journey might be. This is pretty much the way I listen to albums most, along with listening to music while I surf the Internet.

Sent by Adam | 11:18 PM ET | 07-22-2008