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Random and next song

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by larrywal, Jan 14, 2008.

  1. larrywal

    larrywal New Member

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    Hi folks -- I'm wondering if anyone here can help me. I love listening to CDs with random on (I particularly like random across folders for MP3 CDs since it doesn't seem to take that long to switch folders (like it does to switch CDs).

    However, I jump around with songs that I like, and if I'm not in the mood for the one selected by random, I like to go to the next song. However, when I do this, it just increments by one song instead of picking another song randomly.

    This is very irritating. The only way to pick a 2nd random song seems to be to turn random off and turn it on again.

    Can anyone help me? Is there an easier (i.e. reasonable) way to do what I want to do? Thanks.
     
    #1 larrywal, Jan 14, 2008
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Ya unforunately that's the only way to do it. I haven't found any other method.
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Jan 14, 2008
  3. Sitting Duc

    Sitting Duc Feathered Member

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    If there is a way, I've not heard of it; and I suspect there isn't one.

    I've given up on the random play, because even with folders, it isn't a "fair" algorithm. I've got one artist who represents <10% of the total audio on a CD who seems to get played more like 20-25% of the time; and it will play the same song again before it has played every other song.

    Sad, because it would be nice to have a decent CD changing MP3 playing car stereo.
     
    #3 Sitting Duc, Jan 14, 2008
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I've run into this on other electronic playback devices. It's odd that the designers don't do a better job with it, since it's just a little bit of firmware. Being firmware driven, the algorithm isn't truly random, but it should have a level distribution, which brings up another interesting point: Most users don't want a truly random playback, but instead want a random selection of a song not yet played. A truly random playback will have some clumping, where you will occasionally get the same song played twice in a row, or the same artist will hit several times. The devil is in the details.

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Jan 14, 2008
  5. larrywal

    larrywal New Member

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    Wow -- ok. Thanks folks. I'm not as bummed about the "not true random" algorithm though that's annoying. To me it seems fairly pathetic that there's no way to "go to next random song" without turning random on and off.

    Even if the algorithm is poor, that would seem like basic functionality....

    Oh well. Hmmmm....does anyone know if this is stuff that can be fixed in a yearly nav firmware update?

    (along those lines, is it possible that text-to-speech for street names can also be added in nav updates?)

    Thanks!
     
    #5 larrywal, Jan 14, 2008
  6. Gilbert

    Gilbert Member

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    I have the same problem, Its really annoying that the random doesnt really work well. Hopefully they trow a firmware fix for it if possible.
     
    #6 Gilbert, Jan 14, 2008
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