In shuffle mode, some songs never get played, why?

I have most of my music in 1 playlist (about 2500 songs) which I listen to all the time, always in shuffle mode. I became aware that my ipod was never playing some songs, yet others were recurring quite frequently. When I checked the playcount, it showed the highest count at 46, yet it also showed that many tracks that had been in the playlist just as long, have never been played. Why is this? Is my ipod secretly asserting it's own taste in music? Does shuffle mode favour songs with a higher playcount? Is there a way to stop this happening? Has anybody else experienced this? Suggestions gratefully received.

I've heard this excuse before, that what we think is random really isn't, but when certain trends occur enough times, its pretty clear that there is some kind of algorithm or something in the coding that affects the shuffle.
I know random means random, but there are too many "random" coincidences and apparent patterns that occur to raise doubt that it truly is as random as Apple claims.
One such example, is that when using the Shuffle Songs feature (that shuffles all tracks on the iPod) I had 2-3 tracks from the same album (an album I had never even listened to yet) showing up within the first 40 tracks five times in a row. Numerous other songs showed up in at least 3 of the 5 "trials." Out of 8,000 songs.
On a playlist (of 300 or less songs is all I have tried), if you have multiple songs off the same album, you are far more likely to hear at least one other song off a given album within about 10 songs then you are to not hear a song off the same album. A specific example of this is on a playlist of 105 songs I have, there are 3 songs off one album, however nearly every time 2 of the songs will play within a 10 track range, and nearly as often all 3 songs will play within the same 20 track range.
I know random isn't perfectly spaced songs, but when certain things happen often enough, the odds of it become so low that even the "true random" explanation doesn't cover it.

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In random mode some songs stop playing before being finished

in random mode some songs stop playing before being finished

I've heard this excuse before, that what we think is random really isn't, but when certain trends occur enough times, its pretty clear that there is some kind of algorithm or something in the coding that affects the shuffle.
I know random means random, but there are too many "random" coincidences and apparent patterns that occur to raise doubt that it truly is as random as Apple claims.
One such example, is that when using the Shuffle Songs feature (that shuffles all tracks on the iPod) I had 2-3 tracks from the same album (an album I had never even listened to yet) showing up within the first 40 tracks five times in a row. Numerous other songs showed up in at least 3 of the 5 "trials." Out of 8,000 songs.
On a playlist (of 300 or less songs is all I have tried), if you have multiple songs off the same album, you are far more likely to hear at least one other song off a given album within about 10 songs then you are to not hear a song off the same album. A specific example of this is on a playlist of 105 songs I have, there are 3 songs off one album, however nearly every time 2 of the songs will play within a 10 track range, and nearly as often all 3 songs will play within the same 20 track range.
I know random isn't perfectly spaced songs, but when certain things happen often enough, the odds of it become so low that even the "true random" explanation doesn't cover it.

Why does my music player on my iPhone 4 always revert back to the same song when in shuffle mode even tho I have played multiple songs since that first song was played.very frustrated

Why does my music player on my iPhone 4 always revert back to the same song when in shuffle mode even tho I have played multiple songs since that first song was played.very frustrated

SHuffle does not play songs in a truly random fashion. Like all computer related random generators the sequence is pseudo-random

After downloading the latest update, my playlists now go into shuffle mode everytime I try to play. I have turn6ed off shuffle on both my computer and ipod, and even tried recreating a new list, to no avail. Any ideas as to what may be causing this?

After downloading the latest update for my Ipod touch, my playlists now go into "shuffle" mode everytime I try to play. I have turned off shuffle on both itunes and my ipod and even tried recreating the playlist and syncing with no luck. I don't know what is causing this, because before the last download, it never happened. Any ideas on how to fix?

Since this is an XP machine, which version of iTunes do you have installed? Is it the latest version?
Have you tried starting iTunes, attach the USB end of the cable, then while holding the home button on the iPod connect the 30-pin connector end of the cable to the iPod...that is the recovery mode but also should make iTunes see the iPod.
If that doesn't work you may need to take the iPod back and have it tested by the genius bar techs to make sure the connector is not bad.

Help,Help,Help...Some songs DO NOT play???

Help,Help,Help...I don`t remeber what updates but it stopped playing some songs that wre playing before...AC/DC Back in Black was transfered from original CD to iTunes and all songs were playing fine until I installed a new OS (4.0something,do not remebr exactly the one).Now,all the back in black songs are not playing.I tried to re-imported them,still are not playing on the iPod.
I also have other songs from different artist that are not playing on iPod...
Please help...I need my AC/DC back
Benbo88

Did a "Restore form" iTunes and it fixed the problem...

WHen I put music onto my devices I will have some songs that will play, while others will be grey and can not be played....also I find that when I purchase an album from iTunes all songs from the album will not be downloaded...

WHen I put music onto my devices I will have some songs that will play, while others will be grey and can not be played....also I find that when I purchase an album from iTunes all songs from the album will not be downloaded...

Try:
- Reset the iOS device. Nothing will be lost
Reset iOS device: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- Unsync all music and resync
- Reset all settings
Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.
All your preferences and settings are reset. Information (such as contacts and calendars) and media (such as songs and videos) aren’t affected.
- Restore from backup. See:
iOS: How to back up
- Restore to factory settings/new iOS device.
If still problem, make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store since it appears you have a hardware problem.
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar
If necessary
You can redownload most iTunes purchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

I don't have my navigation bar at all. I tried to start in safe mode but I never get the dialog box the y say you should get to reset to defaults. Help?

i don't have my navigation bar at all. I tried to start in safe mode but I never get the dialog box the y say you should get to reset to defaults. Help? I have even uninstalled and reloaded firefox
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== My wife hit a button and doesn' know what happened

See if this helps. View > Toolbars, if no check beside Navigation Bar, click on Navigation Bar to check it.
'''Can't see the Menu Bar''' (File, Edit, View, History, Bookmarks, Tools, Help)?
Turning the Menu Bar on and off is a new feature in version 3.6.
''(~~red:Linux & OSX see~~: [[Menu bar is missing]] )''
''Windows'' Method 1. '''''Hold down''''' the key and press the following letters in this exact order: V T M then release the key
''Windows'' Method 2. Tap once on the F10 key, while the Menu bar is visible, choose "View > Toolbars", click "Menu Bar" so that a check mark is placed next to Menu Bar
''Windows'' Method 3. Tap once and release the key. The Menu Bar will be displayed; then choose ~~red:V~~iew > ~~red:T~~oolbars and click on ~~red:M~~enu Bar so that a check mark is placed next to Menu Bar
The Menu Bar should now be displayed permanently, unless you turn it off again using View > Toolbars. Check mark = displayed, NO check mark = not displayed.
See:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Menu+bar+is+missing
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Toolbar_customization#Restoring_missing_menu_or_other_toolbars
'''Navigation Toolbar, Bookmarks Toolbar and other Toolbars''' under View > Toolbars. Clicking on one of them will place a check mark (display) or remove the check mark (not displayed).
'''To display the Status Bar''', View, then click Status bar to place a check mark (display) or remove the check mark (not displayed).
'''Full Screen mode'''
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Netbooks#Full_screen
Also see:
''' [[Back and forward or other toolbar buttons are missing]]'''
'''[[Navigation Toolbar items]]'''
'''[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How+to+customize+the+toolbar How to customize the toolbar]'''
'''''Other Issues''''': ~~red:You have installed plug-ins with known security issues. You should update them immediately.~~
'''Update Java''': your ver. 1.6.0.18; current ver. 1.6.0.20 (important security update 04-15-2010)
(Firefox 3.6 and above requires Java 1.6.0.10 or higher; see: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Java-related+issues#Java_does_not_work_in_Firefox_3_6 )
''(Windows users: Do the manual update; very easy.)''
~~red:Check your version here~~: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
See: '''[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using+the+Java+plugin+with+Firefox#Updates Updating Java]'''
Do the update with Firefox closed.
'''NOTE:''' Java version 1.6.0.21 has been released. It is mainly an update for developers of Java applications and most users do not need to be concerned about downloading version 1.6.0.21. '''''At this time''''', the update option in existing installations of Java 1.6.0.20 are not updating to version 1.6.0.21; '''''at this time''''', it must be manually downloaded and installed. According to the Java release notes:
''"'''Bug Fixes'''''
''Java SE 6 Update 21 does not contain any additional fixes for security vulnerabilities to its previous release, Java SE 6 Update 20. Users who have Java SE 6 Update 20 have the latest security fixes and do not need to upgrade to this release to be current on security fixes."'' Source: http://java.sun.com/javase/6/webnotes/6u21.html
'''Install/Update Adobe Flash Player for Firefox (aka Shockwave Flash)''': your ver. 10.0 r45; current ver. 10.1 r53 ('''important security update 2010-06-10'''; see: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-14.html)
~~red:Check your version here~~: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
See: '''[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+the+Flash+plugin#Updating_Flash Updating Flash]'''
-'''use Firefox to download''' and '''SAVE to your hard drive''' (save to Desktop for easy access)
-exit Firefox (File > Exit)
-''In Windows,'' check to see that Firefox is completely closed (''Ctrl+Alt+Del, choose Task Manager, click Processes tab, if "firefox.exe" is on the list, right-click "firefox.exe" and choose End process, close the Task Manager window'')
-''In Windows,'' double-click on the Adobe Flash installer you just downloaded to install/update Adobe Flash
-when the Flash installation is complete, start Firefox, and test the Flash installation here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507&sliceId=1
*'''NOTE: On Vista and Windows 7''' you may need to run the plugin installer as Administrator by starting the installer via the right-click context menu if you do not get an UAC prompt to ask for permission to continue (i.e nothing seems to happen). See this: http://vistasupport.mvps.org/run_as_administrator.htm
*'''NOTE for IE:''' Firefox and most other browsers use a Plugin. IE uses an ActiveX version of Flash. To install/update the IE ActiveX Adobe Flash Player, same instructions as above, except use IE to download the ActiveX Flash installer. See: [[ActiveX]]
*Also see: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Flash ~~red:'''''AND'''''~~ [[How do I edit options to add Adobe to the list of allowed sites]]
'''You '''~~red:'''MAY'''~~''' need to Update Adobe Reader for Firefox (aka Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox)''': your ver. N/A; current ver. 9.3.3 (important security update release 06-29-2010; see: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-15.html)
~~red:Check your version here~~: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
See: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using+the+Adobe+Reader+plugin+with+Firefox#Installing_and_updating_Adobe_Reader
''You may be able to update from the Adobe Reader installed on your system'' instead of going to the Adobe site and downloading. Open the Adobe Reader installed on your system (''in Windows, Start > Program Files, find and click Adobe Reader to open''), click Help, click Check for Updates. Allow the download/update to occur. If you use this method, no need to proceed with the instructions below, '''but''' do look at the two bulleted items at the bottom "'''NOTE for IE:'''" and "Also see:". Restart Firefox and check your new version here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
''If you go to the Adobe site to download the current Adobe Reader:''
-'''use Firefox to download''' and '''SAVE to your hard drive''' (save to Desktop for easy access)
~~red:-See the images at the bottom left of this post to see the steps to take on the Adobe site~~
-exit Firefox (File > Exit)
-In Windows: check to see that Firefox is completely closed (''Ctrl+Alt+Del, choose Task Manager, click Processes tab, if "firefox.exe" is on the list, right-click "firefox.exe" and choose End process, close the Task Manager window'')
-In Windows: double-click on the Adobe Reader installer you just downloaded to install/update Adobe Reader
*'''NOTE: On Vista and Windows 7''' you may need to run the plugin installer as Administrator by starting the installer via the right-click context menu if you do not get an UAC prompt to ask for permission to continue (i.e nothing seems to happen). See this: http://vistasupport.mvps.org/run_as_administrator.htm
*'''NOTE for IE:''' Firefox and most other browsers use a Plugin. IE uses an ActiveX version. To install/update the IE ActiveX version, same instructions as above, except use IE to download the ActiveX installer. See: [[ActiveX]]
*Also see: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Adobe_Reader ~~red:'''''AND'''''~~ [[How do I edit options to add Adobe to the list of allowed sites]]

Some song will nit play now on my 4s. it was since i updated software i think, cos it worked fine before that. it just skips songs. please talk me through step by step. i am going crazy. thanx guy's and gals of course

some song will not play now on my 4s. it was since i updated software i think, cos it worked fine before that. it just skips songs. please talk me through step by step. i am going crazy. thanx guy's and gals of course

My situation is improving a little. When I returned home I found that my imac went to sleep during the match process (I would think that the process would keep the imac awake, but I recommend people with large libraries disable energy saving features while Match is working). When it completed the process the second time I tried, a LOT of the greyed out tracks returned to my iOS devices. The only ones missing right now are the ones pending upload to the cloud. I have a few tracks that I've purchased and are on my iMac HDD that are greyed out, but that list is down to 10-15 out of 12,000... so I can work on those when Match is done.
I'm surprised that the iOS devices would restrict you from accessing sync'd content while Match is running - i.e. the content is already on the device. However, it's error handling that must not currently exist in the service.
My biggest take away right now is the lack of information Apple provided on this service. I'm using third-party tutorials online instead of a simple "what is Match and how does it work" document from Apple... Documentation is still a must, especially for new and potentially complicated services like this. I.E. tell me that you are going to restrict my access to my own content during this process, and that this process may take 2-3 days (still uploading).

Upgraded to win7 from xp. Now some songs will not play without signing into an old Itunes id account.

Installed Windows 7 from XP. Downloaded itunes and imported the music library.
Now some songs will not play until I authorize this computer by signing in using an old apple id. Now when I do that the message says too many devices on that id.
Is there a way to convert those songs to my current Apple id? Or is there a way to download them again under the new id?

Content is permanently tied to the Apple ID that it was acquired with.
If you desire the conent on your current Apple ID, purchase it with the current Apple ID.
For future reference, do not create a new Apple ID simply because of a change of email address. Instead, update the Apple ID with the new email address.

Some Songs Won't Play on the iPod

I have a bizarre problem.
All of my songs that are on my iPod are in iTunes (How else would they get on my iPod xP) and they all work fine. In general, the songs on my iPod work/play fine, minus a few.
When I go to play them, the load up, I see everything that should be there (album cover, band name, song name etc.) but the song doesn't play. What does happen though, is that the iPod rapidly goes through the album, going song to song, without playing any of them, as if I were pressing the skip song button. (which I am not pressing)
Then it slows down and stays on one song, staying at the 0:00 mark, even though the play arrow at the top is there. If I press pause and then play again, the arrow icon changes, but the song still won't play.
Now if I go to any other song by any other band the iPod won't play that song. If I press the center button, and move what part of the song it is at, it skips to the next song, and it doesn't matter how far into the song I put it. It's like the screen shows there is 4:24(or any time, this is just an example) of a song but the iPod thinks there is 0:00.
A simple restart of the iPod sets everything back to normal, I can listen to my other music without a problem, but the same thing happens when I select any of those songs.
At first I thought they were just broken files on the iPod, or even from the CD which I uploaded to iTunes. So I just ignored it, and didn't play those songs. But then I got more music yesterday and put it on my iPod, and the same thing happens to the entire album. So I decide to go open iTunes, and see what would happen if I tried to play the files on the computer. In the iTunes library, they worked fine. I go to where my iPod is listed, and play it from there it also works fine. So it's only on the iPod.
Is it the format or the bit rate of the file? I don't think this is the problem, but maybe it is, so here's the info on the files.
Kind: MPEG audio file
Bit Rate: 320 kbps
Format: MEG-1, Layer 3
Encoded: LAME3.93
Any ideas would be much appreciated.

i have this exact problem on my 120 classic. it started earlier today on a few song i had downlaoded from the iTunes store. i thought it was an accessability issue since i had just updated to the latest iTunes, but it started happening on my songs from CDs, and then what you described happened on every single song i played on shuffle (out of about 10,000 songs total)
i got home and plugged it into to itunes only to find it told me to restore it. so i did. then it looked as if it was fixed (the bar at the bottom showed everything on it)
then i unplugged it, and it said no songs, yet there was 50gb of info on it.
i checked under settings and it said it was all 'other'. then i plugged it in again and restored it again and the same thing happened, 50gb of other.
iTunes works perfectly still. im not sure what the problem is, and ill probably go to the nearest iTunes store this weekend and ill tell you how it goes if theres a way to fix it.

In shuffle mode next song begins before previous song has ended.

Next song begins playing before previous song has ended.

I checked them all. The last playlist that had this issue only had 24 songs so it wasn't hard to look at each individually. That's definitely not the issue.
I also had that particular playlist play all the way through in shuffle mode with no issue both before and since the last occurrence. It's the same case with shuffling many other playlists of mine both new and old (I guess that wasn't clear enough in my original post). The inconsistency of this issue is what has had me particularly vexed and why I figured it was a bug.
Again, thanks for your suggestion.

In shuffle mode, same song keeps repeating

Since updating to firmware 1.1.4, everytime I play the iPod in shuffle mode, it repeats the same song over and over. I have to forward to the next song. I don't remember this happening prior to updating. Is anyone else having this issue?
Thanks!

While playing the song, turn your phone to portrait(that's upright) and tap the cover art(or whatever may be there). A new set of controls will appear below the existing controls(back, track info, album info). Of the new controls, make sure the control on the far left is not blue. If it is, tap until it goes white. That 'loop' represents track repeat.

Some of the albums in the Beatles package I downloaded from itunes will not sync with my iPhone 5. Some songs won't play. They did sync to my iPad and they all play on my iPad. What can I do? I've already deleted all songs from the iPhone and re-synced.

I downloaded the entire Beatles collection from iTunes in 2011. Some songs skip and won't play. Some albums won't sync to the phone but they sync to my iPad. I've deleted the entire music library from my iPhone, shut the phone down, turned the phone on and synced again to add the music but now 2 albums won't even sync (Rubber Soul and Revolver). I've tried dragging the songs to the iPhone, no luck. Any thoughts?

Sounds like you may need to re-download the entire albums from iTunes. See this KB article for how to download past purchases: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519.
I'd suggest doing it one album at a time. Delete one, download it from your purchase histor, then the next, etc.

Some songs doesn't play!

I have this 4GB iPod 3rd Gen Silver since last year,though I haven't got any problems using it till now...but later today, It seems that some of the songs doesn't play!is there anyone who can assist?

All of the song from my ipod were downloaded using a 'free songs download' website,all songs were absolutely playin to ipod from the time i bought it since last year (there's no prob to that)...but when I just plugged the ipod into a new computer yesterday to play some of the songs, (by means of showing the hidden files,opening the 'ipod control' folder,entering the 'music' folder, then played some of the songs)everything went good playin' some songs using Window Media Playa, but after pulling my ipod off the computer and listen to it again,the songs I played using Windows Media Player into the computer are exactly the same songs that aren't playing anymore using my ipod itself...u helped me earlier deggie,please do so for the last time?....

After 3.0 Upgrade, some songs don't play

I recent upgraded my iPod Touch. Everything still works fine for the most part, except for one small detail -- some random songs don't play. It shows them as playing, it loads, and the tracking bar moves like it normally should, but there's no sound at all. I tried restarting the iPod and resyncing it to no avail. I'm going to attempt a restore here. As of now I can't find any connection between the random songs that will or won't play.
What can I try to do to fix this? If I must I'll try to go back to an older version, though I'd like that to be my last resort.
Thanks.

Yeah, they worked in iTunes, I double checked that. In fact I found out because I tried playing some songs in my car and thought, hey, they worked fine on iTunes earlier today.
However, I ended up restoring it back to default settings through iTunes and letting it sync everything back up again, and it worked. 0.o Which is odd, since only a few songs didn't work, and I didn't change anything, but meh, this is technology. If it works, don't ask questions, just accept it.
Thank you!

In shuffle mode, some songs never get played, why?

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