Shuffled Playlist Question

Question

Instead of having to navigate back and fourth between the Settings menu and the Music menus, is it possible to create a Playlist (or SPL) that contains the majority of my collection but shuffles the music? I've tried a variety of set ups that look like they will work when viewed through iTunes, but when played through the iPod they play everything in order (ie not shuffled).

Answer 1

Well I hear what you are saying, but as you pointed out, these things seem to be beyond the current capability of the iPod. On that same note, this 5th Gen video iPod I have is my very first iPod and while I do love it, I am actually rather shocked at the limited features it has or what I feel are obvious things it should be able to do but doesn't.
Ya, as each new generation of iPod has come along Apple made big steps forward in the big things it could do, like black and white to a color screen then to showing photos then doing video. But the little features (that are just programming) that should have been added to the user interface, seem to have been forgotten.
Here is an example of one that to me would have been an obvious user interface features: Being able to delete a song from the iPod and then (maybe optionally) have that same song removed from the iTunes library when you sync. How many times have you been out and about with your iPod, a song comes one, maybe one of the last tracks of a new album you recently imported and you think to yourself, "well this song is a dud"? I want to delete it from my iPod and my library. So I either have to remember what song it is or make a note somewhere (by the way, I often end up with a post it note on the back of my iPod at work just for that purpose). It would be easier to have a built in delete function on the iPod or at the very least, a "delete me" flag you can turn on so when you get back to your computer, iTunes can show you the ones you tagged to be removed.
Another feature I would like to see for the color iPods is the ability to change screen and font color. Since there is no way to actually dim the LCD screen (another missing feature) at night, in a dark car, etc. that screen can be really overly bright. So how about being able to change the screen color from white to a less bright color like dark blue. Or how about a night mode where the screen is black and the font is white? Or how about a night vision mode with a red screen so you don't ruin your night vision? Obviously if the iPod can show video, having screen and font colors changeable should be super easy.
Then there are the weird things. For example, I play a few songs on the iPod. I then go and look in the Recently Played list. The songs are there but it seems to be a sort of random order. The songs I just played are not at the top like in iTunes, but are towards the bottom, and not in the order I played them. I haven't bothered to figure out the order they are in but it is probably something that makes little sense like sort by date, then by artist name, but the list only shows song titles, so it looks jumbled. Weird.
So that is my long winded way to say, your idea of a changing play list with a dynamic shuffle sounds great, but considering I can not even remove a song from the iPod without a computer, must be blinded by the light if I touch the controls of my iPod while in a dark car, and my choices of screen and font colors are about the same as Henry Ford offered on his cars, don't hold your breath!
Patrick