Why does iTunes play consecutive songs by the same artist so often?

Is there a way to stop or greatly reduce the issue in iTunes of playing consecutive songs by the same artist when playing in "shuffle" mode? There was a slide tool in preferences that allowed you to set that to "less likely" or "more likely" but that appears to be gone from iTunes now, or at least I can't find it. Not that it matters much, the problem was WORSE when they added that "tool" anyway. It was less likely before they added whatever that algorithm was. Now this happens constantly that my iPod plays 2 or 3 consecutive songs by the same artist when I am playing it in shuffle mode. I have over 3500 songs on my iPod but it will usually play only a small percentage of those before starting to repeat also. It seems to "stick" in a small area of the alphabet when in shuffle mode. Meaning, it will play artists whose names begin with say L through R and ONLY those artists, then repeat a bunch of them after playing only 20-30 songs. Everything else seems to be working fine on my iPod but this. I suspect it's the programming in iTunes but of course, I have no way to prove that and Apple being the quasi Communist gov't type that they are, I can get no answers from them on this or most questions I have. Maybe somebody here has encountered one of these issues and can offer some resolution?

I wish Apple would just remove the feature that supposedly addresses this issue. It worked better when there was no setting for this. I'm just tired of being pencil whipped by Big Brother.

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Itunes playing 2 songs at the same time??

Yes. It plays 2 songs at the same time, so I reinstalled iTunes. It will plays 2 songs at the same time again after 10 songs. What's the problem?

anyone?
PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1.5 GB ram

Can itunes play two songs at the same time? Mine can!!

If you let a song run until just before the end and then click to an earlier part in the song on the time bar, itunes starts playing both that tune and the next one.
Does this happen with anyone else?
What a basic error, how did apple not catch this?
Peace and God Bless.
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Actually, I have the same problem...only moreso.
When I'm streaming from another computer, my songs frequently start double-playing without my doing ANYTHING at all. Right now, The Skeleton Killers' "Despair" is doubling up--that's twice the dirge--and I wasn't even touching the computer when it started.
Oh, goodie! One of the streams has finished and the next song, George Michael's "Outside", has begun, now running concurrently with the last minute of "Despair". I can't tell you how poorly these songs go together.
The problem started with 7.0 and continues with 7.0.1
Apple! Help!
--Jay

Since downloading 11.0.1 (12), Itunes can't locate or play many songs but the same songs still play on my synched iPod.

Since downloading Itunes 11.0.1 (12), Itunes can't locate or play many songs but the same songs still play on my synched iPod. I have a MacBook Air, Lion OS, Itunes version 11.0.1 (12). I didn't see this problem with older versions of Itunes. I do not manually change the organization of the Itunes library. I use the Itunes "add to library" feature or Amazon's MP3 downloader. Sometimes, however, I have changed song information in the "info" window. Such as unchecking the "compilation" button and sorting by artist (for that song), so that I can search by artist in the top pane of Itunes (otherwise the song is sorted in an album that is a "compilation," but not under the name of the artist who sang a particular song. I've done this without problem in the past, but perhaps the newer version of Itunes can't handle the changes I made and has lost track of where the older version of Itunes stored such songs? How do I fix all these older previously ok changes if that's the case... If I could just find where they are stored in Itunes it would be easier perhaps. I've looked in compilations, unknown artist, and so forth to no avail. And Finder search can't find them.
Details: suddenly, many songs are marked with "!," denoting that Itunes cannot find the songs in the library and cannot play them. Oddly, my iPod CAN play the "unlocatable" songs with no problem (it has been synched "post problem"). So the songs are still there somewhere in the Itunes library. This problem occurs by album, that is, all songs from the same album become unlocatable, although different albums by the same artist may still be found and played.
Exploring the Itunes library to try to locate the missing albums/songs, I discovered that generally there is no longer any folder specified for any artist associated with a missing album [artist is the top level of organization and album is the second; compilations are in the same folder]. This is true even if I have other albums from the same artist which Itunes IS able to locate. I cannot find a single song/album by such artists anywhere in the Itunes file system, even the ones that Itunes can still play. If I right click and "get info" for an unlocatable song, I get a notification box that asks if I want to locate the file. If I click "no," next thing-- the info window for the song pops up, with all the correct info (including sort info, which I double check)! Why is Itunes able to locate all the info on the song, but is not able to play the MP3 file?
Using Finder I cannot locate the songs that are unlocatable by Itunes (except the original download files in the Amazon MP3 folder). Finder is, of course, able to find Itunes songs that Itunes has no trouble locating. What's up?! My iPod can find them just fine. I just synched my iPod again and am playing the "unlocatable" songs right now.
I can "fix" most of these files by downloading files one by one into Itunes from my Amazon download folder or from my CDs using the "add to library" feature. In fact, it is strange. But this will take a very long time! And what if this problem continues recurring? But something strange happens when I implement this fix. I added one song to Itunes (from the Amazon MP3 folder, using "add to library") for one "unlocatable" album of Pete Seegers. After adding that one song, I looked at the Itunes music library and discovered that a folder for Pete Seeger (which was not there before I added the song) had been newly created, or restored. In this folder was the one song I had just added, but ALSO all my other Seeger albums that had previously remained "locatable" by Itunes. But the other "unlocatable" songs were not restored, unfortunately.

I have found a workaround. When I create a new playlist, iTunes allows me to add or remove songs from existing playlists for a short while. Then, for some reason it prevents me from adding and deleting songs again. Not sure why. Go figure.

Why does itunes give an error saying " The Iphone cannot be synced. An unknown error occured (-50). Everytime I try to sync my phone?

Why does itunes give an error saying " The Iphone cannot be synced. An unknown error occured (-50)". Everytime I try to sync my phone? I have another Iphone that syncs with the same itunes account and it's working fine.

What operating system do you have on your computer?

Songs are showing up and playing fine in iTunes yet will not sync to my iPad it is a selection of songs by the same artist, all gone?

Songs are showing up and playing fine in iTunes yet will not sync to my iPad it is a selection of songs by the same artist, all gone?

Try Missing Artist or Album not with others by same artist
tt2

Can you play 2 songs at the same time using itunes?

I would like to put music under my audio books and my question is "can you play 2 songs at the same time using itunes?"

I am not aware of a way to play two songs at once in iTunes. However, at least on a Mac, you can definitely open and play multiple things in QuickTime player. Sooo, you could open a music file in QT Player then start it and start the audio book in iTunes. Or open the audio book in QT player and listen to that there while iTunes plays music.
Patrick

Why does itunes crash upon opening after the software update?

Why does itunes crash upon opening after the software update? Everything worked fine until I decided to update this morning and as soon as the computer rebooted, the error message appeared. Is there anything available to fix this?

I answered the same question in a similar post. It's all to do with the wireless sync.
I used the following method to stop iTunes from constantly restarting -
Open task manager
Select the 'Processes' tab.
Look for 'iTunesHelper.exe'
Select 'iTunesHelper.exe' then click on 'end process'
Hope this helps.

Why does iTunes Match download songs that I skip?

I haven't seen this question posted yet, but feel free to direct me to any pertinent posts.
I've been using iTunes Match for the last couple days, and all in all I really enjoy the service. There is one issue that I've yet to see addressed on these boards yet though; why is iTunes Match downloading songs that I skip? I listen to all my music in random, so occasionally there will be a song I just don't want to hear at the moment. I assumed that if I don't listen to a song completely that it would not be downloaded to my device. Not true apparently. I was able to use about half a gig of data in a few hours just by skipping songs. Every song that was skipped, even if I didn't hear a single second of it, was downloaded (at an average size of 5-8 MB). I sincerely hope this is just a bug and not a 'feature'.
Any insight on this would be appreciated.

I have noticed this too. I filled up my phone VERY fast yesterday.
and deleting is not easy, lots of left swipe DELETE action, took a while.

Can iTunes sync multiple songs with the same name?

My iTunes library has multiple songs with the same name (but they point to different files on the filesystem).
Curiously when iTunes syncs to my iPhone it will only ever sync two of the files, even if more exists. I suspect what is happening is described below, but I have no way of verifying it:
Let's assume I have 5 songs named IdenticalName, on the filesystem these are named IdenticalName.mp3, IdenticalName 1.mp3, IdenticalName 2.mp3, and so on.
I suspect iTunes is syncing the filename without a number postfix, and the file with the "1" postfix and not continuing with the rest of the files.
Has anyone seen similar behaviour? Did you find a workaround (other than renaming your tracks)?

can you manually discover the new instances on the new server?
Then just make sure the name that appears in Grid Control is different.
e.g. prod.world is on server A and B. When you discover in Grid control, you can make it prod_B and you will see the latter without any problem.

How do I shuffle the songs by the same artist in a playlist I made??

I hope this is the right forum, I have a 30GB. OK so I created a workout playlist which has about 200 songs in it and have it set on shuffle. but when I play it on my Ippd it groups all the same artist together. I don't want the same artist to play back to back but it does. I have toyed with the shuffle over and over and I can't seem to figure out how to make them play randomly. any help?
Message was edited by: Jenerallee

While a song is playing keep pressing the center wheel and you will get the shuffle menu that will allow you to change the shuffle type from "off", "song", "album".

I changed all songs to the same artist by mistake ...help!

I accidently changed all my 712 songs to have the same artist. Is there a way to fix them back without manually typing in each artist?
My son says i can use idump to put the songs from my ipod (which are correct) into a file, then load them into itunes.
Thanks.
Mike

My son says i can use idump to put the songs from my ipod (which are correct) into a file, then load them into itunes
Yes.
Were these songs RIP'd from CD using iTunes?
If so, select them, then menu Advanced -> Get CD track names.

Why does my iPhone 3G/iPod repeat the same song over? I can't get any playlists or albums to play...

Why does my iPhone 3G/iPod just play the same song over and over? I cannot figure out how to get it to shuffle or play through an album or playlist... It just started doing this randomly and it's very frustrating!

You have probably Repeat turned on. See the top of p. 77 of the User Guide.

Why won't iTunes play some songs from the cloud

I am traveling with my MacBook Pro and opened my iTunes library. I have iTunes Match also. Some of my albums have the cloud with the down-pointing arrow...but they won't play and when you click on it, nothing happens. What am I missing?

I will try that on my Macbook Pro when I get home, if I can figure out how to do it (some more detailed instructions would help. . .). The problem I'm having is songs I ripped from CDs into my iTunes library. The songs and CDs are all available for purchase on iTunes, so I'm not talking about some obscure music. iTunes recognizes them. Some of the songs from a given CD play; others do not. In two cases, entire albums won't play. were originally ripped from CDs into my iTunes library on an HP computer running Windows 7 (my Macbook doesn't have a CD drive). All of the songs appear and play fine there. However, the "grayed out" iCloud icon problem exists (and I can't play those songs) on my Macbook, my iPhone 5S or on my PC at work - which leads me to believe it's an iCloud or iTunes problem. . .

Why Does iTunes Make Combining Songs Into a Single Album So Difficult?

Can anyone explain, or refer me to a website, that explains and lists in a "1,2,3" manner the illogic of the iTunes "get info" panes and why iTunes splits, combines and erases data depending upon what you put in the "get info" area. I have looked at many websites with suggestions and some work and some don't. The frustration I have is that I cannot decipher the logic of what iTunes is doing. Some comments and examples:
1. I thought it was convention when you highlight multiple anythings, and specify a change, this change is done on all highlighted things. For example, when I want to combine several songs into a single album, highlight them all and fill in information in the "get info area", sometimes it combines, sometimes it splits the songs, sometimes it erases the artwork. Even when I specify "part of a compilation".
2. Sometimes when I add "various artists", it combines the various highlighted songs but then erases the artwork.
3. One would think that when you specify any songs as "part of a compilation" that would automatically force these songs into a single album. Sometimes iTunes does, and sometime it does not.
4. Even when I think I have entered exactly the same information there apparently is something different. It has taken me up to 15 minutes first of very careful checking of spelling, spacing, etc. then just totally randomly changing something before I can get songs together.
5. Why isn't there just a very simple button that says something like: "no matter what, force the highlighted songs into a single album? Is there any way to simply and easily force songs together into a single album no matter what is in the individual "get info" areas?
Anyway, you get the idea. Surely there is some set of rules or logic that I am totally missing. Thanks.

Thanks, that was extremely helpful but unfortunately this very well laid out website confirms the fact that this is a very un-Apple-like interface that is confusing, contradictory and extremely difficult to use. Not sure if anyone from Apple reads these threads, but in the next version they need to do an extremely serious remake. I think this part of the interface must have been designed by refugees from the PC camp who somehow got hired by Apple!
Thanks again.

Why does iTunes play consecutive songs by the same artist so often?

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