Just an observation about random play

[kevinkar]

I use an SD card for music, all FLAC files, which contain most everything I own. I set it up so that it follows the manual - there are fewer than 30,000 total songs and no folder contains more than 1,000 files/folders (don't recall the exact numbers but I think this is close to what the manual says.) I don't use playlists. Just select the top folder, set it on random and let it go.

Random mode sucks. Plays the same artists way too much as well as from the same compilations too much. I'm constantly saying "That artist again?!?" or "That same 12-album collection again?!?" and skipping to the next song.

So I tried changing to "Library view", selecting "Tracks" and playing THAT on random and it starts off fine. Plays songs I have not heard lately. I thought my crappy random issue was somewhat solved but it seems after a few drives here and there it plays about 10-15 songs total (after setting it to tracks) and then drops out of all songs and goes to the top of the folder structure and starts playing albums consecutively which in my case means starting with 10,000 Maniacs (the first artist in the folder since they start with a number.)

What's even more annoying is that at that point I can NOT change to Library View and again select Tracks and even if I select the SD card again, I can NOT select the top folder and randomize it! Both are completely grayed out. So I'm stuck in that mode until I eject the SD card and reinsert it.

So the entertainment system is a bit wonky. I've rebooted it multiple times so that does nothing. Just seems to have trouble staying in "tracks" mode and randomizing all songs. I have used the same SD card in my phone with VLC and that works in these ways fine. I'd do that regularly but I just don't like plugging and unplugging the phone all the time and really want to use the head unit though not necessarily through Android Auto.

Just a gripe. Should work better.

 

[KevinC]

I have 2 main playlists that I use - one is about 225 songs, the other around 200 - and my experience is similar, seems to play the same stuff more often than it should, though I can't detect any real pattern to it. 2016 R so older hardware & firmware, but same issue.

 

[mike-y]

heh, I noticed the same thing. I have about 2000 songs on an SD card, and it does seem to play the same artists way too much. I end up using the skip button a lot.

 

[IK/GTI]

I have noticed this, but it has not been a major issue for me. What I have seen is that it plays some songs more then others, but seems to play almost all of them at some point. The difference for me from the other people posting is that I have maybe a max of 65 songs per folder, usually closer to 45.

 

[mawallace]

Funny you should say that - one a drive the other day it constantly played 'random' tracks from artists with the letter A - C, then another treated me to artists in the R - Z section.

Seemed to be from when I last added more tracks to the stick - wonder if there's a max limit somewhere after which it can't cope

 

[kevinkar]

wonder if there's a max limit somewhere after which it can't cope

According to the manual:
Requirements for playing audio files

Applies to SD memory cards and USB storage devices with the FAT16, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system:

• MP3 files (.mp3) with bit rates of 32 to 320 kbit/s or variable bit rate.

• WMA files (.wma) to 10 mono/stereo to 768 kbit/s without write-protection.

• WAV files (.wav) (64 - 1411 kbit/s)

• OGG-Vorbis files (.ogg) (32 - 576 kbit/s)

• FLAC files (.flac) (maximum 96 kHz).

• AAC files (.m4a, .m4b, .mp4, .aac) (16 - 400 kbit/s)

• Playlists in the M3U, M3U8, PLS, ASX and WPL formats

• Playlists no larger than 20 KB and with no more than 1,000 entries.

• Maximum of 32 playlists on a data carrier.

• Maximum of 1,000 folders and 30,000 files on a data carrier.

• The maximum size of an individual file in the FAT32 file system is 4GB.

I have all FLAC files of 96khz or less, fewer than 1000 folders, fewer than 30,000 files and no files anywhere near 4GB yet it seems unwilling to play other than about the same 10-20 artists all the time. It's music I own so I LIKE them all but when I have music from hundreds of artists I don't want to hear the same artist 5 or 10 times in one week.

If I could somehow list out all my songs, randomize them myself and create playlists from that random list, I could step through 30 1000-song playlists over a year or so and that might work. Don't know a good way to do that though.