Random thoughts while drinking

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by markem

The coin flipping problem is a very simple case but on point. For a balanced coin (that's key, again), the odds are exactly even that the flip will result in heads or tails. That it comes up heads 10 times in a row doesn't mean that there is a greater or lesser chance of tails on the next flip (think of that as "independence" between coin flips). Similarly, that a song isn't picked in a specific window of listening doesn't mean that it isn't equally likely as any other song to be played next.

Yahtzee.

TonySmith, you're thinking of randomization with ascending odds for the unpicked songs. What the system is doing is not reducing the pool of songs to be picked from. Still random, just different odds.

If the songs played in order of their tracks, and cycled through the CD's in order, that would not be random.

[awsmith4]

Good music, good beer, randomize = Robert Johnson+Widespread Panic = Robert Randolph

[markem]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

TonySmith, you're thinking of randomization with ascending odds for the unpicked songs. What the system is doing is not reducing the pool of songs to be picked from. Still random, just different odds.

When I make my song lists for my iPod, the random selection scheme looks like a drawing from a hat (where once a song is selected, it isn't put back in to the hat). I think that this is what many would like for their "random" selection - put all the songs in a random order without repeats until all are played.