Random Shuffle Based on Track Rating

[Timlagor]

I'd like a random shuffle function that plays the tracks I like more (rate more highly) more often. A simple linear relationship (so that a rating 3 track is 3 times as likely to come up as a rating 1 track) would work fine: effectively treating each track as existing independently |rating| times in the memory.

[[Saint]]

The only way to do this presently, is by artificially increasing the odds yourself.

For example, if there is a particular track you like, then if you insert that track 10 times into a playlist of 100 tracks total, your odds of hearing that track in random playback increase from 1/100 to 1/10.

I hope this helps.


[Saint]

[trgz]

The only way to do this presently, is by artificially increasing the odds yourself.

For example, if there is a particular track you like, then if you insert that track 10 times into a playlist of 100 tracks total, your odds of hearing that track in random playback increase from 1/100 to 1/10.

I hope this helps.


[Saint]

I too am looking for a rating solution (though I want to filter out the poorer songs for certain situations rather than weight them) but I just looked at the suggestion out of curiosity and based on that idea and did a rough calculation that for a little over 3,500 of my rated songs I'd end up loading up just under 17,000 to my iPod. Admittedly I use iTunes's 1-5 star rating (though I appreciate it's stored as 0-100) so it would be half that.
I wonder if the above suggestion could however be combined with a system of hardlinks/softlinks/symlinks/shortcuts rather than extra files...

[[Saint]]

I just looked at the suggestion out of curiosity and based on that idea and did a rough calculation that for a little over 3,500 of my rated songs I'd end up loading up just under 17,000 to my iPod.

I wonder if the above suggestion could however be combined with a system of hardlinks/softlinks/symlinks/shortcuts rather than extra files...

The keyword in my prior post, I guess, is "playlist".

For example, if there is a particular track you like, then if you insert that track 10 times into a playlist of 100 tracks total, your odds of hearing that track in random playback increase from 1/100 to 1/10.

Rockbox's playback system, even if it isn't immediately obvious in every case - for example, when using the File Browser or Database - is playlist based. There's no need to insert the file itself into device storage N times when it can be inserted into the current playlist at any given time N times.

I do this myself frequently in situations where popular albums/tracks are more desirable than others in a large shuffled playlist - parties, <insert_social_gathering_here>, etc. - and although it most certainly isn't the same as an auto-weighted pseudo-random playlist, it does the trick.

My apologies for not making this clear in the first instance.


[Saint]

[trgz]

The keyword in my prior post, I guess, is "playlist".

Ah yes, of course, playlist entries! I now see that it actually makes for a cunning solution to the OP's post. Now if only you could nest a playlist inside a playlist in RockBox then all you'd need is 1 master playlist with n copies of your each of your n star rated playlists (ie 10 of 10star, 9 of 9star...).

[Echo]

Hi,
I wanted to try to implement this feature, since I wanted it my self.
My main idea was to artificially add a track several times to the dynamic playlist before shuffling.
The I realized this makes no sens, since the shuffle chooses the play order in advance, not on each song.
This means that the only real affect this would have is that the most favorate tracks will apeare more on the playlist but as you go through the entire playlist you will still here the least favorate tracks.
What you really need is a random feature, that chooses the next track only when the previous one ends, without considering what tracks were played before. Then the likelihood changes will make sens.
I will try to get around to implement that one but it seems a bit more complicated and may be confusing since the shuffle mode will have 4 differant options (normal, shuffle, random, priority-random) and users might get confused.

[chrisjj]

The I realized this makes no sens, since the shuffle chooses the play order in advance, not on each song.
This means that the only real affect this would have is that the most favorate tracks will apeare more on the playlist but as you go through the entire playlist you will still here the least favorate tracks.
What you really need is a random feature, that chooses the next track only when the previous one ends, without considering what tracks were played before.

Shuffle is what's often called Random Order (think pack of cards). What you're asking for is often called Random Selection. The essential difference is that random order removes the pick from the candidate set whereas (as you say) random selection does not. The larger the set remaining, the less difference that makes. So random order (shuffle) becomes more like random selection as the set gets larger. This means you could get near the feature you want just by duplicating the list, e.g. ten times. Only a listener with a very good memory will be able to tell the difference

I haven't seen a Rockbox features that can do this. I have done it using an Mp3tag export script.