tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133960841665156459.post8327592463800336265..comments2024-01-26T05:36:48.617-06:00Comments on Tales Of Brave <strike>Ulysses</strike><br>Sir Robin: Not So Random?Brave Sir Robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11885043536453757210noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133960841665156459.post-74866814704121464662007-05-04T06:58:00.000-05:002007-05-04T06:58:00.000-05:00Awesome!!!!!!I was just wonderin'......Thanks for ...Awesome!!!!!!<BR/><BR/>I was just wonderin'......<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the enlightenment.<BR/><BR/>I 'll fix the %. I didn't notice that before.Brave Sir Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11885043536453757210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133960841665156459.post-40940423147779787702007-05-03T23:01:00.000-05:002007-05-03T23:01:00.000-05:00First -- your iPod doesn't select random songs. I...First -- your iPod doesn't select random songs. It selects files from a database via a program using a hashing algorithm that's meant to mathematically imitate randomness as we know it in the analog world. Since this program considers ONLY the placement of each file in the database and not album name / artist, you may come up with several songs played close together that you consider to be "closely associated" but the program doesn't.<BR/><BR/>And no, I didn't write the program or the algorithm, so I can't tell you whether you can make the choices appear more varied by either spreading out or clumping songs by the same artist, or even if the order of songs as it appears on your iPod screen / when you plug your iPod into your computer is the order in which they're stored / accessed in the database by the program. Ask Apple. (/computer scientist)<BR/> <BR/>Second: <I>Ok, I have 1023 songs on my Ipod. 14 of them are by Bob Marley. That's .013% Yet 4 come up in the first 12?</I> <BR/> <BR/>Too small a sample. If you look at the last <I>1050</I> tracks you played, Mr. Marley and the Wailers will show up in <I>about</I> 1.3% of them (you goofed the decimal point, too -- shift right 2 places for percentage, or don't use the percent sign. 1% = 1/100 = .01)<BR/><BR/>It's been a long time since I aced my statistics final, so I can't remember the math to tell you how few a number of tracks you can listen to and have the percentage come out right, but I know it's a damnsight more than 1.17% (12 played outta 1 K available.) Tsk on me for forgetting, I know. (/mathmetician)<BR/><BR/>Third -- Don't you ever watch <I>NUMB3RS</I>? (grin) What humans think of as a "random" pattern, especially visually, is really a set of evenly-spaced things mixed up with other evenly-spaced things. You want your songs by the same artist evenly-spaced out in your playlist, but you're getting them randomly. (/geek)<BR/><BR/>And you thought I was a Mommy-blogger...Camera Obscurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07366304095952901048noreply@blogger.com