I'm looking for a way to create a "randomly" ordered music list where tracks from the same artists are evenly distributed throughout to give maximum space before they occur again. I understand that this means the list won't be truly random, hence the quotation marks around "randomly." I've not been able to use mp3tag to achieve this, but I wanted to ask here since others might have tried this or found a solution.
I haven't found anything online, but I suspect that's because I'm not using the right search terms. I'm hoping there's a tool, app or software that can help with this. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
An example follows:
Unsorted list:
Beatles
Beatles
Beatles
Rolling Stones
Rolling Stones
Dave Clark Five
Herman's Hermits
Hollies
Kinks
Searchers
Spencer Davies Group
Who
Randomised list with maximum space between duplicates
Beatles (1)
Rolling Stones (1)
Who
Herman's Hermits
Spencer Davies Group
Beatles (2)
Kinks
Hollies
Dave Clark Five
Searchers
Rolling Stones (2)
Beatles (3)
I really like your idea! Unfortunately, Mp3tag does not have the ability to compare files and then adjust their order in a playlist. You would have to do that by eye.
Perhaps a spreadsheet could be programmed to do this but it would surely be a difficult and complex project.
Thanks for the prompt reply. I use the View > Sort By > Randomise and the first column trick on a regular basis. Just wondering if it can be taken a step further.
I would use the random order as basis.
and then proceed as follows:
Take note of the total number of tracks
Set an ascending number for each track - be it with the track numbering wizard or an action for a a user-defined field.
Now sort by the colum for ARTIST.
Scan though the list of artists and stop at the first one that has more than 1 entry.
Count the number of occurrances such an artist.
Get the previously set order number (e.g. 21), (total number of files (e.g. 168) - the order number (21)) / remaining number or occurrances for this artist (e.g. 3).
168-21= 147/3=49
This calculates the remaining space and the maximum difference for the next tracks by this artist.
Select the next entry for the artist and set an new order number as sum of (previous order number (21) + the difference (49) = 70.
And so on for the next files leading to order numbers 119 and 168 (in this example).
Proceed in a similar fashion for the next artists with more than 1 entry.
Finally sort by the order number again - even though there will now be missing numbers and some will occur twice, the playlist will be very close to your requirements.
Generate the playlist as file.
Here is a simple spreadsheet example to calculate the distance and the resulting order numbers: Calculate Distance.xlsx.txt (11,0 KB)
(remove the TXT extension so that the filename reads Calculate Distance.xlsx. This workaround was necessary to trick the forum formatter.)
Thank you, ohrenkino, for your helpful suggestion and detailed instructions, I truly appreciate it. Your guidance has reassured me that I've been on the right track, as I've been using a similar approach for many years. Using your example of 168 tracks, I start numbering the artist’s tracks with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 168, then number the remaining tracks using a similar Excel distance calculator. I've included a screenshot of my Excel worksheet for reference.
I was hoping there might be a way to automate this process using a script, app, tool or software. Thanks again for confirming that the “manual” method I've been using is indeed a solid approach.
.