iTunes Statistics « The Big Think

August 31, 2005

Filed under: Macintosh — jasony @ 5:59 pm

This is a really geeky, but fun, examination of the math behind iTunes’ “random” playlists.

Tim and I have been dogleg sure that the algorithm behind the “random” playlists is anything but…
I have at this present moment 3492 songs on my iTunes for the equivalent of 10.3 days.

98% of the time I listen to iTunes on “random”. That’s at least 6 hours a day, and I’ve had this computer and this iTunes for 5 months

Number of songs that have NEVER been played:
1912

Methinks the random est weighted.

Comment by Katherine — August 31, 2005 @ 7:27 pm
Have you given any of the songs star ratings? The article talks about how the star ratings change the frequency of random play.

Comment by JasonY — August 31, 2005 @ 7:51 pm
heh.

Like I can be bothered…

You know how many songs I’ve given star ratings to?

13.

To me the star ratings are a bizarre concept anyway. Obviously I like the song enough to have paid money for it in one form or another. I personally don’t see myself keeping a ‘one-star’ song on my hard drive taking up space.

Yes, it’s a wierd outlook when ‘The Night Chicago Died’ and the 4th movement of Beethoven’s 9th are of equal relevance to me.

Comment by Katherine — August 31, 2005 @ 8:33 pm

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