Good randomiser for PC music box.

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 14:30

Hi guys, heres the deal. Ive built a music/media PC (XP not MCE) to replace the knackered 10CD system at my hotel and would like to automate as much as poss, its running a simple stereo line to an amp hooked up to the internal speaker system.

All that aside i'm after a program to randomise the large selection (roughly 20k songs) neatly so that ya dont get ronan keating etc every 20 odd songs lol also if possible one that will allow playlisting by genre or similar? (so that more 'interesting' tracks come on later when old mr + Mrs johnson arent sat in the resteraunt covering their ears if you get me

)

And on a legal note, yes all songs are owned and yes we do hold a current Performing Rights permit/certificate.

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 16:10

sinister_stu said:
iTunes will do that for you.

Spyware piece of crap tbh, hate it.

Cheers marc, didnt think of winamp oddly lol

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 16:36

Can i get winmamp to play WMA files?

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 16:39

Sic said:
you may hate it, but spyware, it is not.

may i ask what leads you to believe that there's any spyware in/on/around itunes? other than the fact that you're misinformed of the definition of the word "spyware"?

lol, im not misinformed on what spyware is, however calling it that was a generalization. Rather i deem it an intrusive peice of software. Seems to come bundled with everything, is a nightmare to use compared to media player and it removes control from the user and is difficult to remove. On the other hand it makes me a lot of money, about 5% of callout jobs i get are to remove i-tunes, almost double that of removal of AOL software.

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 16:41

Weebull said:
It does by default.

Doesnt seem to

if i add a dir with MP3's in then it lists them, if i do the same with a dir full of WMA nowt comes up

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 16:58

Weebull said:
Hmm, that's odd. Maybe it's a Winamp v5 thing, because it reads them fine in 2.9, which is what I use.

Yeah i had to obtain a 3rd party WMA decoder, oh well sorted now.

Sic Well firstly, people are click-hoars, think they are installing one thing then suddenly itunes has comandeered their music, converted most of it to a format unreadable by other programs, you've got associated real-player reminders allo over the place and, although not technically a fault of iTunes, the interface differs so much from media player that most people find themselves unable to play their tunes at all. Your right, it is subjective, but thats a bit like saying that spam advertising disguised as windows error pop-ups are there to "offer genuine services that are truly needed by the customer" The truth is that these companies will do anything to get their software on your computer, everything in their power to keep it there and then very little to help you get rid of it.

iTunes even remains the default music player once removed, one customer even reported that it tried to redownload itself after uninstallation...

Ultra_Extreme · 15 Jun 2006 at 19:47

JimmyEatWorms said:
What's iTunes got to do with RealPlayer?

FWIW I think iTunes is the best "jukebox" software out. It's so easy to find what you'e looking for in even the biggest library. I never use anything else.

oops meant quicktime my mistake.

Ultra_Extreme · 18 Jun 2006 at 17:17

i dont get why random is so difficult on PC, ive tried loads of things, even dreaded iTunes, and whichever i use they tend to cycle through the same 5-5 artists or albums all bloody day, even worse when u restart the computer the 'random' order repeats almost identically. Why is it so hard to just pick songs randomly jeezz

Ultra_Extreme · 18 Jun 2006 at 18:15

pinkegobox said:
snipped

The thing is, if you make playlists for certain times of the day then you get the same problem as with CD's, same songs at the same time every day, also with a large song collection you rarely hear even half the music. Google turns up sweet FA, sucks.