Is it no longer possible to create shuffled playlists in iTunes 11?

Steve, sounds like you've been using shuffle like I have. In essence, I'm really using the shuffle feature (in v.10) to create albums mixes. I'd bundle all the songs from an artist from several albums into a single playlist, then shuffle the songs. As you said, you can see the shuffle result in 10 but not in 11. In fact, there doesn't seem to be anyway to shuffle in 11 the way we did in 10.

I'm really ****** about this because it tells me the developers have NO clue how people use iTunes. That, or they just don't care. Either way we get screwed.

And Chris, when I said convoluted and stupid, I was venting at Apple, not you. I appreciate the input, but there is really no excuse for Apple to do what they did. They fired some key people recently. More need to be canned. The truth is, crap rolls downhill - it starts at the top. Apple has become too big, it's like trying to deal with AT&T. The worker bees do their best, but the beast is a monster and it has a momentum all it's own. This began before Jobs passed away, it may not be anyone's fault other than the company has become too large.

And if that's the case, we're really screwed because it will only get worse. Apple looks destined to become bigger than ever...

Thanks for pointing out your misery also Steve! I just pulled my 30G ipod out of my truck and updated it with itunes 11. I then noticed that all of my playlists are now, no longer shuffled! And no ability to shuffle them in my ipod!

I may need to roll back to iTunes 10 to fix the issue, which will irk me even more...

Apple REALLY needs to put the playlist shuffle/save feature back in to iTunes!!!!

kazech wrote:

Thanks for pointing out your misery also Steve! I just pulled my 30G ipod out of my truck and updated it with itunes 11. I then noticed that all of my playlists are now, no longer shuffled! And no ability to shuffle them in my ipod!

Why not simpy turn on Shuffle?

Chris CA wrote:

kazech wrote:

Thanks for pointing out your misery also Steve! I just pulled my 30G ipod out of my truck and updated it with itunes 11. I then noticed that all of my playlists are now, no longer shuffled! And no ability to shuffle them in my ipod!

Why not simpy turn on Shuffle?

I'm going from memory here, so bear with me. Here's the regression of play list shuffle in iTunes.

Features:

1. Ability to shuffle each play list separately and the list would remain in that particular order until it was re-shuffled by the user

2. Playing a shuffled play list did NOT re-shuffle the list. You had to manually reshuffle

3. In preferences, you could set how agressive the shuffle algorithm worked, using a slide adjustment

4. Ability to shuffle each play list separately and the list would remain in that particular order until it was manually re-shuffled by the user OR the play list was played, which caused the list to reshuffle (freakin' annoying by this time)

5. Playlists no longer shuffle in any way. Shuffle now becomes a library-wide playback control feature only.

Version 8: included features 1, 2, and 3.

Version 9: included features 1 and 2. #3 is removed.

Version 10: included feature 4 only.

Version 11: feature #5 only.

Welcome to the dumbing down of playlist shuffle into oblivion.

Chris CA, you've been very helpful EXCEPT the one part you keep saying to do (click on the column all the way to the left, with the numbers) doesn't work or do anything on iTunes 11, as others have said. Someone had previously suggested creating a smart playlist with all of the songs from the regular playlist you wanted to shuffle, then shuffle that and click on the left column to get the shuffled order (then you could select all and drag to a regular playlist) but it appears that apple has taken that feature out of even the smart playlists section.

MAJIC44 wrote:

Chris CA, you've been very helpful EXCEPT the one part you keep saying to do (click on the column all the way to the left, with the numbers) doesn't work or do anything on iTunes 11

Yes, I have now noticed this.

I don't use iTunes 11 regularly but I have it installed to check things out.

Chris CA wrote:

kazech wrote:

Thanks for pointing out your misery also Steve! I just pulled my 30G ipod out of my truck and updated it with itunes 11. I then noticed that all of my playlists are now, no longer shuffled! And no ability to shuffle them in my ipod!

Why not simpy turn on Shuffle?

The question should be, why change the existing shuffle capabilities in the first place, going all the way back to version 8? As time has moved forward, they've removed some features and added others. It seems to me that Apple is now interested ONLY in getting you to do two things:

1. Buy music and movies. iTunes is a store front first and a database management program fifth. Not sure what else it is between 1 and 5, but it's not to be a helpful application except as a bloated store browser. And with 11, even the store browsing is worse. So much for latest and greatest.

2. Get you dependant on cloud storage. It's the killer app, a service that becomes more valuable the more you use it. Or put another way, get you dependant using Apple's cloud because it's too hard to move to another service or paradigm. Look at the other big players. Microsoft, with W8, is trying to get you addicted to their cloud, as is Amazon. Everyone wants you hooked, by the balls.

Having done a fair amount of beta testing myself, I have to wonder who the **** does the higher level beta testing? Usability testing? Consistency? Font selection? It's a big list. And no one seems to be doing it. Or maybe it's just some dumb 20-something who thinks he knows how things should be - but hasn't a clue.

So, I noticed that some of my play lists stayed shuffled and others didn't when I updated to 11. Who missed that "feature" in beta testing? Still, play list shuffling is buh bye. What a joke.

There is a way, but it's not intuitive:

1. Create a new Smart Playlist

2. Define your rule as: Playlist > is > (select the playlist you want to randomize)

3. Check the "Limit" box and set the line to the number of songs in your playlist > items > random

4. Click OK

5. New playlist created, sorted by "artist"

6. Organize the song numbers (first column)

7. Result: Randomized playlist that used to take one click of a button.

Haven't tried syncing this to an ipod yet.

Hi Eric, That doesn't work for me. I would have to create a new playlist each time to randomize it. I need to be able to randomize my CURRENT playlist and save it. Then save that randomized playlist to my iPod. The player in my truck will only recognize 6 playlists that have a specific name. With iTunes 11, that randomize/save feature is now gone...

I used to be able to "shuffle" and save my playlist each time I "played" it. Apple, please bring back the ability to save a randomized list.

I'm curious how that wouldn't work for you. I was able to sync the new randomized playlist to my ipod and it stayed in the new random order.

So, say you have your original playlist...A. Go through the steps I outlined to create a new randomized playlist...B. You wouldn't have to drag-and-drop a new playlist each time, just go through the smart playlist rules. Get rid of playlist A and sync B...or just keep them both and sync just the one you want on your iPod.

I agree, it would be easier if they'd just restore the original functionality, but there is a work-around.

Yes, that's the same workaround I've been using, and it works. The only step you missed was this: When you sync a smart playlist to an iPod, it always sorts by artist in the iPod. Instead, you have to make another new playlist (normal, not smart) with manual sort on. Then copy your shuffled songs into the new playlist. When you sync that playlist it stays shuffled.

It's really stupid to have to do that much work to shuffle it. I use another app to play my music that doesn't have a shuffle feature so I need my playlists to be shuffled before hand. The app allows me to play music behind my audiobooks and podcasts - another feature apple should allow.

Create new smart playlist.

Uncheck "Match the folowing rule" option.

Check "Limit to" option

Limit to more tracks than you have in your library

In box after "selected by" choose random

Press OK

On itunes window click on your new smart list.

Click on the box at the top immediately above the numbers, left of the check box and the "Name" box

You should now have a randomised playlist

Now create a new ordinary play list

Go back to your smart playlist and select all

Right click and select "Add to Playlist"

Select your new ordinary playlist

Go to your new ordinary playlist and you will see all the tracks from your smart playlist

On your ordinary playlist click on the box at the top above the numbers

You should now have a fixed, shuffled, ordinary playlist that you can delete from.

What you cannot do is add to the list and then shuffle

You have to add new tracks to your library and go through all the steps above again, deleting your previous ordinary playlist when you have done so

I use the comments box to add details of which tracks I've recorded so that I don't burn them again when I have to create a new playlist

You can delete the smart playlist as soon as you have created the shuffled ordinary playlist

Another slight variation on a themre here. I did not read through all 4 pages of content in this thread.

But the gist of my issue is that I want a visible reordering of an existing Playlist (in iTunes) when I select Shuffle. As this occured in previous versions of iTunes (v10 and lower).

In iTunes 11 the List stays in the order it was set up in and the Song selection jumps up and down the list. The only portion that you can actually track is the drop down in the Header panel for the "Up Next" feature. This is crap as it only shows aprox. the next 20 songs. The History option is even worse. As is bundles the previous tracks that have been played from all over - whether you sampled something from the iTMS or several songs in your shuffled List or songs from a different List or Device.

There is no visual for the randomly created order of the List.

Apple you are failing more and more every time you implement something new. Less is more only works to a certain point and ultimately we do not want a single button that perform 5000 tasks no matter how naive you wish to think your customers are.

I came here, frustrated for the same reasons as you. Having bought a new MacbookPro I now have to live with iTunes 11 and the loss of iTunes DJ is had to cope with.

I actually never used iTunes for anything BUT syncing randomised playlists to my iPhone. I have about 35 000 songs and I liked the feature of having the computer randomly select which songs to transfer. I was being constantly suprised by songs choices I would never have made myself.

I have found a workaround by using some of the tips in this thread. Here's what I have found...

1/ I created a smart playlist set up as follows (excuse me if I get the exact names wrong, my iTunes is in Swedish) I ticked the box in the upper left corner ("similar conditions"?) I set as a single condition that the playlist should pick songs from "music". I limited the number of songs to 35 000 and then selected "random" in the last box. I also ticked the "live update" box. I called this playlist "shuffled".

2/ Once I clicked OK I sorted by clicking the number column, next to "names". I now had a shuffled playlist containing all of the music in my library.

3/ I then created another smart playlist and set it up as follows: I ticked the same upper left box and set as a single condition that the playlist should pick songs from the playlist called "shuffled", i.e. the playlist I just created. I limited the number of songs to 100 as this is enough for me to last a while on my iphone. I also ticked the "live update" box here. Quite important, I think, for this particular playlist. I called this playlist "random".

4/ This only has to be done once and doesn't really take that long. The trick now is to update/refresh the "random"-playlist and here's how I did this: I selected the playlist called "shuffled" and chose to edit it. I changed the number of tracks from 35 000 to 1 and hit OK. I then changed it back to 35 000 and hit OK. This little manouver refreshed the "random"-playlist which now contained 100 new tracks, so to speak.

I hope I have explained it well enough. It's not as easy as before but almost.