Syncing to shuffle from a big playlist - updating/switching songs

I have a small iPod shuffle that I use for the gym. I have a lengthy gym playlist on iTunes (much bigger than the capacity of my shuffle). Historically, when I'd get to the end of a 'cycle' of songs on the shuffle, I'd plug the shuffle into my computer and ask it to resync with the playlist - it then picked a new bunch of songs at random off the playlist, so I got different tracks to listen to (obviously there were always some that 'stayed' because of the nature of randomness, but a sizeable chunk would come off the shuffle and be replaced with different songs from the playlist).


However, since upgrading iTunes it looks like I can't do this anymore. There is no option to ask my shuffle to sync with the 'gym' playlist at random - it simply copies the first x number of songs over in alphabetical order. Is there a way to sync it with random songs off the playlist like I used to? This is very frustrating!

OBS,iPod shuffle (2nd generation, Late 2008)

Posted on Nov 2, 2016 8:47 AM

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3 replies

Nov 3, 2016 3:06 AM in response to Pouxin

You can use the Autofill feature. Select iPod in iTunes by clicking its device button

User uploaded file

to show shuffle's Summary settings screen in iTunes window. To use Autofill, enable Manually manage music (a checkbox on Summary settings screen), if it’s not already. Then, along the left side of window, in the sidebar, under On My Device, click Music. The shuffle's song list appears to the right.


Along bottom of song list are the controls for Autofill. Click Settings there, and set it like this

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Set it to Autofill From: [name of “lengthy gym playlist”]. Then, click Autofill button to load a randomly selected set of songs from that playlist to completely fill shuffle.

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Syncing to shuffle from a big playlist - updating/switching songs

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