Do you shuffle your prog playlist?

No, I usually don't shuffle my playlist and only listen to full albums. 

No.  It's against my religion.

Another thing for me, I can like some songs within albums I don't really like so much, or which have other songs that do nothing for me, or even annoy me, so, why should I listen to those other songs repeatedly? I just put them in another list or compilation, and can listen to them in whichever order I thought apropriate... or shuffle them, however.

^ 

I don't think I've ever purposely used the shuffle function - I've turned it on without knowing A LOT, which gets fixed as soon as I spot the error. I do select individual tunes and make playlists for parties and such tomfoolery. I never shuffle anything other than cards (poorly).

I have no issue making playlists that contain a lot of different stuff or similar themes. In those cases, shuffling works fine. However, some albums must (for me) be listened to in their intended track order. I may skip a song or two that I don't care for but I listen in order. For instance, when I spin Power Windows from Rush, I skip Big Money but them listen to the rest of the album in order. When I listen to Aja from Steely Dan, I never skip a song and listen in order.

Erwaco wrote: Absolutely the worst way to listen to any type of music except a mix tape which is already shuffled. The artists put into the order they did for a reason.

In terms of commercial releases it is often the producer who chooses the order rather than the musical artists themselves in the end. Sometimes the mastering engineer is part of it, and sometimes the execs play a part. Often it's a collaborative decision.   It may be an artistic decision, a commercial decision or a combination of both. Sometimes the record company wants a certain length and tracks are added that the artist is not happy with.

Like with films where you sometimes find various cuts of a movie, the same thing can happen with albums. The artist is not always happy with the order or happy with the reasoning, so why should the audience be happy?

And just because an order was chosen for an album does not mean that that order is the best for every listener.   Making amateur mix-tapes can be quite creative in a sense, just as professional compilations can be.

Back to randomly shuffling, I've already shared my thoughts on why I like it sometimes, but to reiterate: that can lead to re-discovering music, and produce some very happy juxtapositions (or at least ones that make me happy). It can make music fresh again for me. To each his or her own, but for those that have never tried it, don't automatically knock it. Sometimes I want variety, but since I only have albums that I like on my iPod (and I have a great many) the results are much more likely to be enjoyable to me than listening to the radio.

Edited by Logan - April 05 2017 at 06:27

Guldbamsen wrote: I never shuffle anything other than cards (poorly).

gr8dane wrote: ....I also delete songs from albums I don't like. Why waste time on songs I don't like,when there is not enough time to hear all the ones I like

Because it's not unusual to hear a song in a different context/sequence that may have been unappealing before suddenly have some nuance that was not recognized within the context of the album. Happens to me frequently when shuffling with headphones while mowing the lawn or something.

Edited by Tapfret - April 05 2017 at 16:15

Probably.