To Shuffle or not Shuffle

Posted on: 19 February 2010

There's definitely a debate to be had about the use of Shuffle when listening to music. As usually seems to be the case in these situations, I'm still somewhat undecided over which I prefer. Although the term is sufficiently self-explanatory, to clarify, shuffle involves the playback of your tunes in a random order. This is usually a pre-determined list, to enable you to skip backwards and to ensure all songs are played at least once before being played again. But now we're just getting into technicalities.

Arguments For

• Keeps it fresh
• You discover tunes you may not have otherwise listened to
• Songs at the bottom of a tracklisting will get as much as play as those higher up

Arguments Against

You might argue listening to a CD in a random order goes against how the record was meant to be heard. There are certainly cases where the order is imperative, and should be preserved. For example, on a film score or soundtrack, or anything where a story is being told.

I've also found that with memorable albums that I've grown up with, the order is as significant in my mind as each individual song is. When one song ends, your mind expects to hear a song, and when it doesn't the poor thing gets confused. Well, perhaps not. But why upset the harmony that is a beautifully constructed record?

Conclusion

So I suppose you could say my allegiance is with the non-shuffle approach. However, I do have to commend the invention of Shuffle, purely for the spontaneity. Sometimes you just don't know what you want to listen to. But guess what? Your iPod does. Shuffle that baby and see what comes up, it may surprise you.