According to specs the amount of tracks an audio CD can hold is 99, an mp3 CD however can hold a lot more tracks (depending on bitrate used) and, more importantly, also have a folder hierarchy that can make for long path/filenames (up to 255 on Joliet). E.g. 117 tracks x 255 byte = 29 KB. Doesn’t sound like much to me either but this is the amount the shuffle list must cover to be able to address each song.

Sadly enough it’s also possible that it is as you suggest and it’s simply a design flaw. I’m not entirely convinced though cause I have yet to see a consumer electronics device (MP3 player, DVD player with MP3 support, and even Winamp!) featuring a decent shuffle/random algorithm that does not play some songs several times before having gone through an entire playlist.

I have one for you…

I was looking for a basic ‘a small portable” CD player, but that could also play MP3s… I found the “Panasonic – SA-EN17″ that was exactly what I was looking for. It stated all the good things, INCLUDING “Songs Shuffling”.

I was tickled pink with this… My girlfriend and I each got one.

Took these home, and worked OK but I could not “shuffle” the MP3s, no option on the menu, nor on the Remote. So, I did what we ususally have to do, I RTFM…

Lo and Behold, Shuffling is ONLY FOR regular CDs… Not MP3…

Why in the hell would they make such a product? I don’t particularly care about shuffling a single CD, but a reasonable CD full of MP3s, has a ton of music that one would want to shuffle… Darn!

So add another one “TechFlaws” to your list..

Regards,

Michel Coutu