Mac hints and tips
iTunes: A better Shuffle
Click the Shuffle button in the bottom left-hand corner of the iTunes window and the program will play the music in your library or playlist in a random order when you click the
Play button.
It's a great way to listen to music and it's a clever feature. You may find that it is pretty good as it is, but if it isn't, you can tweak it so that it produces a better selection of music.
Start iTunes and select Preferences on the iTunes menu, click the Playback icon at the top and at the bottom of the window are the Smart Shuffle options. Drag the slider to the left or right to make it more or less likely that tracks by the same artist are played one after the other when the Shuffle option is selected.
You can also shuffle songs, albums or groupings too.
iTunes: A better Party Shuffle
Select Party Shuffle under Playlists in iTunes and the program will display a list of new and upcoming music selected from your library. You can choose the source of the tracks in the pop-up menu, for example, you can choose the whole music library, purchased music, your top rated, recently added and so on.
Some tracks on an album are better than others and if you have rated them you can ensure that Party Shuffle selects songs with higher ratings more often when creating the playlist. Tick the option at the bottom of the window when Party Shuffle is selected.
You can choose the number of new songs and recently played ones from pop-up menus too. After tweaking the settings, click the Refresh button to create a new Party Playlist.
