How songs are chosen ?

[hdradio]

I wonder how songs are chosen. Is it completely random (with respect of history checks) ?
I ask that because I notice that there are many songs that are never heard of, while others play very often.
Do you use "play count" number on your "FindSong" method ?
If you can explain this how to, I might use filters in a better way.

[radio42]

Yes, the 'Random' script-line mode is totally random (without using any "play count").
If a filter is used, at first the filter is applied to return a list of 'matching' tracks and from that list a pure random pick is performed.

[hdradio]

hmmm... That explain the repeats !
Any plans on enhancing that ?

[radio42]

If needed for sure, but how do you expect things, as the current behavior is plain Random.
So just let me know what is missing...or what you would like to add as a feature...

However, 'repeats' are effectively hard to measure, as it depends heavily on the time frame (range) you are looking at.
For sure, a random function might pick the same track/number again (even if not all other tracks/numbers have been picked), but that is the pure (and desired) nature of any random function.
However, the random function pretty much equally distributes its values over time...(equipartition is ensured)...it is just a matter of the total number of samples used to measure the equal distribution I guess.

[hdradio]

There could be some options (like some other popular software):
1. Random
2. Least times played (will order by "Play Counter" and result the 1st found).
3. Least recently played (will order by "Played Last" and result the 1st found).
In all cases will first exclude files in histories and then query the rest of them.

I see that in Filter dialog there are fields "Last Played in Days" and "Play Counter" that can help somehow, but it will be better to have the above options.

[RedPanda]

This is also something that annoys me. I don't use ONAIR for a radio station, but I use it for a 2 hour show each week. Other than that I use it as a media player for my home, and it's fun to play with. I finally learned how to make my first script, and I noticed the exact same issue described here. This is not expected behavior as this isn't Winamp, this is play-out software, so truly random is not acceptable. there should ALWAYS be a play-count on the songs even in random mode to prevent songs from being repeated and others ignored. I've left my ONAIR playing music for 5 days and I heard multiple repeats, yet other songs in my folders would NEVER get picked. This should be a basic and simple feature in software like this. SO it needs to fixed or the options added in a simple way, and a way to track it ourselves. I'm not smart at this stuff, so I have no idea how to do it other than it needs to be done. ONAIR should be counting number of plays + history to determine what songs have been played or not and it should always seek out the least played songs or at least it should try to keep everything equal.

[radio42]

I would say, that the "Last Played in Days" field does not help, but it is the option to use. With that value you can perfectly implement the desired options you are missing.
So it might simply be, that most users wouldn't know how to implement that with the filter resp. are not familiar with it and as such are missing a direct mode.
But a simple filter like "Last Played in Days" is greater than resp. is less than X days results in the options missing.

And I am pretty sure, that the current Random mode results in equally distributed samples, even, if some tracks are repeated, that in totally normal. As said, it is a matter of the overall number of samples and the number of tracks available in your lib.

A strict 'Least Played' option would finally result in a sequential playback if it is really implemented strictly, as there would always in the end only one least played track left over.
Same for a 'Last Played' mode, if implemented strictly this would always return the last track.
I know you also meant to consider the history, but this is also not always possible, as in case of large media libs the history might be too small to be in effect.

So as said above, using the "Last Played in Days" field in a filter is the solution.
But as said, I agree, that many users might not think about this option and as such need a direct/simple mode by itself

[hdradio]

Bernd I agree that when using the "Least Played" and/or "Last Played" would always return the last track.
What I had in mind while creating my script was to use all the methods for choosing songs (Random, Least played, Last Played) ensuring that all the songs from my library are chosen and not having that sequential playback.
If I use "Last Played in Days" > 3 would pick a song played 4 days ago and ignore a song played 4 months ago.
But if I set "Last Played in Days" > 120 and my library has not so many tracks, will have no result and this script line will be skipped.

[radio42]

Yes, that is correct.
That is why I said: I agree, that many users might not think about this option and as such need a direct/simple mode by itself.
Those might easily be added to a next release...

[radio42]

In v3.0.13.32 two new script-line modes have been added:
- LeastTimesPlayed
- LeastRecentlyPlayed

Both script lines act on the entry statistic and are similar to the Random mode.
But the pick the least times played track (PlayCounter) resp. the least recently played track (Last Played Date).