Is there a way to enforce shuffling / randomizing of mp3s on a usb stick, without of shuffle support from the playing device?

I have a sonivox speaker for travelling... it can read USB sticks and memory cards. But: Whenever I enter the USB stick, it will always start with the same song. Changing a song takes about 4 seconds. So skipping only 40 songs is gonna take you a while.

Is there some weird way I can't think of, of making the USB stick returning the next song randomly?

I was on the website of said vendor - they don't even list the product there. It is a latin american product, so I am not that surprised.

Toskan

Posted 2013-10-16T19:54:44.617

Reputation: 297

If you answer "yes" to the question posed by Kale then I can probably write something which randomly shuffles the files on the USB stick for you. – Richard – 2017-09-06T07:38:35.217

Does it play them in order by file name? If so, I suppose you could randomize the file names for a little more variation. – Kale Muscarella – 2013-10-16T20:12:09.667

Does the sonivox support directories? If not just move the most recently played songs to a subdir. – Hennes – 2013-10-16T20:29:27.410

Do they support m3u files, or any other playlist format? – Zoredache – 2013-10-16T22:18:42.590

Answers

In general a device that reads from a USB stick without any options will simply pull it in alphabetical order. The only way to shuffle these songs is to actually rename them before putting the USB stick inside the player.

There are probably scripts you can write to automate this when you plug the USB stick into a computer/laptop but there isn't any sort of universal code that all players will adhere to and be instructed to randomize the songs.

MonkeyZeus

Posted 2013-10-16T19:54:44.617

Reputation: 7 101

-1

The is a free program called MP3 Randomize you can insert into a folder with your mp3 songs. Run the program and it will replace the file name with a random number. Hence, your whole folder will be randomized. I did it on about on a flash drive containing about 7000 songs. Works like a charm.

Don Faulk

Posted 2013-10-16T19:54:44.617

Reputation: 1

Welcome to Super User! Please read how to recommend software in answers, particularly the bits in bold; then edit your answer to follow the guidelines there. Thanks!

– bertieb – 2018-06-24T01:06:03.733

2This answer would never work for the original poster. The person is traveling with a portable MP3 player and shuffling the songs on the USB flash drive with a program like this requires at least some working system to do that. What they are asking for is simply can the files be randomized on the USB flash drive itself without being connected to anything other that the player. – JakeGould – 2018-06-24T01:23:48.170

-1

I think the best you can do is to rewrite the filesystem on the USB stick by clearing it out and then adding the files back in a new order. The player would then play them in that order until the next time you do this.

You could shuffle the files' names, or change their ID3 tags, if the player is using that info to decide what order to go in.

But there is no way to really tell a player to force shuffle mode, sorry.

Kevin Panko

Posted 2013-10-16T19:54:44.617

Reputation: 6 339

you woulnt have to rewrite the filesystem. just rename the files, or change the tags, depending on how the player works – Keltari – 2013-10-16T21:06:58.583

-1

Copy all your files from you computer's main music file and sync them to the usb drive Before you sync them - rearrange them the way you wish them played It worked for me

Kmc

Posted 2013-10-16T19:54:44.617

Reputation: 1