That last song...

Since you look at this page, you probably own an iPod shuffle. If you are like me, you like to upload new music on it, set it to shuffle mode and enjoy. Yeah!

Until there comes a song you really love or hate, but your trusty shuffle lacks a display, so there is no way to know (other than to memorize some lyrics and google for them) which song it was. Let me correct that: There was no way.

last played is a small python script that will put the last 5 (or whatever you tell it on command line) files you listened to on screen. Now you can easily delete songs you hate and find the songs you love to give them 5 stars. Note: The link goes always to the latest version.

I recommend putting the last.py on the root directory of your shuffle. You can then start it from there using python last.py on the command line. Note that as of version 0.2, last.py will find your mounted shuffle regardless from where you start it.

last played is released under the terms of the GNU GPL. You know the drill.

One Problem

Since the iPod shuffle recreates its shuffle sequence whenever the end of the current shuffle sequence is reached, the script might return wrong results now and then. I have not yet tested it thoroughly enough to confirm it, sorry. However, this should not happen too often.

Changelog

• 0.3 (2005-09-03) shuffle detection now also for windows, sequence mode detection
• 0.2 (2005-08-22) automatic iPod shuffle detection (POSIX)
• 0.1 (2005-08-02) initial release

To do

• shuffle finding for non-POSIX operating systems. I have a windows on this machine, where I can test it. Alas, I do not have access to a mac-os (pre X) machine. Can someone help me?
• mode detection testing - as of version 0.3, regardless if you listened in shuffle mode or sequence mode, the correct files will be shown. However, if you switched modes during the last titles played, the result will be wrong for all files before the switch occurred (Actually I use my shuffle in shuffle mode exclusively, so YMMV).