T61 Shuffle Script

As we all know, shuffle is a feature sorely lacking from thesixtyone.com. Not at all happy with the situation, I've whipped up a Greasemonkey script that makes shuffle a reality. Interested? Read on.

Since many of you will be new to Greasemonkey, I should say a few words. Greasemonkey is a Firefox add-on that basically allows a user to install scripts that act on the websites they visit. In our case, a Greasemonkey script can "monkey-patch" the t61 code to do what we want it to. You can install Greasemonkey at its add-on site and learn more at the wiki.

The script I've made will add a shuffle link to the right of the previous button. Once enabled, it will shuffle within your current playlist, whether you are playing the hot list, your recently added, or someone else's. Nifty, eh?

Caveats are as follows:
  • Turn off shuffle when listening to the radio. Radio is not yet supported, I'll work on something clever for this.
  • I've had to change the prev/stop/next links to make room for the shuffle link. Just be aware that these have changed, I think they're still pretty clear.
  • You can't yet shuffle across multiple pages of a playlist (which, sadly, is just recently added and the hot page lists). This will be addressed in a future version.
  • At some time the developers of t61 will get around to implementing a shuffle of their own. In that case, you will likely want to disable this script.
To install the script, simply click on the script link below after you have the Greasemonkey add-on installed and it should ask you if you want to install it. Say yes.

t61shuffle.user.js

Alternatively, you can use the extension. This is unsigned, firefox will definitely complain, and I don't know how upgrading will work (I'm not so versed in the world of extensions), but for those who would rather go this route than installing Greasemonkey or can't install Greasemonkey for whatever reason, here it is:

thesixtyonecomshufflesupport.xpi

Going forward, I plan to update this script with some nifty features as well as updating old ones. I've got a script that fine tunes rack genres (so I can say I want to listen to everything but dance and electronica, for example) that I will be posting soon. I've got a few other ideas as well. Do you have an idea for a script? Something you want changed/added? Let me know!

6 comments:

Batface89 said...

This is great and I really want to use the script, but I'm getting an error installing the Greasemonkey add-on. I noticed that others were having the same issue as I am. I have a feeling it might be an incompatibility with my Mac version of Firefox (2.0.12 or something like that - the most recent version.) I'm sure they'll update soon and I'll keep my fingers crossed. :-)

Radhruin said...

That's odd... I actually develop these scripts on a mac, and have the latest version of greasemonkey running on FF 2.0.0.12. Can you get any more details on the error you're getting? Maybe I can figure out how to fix it.

Radhruin said...

I've edited the post with an extension that should work for you. Install by downloading and dragging on to firefox, and you should be good to go.

Batface89 said...

I've gotten the same error on Greasemonkey as I've gotten for every single extension I've tried to update. Something is buggy.

How do I install the extension? I opened package contents for Firefox and dropped it into Mac OS > Extensions.

Maybe this should be in the forum ;-)

Radhruin said...

Made a thread on the forums :)

Batface89 said...

I got it working after I reinstalled Firefox. Hopefully Firefox will now stop being crashy too.