Do You Shuffle?

I used to hate the shuffle function on my ipod.

I would imagine there are many others who use shuffle way more than I do, but I must admit I have enjoyed "shuffle all songs" on my ipod recently. See, right around finals last semester my car decided it didn't really like third gear and it just wasn't going to let me use it anymore. Or, more accurately, if I tried to use it such an attempt would be protested loudly and violently. I had recently acquired a 1980's era road bike and, since summer was upon me, and I was feeling a certain combination of environmental consciousness, anti-establishment rebellion, and bank account emptiness, I decided I would forgo fixing the Jeep and use my legs and pedals (and public transit) to get around until I got too sick of it, or it got too cold.

There's a lot more I could say about biking in SLC, but I guess that's a different post. . . . The point is there are times, especially when I'm riding my bike, that I like to shuffle. (Always with only the right ear bud in, which is a loss for stereo, but a gain for safety.) I like not knowing what song is coming next. I like being surprised by the quality of a track that I had overlooked or forgotten about. I even like the variety of hearing a different artist for every song.

There are, of course, trade-offs. Shuffle feels lazy and indecisive to me. Worse, if a song comes on that I don't want to listen to I can't just change it while I'm riding. There is something more satisfying to me about the experience of listening to an album from start to finish. (But is it the right time to appreciate your music when you're trying to navigate the awful potholes of Utah roads and dodge oblivious Utah drivers?)

Anyway, as I've had a bit of a change of heart on this subject I've wondered where others come down in the debate to shuffle or not to shuffle. So do you?