Gravitonic
Andrei Zmievski

04-June-2005
Shuffle My Queue!

This is a random world. And people seem to like randomness: witness the popularity of iPod Shuffle. I am no different. I also watch a lot of movies: my Netflix queue has 72 DVDs in it currently. Recently I wondered whether it was possible to randomize my queue, so that the next DVD that comes in is somewhat of a surprise. After emailing the Netflix customer support and getting back a completely unhelpful reply telling me that I can re-order the queue by changing the priority numbers and clicking a button, I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands.

Input: GreaseMonkey, Javascript, and a couple of hours of hacking. Output: NetflixQueueShuffler. I know that GreaseMonkey scripts site already has a Netflix queue randomizer, but I think that one is lame, since all it does is change the priority numbers and click the submit button for you. Mine actually re-orders the table rows visually and lets you do it a few times until you are satisfied with the randomness.

Posted at 17:59 | Tech
Comments

Andrei,

Another option, since you are using OS X: check out Netflix Freak from The Little App Factory. I use it to manage my Netflix queue, it is much faster than using their website. It also has an option to shuffle your queue each time you add a movie.

It was worth the $15 shareware fee to me.

http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.php?app=Netflix%20Freak

Posted by Eric on June 4, 2005 06:34 PM

Nice. I guess I also wanted to mess with GreaseMonkey, so .. all good.

Posted by Andrei on June 4, 2005 06:57 PM