However, the player uses the STL std::sort call as part of the deduping process. Maybe I should change it to use std::stable_sort to guarantee the relative position of equivalent elements. This would mean that it was always the first that was selected.

I think that might be worth a try. After removing the "always randomize" tag from every playlist, making sure my albums were listed first and my custom playlists were last, then re-syncing, I still get the same behavior: When I un-shuffle I'm sometimes dropped into one of the custom playlists instead of an album playlist.

Would you mind building one that way and sending it to me to test?

I assume that it would make things slower when you hit the "shuffle" button, though, huh?

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Tony Fabris