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I don't think people really grok random.

Like when they complain that their MP3 player plays two songs from the same album when it's on random.

The "random" algorithm in a media player is not supposed to be "random pick with replacement". It is meant to be shuffle, and that's indeed what it is called instead of "random". A shuffle algorithm that plays the same song twice is indeed a broken shuffle algorithm (except if, of course, the playlist actually contains two instances of the same song).

Yes, but that's not what the GP was talking about. Sometimes shuffle will play two consecutive songs from the same album consecutively, just from randomness, and people will complain.

Incidentally, I prefer random pick with replacement, at least when selecting from a set of tracks greater than one album.

Sometimes shuffle will play two consecutive songs from the same album consecutively

only if it is coded badly

That depends: is it supposed to be a random shuffle or a 'random' shuffle?

Believe it or not, some of us quite like it when we are randomly presented with two tracks in order.

That's why some players (like Foobar2000) have "Shuffle" and "Random" as separate options.

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