Watch how this random play button works.
Video credit: Wochit Tech
Netflix has certainly contributed a lot towards streaming entertainment and the binge-watching phenomenon. It’s the one thing that people look forward to after a long day at work and what some people plan for whenever there’s a long weekend and they don’t feel like going out.
What has made Netflix so popular is not only the fact that you can choose which programs to watch whenever you want to, you can exit in the middle of an episode or movie and pick up where you left off once you return to it.
Given that there’s so much content being added, the range of options can sometimes be overwhelming. And when there are other people in the house who may have different tastes when it comes to the types of shows they want to see, choosing just what to watch can become a sideshow in and of itself.
Granted, people can just take to their own tablets or laptops to watch their favorite shows but then the question will be, who gets the grand prize of watching at the single widescreen TV in the house?
Netflix is trying to address this issue of being stumped by all the options by testing a “Play a Popular Episode” option. It’s similar to Google’s “I’m feeling lucky” button in that it’ll pick a particular show at random.
Of course, there’s that chance that you may end up watching something you’re not really into. Or worse, it might pick a show that no one else is really into, but at least it’s a fair way to break the stalemate about what to watch. Besides, you can always press the button again.
And if you’re worried that you might end up with a random episode of a black and white documentary that is in Albanian, be rest assured that it’s not a completely random choice.
Let’s say that you’ve already seen every episode of a particular show like Friends or something like that. You can then use your Netflix Android app to shuffle through all of that and play a random episode.
In a way, it’s like an iPod Shuffle except that your cycling through episodes instead.
At the moment, this feature is only available if you have an Android device. But since it’s just on trial, there’s also a chance that the option might never be implemented.
A Netflix spokesperson told CNET: “We are testing the ability to for members to play a random episode from different TV series on the Android mobile app,
“These tests typically vary in length of time and by region and may not become permanent.”
It still sounds like something fun though, just to spice things up.
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