Implement an actual shuffle function

[RoninTheOrigina]

Yes, you read that right.  The "shuffle" function in Spotify is nothing more than a randomizer.  There's a difference?  YES.

RANDOM - Play one song.  The next song can be ANY song in your playlist.  Including the one you just listened to.  Though I've never had this specifically happen, I literally just heard the same song that I heard 2 songs ago.  This is how Spotify's "shuffle" currently functions.

SHUFFLE - Take your entire list, shuffle them (like cards), and play the first song in the shuffle.  Once finished, move that song off the pile.  Once the pile is depleted, shuffle the deck again and start over (maybe pop a message up).

I know enough about programming (not much) to know that shuffling is probably a bit harder than random, but come on.  I may be in the minority, but I don't have a lot of little playlists.  I have one list with nearly a thousand songs in it, because I like all the music, and am rarely not in the mood for one of those songs.  But what I can't stand is hearing the same song over and over again.  I think there may even be songs in my list I haven't heard yet, while I've heard others 4-5 times.

I know it may not matter much, but I would probably lay down the money for at least a year subscription if this feature was implemented.

EDIT: Another user pointed out that I can see what all is queued up in my shuffle by clicking the Play Queue link, and that Spotify supposedly sets up a rolling shuffle of 50 songs.  It would be nice if this range could be expanded to say 50-100% of your playlist.

EDIT 4/6/12: I just dealt with the same song 16 tracks later.  The song played the first time yesterday afternoon.  I went home, listened for a bit on my home PC (just a few songs), then started listening again this morning.  If the list recycles itself after a day, or if you log in from another computer, I see that as an area for improvement.

[Duckdammit]

Totally agree. Does spotify even acknowledge that there is a suffle problem?

[Rob_C]

Don't think so...

[user-removed]

They acknowledged it by releasing this to the press:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2960934/Is-music-player-really-random-Spotify-says-us...

Which with testing both on my desktop and mobile apps is wrong.

Songs are re-playing very frequently, I have compiled lists showing as much... but they don't care 🙂

[Duckdammit]

Ur rite they are sprouting bull. I can toggle random on and off and the same songs show up each time from a playlist of 5000 to 37000 I know enough about math to figure this out. Plus until they changed the algorithm I had no problem. This **bleep** keeps up I'm going back to pandora

[aunicornvomited]

I really hope the shuffle is fixed soon. Its so completely awful. How it replays the same darn songs really makes me angry. If there were a Spotify alternative with a functioning shuffle I would switch in an instance. It would also be nice to be able to move songs around in a playlist. RIP GROOVESHARK! How I loved you

[jvanfossen]

A Shuffle Work Around

I found if I make a new empty playlist, sort my old main playlist differntly, and copy every song into the new playlist, then the new playlist shuffles differently.  Suddenly I hear songs I have not heard for a long time!  I have done this in March, April and now May with success.  I simply name the playlists "April 2015", "May 2015", etc. 

[Duckdammit]

This is what support told me to. Listen to a song on a playlist I don't want to listen turn Suffle off after the song plays switch to the playlist I want to listen to and turn Suffle function on. Jury still out

[DeKnox]

Same story here. ~300 song playlist where I here the same song within a couple dozen tracks of each other

[sgreene822]

Are the people at Spotify not paying any attention to the 20 pages of complaints on this one issue??? I know the status is "watch this space" but it doesn't seem to be getting any attention. The reason for that is probably because they think they have a wonderful work around with the algorithm they created. But guess what! The algorithm has only made the shuffle worse! How hard is it to create a shuffle that puts each song you listen to at the bottom of the list? Then you don't hear that song again until it gets through the entire list. Other companies have figured it out.

I guess Spotify will take note of this issue once they realize everyone is leaving them for Apple Beats once it comes out. Then I will be gone, sayonara, done, departed, finished, vanished, down the drain, out the window...and any other words that are synonyms for GONE!!!!

[Duckdammit]

Try playing a song on a playlist you don't want too listen too turn the Suffle off after the song plays switch to the preferred playlist turn Suffle on