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.

[David]

Hello.

I've never run into the same track being played twice in a playlist when using the shuffle function, which is generally how I listen to music in playlists. Could you make sure that your repeat function isn't on too? Below is a screenshot of just the Shuffle function on. 

Also, as vurtual states above, be sure that you don't have any duplicates in your playlist. You can hunt them down using hpguru's guide right here.

[Rocio]

I have merged a new idea to this one since it was suggesting the same thing, I also added the kudos.

We are working on all of your ideas, we are here and listening, as soon as we can we will update it.

Thanks for your contribution.

[Sidredd]

I 100% agree with this. I want to hear everthing in my playlist before hearing it again, especially if this information could be carried across devices.

[Stranger]

This solution shuffles your playlist. http://jason.signal2noise.net/wordpress/?p=143

It IS a workaround, and i'd like to have this simple feature implemented into IOS, Android and PC Spotify ... but untill that day i'll be using this.

[azpunky]

I think there's something wrong with the Shuffle algorithm. I don't think it's random, actually, because it will only play a small subset of my playlist, instead of including all songs.

[jakobk]

yes, PLEASE !

[runicles]

Why can't I shuffle the songs that I have selected in my play queue, I have a dozen or so albums queued up and have selected the green shuffler and they play in exactly the order that they appear in the list, also if I Select All and then shuffle there is not change, can I only shuffle existing playlists, why not Play Queue, it would seem simple but apparently its not

[ITminion]

I concur! I thought I was going crazy listening to my playlists on shuffle and feeling like I've already heard the set of songs in the same order previously. I don't know what Spotify's internal method of shuffling is but right now it SUCKS.

[timberford]

The shuffle mode on Spotify already works exactly how you want it to RoninTheOrigina.

If you don't believe me, I can prove it...

Create a new playlist with only 3 tracks in it. Turn on shuffle mode and hit play on the first track. Spotify will play all 3 tracks and then stop. It doesn't repeat anything. You can see this in the 'Play Queue' as it will only list those 3 tracks and nothing else.

You mention you want your playlist to effectively restart once it gets to the end but not play in the songs in the same order as it just did. To achieve this turn on the repeat mode and have another look at the 'Play Queue'.

You will see that the entire playlist is repeated, but with the tracks in a different order each time. No track will be repeated until all 3 tracks in the playlist have been played.

The key thing to realise (and I think this is what is tripping you up) is that you only have one 'Play Queue'. The 'Play Queue' is updated as soon as you listen to something else.

To see this in action play a song in any of your other playlists and have another look at the 'Play Queue'. It will no longer have any tracks from the 3 track playlist. 

If you were to now play a song from your 3 track playlist the Play Queue will effectively be starting from scratch. There is no history, no memory. It doesn't know that you want to pick up from where you left off before.

[GNV7]

I think there needs to be some history in the form a play count, visible to the user or not. I've definitely noticed some songs on my playlist (1,400+ songs) playing all the time and some songs that have been played once or haven't been played at all. If the app had a play count at least it use that to determine if some songs have been played too much and some played too little.