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.

[sfinger100]

I agree with everyone else. It positivly is not random when I'm hearing the same song every single day from playsists of hundreds of songs. It is horrible. 

Just paid for Pandora to see if their service is any better

[12123012673]

Shuffle on Spotify still sucks HARD!!! Not only does it play the same handful of songs over and over (which shouldn't happen with over 500+ songs in a playlist!), which it usually ends up being a small chunk of my oldest songs on the playlist, BUT I have a huge problem with shuffle playing the same artist not once, not twice, but THREE times in a row!! How does that even happen on a large playlist on shuffle?! I have even tried moving songs by the same artist that appear near each other far apart on my playlists.  Didn't make a difference.  And no I don't have way more of one artist than others that would keep causing this.  It happens with different artists each time.  Or I hear the same song again several songs later... Seriously.  I don't pay money to get so frustrated that I just turn my music off. 

[Mooash]

Can confirm spotify shuffle is still not an actual shuffle.

[jeffjoness94]

constantly playing the same song within 10 songs apart and repeating artists multiple times in a row. very poor algorithm and by the looks of it, many people are dissatisfied with the current algorithm as is, not very hard to create a proper shuffle algorithm

[gaston7]

the shuffle is not getting the hole list, it's repeat the songs thats get in the first place. also it may not repeat a song till the hole list played.

sorry for my english.

please fix this, is not good in my opinion. I like to hear my list of music all day, please send me an answer.

thnx

[jfk3019]

Anyone notice how in the link shared above Spotify is talking to us like we are the idiots. Well here's how it is Spotify, its real simple, we dont hit a RANDOM button on our playlist we hit a SHUFFLE button. Shuffle, at least where I'm from, means mix all the songs up and once one plays take it out of rotation. Lets make it even easier to understand. Think of a 52 count deck of cards, shuffle all the cards up, when I pull a card from the top, lets say a 8 of clubs, I should never get the 8 of clubs again until I go through all 52 cards and reshuffle the deck. I'm pretty sure thats what every single person on here wants. Easy enough to understand Spotify?

[gaston7]

the shuffle is not getting the hole list, it's repeat the songs thats get in the first place. also it may not repeat a song till the hole list played.

sorry for my english.

please fix this, is not good in my opinion. I like to hear my list of music all day, please send me an answer.

thnx

[Tanteblaa]

I really don't know why I have to post this as an idea in a community platform. I am a returning customer to Spotify, I tried the service in 2012 and found it quite horrible. In 2016 it's better, in terms of alternative music being available. BUT the shuffle function is so embarrassingly horrendous I can't believe this is available for actual, paying customers to see!
I walk home from school every day with my headphones on, and tonight is the first time I had to yank them off in frustration. 1,5 years, walking and listening every darn day.
The same 3 albums keep playing, I skipped the songs each time. I counted, the are 48 albums with this artist to choose from, and for 50+ skips, you keep playing the three albums I keep skipping. Even the same songs over and over. Often 5-10 songs from the same album in a row.
I can't skip a song without it starting to play, or can I? How? I paused for a reason.
This is worse than my card shuffling skills, and I hate playing cards....
I cannot believe this can be so difficult improve? Surely this isn't what you want to provide! Also, what's the deal with this community as way of giving feedback? I am not a fan of Spotify. I probably won't extend my subscription.

[user-removed]

OK, so I know this is a recurring complaint a lot of people have but I will not be silenced - there is a reason there are so many complaints, because this is an actual problem that is seriously making me question my faith (and my money) in Spotify.

FIX THE SHUFFLE FUNCTION ON BOTH DESKTOP AND MOBILE.

When I created this "idea", the website redirected me to a thread that suggested a solution/fix back in May 2016. It is now Dec 2016 and I still see no change. Shuffling music is still attrocious.

I am a heavy user of both Spotify Desktop and Mobile and my library consists of around 1200 songs. But I'm also lazy, so when I listen to music, I just hit the shuffle button. I don't create playlists, I just want to listen to my music.

But no, Spotify decide that today I am going to listen to a few songs in my library, most of which are by the same artist.

Attached is a screenshot of my Play History on a particular day. Please note that the highlighted are songs by the same artist, with a different colour for each artist.

Abysmal, isn't it?

The fact that I somehow managed to get three Courteeners' songs in a row, TWICE, is absolutely beyond me.

Now, I've tried to get in contact with Spotify directly but there is no option to complain about "shuffling" which is quite obviously an issue they are aware of but are doing absolutely nothing about. So here I am.

Please fix this soon Spotify. Or I might have to leave and join a competitor.

[user-removed]

I have a playlist that I'm listening to religiously atm, and whilst I love pretty much every song in the 250+ song playlist, Spotify seems to pick the same 20 - 30 songs and repeats them over and over, unless I inject other tracks using "Up Next", but I can't be sitting there doing that every 5 minutes. Can we play through all the songs in the playlist before we start re-playing them again?