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.

[camhopper]

Your shuffle still sucks.No matter how many times I attempt to re-shuffle a playlist, It always replays that same playlist in the exact same order. I mean I can predict the next song coming Up Given the current song playing, and this is in a 500 Song playlist, that Has allegedly been shuffled repeatedly...super annoying. Get your programmers acts together Because this just looks lazy    

[teollo]

Is anyone in Spotify office willing to solve this problem?

It's so easy to see it exists ,,,, they just ask you "what version? " , "Are you android or ios?".

Come on! Are you kidding us?

[Friggin_Grease]

The shuffle is still broken. Trying out Premium free for a month and this is a deal breaker. I have 814 songs in a row and heard an Alice in Chains song pretty close together. One cigarette away from each time actually. Not only that it just seems to shuffle within the proximity to the order I have them on the list.

Keep in mind I currently pay for Microsoft Music and it does NOT have this issue...

[Friggin_Grease]

I turned it off and on again. Seems better. Does not handle well as you're adding songs I suppose.

[jimisola]

Hi,

I like to shuffle and play all my songs in my music library but the algorithm is simply not satisfying.

I'd say that 200 or so are playing most of the time.O ften hear 2-3 songs by an artist that is not overrepresentated.

Not sure what you improved with the algorithm but it's not good enough. WinAmp managed it great 15-20 years ago.  Come on.

[Tjabber]

It sucks, change it back to just randomizing the songs!

[jjjacob]

Today I selected a song by Vince Staples in a playlist of 75+ songs (has to be more than 20 artists in the playlist), and then turned the shuffle function on. After the first song, it played 2 songs in a row by 50 Cent, then another song by Vince Staples featurning Kendrick Lamar, then 3 Kendrick Lamar songs in a row. All of these songs had been added to the playlist within the last 24 hours. Similar thing happens on a regular basis for every other playlist I've made. Selecting a song and then turning on shuffle or using the "Shuffle Play" function doesn't seem to make a difference. I don't understand why an alogrithm that prevents songs by the same artist being played within say 5-7 songs of each other can't be implemented. The whole point of shuffle is to listen to a variety of songs, not just similar songs or songs by related artists. Please, just copy Apple's algorithm ffs.

[tjh5wp]

Preach

[ejwalsh102]

I seem to be having issues with both shuffle and direct play.  When I shuffle my list, it will play so many songs and then seem to start over from the beginning of the list when I shuffled it (maybe 30 or 40 songs).  On the PC, it will play the same number of songs, go back to the beginning, and *stop*.  

I've got maybe a thousand songs in a big playlist, is there any way to truly randomize what I'm playing?  It seems that if I pick a song at random, it will play 30 or 40 different songs (different than if I'd started from song 1), and then the same thing will happen .. it will start over again from the song I'd chosen at the beginning of the day.

[deso0880]

Hearing a lot of the same songs in a 1,000 song library, really wish it would work as a true shuffle.