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.

[PinkFluke]

Shuffle is still horrible. Repeating same songs quite often. A single line of code stating "dont play this song again in next 100 tracks" would help a ton im sure. 

I might be wrong but atleast it feels repeating.

[rednblu]

     >>  . . .  playlist on the go

Absolutely necessary-- And the only acceptable way today is with a Laptop-- Both the mobile Spotify player and the Spotify WebPlayer start those infuriating repeats after only a few hours of continuous play.  What do you find?

I notice no repeats from the shuffle on either of my Laptops-- even using the most recent Spotify player under Windows 10.  I scroll to a random spot in the playlist I want to shuffle-- Then I play that track-- Then I turn on the shuffle if it is not already on.

If I have Wi-Fi

* With the most recent 1.0.nnn Spotify Windows 10, I am limited to shuffling a 9999 track playlist-- because the most recent Windows 10 Spotify player abends after only a few hours if you try to shuffle any playlist Folder and the shuffle bug often freezes Windows 10 on a playlist Folder.

* Shuffling at least 9K tracks is necessary-- Because the Spotify shuffle always forgets what you already played and therefore guarantees that you will repeat each and every track you played in your last shuffle-- The 9K track minimum makes the guaranteed repeats so seldom that I never notice the repeats.  What do you find?

* With the 0.9.15.27 Spotify player under Windows 10, I shuffle play my whole music library Folder of 107,116 tracks and growing-- with no noticeable repeats.  That is what I am playing right now. 

If no Wi-Fi

* I cut my current pre-shuffled AllOfSpotify_Radio of 9K tracks into three playlists of about 3K each, named 01_, 02_, and 03_-- And I "download" one of these in preparation for shuffle play when I am somewhere there is no Wi-Fi-- And I rotate among the three 3K playlists for download whenever I notice repeats.

Playlist on the go is an absolute minimum requirement for the shuffle.

[eploebsack]

i still get certain songs replayed and some song are never played or so infrequent that i never remember

[PennySpeaks]

Abandon all hope, all ye who enter this message thread.

[meahtenoha]

Hi all, this is a closed idea from a few years back. We are collecting your comments here about how shuffle is working today. 

It sounds like quite a few of you today (Aug 2018) are experiencing only the top tracks in a playlist shuffling/ playing when using Connect. This has already been reported here.

We’ve given a transparent status there explaining there isn’t a current timeline for a fix. Please do leave a VOTE there if you’re experiencing the issue and a comment. We can then bring this information back internally to show the size of the issue for our users.

If however you are experiencing issues with Shuffle when not using Connect, please get back to us in this new therad with answers to the following questions. 

• Your device
• Device's OS
• Spotify version 
• Exact steps to reproduce the issue
• Is this happening just with playlists? Albums or all? 
• Is it only playlists with over a certain number of songs?
• Is this happening only with certain playlists/ albums? If so can you link us here. 
• When you hit 'shuffle' does it always start with the exact same song (please give album, playlist and song links))
• Any screenshots/ videos are always helpful

The more details and specifics we can get the better. Thank you!