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.

[shadownz]

Hi,

I mostly use Spotify with Apple Car play. 

For some reason when I shuffle all songs it seems to limit my playist to 200 songs, also when I do shuffle it seems to pick the same songs so to get new random picks I've got to add new music then I suddenly discover I've got music on my list that I've totally forgot about.

[ecfcricky]

I've got about 50 different bands in my @Spotify play list yet on shuffle it seems to play Stereophonics 95% of the time. Very irritating @SpotifyCares

[nicolasfc]

Here´s the thing: as a lot of Spotify Players, I use the app while I Run. I have a Playlist with over 500 songs now, and everyday I´m adding new ones. Loving it since the begining, but there´s a small problem: when someone (like me, for instance) run almost everyday and using the same Playlist, it´s way common for me to hear over and over the same song the following days, which is kinda not the main idea: having Playlists with hundreds (maybe thousands) of songs, are a way to have permanently new, refreshing music.

So, here´s my Idea:  ¨NO SONG LEFT BEHIND MODE¨ (NSLB). This can be applied with any playlist, and the idea is pretty simple: if you activate this mode, no matter how many times you hear that Playlist, the NSLB mode will ONLY PLAY ONCE EVERY SONG ON THAT PARTICULAR PLAYLIST, until all of them are played at least once. This will prevent the shuffle from playing a song already played days before, so the new (still unplayed) songs added to the playlist could be played at least once. 

This mode should be only avaiable to hear a song ONCE, because if you want to have the choice to, I don´t know: play every song at least three times...then that would be a simple shuffle, isn´t?.

So, simple and clear: NSLB mode activated in a playlist, no matter how many times you come and go from it, it will play only ONCE every song of the Playlist, until runs out of unplayed songs, and after that it will inform you that the NSLB Mode has reached Full Circle. I would LOOOOOVE to have this feature, and I´m sure a lot of people could find it as useful as me. Thanks a lot! Kind Regards from Argentina 🙂

Nicolásfc

[imhotep222]

Add me to the list of annoyed customers. I have my list of songs sorted by artist, if I put it on shuffle all the 50-odd tracks in the Play Queue are by artists starting with the letter A or B - or if I select another track to play first the songs are all by artists in the same part of the alphabet.

It's not hard to randomise the order of the tracks!

[RhynoBoBino]

I've been using shuffle consistently lately and I have a feeling it favors artists and songs that I've put in heavy rotation. For example when I choose to shuffle all my music the first 10 songs are much more likely to be ones from albums I've listened to a lot recently, which just isn't the same as pure shuffle. I have a lot of different music and I'd like to be able to reach all of it with shuffle and not just the same 10 albums every day

[Darkness1111]

The shuffle feature is still the worst I've ever encountered, despite the changes you implemented. Do you guys not use your own service or something? Go back to the drawing board with that algorithm guys, or just buy rights to use someone else's as you are clearly struggling (and failing) to figure it out on your own. I pay too much to you yearly to have such basic features work improperly. Thanks. 

[carloxsalf]

I have for months the problem that in Chromecast and ulteriorly in bluethooth speakers only plays songs of 4 artists even if it has 1500 songs in my list only among them, if I listen to the music from the device everything works normally

[v_Wasp]

184 pages on this topic and still no answers from @__spo__ why... WHY does it default to 200 songs in shuffle? We have to go into our song list and shuffle from there to “activate” all songs. 

[Brisanne]

I’m totally convinced that Spotify doesn’t play all 1,000+ songs in my playlist. CONSIDERING I pay for premium, I should hear all of my music. There are songs I know I haven’t listened to, so they are not being played. Why

[Bensouth]

I have been using Spotify for years and recently me and all my friends that use have realized that shuffle doesn’t really mean much. I get the same artists back to back when I have 1400 songs saved from well over a few hundred artists. But all I seem to get lately is Drake’s  scorpion ,logic,only the newest real friends album (none of their older stuff ) and alive 2007 from daft punk and discovery from daft punk. I have recorded many different screencaps of this happening. I understand that completely random can seem not so random but something needs to change. I think music service is putting to much into a feature that’s so simple.