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.

[danielfranco76]

Any news oin the Shuffle being an actual Shuffle?

I keep getting the same songs on and on from a playlist of over 600 items

thank you very much

[huzsnagy]

Agreed, shuffle as of now keeps repeating the same songs over and over.

I have some really big playlists on my own (1000+), but I get to hear the same 20-30 tracks all the time.

[garryjoz]

I don't use the useless shuffle function - I just play my playlists from
start to finish by clicking the play button on the first song.

If I get bored with the order I either start playing half way through the
list, or rearrange the list by dragging and dropping the songs into a
different order when I'm on my PC.

As an economist, I'm amazed at the way the managers of a business can
ignore these sustained and justified complaints from their loyal customers.
Someone will come and take their business from them and I assume they'll
whine about disruption or uberisation or whatever, but they'll have no one
to blame but themselves. Corporate arrogance is never a winning strategy.

[tueloud]

Please stop playing the same songs over and over......PLEASE. 

It's irritsting having to hate my favortie songs. 

Also, I only hear songs made no more than two years ago.

[Jaahas123]

Shuffle is playing same songs or/and only like 4 same artist in playlist i have at least 50 different artist. It's been broken for at least a year. Keep up the good work as well! 🙂

[jonnehelari]

same here

[mike877]

+1

[ronlepow]

I have one playlist with 1107 songs from about 70 artists. When I look at the queue, the upcoming 30 or so songs come mostly from 2 or 3 artists. the randomness is flawed somehow.

[Jaahas123]

Spoiler

Updated: 2016-02-05

Hey folks, we have made some improvements to our shuffle algorithm that we are turning on as a default for all users. We'd love your feedback on how your shuffle experience changes after today (Feb 5, 2016). Thanks for your feedback, your comments are essential to helping us improve Spotify. 

Its not fixed.

[SnackyD]

I have several issues with Spotify - the other one has to do how the Discover algorithm works (put it this way; either it is, or I am, a poor listener), and part of me wonders if it doesn't grow from a similar problem - but the Shuffle feature...oh, the Shuffle feature.

I'm new to the platform - joined last September - so my entire experience comes after the fix February 5, 2016). I have one 40 song playlist and one 60 song playlist and, whenever I play shuffle on either, I will, with incredible reliability, hear the same 10-15 songs with maybe 4-5 randos snuck in. I assume this grows from a self-fulfilling emphasis on the songs one listens to most - i.e., the songs that Spotify's shuffle keeps kicking to the top your "hey, just heard that" list, which kicks out as "he wants to hear this again and again and again," which, opposite of what any sane person wants out of shuffle. So, maybe tone down the recency bias, or randomize against that on shuffle. Apply that setting specifically to ALL finite playlists - e.g., have it select the songs played least often, and I don't see why that wouldn't work

Unlike a couple commenters above, I've encountered this on shuffle for every audio service I've used. Overall, I'm happy. I have an enormous universe of music in my head, and I can usually find it on Spotify (NOTE: Not The Fluid). Will be randomizing my lists manually till future notice. Thanks!