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.

[macabalbal]

All I can say is that Spotify doesn't listen to it's customers.
The OP asked for shuffle and all you did was make random a little less random.
STATUS: Not Implemented

[maclarenangus]

My shuffle was working just fine for a couple YEARS until this week, then it started behaving like many of you are describing: only playing from a select group within that playlist (aka only U2 songs, still randomized, on a playlist containing hundreds of artists).  I don't remember changing any settings...help!!???

UPDATE: still a problem, but it appears it only happens on a few of my playlists, not all.  But still frustrating.  Would love this to be fixed.

[Kabomb130]

Please fix the shuffle. Please make it accurate, all I have ever hear is fetty wap. I rarely hear songs that are deep in my song saved list and it bothers me to hear the same song play even after I have skipped it. Please fix the shuffle.

[JClapham]

Since the update, I've been having a specific playlist only play the last 20 songs if I choose one of them. I have 845 songs, and if I choose to play one between 825 and 845, the algoritm will play through all 20 of those numbered songs before it will go to another song on the playlist.

[yasbelgonzalez]

Spotify Cares send me here and i don't know if we are talking about the same issue, it's been 2 weeks and i have the same playslists showing on my dash! this sucks it was better before the update.

[wallye]

Make shuffle random. Hundreds of people have complained on your forums for years and you have still not fixed this problem. Currently, shuffle is not random enough; it shuffles through the most recently added songs rarely playing any of the older songs. In my experience, I have a playlist of around 200 songs. Over 4 hours of constantly listening to this playlist, about 90% of the songs played came from the last 50 added. And I hear the same song multiple times constantly! THIS NEEDS TO BE CHANGED. Like I said, many people have this problem. I have several friends who have dropped using Spotify Premium for this reason and I am next. This is a simple fix. I realize the song generator should not be random. The reason for having an algorithm based shuffle is to (1) play recently added songs and (2) to not repeat songs. Let me tell you, you're doing the first one too well and the second not at all. Simply change the code to not repeat songs! This is the least you could do, but do something! After reading your community forums, I couldn't believe that this hasn't been fixed. Make an option in the settings to change the way you want the shuffle to work or something. Please make this change and hold your pride and title in being the best music streaming service out there, because it surely won't last if you don't listen to your customers.

[tlange28]

It pains me to say this because I love the whole concept that Spotify represents. Fix this issue or Spotify becomes useless to me. We listen all day long at work and the goal seems to be getting you to hate half of your music and to forget the other half exists. My issue with the playlist automatically switching to radio has also not been addressed. Automatically switching to radio and playing some random and completely inappropriate song while trying to speak to a family about funeral flowers kind of defeats the purpose of a carefully curated playlist. 

[devjj79]

I try to shuffle play on my iPhone and noticed repetitions in a playlist of 3300 songs that is supposed to be about 300 hours of music. When I try to control the playback on the iPhone using the Windows (7) app I notice that it is set to shuffle, but when sorted by title, it will play everything that starts with a number of an A or sometimes a B. When I sort it by title in descending order, it will play everything that starts with a Z or sometimes a W, you get the idea. The sorting by title was supposed to be a trick to work around shuffling not working, and its playing only the first x songs at the top of the list, but that 'workaround' now clearly shows a pattern. Then after not having played songs for a few minutes and clicking around in the app, mysteriously will be kick back into something that seems random again, being: I see songs starting with different letters of the alphabet each time again. This is clearly not a matter of how us humans 'perceive' randomness, this is clearly a bug and it is surely bugging me.

[vchiea]

Totally agree on this!! The main reason I set the Shuffle option on is to actually be able to listen to any song on my device, regardless of date it was added or the letter it started. Being able to bring up songs that I have forgotten is amazing, but unfortunately it does not happen. It is always shuffling throught only a short sample of songs and if I want it to play tracks that are out of this "sample" I have to manually pick a different song throught the long song library and then start to shuffle again. Also, the last one I noticed was songs shuffling only through the same range of starting letters (from H to J), until I manually picked another song, it was only playing tracks that started with these letters. Please do something about it Spotify, the experience with the app is getting more boring with this issue left unsolved.

[brandynhazelton]

I was sent here to give feedback. Currently spotify takes max 80 songs from playlists and shuffles into queue. When this is completed, it replays the same 80 songs. Spotify needs a shuffle that shuffles the entire playlisy not a portion of it.

Thanks.

Brandyn Hazelton