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.

[bytebodger]

http://writing.voyage/spotify 

This is the link you need to "fix" this problem (if you have a premium account).  If you don't have a premium account, there's nothing I can do to fix the company's shameful ignorance of this issue.  Because the API calls needed to make this work will only function on a premium account.

But if you have a premium account, the link above will allow you to do a TRUE shuffle of any of your playlists.  It also has a feature for a VASTLY improved recommendation engine (because their built-in recommendation functionality is just as pitiful as their non-shuffle functionality).  

I'm not going to explain everything here in this post.  If you go to that link with a premium account, it has two "How does this work?" links that explain the utility.

Cheers.

[cookies5]

I have so many folders in my Spotify and I like to play my folders in shuffle. I used to play random songs right from the start when I play them in shuffle. But now, it always play the first song from the first playlist in the folder. Can it go back to the way it was before?

[Qlippoth]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[mc_mellow]

bytebodger thank you for this!

[mc_mellow]

bytebodger i added about 20 songs to a playlist now and it seems that it is not shuffling as I'm now getting 6 Stevie Wonder songs in a row... so does it mean that everytime I add songs then I will have to go through the thing you suggested. This is painful.... 😞

[bytebodger]

@mc_mellow: When you say "does it mean that everytime I add songs then I will have to go through the thing you suggested" - exactly which "thing" are you referring to?  Did you try my web link?  Spotify has some issues with their API, so I'm having a hard time getting it to work on the web player.  But if you're using the desktop player or a mobile app, it should shuffle your playlist properly every time you use it.

[mc_mellow]

@bytebodger thanks for the reply! i did what you advised on your first message, used the link, etc... it worked... then i added more songs and it seems it is not shuffling as well as before. 

[mc_mellow]

i did in on pc, then it worked on mobile...as you prescribed

[bytebodger]

@mc_mellow When you say that you "added more songs and it seems it is not shuffling as before", do you mean that you added new songs to the playlist, then you returned to my website, you shuffled the playlist again, and now the newly-shuffled list "is not shuffling as well as before"??

If you're "shuffling" by turning Spotify's shuffle but on-and-off, then no, it won't work well.  It never does.  If you're shuffling by choosing your playlist in the dropdown menu and then clicking "Shuffle!", it should work the same way every time.  It works by taking ALL songs in your playlist and using a truly RANDOM algorithm to completely resort them and then sending that new play queue back to your Spotify player.

Did you load up any new songs to play IN the Spotify player AFTER you did the shuffle?  And did you read the "How does this work?" link on the site?  Point #11 is as follows:

1. The Spotify player works by continually building new lists in the Play Queue based on the actions that you take in the player. Every time the Spotify player uses its own (crappy) internal logic to rebuild a Play Queue, you will be stuck with the same shuffling problems that they refuse to fix. So if you use this tool, then you navigate to a new playlist in the Spotify player, it will erase the perfectly-randomized list that was created here. This just means that you'll need to return to this tool if you want to launch a new, properly-randomized version of one of your playlists.

[bytebodger]

Let me try to make this clearer, because it's a simple concept but I think it's rather confusing to explain.  

My utility (http://writing.voyage/spotify) will create a new, TEMPORARY list of songs in your Play Queue.  The Play Queue is not the same as your Playlist.  The Play Queue is a TEMPORARY block of songs that Spotify is currently playing for you.  

Any time you launch new songs, or relaunch existing playlists, IN the Spotify player, it wipes out the current list of songs in the Play Queue and replaces it with something new.  

So imagine that you used my utility to create a wonderfully-shuffled list of songs to play, based on one of your playlists.  THEN, while in the Spotify player, you search for some song and you play that song.  At that point, the shuffled playlist that you generated through my utility is GONE.  It's replaced with the SINGLE song that you searched for and played.  If you then click on your playlist in the Spotify player and attempt to replay/reshuffle it, you'll be stuck with the same old crappy Spotify shuffle.  If you want the "real" shuffle, you need to return to my utility and reshuffle the list.

Does that make sense?