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.

[vivimage101]

The main issue I am having with the algorithm is that it needs to be shuffled more. I don't have an issue with the same song coming back up, unless I restart the shuffle. I'm getting songs of the same artist multiple times when I know I have thousands of songs spanning through hundreds of artists.

[user-removed]

so are u clicking the playback button


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[guidoinperu]

They've taken our music hostage. And us with it. 

How does the shuffle function work
You hit shuffle from a certain song. Spotify will only take 50 - 80 songs that are around the song you clicked in the playlist. If you have a long playlist from A to Z, and only hit Shuffle, it will shuffle only the first songs, say A to C depending on your list. If you click on a song that starts with an M, it will only shuffle and play the songs around the M. It does not shuffle your whole list. So if you have your list in alphabetlical order by Artist, that's why you'll be listening to the same artist over and over again. 
Once those 50 to 80 songs are finished, it will actually switch to Playlist Radio: it will NOT continue with your playlist! 

Since third-party solutions don't work for me (I love the initiative bytebodger dont get me wrong!) mostly because they don't work with playlists including local songs, and in practice don't work because you'd have to remember which song you've heard last if you listen to other playlists in between, I've been trying out other techniques to avoid the annoying, frustrating Shuffle function. 

Workaround without third-party tool
I started listening to my playlists in alphabetical order by Title. This more or less shuffles it (although you'll have to listen to all versions of, say, Bohemian Rapsody one after the other 😄 ) and lets you enjoy your songs in a somewhat random order. However, even without the Shuffle function for some reason Spotify seems to find an "end of the list" after playing 50 to 80 songs (even though your list has 200+ songs), and either starts at the beginning of your list again or switches to the Playlist Radio. 

Using several devices

If you have several devices (for example I have an old tablet connected to the speakers but usually control Spotify from my laptop) it doesn't always correctly update/sync the Waiting List on the other device. For example I've listened to, say, 80 songs from A to D and see the Waiting List getting shorter: I know that Spotify will want to change to Radio or start all over again. So, whilst playing, on my laptop I hit another song (e.g. starting with E) to start playing another 80 songs of my list. The newly clicked song will play from the tablet as you expect. However, on the tablet the Waiting List remains short and doesn't update like it does on the laptop. I have to stop the playback, then start playing on the laptop again and then switch to the tablet, from the tablet. (Or stop and then hit next song on the tablet, of course.) Not super important, but not very user friendly either... It just shows all the workarounds Spotify pushes you into.

Conclusion
In short, you have NO CONTROL over what you want to listen. You continuously have to check it and correct it if it has changed the way you want to listen to your music. Or should I say, their music. 

[hojudygoldstein]

I want to hear Broadway shows in the order the songs apper in the show.  This is the third time you simply shuffled them on me without telling me.  I will  be switching to Amazon and plaing the shows in order on my Echo.  You just keep messing me up and I am really, really tired of being treated that way.  Amazon costs less and the show is in the proper order.  Too bad you do not know how to do that.  Judy Goldstein

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@RoninTheOrigina wrote:

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.

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[stewart100]

I know there have been a load of complaints about shuffle in the past and they're all marked as solved, but it still doesn't work. 

I have a playlist of 1700 songs. If I sort by recently added and click shuffle my play queue will populate with recently added stuff. I've tried sorting alphabetically be song and the result was to only get the songs from the start or end of the alphabet depending on which direction I sorted in. Same result when sorting by artist. 

It's quite clear looking at the results of shuffle that it's only taking the start of the list. Why is it so hard to shuffle a large list? If it's not possible for this to be implemented, Spotify should be clear about what shuffle can actually do and how it works so we can use it as well as possible. 

Just to be clear, I really don't believe that it's impossible to make this work adequately. 

[gtrmtx]

I am a simple man with simple expectations.

When I buy a car, I expect to receive an entire car, not just a steering wheel.

When I open a book, I expect all of the chapters to be there, not just the Table of Contents.

When I click the shuffle button, I expect for the media player to shuffle all songs in the playlist, not grab ~20 songs (and seeming to prefer my newer music) and play those same ~20 songs repeatedly in the same order.

Come on, guys.

[stroberts3]

I contacted you because I added 50 songs to a playlist, and have yet to hear one of them play during over 20 hours of shuffle play.  Your response was to send me to a link that is almost 2 years old, saying you've improved your shuffle algorithm.  Were you trying to insult me, or just prove how little effort you put into customer service?

[CrapuleJack]

Welcome to the club pal



I have been watching this thread for over a year, never saw any kind of official Spotify answer



I suggest you also tell them on twitter @spotifycares and savor the irony...

[timhampson]

This feature still sucks! I need better shuffle in my life! 

[KenCrawford]

This is definitely a bug, not a feature.  Shuffle play means randomized play by definition, and any non-random results are indication of fundamental flaw in the math involved.  Correct shuffle should have the following features:

1.  True randomization of first full play-thru of list

2.  Protection against second play thru exactly duplicating first play-thru

3.  Protection against any individual track following too closely in the second (+) playthru to it's having played in the first.  A good way of approaching this will involve rearanging the second play order to move songs which are closer than half the playlist length to a randomized position in the last half of the PL.

This is really just a math issue, if you need help with the math you have many qualified mathematicians and coders in your user community.  Don't let pride stand in the way of fixing problematic basic functions of your service.