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.

[Andx96]

Wow, that's so encouraging! (not)

Seriously though, why so sure?

[Artracing]

I got an email from customer service saying they're not going to fix it.

[cormierjimmy]

Any other solution than spotify ? Bored to listen sames songs

[Artracing]

I use the radio with 8 channels going for 1960's to current. When you hear a song you heard before you push the other channel. You end up with 100 times more selection and less labor then manipulating Spotify or Pandora. Spotify maybe will fix their problem by 2020

[WalkAway]

seriously I'm **bleep**ING TIRED of the shuffle function.

My Hip Hop Playlist (e.g.) contains over 800 songs. Everytime I listen to it in shuffle mode, it keeps playing the same 100 songs over and over again....

Will this ever be changed? Or is this due to major labels pushing their top artists into my ears??

[Artracing]

Spotify said they are not fixing the problem. My only thing I do with spotify is this email I paid for a year of Spotify and couldn’t take it anymore Someone has to try to make a difference.

[Donschitz89]

I am tired of hearing the same 10 songs out my playlist which is hours long. It seems that when you close the app it doesn't save or remember where you left off. Spotify should remember the queue so that you don't hear the same songs. If not that maybe implement it so that it keeps track how often the song is played and the songs that were not played very often. Once it recognizes a lower song count it should be forced to play that next in the shuffle. The radio can use some more improvements as well.There are many users complaining of the same issue about the shuffle not being very effective. 

[Artracing]

Everyone who uses Spotify has the same problem. Spotify doesn't need to fix it. Most people only use it short period of time so they never put two and two together that it has a problem. It's got to be one of the biggest streaming music scams ever.

[raoden]

I'm a long time WInamp user and Winamp has always suffered from the same issue. The problem is that if you draw songs uniformly at random,you inherently have a very high probability of playing a song that was already played. You can bias the randomness a little bit with a different selection algorithm, but at the end of the day, you need exactly what the OP suggests: The possibility to shuffle the playlist (or the queue) ONCE and then play in exactly that order. When the playlist is done playing, you shuffle again. This is what Winamp did in the end, worked perfectly fine. It is also very easy to implement: Just add a new column "Random number" fill it with unique random numbers from 1 to #(songs in the playlist) and sort according to that column. I would very much like to see this feature.

[Wraithgr]

This is not a hard thing to fix, and yet it is not being fixed... Two possible reasons: spotify engineers are completely incompetent of solving a 1st year uni level CS problem (somehow I doubt that) or there is a reason why Spotify wants shuffle to be broken. Well, whichever it is I will soon be taking my subscription elsewhere. Unless this makes an actual dent in their subscriber count, they will never bother to acknowledge the issue...