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.

[dugarrey]

Ok, one thing I have discovered, that if you use Shuffle on on device (say PC) but are playing on another (iOS) the playlist is limited to 50. Selecting shuffle on the same device as you are currently playing on seems to work...

[Natball2205]

I'm liking the new shuffle more, and have heard a few songs I haven't for a while, but still repeating a few. Fight For Your Right and No Sleep 'til Brooklyn repeat a lot. Keep trying. Thanks.

[mrbeaubo]

It still appears to have no memory of things I've played in the last few days.  You need to give more power to the users who pay you Premium every month.  Let the users decide:

1) If song has been played in the last X (user fills) days, do not play in shuffle.

2) Sort playlist by last played date (option for users to look at).

3) Do not play a song twice in the same day (check yes or no).

ETC.

Everyone has a different idea of what shuffle means.... so let the user set this up.  A couple of these options would go a huge way.

[Spuddy_Spud]

Something like iTunes live playlists would be useful. I had one that consisted of songs from a favourites list that had not been played in the last 6 months. Every time a song got played it was removed from the playlist, with the result that I got fresh playlists every time. This would require a database of playing habits either on your device or in the cloud I guess, but it would be very welcome. As it is, I think the shuffle function HAS improved but continuous improvement is welcome.

[vhaaren]

Still can't put a bunch of albums in the queue and shuffle them  Still can't put 2 playlists in the queue and shuffle them.   You still have the most frustrating player in the music industry.

[Groomsey]

I have my playlist all in alphabetical order without the auto sort thing and I've noticed that if I'm playing songs that start with 'S' I don't hear any that start with like 'P' or further up in the alphabet. My playlist only has like 560 songs in it but maybe the Shuffle program has a specific range of songs that it can process to be shuffled. I'm not a programmer or anything but I've noticed that.

[emh1692]

Just confirmed - it has NOT been fixed. 

Does Spotify intentionally not respond to issues directly then give vague answers as to what they're doing to resolve the issue ("we've made some updates - check them out") in hopes of everyone just dropping the complaint?

Could Spotify tell us: 

1. What changes have been made

2. How that should affect our experience using Spotify Shuffle

3. That they register that they understand the complaint that is actually being made here - that Shuffle creates a queue of 50 songs and then plays that 50 song list over and over, rather than shuffling through the entire playlist

4. That this isn't the intentional functionality of Spotify's shuffle

Thanks!

[baxleyblake]

I also have problems with the shuffle which is the only way I listen to my music, this is not a minor problem I'm disappointed nothing is being done.

[Haelaeif]

Spotify, sort this out.

I have playlists with a couple of hundred songs. When I hit SHUFFLE I do not expect the same 40 songs over and over again. You can physically see it in the queue for heaven´s sake. IT´S DRIVING ME MAD. It´s not hard to implement a proper shuffle, so many other programs do it so much better and I can genuinely write such a program to shuffle songs entirely randomly that rremoves this issue myself. Please, please sort it. I enjoy spotify for it´s accesibilty, it´s just this one major issue...

Also, please convince Steven Wilson to put his music on spotify... Cheers ;).

[phoenixnraincry]

I am thinking of going to another music service. I AM TIRED OF THE SAME SONGS after I took the itme to make a 500+ song tracklist