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.

[ponyboy3]

Seriously, I APPALLED there are 31 pages of this requests panning almost 4 YEARS!!

I listen to alot of curated playlists and have heard a bunch of music I wouldnt otherwise.

Which is the only reason I use the service.

Obviously you have a deal with the artists/labels about how many times you play their songs on (notice the quotes) 'shuffle'

The customer gets screwed either way:

1. Use 'shuffle' listen to 5 songs
2. Don't use 'shuffle', conveniently forget which last song I listened to on my other device.

It seriously sucks to throw spotify on, get to wrenching under a car, and listen to the same song over and over.

Its like the scene from 'spun'

[Meantek]

So, my main playlist is 881 songs strong and has songs from 24 artists. Before the update (which I seem to have installed around a week ago or so), I was okay with the shuffle feature, but no more. Ever since the update, here's what happens:

I play a song from artist A - the Spotify client shuffles to the next song, which more often than not is another artist - Artist B. So far so good. After the song from Artist B, the fun starts, the client either "shuffles" back to a song from a third artist, Artist C, or back to Artist A. After this, I'm stuck in a 3-artist loop.

Depending on which artist I start listening to, I also always end up with the same three artists - for example, if I start playing Pitchshifter, it also gives me songs from Behemoth and Triptykon - but none of the 21 other artists on the playlist. It will just keep shuffling among these three artists, endlessly.

A couple of minutes ago, I reorganized my playlist as well, and even this made a difference. Now that the last of the 4 gazillion Godflesh songs stuck in a loop is placed differently in the playlist, I'm resigned to a mix of Behemoth, The CNK and Asesino, and these three bands alone.

This is unbearable. And completely repeatable - if I choose one one artist I haven't listened to in the current session, It'll just give me a loop of that artist + one or two other and play those endlessly instead.

Honestly, if I hadn't been based in Taiwan, I'd be cheesed off for paying for this. Luckily it's cheap here at least. Also - can you not implement a "cursor follows playback" option? I often find myself wanting to queue the song that follows the one I'm listening to, but can't be arsed, since I have to browse through 800+ songs with semi-**bleep**ty filters.

[ponyboy3]

@meantek what does your queue look like?

[kikismoky]

For the past few months, I've been trying to shuffle all of the songs in My Music, but it seems as if the most recent songs added are the only ones that shuffle. I literally have to scroll down to older songs just to hear something that I haven't for a million times! I've recently just noticed this issue and it's really rather ridiculous. Also, when I unshuffle a playlist, it doesn't even have the correct order of the song list. I'm not sure what's going on, but I hope that this is in the process of being fixed soon because I love Spotify, but this shuffle issue is becoming more and more of a problem.

[Meantek]

@ponyboy3- It just queues up those 2-3 artists that then end up being looped when I press shuffle. Different 2-3 artists depending on which artist I start shuffling from.

I am running the Windows client on Windows 7, but I also remote control that from my other system - a Windows 10 based one. Both running v1.0.23.90.g42187855.

The order of the queued songs does change - but not the artists. Screenshots:

Queue pre-shuffle: http://i.imgur.com/UivP4Md.png

Queue post-shuffle: http://i.imgur.com/xUmFrEk.png - Pitchshifter only gives me Prong and Ministry songs - which are the artists immediately before and after Pitchshifter in the playlist when sorting alphabetically. I also have lots of Prong and Ministry songs on the playlist, it seems as if it'll search for the band entry before the band playing currently (i.e. Ministry when listening to Pitchshifter in my alphabetically sorted playlist), and only that. It'll also search the next 50 or so songs (just a quick estimate on my part), and include these - in my case, there should be more than 50 Prong songs.

In fact - try the playlist yourselves - you have the client version as well: https://open.spotify.com/user/115207464/playlist/3K3XZYtaC08zp11PG3y1Qq

[Danlsan]

Cool, people complained about this problem in 2012 and I'm still experiencing it in 2016. Good job Spotify.

[EPASketch]

It's still a problem. I don't have anything new to add that hasn't been said, repeats of songs immediately, beyond what random generation even if it resets each time should be.

[jtlatgf]

The update has not worked for me neither. 456 songs, 50+ artists = ~37 hours. I listen for about ~6 hours a day 5 days a week and I keep hearing the same songs 2 or 3 times a day, everyday. I have gone on to delete a few of those songs because I am sick and tired of hearing them and no longer a favorite!

[wildhearted]

Today I thought: "Hey, someone really should inform the programmers that the shuffling function is not working properly". Found this thred, still going after four years!!

Honestly, I'm absolutely baffled by the arrogance..

Living in Sthlm, I'm considering seeking my answers at the head office.

[jmecmore]

Shuffle has been horrible lately.  Seems to get stuck on a few artist (3 or 4) out of the 100s in a playlist and just keeps playing those few artists and certian songs over and over.  I hear it because I listen all day everyday at work.  I NEED VARIETY!