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.

[user-removed]

Lady Gaga twice in 15 minutes!!! Really??? Is this shufle that bad???

[user-removed]

Seriously another Lady Gaga!!!

***Closing Spotify.***

[Rifrocker]

Maybe an improved and real Shuffle function should have some idea of the last play date. But i suppose this is too hard as it is starting down the road of metadata

[Interrobang]

Feel like this got worse. WTF (btw, this is random for Prodigy, which includes two artists, 7 albums, and even more singles).

[Jahandar]

It seems a little better if you shuffle from the Starred list as I usually do, but I still wish there was an option where it would play everything before ever repeating anything, and remember the play queue in case I interrupt it by looking up new music (since it will take days to listen to everything I have starred)

[Maxmiche]

Yes, there are some nice ideas there!!!

I really like the idea Rifrocker which is completed by Jahandar.

I'm in the same situation as most of you guys, a big 500 tracks bestof playlist that I would like to be really shuffled.

Making sure that all the song in my playlist have been played once before playing a song again would be my dream.

At the moment it seems that the most popular songs are played more often.

Although my dreams might not be everyone’s dreams so maybe a little part about random settings in Edit ==> Preferences… would be good.

I don’t know how complex this would be, but here is some options ideas:

Real shuffle no replay before the complete playlist has been played

Play last added more often

Play most popular more often

Please feel free to add on!!!

[DR3AMR2]

I agree that this needs to be fixed soon.  Everyday, whenever I start my day  with spotify it goes through the same exact order of songs when set on shuffle.  No matter which song I decided to start with, within 5 songs it'll go back in the same exact order as the previous day.  I have a playlist of over 300 songs and I probably only listed to 10% of it due to spotify always playing the same songs all the time.  I've been using this (http://jason.signal2noise.net/wordpress/?p=143)  to randomize the list every week or so.  It's getting annoying to the point where I'm planning to cancel my subscription here.  

[zurbo]

Spotify's shuffle feature is just plain awful. I don't know why, but it's dissapointing that with all this negative feedback from users they simply don't appear interested in fixing what I imagine should be a pretty simple problem. Things like a more robust rating system (say 3 stars, who needs the 5 of iTunes), play count, etc. would also be greatly appreciated. Seriously, how hard would it be to implement these features? If it's a philosophy of keeping things as simple as possible for users, just have it as an option for more engaged users.

[Jackofalltrades]

I find that shuffle play ends up playing the same songs over and over within my playlists - the song selection is not very random at all. I would suggest that 1) Spotify improves the algorithm used to randomly play songs under the shuffle function so that a greater variety of songs is played under the function, and 2) allows for a new function which automatically randomises the position of each song in a playlist - that way a playlist can be played in normal mode but still offer the listner a shuffle experience.

[meahtenoha]

@jackofalltrades - I've just moved your post to this already established idea thread. It's already gathered some Kudos so please add yours too.