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.

[ObeyConsume]

I doubt it's a flat rate per song. Spotify, Netflix and services like them are in constant negotiation over licensing rights with various content owners. No doubt you've seen previously unavailable (greyed out) songs appear or, entire albums dissapear from the catalog. This is due to deals expiring, being renegotiated etc. Maybe .06 is the average rate.

I mean, devil's advocate is that it seems to play the same songs in the same order even after toggling shuffle for a list, suggesting more problems with the algorithm than just hidden agendas.

I really do suspect though that licensing plays a factor here.

[Tobraham]

Performance royalties are pretty standard so every song play should have a flat rate they have to pay the publishing companies. Now if a label is paying Spotify a fee to play an artist they usually just feature that artist in the Home section or create a special playlist for you.

No conspiracy theories here - computers just suck at 'random' unless you build in a memory system or a weighted system like the one I wrote at www.riograndemud.com/shufflefly

[daterxies]

Have to say this has been an issue going on for years.. if they wanted to fix it they would have by now.  Absolutly NO idea why they wouldnt as its one of the biggest complaints, but they just dont seem to care at all about there consumers.

[julianerenee]

so frustrating. in this day and age.

[TheNoobieWaffle]

I have owned a spotify premium for over a year. Probably much longer, I started using Spotify in 2014 and it didnt take me long to get premium.

I think is spotify is great, and I love it. But, there is one main thing I would change. The shuffle algoritm.

I've been looking around, and the shuffle has always been a subject of discussion. Not in a good way, either. I've seen a lot of complaints about the same songs being played way too often in a large selection of music. Why is this? Spotify most likely makes millions of dollars? Why has this not been fixed? I know it cannot be that difficut to fix something like this, so I again ask: why? As a programmer, I know that the best random is not truely random. I havent looked at the article about how the algoritm works, because I really dont want to know the details about it. I don't care all that much. I just want a working shuffle system.

An here - but, note: it may seem like odd ideas to someone who is not a programmer. I'll do my best to explain my reason for the idea proposal. Take the date and time into account when the shuffle button is pressed. Down to the millisecond. Computers are not really random, they have an input and calculate an output. Using the millisecond on your computers time as a "seed" or "key" to randomize may prove to be beneficial. Put the date into that, and time in minutes and seconds will only add to the randomization. Time is most likely already implemented. If not, please add. Another idea: maybe flag a song as played (all behind the scenes in the programming), and dont allow that song to be played again until every song in the playlist is played. Then all the flags are reset. Every time you hit the play button on a playlist also resets the flags.

There are many open source random generators online. Of course, you guys done need to use or even study them. I'm sure you guys have a team of compenet programmers. Which leads me to the question again: why has this not been fixed?

I have used Spotify for a very long time and there are not many other things I would change about it except for this. However, considering I like to let my songs shuffle so I can (hopefully) hear a variety of songs. But, this issue is really starting to bother me. If not fixed soon, I will swith to another music subscription service. And I will really be pissed off, because that means I need to take a lot of time to add my song to a library on the other service. Not that you guys care, I'm a single person. It wouldn't even matter if I told all my friends and family to stop using spotify. But, I would. I would tell them not to get spotify if they dont already have it. And, I used to tell my friends and family they SHOULD use Spotify.

Please fix this issue. Randomization is a relatively basic thing for a programmer, and a company like this certainly has the power to fix it.

[julianerenee]

it SHOULD be a pretty simple thing in this day and age, considering each person is paying every month!!!!! soooo frustrating.

[travddm]

Yeh

[RockieRat]

I've been thinking about moving on too... I hear the same 50-or-so songs. Sometimes they EXACT same songs will shuffle. There are songs on my list that I have never heard randomly in over however-many years I've paid for the service. It doesn't play from Airplay to my speakers through my Macbook seamlessly, so I can only use my phone. All other serves work just fine! 

[RockieRat]

Edit: "Services"

[rednblu]

There is an on-going Reddit discussion of the complete failure of every "SpotifyShuffle" on any playlist of over 200 tracks in the last 365 days >> at this link.  <<