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.

[wmerson1971]

Apple music does not at the moment have the vast / diverse library that spotify has.  While I really like the new interface of Apple Music, two features that are worse than not being able to properly shuffle songs, is they still do not offer crossfading of songs so you have the "gap" of awkward silence between songs, and you cannot manually adjust the EQ.  I don't have the same speaker in every room in my house so it's nice to be able to have a "preset" for each room or speaker.,  The lack of those two features made me renew my spotify premium for another month.  

[kcpz]

I've emailed Spotify about this issue and it seems like they were unaware of the discontent caused by the shuffle algorithm... Perhaps they don't follow implemented feature threads? Regardless, still playing around with AM, and we'll see if Spotify actually gets their act together regarding this.

[vidgames]

If Spotify is "unaware of the discontent" on this shuffle problem, none of
their people read their own forums to see what the community is talking
about, which is kind of a sin in customer service. You create the message
boards to enable customers to talk with and help each other, but also to
see what people are talking about, so you can implement fixes, changes and
new features to meet the customers' needs and desires for your product.

Given how long this thread has been talking about the shuffle failures and
how many people are leaving Spotify over it, the company would be smart to
start reading its own customer chatter.

A E

[smallseb]

The feature is marked as "resolved".

I tryed to catch the attention of @SpotifyCares on Twitter ... https://twitter.com/Smallseb/status/751415602468782080

Said to be "passed on to the right people".

Hope this will make a difference. I'm too tired to fight.

[lfelippe]

It would be nice if the Shuffle feature doesn´t play music that have already been played until all the songs of the list have been played.
For example, when I go to "Songs" and choose "Suffle" and press the "Play" button the choosen music is random (this is nice), but when a music is already played it should not be drawn again.
Apple does something like this in their iPods, it is a nice to have feature 🙂

[user-removed]

thank you for trying.

[houstonfortney]

Sequence:

 - I am in shuffle mode.

 - I start playing by selecting a song in the list, then put my phone in my pocket.

 - After the first song, the next song comes on and I recognize it as being the next sequentially in the list (from memory).

 - I am now not sure if I am truly in shuffle mode.

When in shuffle mode, it should avoid selecting sequential songs on the list (unless there are only 2 songs, etc).

[wmerson1971]

Apple music , in the ios 10 upgrade, has a good feature where you open app, and just press the shuffle icon and it starts to play / shuffle your songs.  

@smallseb I too am too tired to fight this, however I was really surprised to see how many people share the same feeling about this issue.  

[osnerrebete]

The new random mode repeats songs. I was listening to music on my smartphone and when I turned on my pc, I listened there some of the songs I played on my phone. I think you need to improve it. 

[1231010422]

Yeap. 4 years after the original idea was posted, still here reporting about it not being "shuffled". Starting to hate on songs I do like because I hear a set of them at least 3 times within 40 mins.