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.

[3mon]

Ehhhh either you are trolling hard, or you are missing a couple important points here lol

[icedmaiden88]

add a shuffle button that plays your music catalogue and doesnt play the same song twice like random does

[nschuster]

I was just listening to Spotify (9/5/2016).  I have a free account so I know when I listen on my phone that the playlists will be random.  What I am not thrilled about is A) that when I play the playlist it plays the same songs in the same order - it would be nice if it shuffled differently each time.  And B) I heard the same 2 songs, in the SAME order, within a couple other songs of each other when there were over 150 other songs to choose from!  I have a lot of great songs I'd like to listen to with a little more variety please 🙂

[kpwiebe]

Is there a way to get Spotify support?

It is not helpful to mark a reported issue as "not an issue" when it is in fact an issue.  I am a premium member and I am quite frustrated that I'm paying for Spotify and an important feature like Shuffle is broken. But to make matters worse, I am apparently being blocked from getting true support in order to ensure it at least someday gets fixed.  Frankly, I feel like I'm being ripped off.

If I was confident that there was an open ticket addressing the problem (and it is a problem), I wouldn't be so concerned. But Spotify seems to just want to sweep this under the rug and pretend like it doesn't exist. I assure you, it does exist.

I just listened to my 400-track playlist for 60 minutes in Shuffle mode. In that 60 minutes, Spotify duplicated tracks eight times and queued up other tracks recently listened to in other sessions.  Shuffle is not shuffle if every track played is a random choice out of the the whole playlist. The shuffle function needs to exclude played tracks from its randomization until all tracks have been played. Come on, does it get any more basic?

[LeoJLeBrut]

Maybe the problem is the status of this so-called idea: "Implemented". My experience with defect tracking systems is when something is closed there is little done to validate the correctness/goodness of the solution (there's always plenty of open issues to work on).

Going to keep repeating myself like I'm in shuffle mode: it isn't a daunting piece of software to write. It makes me wonder why it isn't fixed. On a basic level it's either they can't (shame!) or they won't (there is something we don't know about their business model).

[LeoJLeBrut]

I've joined a thread from 2012 and the status is "Implemented" -- given my experience (Premium subscriber) the problem is way-still-broken. The thread has the title of "Implement an actual shuffle function". I won't repeat (ha!) the details here but the question is....how does something that is "Implemented" re-gain the attention of the Spotify team (when the presumed tendency is to assume all is well based on the status of the idea).

[MrMusic1]

Hi team, can you please hurry up and fix the shuffle algorithm.... I can see people have been complaining about it for year.... I have about 6 playlists I frequently listen to on "shuffle" but they play in the same order almost every time.... comeon guys it's 2016, not 2009...

[3mon]

What he said. And i highly doubt that they are unable to do it, so they are obviously not telling us something 😛

[cornelas90]

Hey Spotify, Its like 7 months since your update on this forum. And honestly the shuffle feature is still trash. The shuffled order doesn't change much when the playlist is revisited, so there are large playlists I have that I only hear the same ~20 songs from. The only added mixup occurs when I add new music, and those songs play basically right away. Please please please make your shuffle actually shuffle. 

[McvW]

This is absolutely my biggest frustration with Spotify, if not the only. No-one wants to hear the same fifty songs in the same order over and over for six hours, after having carefully set up a playlist of +300 songs.

However I mostly wonder: Why has this been an issue since 2012 without a slight explanation or solution?