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.

[aikoss00]

What? My problem still exists!
😠

[rednblu]

Yes.  Thank you, @aikoss00, @Jaahas123, @Hale-Bopp, @Marcelus85, and others for your important information about this high-priority failure in the Spotify "shuffle".

So, to summarize--

* Sometimes the Spotify Shuffle works as it should for playlists less than 50 tracks.

* But the Spotify Shuffle always fails for any playlist greater than 5000 tracks by never playing more than 500 tracks without going into endless loops of unrequested replays.

Does that accurately summarize what you find when you try to Shuffle play your collection?

[aikoss00]

No, I've playlist with lest tan 150 songs, and it plays always in the same
order with shuffle on. When I play de +1000 songs playlist, it only plays
the same -100 songs. May it be at the mobile or the PC.

[rednblu]

Thank you, @aikoss00.

[thomwhaites]

I've noticed a likely unintended behavior in the new shuffle algorithm.

Short version:

Songs that have been played on a device are dropped to the end of the shuffle queue, even if it is a brand new playlist. I believe that the desired behavior is for a played song to not be played again until the others songs have played once -- BUT only within the scope of a playlist.

Long version:

How I found the behavior - I like to make a playlist from albums and shuffle the playlist when checking out a new band. I made such a playlist with 3 albums on it and listened to it several times, shuffled. Then, I decided to make a NEW playlist with the same 3 albums, but then I added additional albums from other artists. When I shuffled this new playlist, the shuffle queue artists looked like this:

B,C,D,B,B,C,C,B,D,C,C,D,B,B,D,B,C,C,B,C,C,D,D,B,C,C,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A,A

However, when I played this same playlist on my PC, which I do not normally listen on, the shuffle queue was normal:

B,C,A,D,C,C,B,A,A,C ...

I then cleared the data cache on my Android, where the problem shuffle was occuring, and it restored the expected shuffle behavior.

So - any users who also encounter this problem shuffle could try clearing the device cache.

Suggested change:

Include both the playlist and the song in the local cache used by the new shuffle feature so the shuffle behavior is per playlist.

[Kidtrout]

Spotify is good, but there's one thing that drives me crazy. When you shuffle play an artist all you get is the same 10 songs over and over again or just the most recent albums. If I'm selecting an artist to shuffle I want every song and album to be shuffled. I don't understand how this hasn't been addressed yet, but if that could be fixed that would make Spotify great!

[Hawkknight88]

This has been asked a thousand times in a thousand ways. I'm unsure why Spotify doesn't address it; it's horrible. I'm so tired of hearing the same 20 songs on a 500song playlist.

[JanitorofLunacy]

Just added newly released songs to an existing playlist, put it on shuffle, and it played every single one of those songs before a single other song in the playlist. This is just stupid. When I play a playlist on shuffle, I want true randomization with every song getting equal priority.

[Mchlframe373]

I have Playlist with 1500 songs and I keep hearing the same 50 songs over and over. I love spotify but I wish I could hear all my music. 

[jackpot01]

I have around 3500 songs in my playlist, but the shuffle only works around 40-50 songs in the proximity of my selected song. extremely annoying