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.

[kbienks]

It appears that Spotify just went through a massive overhaul, based off the complete change of the pc version. With this change I have noticed that when I shuffle my playlist of around 4000 songs, I keep hearing multiple songs over and over again. I know this has been a problem in the past, but for the last year or two that I have been using spotify, it has not been a problem. It only started after the new spotify change. Can you either completely explain how the shuffle function works, or actually make it a full shuffle. I have even heard the same song three times in around 100 plays. Im no expert, but it seams a bit suspicous that out of 100 songs, three of them are the same, when the probability of that song playing is 1 out of 4000. 

[lottie34]

It seems to not shuffle newly added songs to a playlist quite as well either. So I have a playlist of around 120 songs, say. I just added Ed Sheeran's new album to the mix. I press shuffle. All 16 of his songs are in the last 20 of the shuffled playlist. Why can't it just randomise throughout the whole playlist! So frustrating because if I wanted to listen to it like that, I wouldn't press shuffle. Please add a way to make the shuffle a bit more random!

[neddyo]

My observation is that recently, on my Android device, with a ~1500 song playlist, it only shuffles from songs at the beginning of the "sort." So, if I sort by song title, I will only be hearing songs starting with the letter "A" more or less. If I shuffle by date added, it will only play the most recently added tracks.

I do not have this problem on the standalone PC version as far as I can tell.

It is frustrating as all heck! It also didn't used to be this way that I can tell. Please fix Spotify!

[Nabionix]

I have quite large playlists ( 500 - 1000 tracks ) and shuffle play works only with small chunk of tracks. I find it quite annoying that same tracks repeat all over again and others never play. Is it planned to improve that? Thanks

[rednblu]

I check this thread often-- because I keep hoping that some user will post some user "programming fix" that is easier than copying my 1000 track playlist into a browser input box and then clicking "Truly Shuffle with zero repeats".

I do get zero repeats-- but I have to drag my playlist into a browser window, click Shuffle, and then drag my TrulyShuffled playlist into my empty playlist that I have named "NextQueueToPlayWithoutRepeat"-- Much better than that feeling of "quite annoying to get repeats every 50 tracks"-- but I am still looking for a streaming service that makes it easier to play every last track in my playlist before giving me a repeat.

Please @Nabionix and @neddyo and everybody, keep giving me new ideas-- and keep up my hopes, please, for the future!

[sprinkles92]

 I have the same issue on android as well as the web player.  Shuffling an artist will play a few songs and then play songs from other artists as well.

[Akken]

This isn't a new idea, this is asking for a broken feature to be fixed.

Also, for those looking for a workaround. If you start the shuffle on Desktop then use the app (so it comes up saying its playing on your desktop) then manually switch over the output device to your app then you get the shuffle functionality of the desktop on your mobile. It shouldn't have to work that way but it does (I assume because the desktop generates the order which the app follows while the app is fundamentally incapable of it)

[Sakuudl]

I have a big problem, the function doesnt work, I'm triying to hear a new playlist and when the first song ends Spotify starts to play the last playlist that I hear previously, and for make worse the situation: the playlist that he choose (even when I choosed the function) is in order. 

[Nabionix]

rednblu I am hoping Spotify will fix it. In the end, it's not rocket science to implement true shuffle.

If they able to implement machine learning and good recomendations engine, why not to fix shuffle. 

[mccandy-t]

Shuffle sometimes plays 1 song 3 times in a row. Even though there is like a hundred songs on a playlist. I pay 13€/ month for this and would love if it worked like it should.