Albums & Playlists: Have BOTH Play & Shuffle buttons at the top

[MattSuda]

Albums and Playlists should have BOTH a Play Button and a Shuffle Button at the top in the mobile and desktop apps

Some users want to easily play the list in order and other users want to play it in shuffle. Some buttons are currently play and some are shuffle. Why not put both buttons there so we can choose if we want to shuffle it or play it? Right now to play in order you can press or click on the first item in the list, but with the different types of play buttons this is still confusing for most users. Shuffle can also be controlled by clicking on the shuffle button on the now playing screen.

Right now the play buttons are inconsistent across all of the Spotify apps. On mobile it was recently changed so now when you go to album pages, the button at the top is no longer a shuffle play button but instead a regular play button. Playlists still have the shuffle play button on mobile. On desktop all play buttons are regular play buttons and do not shuffle. See how confusing that is? Why not do like other music apps already do and have both a PLAY and SHUFFLE option buttons at the top of the playlist or album. Problem solved, you get to pick how you want to play it. Doesn't make sense how inconsistent it is currently. I never use the play buttons because you never know if it's going to shuffle or regular play. I just click the first song in the list to play the songs in order usually and if I want to shuffle I just turn shuffle on from the now playing view.

For artist pages you can just leave it the way it is now with only a shuffle play button since playing in order wouldn't make sense. You could still add it and pressing the play button would play their most recent releases in order. If you end up keeping the shuffle button then change the icon on it to a shuffle instead of the play with the little shuffle icon underneath it.

This is how it would look like at the top of the album and playlist pages in the mobile app. It would look similar in the desktop app too.

Keywords: Adele album shuffle play button change

[MafeG]

Updated on 2021-11-23

Hello and thanks for submitting your idea to the Idea Exchange!

We've gone ahead and marked this as a new suggestion. Spotify Staff will look into this idea once it reaches the necessary amount of votes.

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Cheers!

[Luan]

Updated on 2021-11-23

Hey! Looks like that your idea is growing up fast and it's amazing!

We are going to change its status to 'Good Suggestion' now and we hope it continues to be supported by more and more users.

Thanks again for your idea. We really appreciate it 🙂

More information about how the Spotify Idea Exchange works can be found here.

[OrionSkyline]

Considering there was a post I saw on Reddit a couple of days ago that mentioned Adelle got Spotify to remove the shuffle button from albums makes me wonder how much lip service it is to say it will be looked at. Here's an article from NPR about it. 

The other thing about the shuffle button that drives me nuts is if you start listening on the desktop and shuffle a bands entire discog from a folder. If you try to change it from your mobile device it stops playing correctly. 

It's like we're being punished for organizing the music instead of just letting Spotify play whatever it want's. 

[öäüß]

I absolutely agree with Adele on one thing: If an Artist spends effort in compiling their album, then listeners should be able to listen to it in the "proper" order.

I absolutely disagree with Adele: No one should be forced to listen in a way they don' want to. If Adele wants her Album to be degusted in one particular order, where's the problem in just making a single track of it, beginning to end? Release parts of it as singles, however she or/and her producers desire, publish whatever they deem appropriate, but do not impose your whim on streaming platforms and their users.

That said: Give customers consistent, ergonomic play and shuffle option across platforms. Everything else is just infantile nonsense. 

[HoursOF]

Yeah, not all albums "tell a story" some are just assortments of bangers and bops or whaterver else you love listening to. And shuffling them can make a big difference after the 30th listen. That and I really don't wanna have to bloat my playlist tab with a ton of albums.

[Jᴀᴄᴋ]

Someone mentioned it but apple music has the feature and its really one I enjoyed when I used apple music. I would love to see this present on Spotify.

[asadMarmash]

If its "Anything for adele" why not disable it on her albums only? Plus it would be a nice easter egg.

[Nomosapien]

I very large amount of people don’t realize you can just click the top song, or any song, and it will start there. I would say redesign the shuffle button to more obviously show you have shuffle on or, do this. Add the button I would love that.

[mickeko]

I can't believe this needs to be a suggestion... It literally took me 5 seconds to figure out a better way for the behaviour on mobile... Just do it like it was on desktop, if shuffle is on, randomize, if it's off play in sequence... Instead someone with a crush on Adele (or whatever lies behind deciding on this solution) has decided to ruin shuffle on all the platforms with the current completely irrational automatic behaviour. No artists asked for this change, they have all objected to the fact that the only available play button automatically enabled shuffle (they said "by default", but that implies that it could be changed, which wasn't possible on mobile).

[Novy]

Updated on 2021-12-09

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