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

[DiPGames]

I really hope Spotify would add this just like you showed that on the screenshot. It looks great and it's usefull.

[Flanstario1]

Hi @Mattsuda,

this feature must be for subscriber  free and subscriber premium user or just for the subscriber premium.

random button must be disabled or enabled for free user on android phone.

[seanf01]

Sorry for the un-vote. I thought that I didn't vote for this idea yet. Honest mistake.

[Luan]

Updated on 2022-01-20

Hey! Thanks for coming to the Spotify Idea Exchange.
We've been keeping an eye on this submission for an extended period of time, and it doesn't seem this will reach the votes necessary to put it forward for prioritization.
As such, we're marking this case as closed. This includes any similar suggestions that are received.

If we do have any new information to share, rest assured we'll check back in here with a new status.

More information about it can be found here.

Thanks for your comprehension! 

[MattSuda]

@seanf01 

Hey, no worries! 🙂

[MadmanOnWheels]

I suggested a design (with a picture) that included both a "Play" and a "Shuffle" button, a few years ago. It's the original pill "Shuffle Play" button that is split in half, with a slash, having "Shuffle" on one side, then "Play" on the other.

Another solution is to have the shuffle symbol on the "Play" button, for both playlists and albums, but make it like I thought it worked, which is having the shuffle symbol come off or come back on it, by long pressing the button. When the symbol is on, it's shuffling. On playlists it would be on, by default, but on albums it would be off, by default.

[PeterStoneman]

Shuffle as default is stupid. I pay for premium and want to decide freely when shuffle is on or off!

[Drexel]

Please bring back the album shuffle as choice. I hate it how it is now. Start playing the album with the first song, tap the now playing bar on the bottom and press the shuffle button. That means you always start with the first song...

Or put all albums into playlists which you can shuffle. That doesn't make sense.

[joseph251]

 While the the play button is good there should be an added button to shuffle instead of pressing the first song and pressing shuffle there.

[andykirillov]

On mobile (Android, Premium) whenever you press Play button, the default mode is Shuffle. Even if you disable Shuffle in the current song (the only way), then it might still randomly start playing the next one or sometime later in the playlist in the Shuffle mode. This is unacceptable. There must be a separate Shuffle mode button or an option in the menu to completely disable the Shuffle mode.