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

[Grahamgorilla]

I am not sure that Spotify should rely too much on this voting system.  The  auto random play is incedibly annoying for me but it has taken some effort to find this voting page.  I suspect that many users will simply 'ignore' the problem and hope it is fixed.  This is the one feature that is making me look at jumping ship to Tidal.

[Dangfoo]

A step simpler just have a play button only all platforms,playlists, Done. Add shuffle option on the popup bar when play starts (some play lists have a shuffle toggle option on the playlist when its open) or on the account settings.

[gdd_gio]

No shuffling please. It simply doesn't work; genders get all mixed up and the end product is just terrible.

This is especially frustrating when driving as changing music does require quite some effort and results in losing concentration.

[Evanm555]

Yes, this, absolutely. No brainer. I’ve been baffled by this confusing UI decision for years. 

[sillysillymarym]

As a paid customer, I pay to create playlists that I want to play in order.  It feels like the app is designed to default to unpaid customers (advertising revenue).  The “work around” is that I have to go in and shut off shuffle every time I play a list; or I have to open up the list and play the top song!  If I stop a list and restart it- it goes back to shuffle. It’s particularly annoying when using Alexa, since the voice command is the play button and that turns on shuffle. It’s an extra step for me to now have to turn off shuffle.  Feels like I’m paying for services I don’t get- or that Spotify is catering to advertisers instead of paying customers. I’m so frustrated that it started doing this, I’m almost ready to look at other music services where it isn’t such a hassle just to play my playslists!

[MattSuda]

YAY! WE DID IT!

This feature is now rolling out to the mobile apps! I hope to see it in the desktop app in the future.

🆕 You can read more information in this Spotify news article:

Spotify is Launching Individual Buttons for Shuffle and Play for Spotify Premium Users So It’s Simpl...

[scarletvvitch]

fr I'm so sick of having to press an extra button every time I open a new playlist. (I'm not being sarcastic). Props on the photoshopping btw.

[RL61]

I agree - some people want shuffled music while others want to hear playlists and albums in order.

By simply putting two buttons on the player one to play in order and the other to play shuffled this issue of which items are defaulted to shuffle would be resolved.

as I have a lot of playlists and like to hear my music played in order - the latest update has defaulted every playlist to shuffle meaning I have to manually update each and every one plus every new one I create - this default would no longer be required if the two play options mentioned above were to be adopted 🙂

[user-removed]

I like this idea! could we have it for the free version though?

[zeronow]

I especially want this feature in my Tesla!