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[All Platforms] Option to have a true shuffle

So I’ve been noticing more and more recently that Spotify’s default shuffle feature doesn’t fully shuffle your songs. It does some sort of grouping to try to get similar songs together based off of what I’m sure is dozens of factors. Every time I shuffle a playlist (the one I noticed this with the most is ~100 songs and 6 hours of mostly full albums) it will group the songs mostly or completely together by album/artist, and given the number of times I’ve re-shuffled and checked the order there’s no way it’s just a coincidence. They also generally seem to be in the same order as well. If I hit shuffle play on a playlist it’ll generally put the same artists at the beginning every time.

 

With larger playlists of albums I am really not a fan of this shuffling method. If I have 6 hours of music on a playlist I will hardly ever have 6 hours to actually listen through the whole thing, but when I do listen to it I would like to hear all of the music on it equally, and not just the artist or two your algorithm likes to shuffle to first.

 

Anyways, I’m a reasonable man, all I’m asking for is an option to have a true shuffle (take all songs in the list, put them in a random order, and once they’re all played reshuffle them and play them again). Make it premium only if you want. I don’t think you should scrap the current shuffle algorithm because it sucks. Looking at some of the suggestions on here it seems like some people lobbied hard to have it that way. Just add an option for a true shuffle for those of us that don’t care about potentially getting the same song twice in a row.

Updated on 2021-09-14

Hey everyone,

 

Thanks for your votes and for bringing us your feedback in the Spotify Idea Exchange.

 

As this idea has gathered a fair amount of votes, we've discussed it with the relevant team once again. We actually want to take a closer look at what you're experiencing and get some of you in touch with our devs.

 

@jonathanleyerle- since you initiated the thread it would be great if we can have you on board.

@j4m1eb, @PrestonSale@decker12@jules99- what you mention is particularly interesting, so we'd like to have you on board as well.

 

We'll send you more info via Community PM, so please make sure they're enabled in your Community settings.

 

If anyone else is interested in participating, please let us know in this thread. We'll reach out to you, should we need more folks.

 

Thanks!

Comments
Mookpsu
Correct. I have the Amazon Music app on three different devices and I can
have each one playing a different playlist simultaneously
DBarnes18

Curious, how many votes is it going to take to get this implemented?  This has been a problem, apparently for a lot of people, for a relatively long time, and it still gets ignored? 

 

Seriously, this "feature" makes the long playlist that I've meticulously assembled completely UNLISTENABLE!  That's the whole point of a long playlist - I don't want to hear the same songs over and over, I want to hear those "deep cuts" mixed in routinely!  But NO, Spotify thinks they're smarter than us, they insist on using their "smart algorithms" to give us what they think we want!  ?!?   Why?  At least give us the option for a "simple shuffle"?

 

Funny thing is, from a development standpoint this has got to be a pretty straightforward, probably pretty easy add!  The algorithm for a true, random shuffle is way easier than all the logic, time, and effort (and money!) that had to go into their advanced, "smart shuffle" algorithm.  The UI impact is minimal, logic has got to be self-contained and can't be hard, this has got to be a fairly "low point" ticket on the backlog...  Please make it happen?

 

(BTW, just for s***s and giggles I "unliked" every one of the songs in my "Liked Songs" library - sure enough it effected the shuffle algorithm!  It still plays the same songs way too frequently, it's just a different set of songs now!  LOL!)

 

Cheers, Love to all the Spotify community, Peace, Out.

Narko
Been there, done that. Not the same quality and just different issues, not
to mention their shuffle also doesn't work in my opinion
fa2_ef-xa90k

This issue is winding me up so much. Does anyone know if any competitors does this, Youtube Music, Deezer etc?

rozeboosje

"Been there, done that" .... not sure what you're referring to but certainly all platforms have issues. I wouldn't be surprised if the Amazon Music "shuffle" is just as flawed as other ones. Their redeeming feature has nothing to do with "shuffle", but it's the "randomize playlist" feature. That puts the entire playlist in a new "random" order and persists that. You then play the playlist from start to finish. The big downside there is that it doesn't keep track of where you are, so with a large playlist that you can only listen to in multiple sessions you'd have to manually keep note of where you are and navigate back to that point when you decide to come back to the play list. That is definetly a royal pain in the proverbial, but one I can *just* about live with. Other people may consider that a deal breaker.

Mookpsu
Download this version of the Amazon Music app and you won't have to worry
about losing your playlist progress.

https://androidapksfree.com/amazon-music/com-amazon-mp3/download-old/amazon-music-17-6-1-apk/


Just make sure you then turn off auto update on your device. I've been with
Amazon Music for years and it's only the newer versions of the app that
have that horrifically annoying "improvement"
edgeplot

It's infuriating that there isn't a true shuffle option. My iPod had this option 15 years ago. Why can't Spotify implement it??? I just want to listen to all the songs randomly in my playlist. I don't want any preferences or algorithms messing with that randomness. And I want to hear ALL the song in the playlist. Pretty simple. And pretty frustrating that I keep hearing the same 20 songs over and over again. 

DBarnes18

I just don't understand why we can't have an option for the one, simplest shuffle option there can be: 

 

when a playlist is shuffled, the order is freshly randomized, with NO regard to when/where any song was previously played, or what I might have 'liked' in the past, or what my friends are listening to!  KISS - keep it simple, right?

 

Whenever a new playlist starts, or a new shuffle is called for for whatever reason, it reorders, again with no regard to any other previous or outside variables.

 

If I have a 1,000 song playlist, the odds of one song landing in the top 10 is 1-in-100.  If I reshuffle, the odds of that same song again landing in the top 10 is again 1-in-100.  I can live with that kind of repeating!  It's random, it wouldn't happen often, and I can click FF and know there's a very good chance the next song is one I haven't heard in a while! 

 

It's the same songs repeating over and over because Spotify's "smart shuffle algorithms" keeps feeding me what it thinks I want that gets really insufferable.  

 

Please, Spotify - quit overthinking things, don't over complicate it.  No worrying about history, or likes, or networks, just give us one option for a simple, random, uncomplicated shuffle.  The other stuff is fine for "advanced options" or your "beta lab" stuff.  But us simple users really would like just a simple solution.  KISS. Please?

Richgg

62 PAGES OF CUSTOMERS SAYING THEY WANT A SHUFFLE? wth are you playing at Spotify? My unborn child will be a grandparent by the time you add literally the most basic function into your software! SORT.IT.OUT!!!!!!!!

teollo
DREAM ON DREAMERS!!