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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
Wile_E

Shuffle mode should also honor "chains" of tracks to be played in the order specified by the user whenever any track in the chain is selected by shuffle mode!

borlak

We need true random.  I like to listen to my "Liked" playlist, and the grouping or whatever the algorithm is doing has gotten way out of hand.  For a solid week it keeps playing Fleetwood Mac - Gypsy within the first few plays, which sure I love the song, but I want to listen to my other songs!  

 

My Liked playlist has over 1000 songs.  I have rap, country, techno, classical, metal, celtic, you name it.  I like the weirdness of going from metal to classical to punk.  But I never get it.  

 

This reminds me back when we used to download mp3s and play them on Winamp.  Winamp had a "random" that for a while was broke, it would shuffle the songs and play in order after that, but you would hear the same songs after each other and it got annoying.  Eventually, Winamp listened and implemented a true random play.  It simply chose a random number every next song.  That's all we want.  

 

I'm at the point where I'm simply going to download mp3s and use winamp again.  The Spotify algorithm is broke, and there's no true random option.

33gs_d0-1kna6

PLEASE make shuffle never repeat until the every song in a playlist has played!!! I have a playlist that is 55 hrs and again and again songs get in some sort of feedback loop and get played multiple times in a short session. If anything add a SEPERATE “smart shuffle” that uses your algorithms.

sadastronaut

Just curious, does anyone know if Apple Music's shuffle algorithm is any better?

rozeboosje

Can't speak for Apple Music but I'm now a paying customer of Amazon Music.

 

Is their shuffle any better? Don't know, actually. I sometimes use shuffle in the car and so far I haven't really noticed anything particularly bad about it.

 

But Amazon Music have something else besides shuffle. When you are in a play list they give you an option to randomise playlist. That means that the entire play list is "shuffled" and put in a new order, and this order is the new default order of the songs in the play list. You can then play the play list from top to bottom and (obviously) never hear the same song twice.

 

Seems to work fine on the phone app as it can keep its current position in the play list between connecting and disconnecting from your, say, car radio or whatever other bluetooth. It's a bit of a pain in the Windows Desktop app as there it doesn't keep position if you close the app. In a play list with over 1,000 songs it means at the end of each day I need to take note of what song it's currently playing so I can scroll back to that position the next day. Minor nuisance compared to this Spotify abomination, through.

careytran

So many people have voiced this issue for years, and still Spotify has not done anything to resolve this. They already profit so much so why would they upset their customers like this? If anything, it is driving people away the more they don't listen to their consumers...

It is not a big fix, we are merely asking for a function to go back to simpler times when the word "shuffle" actually meant to blindly shuffle the entire the playlist and not have it cleverly laid out as if it's gonna be the winning marketing idea to win our hearts. 

 

I've been teaching at a studio for a while now and I can't stand the same music playing over again in the background and I don't have the time to keep changing the songs. I have to be there for my students and I also want them to enjoy the vibes without hearing the same thing over and over again. It's very tedious. Annoying. And almost frustrating.  

Adreneline23

How many years will it take to make this happen, ready to find another service already after hearing the same songs on repeat. Why make a playlist and hit shuffle if it isn’t going to shuffle anything other than 150 songs it thinks you want to hear over and over again?

teollo
Dear all,
I bought the VIRTUAL SHUFFLE, from the developer Victor Ahuwanya.
I tried, it is just 2 dollars.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.virock.virtualshufflev2

I must say that even if it is not yetcompletely perfect this app improved
a lot the shuffle and the Spotify experience.

Victor is a very nice person, answers all the questions and tries to fix
the bugs constantly.

Give it a try!
rozeboosje

"Give it a try!"


Absolutely not. If I ever go back to being a paying Spotify customer, I expect SPOTIFY, NOT a Third Party Developer, to give me the functionality I'm paying for. It really is that simple. I'm sure Victor is a lovely person, but it's a matter of principle.

teollo
I totally understand you.
I was just suggesting a cheap option to (partially) solve the problem but
of course anyone is free to follow his idea and principle.