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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 2024-05-01

Hello everyone, 

 

Thank you for your continued engagement and valuable feedback on this idea. 

 

I'm afraid there hasn't been any change on the status of this idea since our last update. However, we've been reading all your comments and feedback which have been incredibly insightful. 

 

We’ll keep you folks posted as soon as we have any new info to share.

Comments
kangafeet

I have to agree with BerkshireGregory that I'm very close to trying another streaming service. For me it's tidal especially with their new pricing. It seems as if this 'community' is spotifys way of giving users a way to complain/suggest things but without telling them that it would be just as effective complaining to the nearest brick wall. 

BerkshireGregory

Yeah, right?! I've been using them for many years now, but man this one aspect of the service drives me NUTS!

rozeboosje

Why wait? I left 2 years ago. Never going back to that sad excuse for a streaming "service". This thread, however, has kept me captivated ever since.

BerkshireGregory

That's hilarious that it bothered you enough that you still follow the thread! Can't say I blame you. Really the only reason I have yet to switch is the potential of losing my beloved playlists. I understand though that there are ways to make the switch while holding on to them. Did you find it relatively seamless or no?

kangafeet
Same here. Looks like tidal has a transfer button. 30 day trial so not much to lose I suppose.
I can get rid of the playlists that Spotify adds thinking I want them too then.
It works me nice to have control back.
rozeboosje

Yes it's too long ago to remember exactly how I did it. There are tools out there that let you do it, up to a certain size for free, and beyond that for a small price well worth paying in my opinion.

Someone209

"...It is my belief that Spotify decided if they play songs you like over again, (based on the fact that you listened to them recently), then you will be happier and listen to S. more often. OVER THINKING IT!! I am an inch away from Apple Music!"
That would be stupid. It might work on the casual listeners, but those who really use the platform for their acoustic needs will be left disappointed.
I don't care if true random can cause 5 AC/DC songs to play after each other. They're in that list for a reason!
I like those songs and I want to be able to hear all of them with equal probability.

BerkshireGregory

Okay, well, do you like it when Spotify almost never plays your Judas Priest or Def Leppard songs because it is stuck on those AC/DC songs?

I have lots of songs on a playlist because I happen to like variety!

oddindeed

According to an official NASA webpage, the next total eclipse will occur August 12, 2026. Do you guys think they will fix this issue by then or nha?

Mookpsu
Zero chance. You will own a house on Pluto before this gets changed. Fix is
the wrong word because it implies it's something technical causing the lack
of a true random shuffle. My five disc CD player from 1993 could play every
song without any repeats when put in shuffle mode, same with my mid 2000's
MP3 player. What does that tell you???