[All Platforms] Option to have a true shuffle

[jonathanleyerle]

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.

[gu_-tqdjarlb9]

PLEASE

[rozeboosje]

NO

[random_please]

When I said "I guess this could happen more often on smaller playlists" I was referring to the state of the shuffle back in 2016 prior to applying the current algorithm. I.E it was probably more like a role of dice selection - all songs in the playlist had the same chance of being played each time meaning songs could be heard 2 times in a row or very close to each other - there would be more of a chance of this occurring in smaller playlist. I think it was this issue that caused them to create the current algorithm. 

I wondering what's the best way to pressure Spotify into changing it. I don't think they really know how many people don't like it. The up votes on the shuffle issues are pretty low.

I have started commenting on some YouTube pages discussing this subject to UpVote the issue here - But you have to keep the comment brief as it gets removed otherwise.

I think we all need to try and get people to UpVote the issue by telling them how to do it via this website.

[rozeboosje]

For your own sanity I suggest you give up on trying to put pressure on Spotify. They don't care, that's obvious. Take your money and spend it on a provider that DOES shuffle playlists correctly. There is no reason why you couldn't still enjoy a free version of Spotify as well, and put up with the ads and other nuisances when you do, but stop spending money on a provider to whom you're at the bottom of the pile when it comes to keeping their customers happy.

[random_please]

I think the chance of hearing repeats is not a big deal (especially on large playlists). But Spotify is targeting songs to play under the current method - they have admitted this. When a song is targeted it then has a high chance of being targeted next time. This is how you get to the current situation where some songs are heard many times (to the point you want to delete them) and other songs are never or hardly ever heard.

[dank13]

I can't believe this is actually still a problem:
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Implemented-Ideas/Implement-an-actual-shuffle-function/idi-p/27607
Yesterday, I had a 5-hour car trip, and out of my 1793-song playlist, I heard the same songs twice.

I felt like it was shuffling only 30-odd songs on my playlist.
It's hard to understand how you can shuffle a thousand songs and still listen to the same song before all the rest of the 999 songs have played. How hard is it to do that?

Is Spotify getting paid by big record labels to play their songs???

[Mitchel]

This is my biggest complaint with Spotify. I don't like to binge music, I like variety. When I use shuffle I want to hear my liked songs that I haven't heard in months, not the same one I heard yesterday and the day before. Can't believe this has been open for so long!  Wouldn't be difficult to implement, and can still keep the current algorithms as a shuffle option for those who prefer it.

[tsnyder91]

How is this still a problem.

[rozeboosje]

"So close"

What are you waiting for? They ignored premium subscribers for at least 4 years now. Your comment is not going to sway them.

[Mookpsu]

What if he says "Please"?