Shuffle in Spotify for Tesla is producing the same “random” order every day

[Dmitrу]

This bug report has nothing to do with playing repeated songs in a Radio. This issue is specific to Tesla cars, and Tesla cars only.

Every day, Spotify for Tesla starts playing the same shuffled sequence of songs in a large playlist. Basically, I’m listening to the same several songs in a playlist of thousands of songs all the time. It doesn’t help to turn off and turn on Shuffle - this works only once, and then the original ‘random’ order restores next day. It doesn’t help to restart or update the car. The ‘random’ order remains the same anyway. Tesla Service is saying ‘works as expected’ on any reported software issues. Please fix this issue. Is there a workaround that we can use until it’s fixed?

[Dmitrу]

I didn’t restart the car after the issue in variation 1 reproduced the last time a week ago.

[Sher2]

I’ve had both problems. Random list looping back to same random order and large random list playing in sequential order. In the last 3-4 days both problems appear to be fixed. Will continue to test. 

As a hack to get around large random list playing in sequential. I switch to a small playlist and get random working correctly. Then I switch to big list and select random play. That workaround works for me every time. 

[Dmitrу]

Today, the second issue with playing songs in sequential order on Shuffle didn’t reproduce. But another issue reproduced instead. The first song in the “random” order is always the first song in the playlist.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Play a playlist on Shuffle.

2. Switch to Bluetooth in Tesla.

3. Switch back to Spotify.

4. Tap on “Play” with Shuffle on.

Results: Shuffle is on, but the first song in the playlist is played.

Also, please consider adding all songs in the Library to Spotify, so we wouldn’t need to maintain a large playlist with them manually!

[Xenia]

Hey everyone!

Happy to hear that the originally reported issue is resolved. 

For anyone still experiencing issues with shuffle, our developers would like permission to look at your accounts to investigate further. In order to do this, we would add you to a test group, then you’d need to reproduce the issue and give us the timestamp (including your timezone) when the issue was observed.

If you agree to this, please let us know so we can set up the test group. Once it’s ready we’ll get back to you and you can start testing.

Many thanks in advance.

[bchang1]

Hi Xenia - you can count me in for the test group.

[Sher2]

Happy to be involved

[Sher2]

I also find with a large playlist when i come back to the car it says media loading error. Did you want me to raise this issue in a separate thread?

[Dmitrу]

I also have another issue with a large playlist. Spotify shows "Library (removed)", but it can't play or remove it - only rename. Please remove this playlist or fix the error, so I could remove it myself.

[Dmitrу]

I had the same data loading issue today in all playlists, including Liked Songs. No songs could be played. The issue resolved on its own within 20 minutes.

[Xenia]

Hello again,

@bchang1 and @Sher2 you’ve now been added to the test group and can try to reproduce the issue and report back with the exact time (HH:MM and seconds if possible) when it occurred, as well as your time zone.

Keep in mind that this thread is intended to deal with issues related to shuffle playback, if you’re experiencing something different please start a new topic.

Thanks for understanding.

[Dmitrу]

That's interesting that both @Sher2 and I had a loading error and couldn't play music from a long playlist for a while. @Sher2 wasn't a part of the test group, and I assume I was. If we both were, I'd assume that this was the cause for the loading error.

[Xenia]

@Dmitrу the test group is just for our engineers to check your logs backstage. It shouldn't have any effect on the app and your listening experience.

Also, for now only bchang1 and Sher2 have been added to the group, so the loading error might have been just a temporary server issue unrelated to this.

[Dmitrу]

Reproduced the second variation of the issue today, 7/8/2023, at 9:55 am PST. This is where the songs in a large playlist are played in the perfect sequential order with Shuffle turned on after switching back from the Bluetooth music source in Tesla 😞

[Xenia]

Thanks @Dmitrу! We really appreciate your help with this. Unfortunately though, we must ask you to try to reproduce the issue one more time since we’ve only now added you to the test group - I'm very sorry about this.

If you could now please test it again and give us the new time and date 🙏

[Dmitrу]

The third issue is still reproducible. This is when the first song in a playlist is played when playback of a playlist is started on Shuffle. Reproduced on 7/11/2023 at 10:33 am.

Unfortunately, after you included me into the test group, the forth issue has appeared. Now, the Next button remains disabled for the first 15 seconds of every song. I liked it more out of the test group. But I’m OK to stay there if needed for a short period of time.

[Xenia]

Hi @Dmitrу, as mentioned before, being in the test group has no effect on the experience, the app or anything else. It only enables our engineers to get more detailed logs from your usage to see where the issue is occurring.

With that being said, I’ve just heard back from our engineers and something must’ve gone wrong because there are no log files from yesterday. 

Our deepest apologies for the inconvenience, but do you mind testing this one more time?

[Dmitrу]

Reproduced another, the fifth, issue on 7/12/2023 at 10:56 when switched between Bluetooth and Spotify in Tesla. The Shuffle mode turned off on itself. This has been happening randomly all the time. But I haven’t reported this issue before to focus on more critical issues.

Tried the same steps again on 7/12/2023 at 10:57 am, and the third issue reproduced. The first song in a playlist on Shuffle was the first song in the list (unshuffled).

[Dmitrу]

There is another issue with Shuffle, the sixth one. It’s been always reproducible as well. If the user taps on Shuffle to turn it on and then on Play, Shuffle resets to the turned off state and the playback remains sequential. The delay needed to avoid this issue varies from 1 to 5 seconds. Usually, around 3 seconds for a playlist with 2-3 thousand songs. Reproduced on 7/13/2023 at 11:29 am. During the same minute, I tried the second time, and the issue didn’t reproduce. Most of the times, repeated attempts also fail.

[Xenia]

Thanks @Dmitrу, we've captured the logs and our engineers will investigate them.

We'll keep you posted.

[Dmitrу]

Thank you. Please make sure you forward all 6 issues with Shuffle to them. While only the fist issue was critical, a large number of smaller issues creates a lot of discomfort as well.