Ongoing problems with shuffle

[Tjeb]

Plan

Premium

Country

The Netherlands

Device

iPhone 7

Operating System

iOS 10

My Question or Issue

I have been experiencing a lot of issues with the shuffle function for quite some time now, and I can't think of any other solutions beside the ones I tried already. First the issue:

I play the music on my Raumfeld Stereo Cubes (wifi speakers) while using my iPhone as the 'remote' (so that's Spotify Connect, if I'm not mistaken). I try to randomly play songs from a playlist with over 140 hours of music. First, when I pressed the big green 'shuffle' button, I could predict with which song Spotify would start, and the order of the following songs was also always the same. This issue could be resolved by not pressing the 'shuffle' button, but instead selecting a random song from the playlist. Then the order of the songs would be 'random', as you would expect from a shuffle function.

Currently, this situation has worsened (although I'm not sure when that happened). When I press the 'shuffle' button now, Spotify will always play the first song on the playlist (in my case: Bohemian Rhapsody). Moreover, when I check the next songs in the queue, it turns out that nothing is being shuffled: after the first song in the playlist, Spotify will play the second song, then the third, etc. So no shuffling at all.

My original solution does not work anymore. When I randomly select a song from the playlist now, and then check the queue, then first it looks all fine, but then suddenly Spotify 'resets' the queue, listing again the first song in the list, then the second, third etc. So again, no shuffling at all.

I tried several things to resolve this issue:

- I read that sometimes you have to delete the queue for shuffle to work. Tried that, doesn't work

- I reinstalled the Spotify app. Doesn't work

- I tried using another device (another iPhone). Doesn't work

I cannot think of other solutions, so hopefully someone can help me with this issue. Sorry for the long story.

Thanks in advance!

Tjeb

[Ragedoge]

Welcome to the @Community, @Tjeb! It seems the problem here is that the 'Shuffle Play' button is having some issues here. Is that right? I am having some issues here reading your post. First of all, do you mean 140 songs or 140 hours? If the shuffle play is not working, make your own order if songs you want it to be. Another way to solve this problem is by reloading the app (double press the home button) and swiping up the Spotify application screen. If that does not work, delete the app and redownload it once more. Logging in and out might work too. Well, all these ideas might work...

I hope. 

Cheers!

-Ragedoge

[Tjeb]

Hi @Ragedoge!

Thanks for your reply. First to clarify: I really mean 140 hours of music. It’s not a playlist I made myself so changing the order myself would not work I guess, and we’re talking about approximately 1800 songs here so that would cost me a lot of time if it were possible.

It’s not only the ‘shuffle’ button (the green one above the playlist) that’s not working properly; also selecting a song first and then selecting the shuffle icon in the bottom left corner (the one with the two arrows) does not work. In the meantime I’ve tried all your solutions, but no luck yet.

Any other ideas?

Thanks! Tjeb

[Ragedoge]

Hey @Tjeb! Well, this is what I currently got for you. I will think of more solutions though. If you don’t want me to countinuing sending you tips and ideas, mark this ‘solved’. 

Thank you and Happy Hoidays!

-Ragedoge

Note: I am not a Spotify employee

[PanVoo]

Hi, I am having the same issues with playing my own (self created) playlists. Will be very much interested in solution since it annoys me very much. Listening playlists in shuffle mode is my usual way of playback. Marek

[PanVoo]

Hi there, I have found this: https://saintlad.com/spotify-shuffle-play-is-not-random/

As for me and for now logging out => uninstalling => reinstalling => logging in again helped. Will see further.

BTW: my playlists are  currently around 500-700 songs

Also: I have read in Spotify help section that if you are using Spotify Connect, it will only load/que 100 songs and suffle between them.

[Tjeb]

Hi @Pan_Voo!

Thanks for your replies and the helpful link, I will definitely try those suggestions.

A small update on the problem: I found out that the problem only occurs when using Spotify Connect. When listening over my headphones (so without Spotify Connect), the shuffle option works fine. Then, when I switch to my WiFi speakers, all randomness is gone and I can again predict which songs will be played in which order.

This bothers me because this starts to look like a 'communication' error between Spotify and my Raumfeld WiFi speakers, at which point companies start pointing at eachother for a solution to the problem... Anyway, I'll report back if any of the solutions mentioned in Pan_Voo's link worked out. Other suggestions are also still welcome!

Thanks!

Tjeb

[PanVoo]

Hi @Tjeb,

1. The solution with reinstalling the app, which I proudly announced yesterday, worked only for a short while.

2. I started using this programme Spotify Shuffler and it is interesting solution. It creates a duplicate of your original playlist in your playlists list whith shuffled tracks. However hectic to use because of the need to  do it (shuffle) each time through external webside. You could have done it once if only Spotify remembered where you finished playback of your playlist last time you listened it to. Which would, by the way, be a great feature from my perspective (if I could choose between starting the playback of playlist from beginning or starting from where I finished last time.

3. After your remark, I quickly checked it by connecting my phone via bluetooth to external speaker and it seems to be fine, indeed. You may be right when referring to Spotify Connect. However it is not only limited to the gear that you have. I have a Denon AVR, so it seems to be a common problem. If Spotify Connect is not invented by a third party, then problem and possible solution stays on Spotify side.

[PanVoo]

Hi there, after contacting Spotify Support directly, I received below reply. Seems a little bit copy/paste to me, though..

„Thanks for reaching out to us. We're sorry to hear you're having issues with the shuffle feature. No worries, we'll get to the bottom of this.

We have alerted our developers to this issue and they are investigating the matter. 

We appreciate your feedback as it helps inform our decisions going forward, although please be aware we’re not able to confirm if or when your specific request will be addressed. 

We recommend keeping the Spotify app updated to guarantee you’re rocking all the latest features. Also, feel free to check out our Community where we keep everyone informed about new releases and any other announcements. You can also submit feedback and suggest new features there.

Don't hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions for us. We're just an email away.

All the best,

Spotify Customer Support”

[Tjeb]

That definitely looks like copy/paste, but thanks for sharing their reply. I think it's time for me to reach out to Spotify Support as well. I'll include a link to this forum topic. Hopefully it helps!

[Guido]

Hey @Tjeb.

Thanks for getting in touch!

We are aware of an issue with the app and are currently investigating it. Feel free to contribute in this topic where we gather information from affected users and keep everybody up-to-date. We'll get this sorted as soon as possible.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Let us know if you have further questions.

Have a nice day!