Shuffle only shuffling small subset of large playlist, when streaming to other device from iPhone

[Garbonzo]

I'm on an iPhone 6s, I have a playlist of just ~8k songs., and I'm noticing weird behavior with the shuffle feature. Here are the steps I take to recreate the issues: (I am also attaching a collection of screenshots that are numbered based on the lists below, so you can see what I am seeing)

Here is what seems to be working:

1. If I have shuffle off, and then select a song from this playlist, and then view my now playing queue, I see the ordered list of songs (as expected)
2. While still viewing the "Now Playing", if I tap the shuffle icon, I see that it shuffle to a seemingly random assortment of the songs in my big playlist (although I do see an eerie number of tracks by the same band, I'd expect not to see so many in a shuffle of 8k songs)
3. If I tap the shuffle button again, it correctly disables shuffle and I see my ordered playlist again (good), starting at the location in the ordered playlist of the currently playing song.

Here is where it gets weird:

1. If (while still on the iPhone) I choose to stream to another device (like my laptop, or my chromecast audio), it switches and plays just fine
2. However, if I then choose to enable shuffle, I can see when viewing my "Now Playing" on my phone that it is showing a random assortment of just a teeny tiny subset of my entire 8k song playlist. This is a problem.
3. If I then tap the shuffle icon to turn shuffle off, it goes back to the ordered play queue (expected)
4. Tapping shuffle icon again gives me a new play queue, but it is definitely only shuffling a small subset of the 8k playlist (and the subset seems to be in the vicinty of the last played song). I tried this several times, going between shuffled and unshuffled, and each shuffled playlist is only shuffling a small subset of songs, near the song currently playing.
5. With shuffle still on, If I select a particular song from my playlist, and then view my play queue, It shows me a new shuffled playlist (which is consistent with what the desktop app does), but the play queue is still a shuffle of a limited subset of the full playlist. 
6. However, if I then tap the shuffle icon to turn off shuffle, my play queue does NOT go back to the ordered playlist, it goes back to the previous shuffled play queue. This is a problem.
7. If I go back to my playlist and choose a particular song, and then view my play queue (shuffle is still disabled), then I DO see my ordered playlist in the play queue (which is expected)
8. Tapping shuffle here again, my play queue is a shuffled subset of the large playlist (bad)

So... it seems that the shuffle feature behaves strangely (only shuffles a small subset of the full playlist) when you are connected and streaming from the iPhone to another device. 

Does anyone know a fix? Is this a known bug? Thanks!

[StephenWA]

I haven't been able to get your workaround to work for me.  It's still not giving me anything close to a true shuffle.

[naien]

I confirm that my workaround of unplugging the Google Home and restarting all services is not sufficient.

I am not aware of any satifactory solution at this time. I've been relying on playstation radio, which is definitely not a great solution.

[TimTam]

This is so annoying. I've got 900 songs in a playlist, but all I hear are the same 30 or so over and over. 

The best method to hear new music (at least for a while) seems to be:

1. Start your playlist on PC, on shuffle. Chromecast Audio won't be available because it isn't directly supported on PC.

2. On mobile, open spotify and wait for it to pick up what's playing. Then, on mobile change to the other device (for me, this is a Chromecast Audio Group). At least then I get different songs. At least for a while.

I imagine this hasn't been fixed because it could break compatibility with older versions. Each time you use Spotify Connect, in theory the whole play queue has to be exchanged over the network. I've got a Pioneer amp with Spotify connect, but there haven't been any firmware updates for 18 months. If Spotify fixes this bug, will it break compatibility with devices like my amp that have an old implementation of the Connect functionality?

[AllyGeorgieva]

Same issue for android, would love to see a solution

[Matt_Williams]

So this ruins the Google Home for me.  What's even the point.  I keep hearing the last 50 or so songs I added to my playlist.  I decided to sort my playlist by title and all I got were songs starting with numbers or the letter A (see attached).

It's ridiculous that this has been an issue for this long.  As a game developer, this would be a game breaking bug and you can't ship like this.  Like, I haven't had my Home for 30 days and I think I'm going to return it now.  I'd rather use a non-smart Bluetooth speaker than this.

[AllyGeorgieva]

Couldn't agree more.. I even got into a screaming match with my Google Home
- never have I shouted the words "next song, you godd*** f***ING b****"
with that much exasperation to an inanimate object.

[Matt_Williams]

I posted this in the Other Devices section:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Partners-Windows-Phone-etc/Chromecast-Shuffle-only-plays-firs...

I just signed up for Google Play Music too

[StephenWA]

So... this still isn't fixed?

[naien]

Nope.

[RadioactvPanda]

I have the same problem when I control devices. It will only pice related titles. This is extremely annoying since I just joined spotify and I love casting my music to my tv and google home. Hopefully spotify can fix this soon!

[ben_mal]

For anyone who's having this problem with their Google Home, I got round the problem by using Google Home as a bluetooth speaker and streaming music from my PC that way. A bit of a pain but at least I can listen to everything in my playlist this way, hopefully spotify will fix this issue soon.

[Holmesc]

M

[TimTam]

I spoke to Spotify support on November 12, 2017. They said this issue (that Spotify connect can only play 100 songs) is a known problem. He said the Specialy team has been focusing on this concern for some time now, and the solution is already in the works. The Spotify internal ticket ID for the problem is CSOPS-8070.

That all sounds promising, but the reality is - I'll believe it when I see it.

This problem has been around since day one. I'm sure it's an easy fix - until you consider just how many devices are running Spotify Connect. Phones, computers, home assistants, home theatre receivers (hundreds of models), smart speakers, etc. etc. Many of these devices are obsolete and no longer receive manafucter updates (like my Pioneer amp, only 3 years old but no new firmware for 2 years... they move onto a new model every year). What if the fix requires all devices on a network to be running the new code?

It gets worse. In my home, I have seven Spotify Connect devices - 1 PC, 1 phone, 2 ChromeCast audios, 1 Pioneer receiver, 1 Google Home Mini, 1 ChromeCast audio group. If I start Spotify in my house on any device and choose shuffle play, I only get the last 100 songs. The mere fact there are other Spotify Connect devices triggers the bug and I only get songs from the last 100 tracks over and over.

You can test this easily on a PC. 

Open a playlist with more than 100 songs.

Select the last song.

Hold down the shift key, and press the up arrow 99 times. You now have the last 100 songs selected.

Start the playlist in shuffle. Look for the currently playing track. It'll be in the last 100 songs (easy to see because they're still highlighted).

Hit next track. Still in the last 100 songs.

Hit the next track. Still in the last 100 songs. Etc etc for ever.

This means that, in a connected home, Spotify is only really good for playing single albums or small playlists.

Well, it's been over 2 months. I'll contact chat again and see what the update is, and post it after this message.

[TimTam]

Agent: Thanks for waiting Tim. I've had a look at the ticket number CSOPS-8070 and it seems like the right folks are still working on it.

Me: On November 12, I was told that "the right people are working on it". Now... close to 3 months later... the update is "the right people are working on it". Is that right?

Agent: Yes, they are now working on it. However, I'm unable to provide an exact timeframe as to when it'll be fixed 😞 I apologize for the inconvenience.

Hmm. Not good. But not unexpected. Let's continue.

Me: So basically my options are:

1. Get rid of Spotify, and switch to Google Play music, which works; or

2. Wait for Spotify engineers to fix it. Problem has existed for as long as Spotify Connect, with no ETA on a fix.

Is that correct?

Agent: Sorry for that. Yes, no timeframe for this.

Me: Why would I wait for a fix that has taken months so far and may never arrive, when I can just switch to a rival platform that works right now?

Agent: I perfectly understand where you're coming from.

Me: Thanks, but why would I wait?

Agent: I'm still working on this. Please bear with me a little bit longer, and stay on this screen so we don't get disconnected.

Me: OK.

Agent (some time later): Thanks for waiting. I've checked on this and we're really sorry we're unable to provide even a timeframe for a fix.

Me: OK. So if shuffling large playlists is important to me - and it is - do you recommend that I switch to Google Play music?

 Agent: I really appreciate your time on this. It actually depends on you. However, as much as possible we'd love you to stay.

So... there you have it. An open ticket and no ETA on a fix.

Note: I have found just one way to make it work. Disable Spotify Connect. How?

Option 1. Make sure there aren't any other Spotify Connect devices in range. For example, all you have is your phone in your car and it's on bluetooth. In this case, it will work.

Option 2. Set Spotify to "offline" mode. You have to turn on "download" for that playlist (which can take a lot of space). You won't be able to cast to any other devices.

Option 3. Switch to a different music provider.

[rowuncw]

As much as I loved Spotify, this bug was a dealbreaker for me and I reluctantly switched to Google about a year ago. Wanted to see if this was STILL a bug and sad to see that it is. Unfortunately, I don't see this ever getting priority because my guess is the majority of users don't listen to more than 100 songs anyway and wouldn't ever notice. But if they do ever fix it, I'd love to switch back.

[dasdasdasda]

This is still happening to me using Spotify on Chromecast. Shuffle only randomly selects from a tiny subset of tracks around the area in the list of songs where the first one was played from, or from the top of list in the case of hitting "shuffle play". Used to happen on my old iphone a year ago when choosing to play to the Chromecast. It's still happening on my new Android phone. Please sort it out you crazy Swedish mother lovers.... 🙂

P.S. The way the songs are arranged on my phone app determines the shuffle subset. For example, if I arrange songs by title, rather than recently added, and hit shuffle play I'll only get songs played where the title begins with numbers...

[Maxiiiiiiii]

This is definitely still a problem and is making me consider changing over to a competing music service.

[mrsimes]

Agreed - when can this be fixed?  

It's appalling that it's been outstanding for years.  Spotify need to put some priority behind this - it makes the service pretty much unusable on ChromeCast devices.

[Hazeltwist]

This is awful.  Shuffle already seemed broken on spotify, though sorting lists first by track seems to help with the main app (on Android.)

However, this doesn't work when you then cast as even if you have already shuffled the list and got a random selection, as soon as you cast a new 'up next' list is created based on the 100 tracks either first in your list, or located nnext to your playing track in the playlist.

I have constantly flitted between spotify and Google Music as they both have strengths--but this one could be a deal-breaker for me.

[TimTam]

I don't think they can fix it... just too many legacy devices with the old code. If it was easy - they would have done it a long time ago.

In the end, I switched to Google Play music. The interface isn't as good as Spotify, and they don't have anything quite like Spotify Connect... and the biggest playlist is 1,000 songs. On the plus side, you can upload up to 4,000 music tracks which sync just like any other track, so gone are the days of missing out on songs not in the official library!