Shuffle play is not random

[ws1482]

Shuffle play was bad before the update and now its worse. On my 442 song playlist, the same 30 or 35 tracks play over and over again and the other 400 songs I have barely heard once. I have had to delete songs because shuffle play was choosing them everytime I would listen. Spotify developers say shuffle play is random but how is repeating the same 35 songs over and over random. For some reason there is a higher probability of certain songs playing than others. This is a major flaw in the system. The shuffle play programs needs to be totally overhauled, it is awful

[nucka574]

Shuffle over the last month or so has been playing the same songs for me as well, literally played the same song twice in a row for me and I started noticing it much more.  It is not as bad on PC but I am about to dump the pay service if it keeps doing this.  Please fix this.  You should be able to make it so it does a complete loop through the playlist before repeating any tracks.

[Zinganator]

My shuffle play does this too. And I have a playlist with 200 songs and I've noticed that whichever songs I listen to most often or listen to through, will get played more... Making it so that if I hear a song a lot.. The shuffle play continues to play it more and more. It's ridiculous, it needs to be a completely random list of my songs, no repeats and no filter by how much I listen... Many apps have figured out an easy shuffle play, why can't spotify ?

[Zinganator]

In addition to that, I use a radio of my playlist to find new music I should put in my playlist.... The radio literally just plays what I already have in the playlist without suggesting new music to me... So spotify radio function is next to worthless for me, when I could just use pandora.

[user-removed]

Best way to ruin my favorite music, it's like I am listening to the FM radio. Except this the reason I don't listen to traditional radio- I hate repeats. That's why I have gone out of my way to add more than 1000 songs to my playlist, only to hear the same song (and 10 songs) within minutes of each other.

Seriously? Why doesn't Spotify stop adding bloated features that slowdown the load time, cause continual crashes on my Android- instead focus on a better user experience?

[dondellinger]

If this isn't solved I might end my payed subscription too. But for now I don't have time to build new playlists. 

796 songs in the playlist I listen to most and the song at the top of the playlist plays every time I listen. If I listen an hour it is likely to play twice. It got so annoying I deleted the first track. Now the newest first track is becoming annoying.

In a multiverse where there are an infinate number of universes going in and out of existence, chances are there is a universe where spotify has a truly random shuffle function that coincidently behaves unrandom. Maybe we are in that universe. If this is the case, maybe there is a way to ensure if a track is played it will be removed from the shuffle until a specified number of tracks have been played. That would be cool.

Either way, if this is a common coincidence or there is something wrong with the randomness of the shuffle, it would be nice to see the track removed from the shuffle until a certain number of songs have played.  

[ws1482]

i have been using shuffle on apple music and it does tend to play certain songs more than others, but nowhere near as bad as spotify

[Colach]

As I can remember, all the "platforms", including old mp3-players, that I have been using have had this issue.

But that doesn't mean that it cannot be changed.

As I have proposed earlier, I think the solution can be found in an algorithm which uses something that constantly changes (no need in logging, ticking of the listened tracks in a list). So the Clock was my suggestion, it could be used within the algorithm to generate new outcomes every time. For example: number of tracks in a list X(times) current second count X present track number = a number which would play a song in the list.

Simple and always random.

Can Spotify please consider the magnitude of the problem. People here have mentioned recurrence when playing tracks in lists containing around 1000tracks. I use mainly the "Your music - Songs" (old starred), in it I have 6000+ songs, so I'm constantly adding tracks. And believe me, I am rather tied of "Scar tissue". (And I'm not insinuating that the system is preferring some artists, as I earlier have stated, also "unknown" tracks are repeated.)


It would be nice to at least see Spotify comment on the matter. Why is this unresolvable, as it seems?

[FD_]

Same issue on my side. Playlists with hundreds of songs, yet Spotify keeps on playing the same 20~50. Really frustrating, 

[okidian]

i'm also fed up with trying to feel suprised while listening to the same tracks with the same order. it's ironic that i'd get a better experience if i just play the list in its default order.

you should just acquire the winamp's shuffle code which was working quite well.

[Colach]

@Okidian is right, playing the list as default is the only way of shuffling Spotify.

We could refer to this as "The Spotify Default Play Shuffle Paradox"

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Another thing: have you guys noticed that if you go from default playing to shuffle, you'll hear the same tracks... Guess it has to do with the phenomenon: shuffle algorithm plays lasts added tracks.

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Would be nice if we backtrack the faulting algorithm behaviour. Any other strange issues you guys see?

[user-removed]

Yeah, where is the 'mood' setting?

[apopheny]

I just want to weigh in and throw my support behind having a truly random shuffle option, or at least a shuffle algorithm that doesn't weigh individual tracks quite so heavily. I'm considering switching services to find one that will actually hit all songs on a playlist, given time.

[gtyellojacket]

I got an email that said that this issue has been solved, but when I clicked on "Go to Solution" in the original post on this thread, it took me to a reply on this thread that is not a solution but just another complaint.  I think this issue needs to be reopened because to my knowledge the problem has not be solved.

[ws1482]

Yeah under my post it says the problem is solved, but it's not. Shuffle play stinks!

[MchalesNavy]

This is definitely an ongoing issue, it's been driving me insane.  May as well not use spotify when driving, it ignores the majority of my saved music.

[purefan]

I want to report the same problem, in my playlist "Classical Rock" I have 97 songs, and in the last 3 hours I've heard "Everybody hurts" 3 times and "I was made for lovign you" twice. 

Added to the frustration of knowing that some of your songs are being ignored, is the frustration of growing tired of listeing to the same songs so often

[chrismays011]

I am having this same issue - 250+ soung playlist and the same 15 or so songs keep coming up. It's just runing these songs for me - I inteded on hearing them once or twice a week, not four times a week!

[nucka574]

I have figured out on Android at least if you go into the settings and then application manager and clear cache and data from spotify, it seems to become random again.  It is annoying but I am hearing songs I haven't heard in a while soooooo 🙂

[olmanmq]

This is really bad. The same happens to me. I'm about to switch to Google Play Music if I find a way to migrate my playlists from spotify.

[andarkian]

Might as well have my twopence worth as well. I see this thread is at least a year and a half old and the complaint is still exactly the same. I have over 800 songs in my favourites and appear to be stuck with the same twenty or thirty repeated ad nauseum. Obviously Spotify have an agenda, just can't figure it out. Even I can get too much Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones and, strangely, Supertramp.