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

[Jassu]

Yes, this is ridiculous. Guys are running multimillion dollar solution, but they can't do same thing that was possible with CD's already 30 years ago.

I have been really happy generally with Spotify, but that awful "shuffle" has made me to look other options and also forced to switch partly back to old "upload the mp3's to my phone"-solution. Even phone's music player can do the thing what has been requested from spotify for several years.

They are trying to invent something "really fabulous and new" when people are just requesting that basic old and good solution. Wake up!

[mfugel]

Amen brother...in same boat...

[ambl1966]

Why is this still not working? Why do I get the same tracks over and over again!

[user-removed]

It's worst when switching devices. Try listening on the computer then switch to mobile. Same 20 songs.

[Darco64]

One of my playlists has over 150 songs. Driving to work, the shuffle played a great mix. Then, before getting on the highway for the trip home, I set it up again only to hear the exact songs again in the exact order as the morning! Seriously Spotify?!? Instead of complicated algorithms, why can't it be simply random?

[idobr]

Frustrated with you guys.... 

Please fix this.... 

[caglakhan]

I've always had the same problem. Same songs,  most never, repeats before others are heard, etc. I WANT TO HEAR ALL OF THE SONGS IN THE PLAYLIST BEFORE I HEAR THE SAME ONE TWICE.  THAT IS WHAT SHUFFLE IS.  ALSO, IT SHOULDN'T RUN THROUGH THE SAME SONGS OR SAME ORDER EVERYTIME, NO MATTER WHERE I START. Please let me know if there is a way to fix this.  I have had so many problems with Spotify that as soon as I can find something else, I WILL DEFINITELY SWITCH.  This shuffle is just so ridiculous.  Like so many people have already said in this thread.  It should be so simple to fix. 

[StatGuy]

It honestly wouldn't take long for spotify to develop 3 or 4 different
randomization algorithms (one that puts higher probabilities on preferred
songs, one that is unweighted, one that assigns 0 probabilities to already
played songs, assigns diminishing probabilities for songs played multiple
times, etc...) and allow the user to choose which one they want to use or
default to the standard one. It **bleep**ing blows my mind that every single
media player doesn't have something as simple as this implemented. And yes
it's simple to implement and if it isn't, then that product is all broken
as **bleep**.

[Holt]

My solution has been to use a randomizer website (don't want to post a link but search for "thoseannoyingdupes randomizer"). I used that to make a new playlist, and I just play that playlist in order, deleting songs from the top as I hear them. For a short playlist you should be able to use the site to generate several random variations and add them all to the same playlist. It's not a great solution but it works.

[pixelriffic]

I posted something on this a couple of weeks ago, and it was marked as a duplicate of a completely unrelated topic.  Very annoyed as a paying customer.  

I agree, that shuffle is a problem.  In fact, the actual problem is that rather than randomize the playlist, it just rolls the dice each time a song plays, often repeating songs, and never makeing through the whole list. 

What we really want is to have a given playlist randomized, then actually play that list beginning to end.  There are several websites that show how to do this manually, but it's a hassle.  Spotify, please add a randomize playlist funtion.  

[BobH]

This is absolutely true and it would take VERY LITTLE EFFORT on Spotify's part to fix this lack of randomization.  The fact that THEY WON'T DO IT is very dissatifying and

makes me want to quit.

[StatGuy]

I believe they do reroll the dice every song but the problem is its a
loaded dice. If you push skip forward, you will see that you will get songs
10-15 times and never hear 80% of your music, just the same 20% or so over
and over again every single day for months.

I've grown to hate my favorite songs, I can list albums I have never heard
since I got spotify and I will list songs that I've heard maybe 30 to 50
times. It's insanely broken.

Maybe it's part of the offline mode problem. Maybe it selects only a
certain subset of songs to be randomized since it's not getting that info
from a server.

[caglakhan]

No, it does offline, too. It's definitely a joke, and they're obviously
not going to fix it. Makes me so mad. I'm right there with ya about
getting burned out on my favorite songs and NEVER hearing the others.

[BobH]

i happen to be relatively knowledgable regarding coding and (pseudo)
randomization and it is ridiculous how simple the fix would be. Spotify
just won't acknowledge the problem. However, the fora do present a clumsy
work around where one exports one's playlist offsite away from Spotify,
ACTUALLY RANDOMIZE IT, then reimport it and then PLAY IT STRAIGHT THRU WITH
SPOTIFY'S USELESS SHUFFLE TURNED OFF. Highly random. If necessary, create
4 or 7 identical playlists (except differently randomized) and pick
different playlists on different days. Repeat process monthly.

[TheAdmiralAleho]

Since starting this thread some year or two ago, l became so disillusioned by Spotifys complete blanking of the issue that l gave up my subscription and moved to Apple Music and it was the best thing l ever did.
Same price, better selection of music, superior interface and best of all a far more random shuffle play although l have to say it's still not perfect but a vast improvement on **bleep**ify who are so rude and ignorant enough to totally ignore continued requests for information and solutions to this issue which clearly bothers many users.
Just leave and go to Apple or even Deezet.

[TheAdmiralAleho]

Just quit.

[Jassu]

As an Android user i would hate to jump to the Apple-side.

But i will wait for a while and if spotify keeps ignoring customer feedback i will quit too.

It seems that they are just careless and arrogant - but i hope that I'm wrong...

[ollyfarrow]

Why is this saying 'solved'? That is rubbish!

For those of us still paying and using SpotIfy 'Just Leave' isn't a soloution. 

How can we mark this thread as NOT SOLVED?

[elmerb]

I've stated this before on this forum: In my opinion Spotify is never going to fix this (very simple) algoritm, because  Spotify must have financial motives. I think Spotify has a rating for every song in their library, regarding the financial rights for every played song, they have to pay to the music owner. So in random/shuffle mode in your playlist the algorithm will always give priority to (for Spotify) the "cheapest" songs. It's simply not random at all. Which results in many repetitions and ignoring the songs that are a bit more expensive. It's simply Spotify's business model. This is the only sensible explanation for this ongoing nuisance, ignoring thousands of complaining -paying- customers. Spotify is never going to change this, because their main goal is making a maximum profit.

[idobr]

Hi Elmerb,

I also thought about it.. (And, the slience of the spotify product team on this specific enhancemnt request is actually very loud.....)

Would be interesting to test it, we can choose a public playlist and see if we all get the same songs playing again and again....