Spotify boasts over 80 million songs available on its streaming platform, but many users complain that their massive libraries don’t get put to good use. The shuffle feature is intended to provide endless music variety instead of getting stuck repeating the same tracks. This lack of randomness defeats the whole purpose of shuffling songs in the first place, leaving users frustrated with ‘Spotify shuffle not random’ issue.
A good shuffle algorithm should provide novelty and surprise in your listening experience. Turning on shuffle aims to breathe new life into playlists you’ve heard multiple times before. But instead, Spotify shuffle seems to loop the same subset of songs continuously while ignoring others entirely. This predictable “shuffle” makes for a boring music experience when you were hoping to hear fresh mixes.
Why isn’t Spotify’s ‘Shuffle’ always completely random and sometimes feels stuck in repetitive patterns? And, more importantly, what can you, as a listener, do to make your shuffled playlists more exciting?
Continue reading for a detailed exploration of the possible reasons and solutions for Spotify’s shuffle not being entirely random.
The Problem With Spotify Shuffle
Many Spotify subscribers have voiced frustration over the “Spotify shuffle not working” issue. Threads in forums and social media show users complaining their Spotify shuffles play the same music repeatedly rather than mixing things up. Some report only hearing a fraction of their huge playlists on shuffle due to the feature getting stuck.
This lack of variety worsens with large libraries. The bigger the playlist, the more novelty shuffle should provide. Yet users say their shuffled songs easily fall into predictable loops. If you constantly hear the same tracks shuffled in supposed “random” order, it renders the feature pointless.
Playlists are meant to provide organized variety and shuffle aims to spice that up even further. So why does shuffling songs on Spotify seem to have the opposite effect for many people?
Potential Causes of Spotify’s Shuffle Shortcomings
There are a few key technical and design factors likely contributing to Spotify’s less-than-random shuffle:
– Large playlists increase repeat probability. The bigger the playlist, the higher the chance the algorithm will repeat some songs, just by the nature of probability. Hundreds or thousands of songs should minimize repeats, but Spotify shuffles still loop.
– Prioritizing popular songs leads to patterns. Spotify has incentives to make shuffling favor more popular tracks. This bias could steer shuffling into repetitive ruts rather than truly random mixes.
– Buggy code traps shuffle sequences. The shuffle algorithm itself seems prone to getting stuck on certain song subsets and ignoring the rest of playlists. Glitches may inadvertently create “sticky” zones.
– Listening habits influence shuffling. Spotify caters playlists to your tastes based on listening data. So shuffle panders to your habits, instead of surprising you.
– Device differences change shuffle behavior. The shuffle functionality seems to work slightly differently on mobile vs desktop platforms. Mobile shuffles tend to be more repetitive.
So, in summary, large libraries increase the probability of repeats. Biases in the algorithm cause patterns. Code quirks trap shuffle sequences. And your personal listening history impacts what you hear shuffled.
All these factors work against achieving true randomness in the Spotify shuffling algorithm. When the same tracks keep repeating while others go untouched, shuffle fails its purpose.
Quick Fixes To Improve Spotify Shuffle Variety
If you want to spice up stale shuffles quickly, try these remedies:
Method 1: Clear local Spotify cache
The quickest way to solve the “Spotify shuffle not random” issue is to clear your local cache and let Spotify treat you like a new account. The app caches chunks of songs you’ve listened to recently. Wiping this forces shuffle to recalculate from a fresh start. Go to Settings > Storage > Clear Cache on desktop or mobile Spotify to reset the shuffle.
Note: Re-install Spotify will also be an easy way to remove Spotify caches.
Method 2:Turn off the feature called Automix
If you’re using the Spotify app on your iPhone or Android, go to the settings inside the app, then select “Playback.” If you’re on a computer, click on your profile, then choose “Settings.” You can switch off Automix on all platforms by tapping the toggle switch.
If you start missing the randomness of Spotify’s music selection, you can always turn Automix back on by following the earlier steps. Remember, when it’s random, you never know what song will come next!
Method 3: Record playlists using third-party tools
Apps like Cinch Audio Recorder for Mac/Windows let you record playlist streams from Spotify directly in high-quality formats like MP3. You can import the recordings into your favorite music players and get a newly shuffled sequence.
Here’s how to use Cinch Audio Recorder to convert Spotify playlists to MP3:
Step 1. Download and install Cinch Recorder.
Step 2. Launch Cinch and press the yellow “Record” button in the upper-left corner.
Step 3. Open Spotify and play the playlist you want to record.
That’s it. Cinch will record music in MP3 format with title, singer, and other ID3 tags. Once finished, you can transfer recorded Spotify mp3 files to your iPod or other MP3 players for listening offline.
Now you have a fresh shuffle since the Cinch recording started from scratch! Use alternate music apps. Competition is emerging with apps offering high-quality streams like Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Apple Music, etc. Try shuffling a playlist copied to another service and see if their algorithms offer more variety.
Other Tactics for Improving Spotify Shuffle Randomness
If quick fixes don’t fully solve repeat shuffle issues, take further actions:
Make smaller playlists to lower the repeat probability
Hundreds of songs mean math works against you. Stick to playlists under 100 tracks max to encourage variety.
Manually reorder playlists yourself in random chunks
Break it into blocks of 10-20 songs and rearrange the blocks randomly. It requires work but guarantees randomness!
Frequently reshuffle playlists
Don’t let it go too long without manually re-randomizing the list order. Repetition tends to creep in over time.
Selectively limit song additions
Only add tracks from specific artists, albums or time periods, rather than huge full libraries when making playlists. Curate smaller pools of music.
Follow “Daily Mix” and auto-generated playlists
Spotify creates these based on your tastes and updates them more frequently to provide variety.
Actively listen on multiple different devices
Don’t just play from one phone all the time. Switch it up.
Provide feedback directly to Spotify.
Report shuffle problems through help forums, their contact page, and app store reviews. The more users that speak up, the more pressure for Spotify to address complaints. But stay constructive in criticism!
The more you can promote randomness yourself through playlist size, limiting song pools, active re-shuffling, and rotating devices, the less you have to rely on Spotify’s imperfect algorithm.
Conclusion
While Spotify has room for improvement in truly randomizing its shuffle feature, subscribers don’t have to just accept repetitive ‘Spotify shuffle not random’ loops or ‘Spotify shuffle not working’ issues. With awareness of what causes subpar shuffling and some effort on your part as a listener, you can enjoy shuffle variety until Spotify fixes things on their end.
Stay vocal, but also take steps like making smaller playlists, clearing caches, reshuffling manually, switching devices, and recording songs. With truly randomized shuffles, listening to playlists on repeat will never get boring again!
