You’re listening to music on shuffle, and an artist appears twice in a row. It feels like more than a coincidence – perhaps your music player is playing tricks on you, or has chosen favoured artists – but is it?
In fact, music players tend not to shuffle randomly. But that’s because if it did, it would actually feel less random.
Human brains will start seeing patterns in even the smallest coincidences – and in a long shuffled playlist, it’s likely that certain songs or artists will come next to one another.
“The problem is that to humans, truly random does not feel random,” Mattias Petter Johansson, a Spotify developer, wrote in an internet post earlier this month. “So we got tons of complaints from users about it not being random.
“Last year, we updated it with a new algorithm, that is intended to feel more random to a human.”
The feeling that playlists are being played with comes partly from the Gambler’s Fallacy – a trick of the brain that leads us to think that if something hasn’t happened for a long time, it is more likely to happen again. If a coin lands on heads three times, for instance, it instinctively feels like it should – but there is an equal chance of it landing on heads again.
That means that if a playlist repeats artists, songs or genres then it feels wrong. If shuffle is truly random, the Gambler’s Fallacy leads us to think, then the songs should be more spaced out. But there is an equal chance that songs will come close together as there is that they will be far apart.
Those patterns led many users to complain, Babar Zafar, a lead developer at Spotify, told the BBC last week. Some angry users even proposed conspiracy theories, such as the idea that record labels had struck deals with Spotify so that their artists would be played more than others. But the company has been working hard to make Spotify feel more random.
When Spotify launched, the company explained in a blog post, it made its random playlists using the “Fisher-Yates shuffle”. That is an efficient algorithm that takes only three lines of code to make “the optimal amount of operations and optimal amount of randomness”, creating random playlists without using much computing power.
But users complained that the playlist wasn’t genuinely random. Artists or genres tended to appear next to each other, giving the sense of the playlist being unfair – even though it is likely that different artists will bunch up as that they will be evenly distributed throughout.
Instead, Spotify designed a new algorithm that distributes artists and genres more evenly. If there are four songs by the White Stripes in a playlist, for instance, the algorithm will aim to play them at roughly 25% intervals.
Despite that new algorithm, Johansson said that users still tell Spotify developers that the shuffle functionality is not random. And it isn’t – but it’s calculated to feel more random, not less.
The first thing you should do when your Spotify shuffle not working very well is to log out of the application. Next, you also need to restart your Spotify—not your device. The purpose is to reset or reboot the application from a bug.
Why is youtube shuffle bad?
The shuffle algorithm on Youtube playlists is awful. It often does not work well at all. Sometimes, even though it’s supposed to shuffle the entire playlist, it will play a video it already played, and then the next video it plays was the exact video that followed the video it already played earlier.
Is Youtube shuffle broken?
it IS broken. It also shuffles from a very small amount of songs at the start of the playlist. I have a music playlist with almost 3000 songs but the shuffle feature only picks songs from around the first 200. And it has been like this for YEARS.
Why is shuffle on Spotify so bad?
More often than not, the reason why your Spotify Shuffle play is not random is because Spotify could have already updated their Shuffle play algorithm and you’ll never know since you are on a older version of Spotify and when it still plays that same song over again and again.
Is Spotify Shuffle completely random?
Instead, Spotify designed a new algorithm that distributes artists and genres more evenly. Despite that new algorithm, Johansson said that users still tell Spotify developers that the shuffle functionality is not random. And it isn’t – but it’s calculated to feel more random, not less.
Is Spotify Shuffle truly random?
“What we’ve added is Smart Shuffle to actually make it less random — if you want,” he said. “Smart Shuffle allows you to control how likely you are to hear multiple songs by the same artist or from the same album in a row.”
Does Spotify Shuffle?
On the Android, you also tap Shuffle when viewing track information to randomize tracks from that playlist. The playlist is now has Shuffle turned on. If you go to a different playlist, Shuffle is still on. To switch off the Shuffle function, tap the I button again and tap the Shuffle button again to deselect it.
How do I make Spotify not shuffle?
Open the Spotify app, and go to the ‘Now Playing’ bar at the bottom. Step 2. Click the ‘Shuffle’ icon to turn off shuffle play.
How do I turn off shuffle on Spotify 2020?
On Android, tap SHUFFLE PLAY….You can also switch shuffle on/off in the Now Playing bar:
- Tap the Now Playing bar at the bottom of the screen (above the menu).
- Tap Shuffle to switch it on.
- Tap again to switch it off.
Why does my Spotify only shuffle the same songs?
Your playlist should start to play in a different order. When you turn on shuffle the first time, the songs will keep playing in the same order, over and over, unless you choose to reshuffle them. This is because shuffle puts your songs in a specific order that won’t change unless you tell it to.
Why does my Spotify keep replaying songs?
By default, Spotify will compile playlists in chronological order, with songs you added first at the top. However, if you’re compiling a playlist of songs you like (such as my Starred playlist), you’ll end up playing the same songs over and again every time you play that particular list.
How do you get Spotify to stop repeating songs on shuffle?
This will stop related tracks from automatically playing after your queued tracks play. To toggle this, go to Your Library > Settings cog > Playback > toggle Autoplay off. You mention this Repeat function lock is happening in your car.
How do I reset my Spotify recommendations?
On Spotify, there is currently no way to clear your history and start fresh. You have to retrain the algorithm by continuously listening to stuff you like. If your kids want to listen to the Frozen soundtrack, Spotify recommends family plans, which give up to five members of a household their own account.
How do I turn off shuffle on Spotify Android 2020?
Does shuffle repeat songs YouTube?
Youtube Playlists aren’t shuffling randomly and is repeating videos.
Can you shuffle YouTube playlists?
Once the Library is open, simply go to the “Playlists” section and tap/click on the YouTube playlist that you are willing to shuffle. Immediately after that the selected playlist will open up. Now you need to click on the “Shuffle” icon as highlighted in the below image.
How do I get my playlist to shuffle?
How do you shuffle a playlist?
Begin playing your playlist by clicking the large green “Play” button at the top of the screen, or by double-clicking a song title. 4. Click the shuffle icon at the bottom of the screen — it looks like two arrows crossing over each other. When shuffle mode is off, it should be white.
How do I shuffle my Spotify playlist?
Follow these steps to shuffle tracks on Android:
- Go to a playlist and tap a track to play it.
- Press the I button to open a pop-up window, displaying information from that track.
- Tap the Shuffle button, and the Shuffle icon in the button turns green.
Why is my Spotify daily mix on shuffle?
Solution! The Daily Mixes do not have a shuffle setting, but picks up whatever shuffle setting you last used. So for instance if you shuffle a personal playlist and then open a Daily Mix, it will also be in shuffle mode.
What does the shuffle icon look like?
At the bottom of the screen, click the shuffle icon, which looks like two overlapping arrows.
Why does my Iphone play the same songs on shuffle?
When you turn on shuffle the first time, the songs will keep playing in the same order, over and over, unless you choose to reshuffle them. This is because shuffle puts your songs in a specific order that won’t change unless you tell it to. You’re welcome.