4 ms·
I think the root cause is because spotify shuffle isn't true "shuffle" in the mathematical, random sense. They perform some analysis to increase the "perceived
by 2bitencryption 7y ago
I think the root cause is because spotify shuffle isn't true "shuffle" in the mathematical, random sense.
They perform some analysis to increase the "perceived randomness" - e.g., if the true random seed picks the same artist twice in a row (totally possible), pick another song by a different artist, or else people will perceive the shuffle as not "random" enough.
Unfortunately I don't have the source for this right now, but I'm sure someone will hop in and provide it if I'm wrong about this :)
- sorenjan 7y agohttps://labs.spotify.com/2014/02/28/how-to-shuffle-songs/ https://labs.spotify.com/2014/02/28/how-to-shuffle-songs/
- downerending 7y agoAmusingly, the comments at the bottom are from a large number of others also noting that their algorithm doesn't work as described.
- downerending 7y agoI'm familiar with the idea. Their custom algorithm seems to do the opposite. The order actually being generated has very little perceived randomness, far less than what a true random shuffle would look like.
- claudiulodro 7y agoThey have also further modified the shuffle algorithm within the last year or two to favor putting songs at the top that the user hasn't listened to a lot. There are definitely a variety of heuristics involved with their shuffling algorithm.
- on_and_off 7y agoI worked at another music streaming company, we had to do the same. That was hugely frustrating, but we would get user reports of the random button being buggy when e.g. the user gets 2 tracks of the same album/artist one after the other. Of course that can happen if we truly randomize your content ! So we switched to a pseudo random algorithm that tries to have consecutive tracks from different album/artists.