Music is repetitive in shuffle mode

[girlwhocriedpie]

For the last week or so every time I turn on Pandora (phone and desktop) it shuffles in the same order.  To the point that I can call what the next genre is going to be.  It starts with 90s country, then Tom Petty, then 90s Pop, then Beatles, etc.  How do I fix this?  It's driving me crazy! I have probably close to 100 stations on my shuffle and it keeps going in the same order. every. time...

[eVarese]

seems good for me too. thanks again pandora crew for the quick fix. until next time!

[ZyderZee]

Issue is resolved, I'm so happy, thanks for the quick response

[scotte]

the "shuffle" stations option is overly repetitive!

it misses 2/3 of my station collection.  

it constantly selects a music genre that is not even close to my 'stations collection' sensitivity!

please add my burden to an ongoing priority.

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @scotte. 👋

Thanks for posting about this. I moved your post over to this existing thread: Music is repetitive in shuffle mode

Check out this post for some tips on how you can prevent Shuffle mode from getting too repetitive.

In the meantime, I have shared your feedback with our engineering team regarding this issue. 🎧

[girlwhocriedpie]

The previous problem was solved. It’s not playing the stations in the same shuffled order but now it is mostly shuffling through a dozen(ish) stations even though I’ve got around 100 stations (and yes, they’re all checked). 

[tsikows]

I listen to pandora every single day at work on the browser. 10 hours a day for the last 12 years. Every single day I seem to hear the same songs. I have a diverse station collection of over 100 stations that ranges from strict eras of a genre (90's country, 2000's pop, etc.) rap, rock and roll, down to specific artists. I have every single station selected and play on shuffle every day. You would expect that many stations with so much variety to play for ages before it had to repeat songs, but yet ill hear the same songs over and over in the course of 2 days. I have changed the shuffle stations to just 3 different genres in hopes that that would limit similar stations from playing the same song near each other. Even that resulted in hearing the exact same songs id heard in the last few days. 

Now I've also followed the edge trouble shooting steps to a T and it resulted in no noticeable change. I am beginning to think that Pandora is no better than listening to the plain old radio. Same songs over and over day after day, several times a day. I listen to pandora, so I don't have to hear the same crappy music every single day. certainly, starting to think it's not worth paying for premium as I do. Something has to change Pandora!

[eVarese]

I agree 100% with this. Ever since Pandora's station shuffle began to experience severe repetitions a few times these past couple of years (shuffles always beginning with the same stations every time; an issue that was seemingly fixed each time), I have noticed a trend toward a more global repetition of songs in my grand shuffle. I even have different shuffles on different (family) accounts so I can vary what types of grand shuffles I listen to. It's interesting that @tsikows wrote this yesterday. Last night as I was listening to one of my shuffles I thought basically the same thing.... "this is really getting ridiculous. i'm going to have to start thinking about doing without Pandora, it just isn't worth it any more.... maybe I can find a way on Apple to get some variety of mixed playlists." 

So after I don't know how many years here (over 10 years for sure), I'm looking toward ending my subscription. It will be hard because I have always been a loyal Pandora listener/supporter — often annoying people at parties or otherwise by describing my Pandora shuffle curation process and why I think Pandora is such a great service, blahblahblah. I have always justified my use of Pandora because of the Music Genome algorithm (despite Pandora having one of the lowest royalty rates for songwriters in digital music; Pandora is "radio" so they pay terrestrial radio rates). I've continued subscribing to Pandora over the years because I have discovered so much new music from what the algorithm comes up with based on my stations. I'm "OK" with the paltry royalty rates because it has actually just been a really, really good radio station that plays a mix of music I choose! I'm my own DJ, with the help of the algorithm.

I've always felt that the grand station shuffle was Pandora's super power — the thing that sets it apart and really makes it worth subscribing to. From my view over the years, however, Pandora has not marketed (or improved) its super power, and has only tried to make their service be like the other streaming services; which it clearly has been unable to do. Perhaps all of this has come after it was purchased by Sirius. Maybe there is some corporate M.O. at Sirius to see Pandora fail; I don't know. I'll wait a few to see where this thread leads... but it is not currently the same service it has been over the years. I don't know the reasons why this is; I just know it is getting to the point that it's not worth what I pay, and perhaps I can figure out how to get something similar from Apple, which I also pay for. Please fix this! Please tell the corporate overlords at Sirius why Pandora is different and worth investing in. I'm happy to talk with/write anyone about this. Thanks! cc: @AlyssaPandora and @AdamPandora 

[tsikows]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. If I wanted to make a Playlist I'd be using Spotify or any other music streaming platform.  Like @eVarese said, shuffle is what has always made pandora different, but it just doesn't seem that way anymore. Pick any given artist, and look at their entire music collection. I will use Montgomery gentry as my example as I hear them on a daily basis. If I click on their full song list of 145 songs, I can say with 100% certainty I only ever hear the top 4 songs on the list. That's pathetic. What about the other 141 songs available? Now add up every single artist I have in my collection.  That's 10s of thousands of songs I never get to hear. Do you see the problem pandora? 

Sadly, it seems the im tired of this track feature only works for a couple of days, as ive heard songs play only a mere couple of days after saying im tired of this track.

This is a good idea, and I think it would go well with another feature I have seen suggested prior. Someone said a feature where you could tell pandora to never repeat a single song for a selected duration. 1 day, 10 days, 30 days. I love the sound of that feature and think that would be a perfect solution to whatever pandora is doing now.

Moderator Edit: Merged posts

[WyntrHeart]

I've used Pandora for years and it used to be perfect, with mostly new songs and occasional repeats. Now I usually keep my stations on "discovery" or "deep cuts" mode because I want to mostly hear new songs and variety instead of only repeating a dozen or so thumbed up songs. It's not as good as it used to be (because I can't get discovery and deep cuts at the same time) but it works.

But when I try to shuffle multiple stations, almost everything that plays is from my thumbs up lists, and even the ones that aren't are still songs I've already listened to. I haven't heard a single new song while shuffling my stations. This is very frustrating because its the exact opposite of what I want when I shuffle: maximum variety and unpredictability. If I wanted to hear the same songs over and over, I'd be listening to a playlist instead of a station! Is there any way to make shuffle play more variety from each selected station?

If there's nothing I can do to improve this, I want to request a feature to select modes for shuffle the same way you can when listening to stations.

[AdamPandora]

@WyntrHeart I moved your post over to this existing thread: Music is repetitive in shuffle mode

Your feedback has now been added to the ticket we have open with our engineering team regarding the shuffle issue.

In the meantime, check out the accepted solution to this thread for some tips on how you can prevent Shuffle mode from getting too repetitive.

We appreciate your patience. 

[qlizard]

Oh my this is exactly my problem. It used to be great. Now it is the same 4 songs over and over. I cleared every single one of my "thumbs up" songs for this reason. Unfortunately that did not solve the problem either. It seems to only play the "popular" songs. I also have gone to "deep cuts" but unfortunately that excludes the "play this artist only" options which I also like to use. If you included an "I'm tired of this track" in shuffle mode I think that would solve it!

Edit - I see that I can get "tired of a track" in shuffle mode on the online version of Pandora, but I cannot on my Android device. That is where I use Pandora. Please add it to Android!

[randallllus]

I've been with Pandora since the beginning. I have ton's of stations, but with that said. I've been relegated to the same songs and same artists over and over again, while in shuffle mode. thumbprint Radio is no different. this is getting old. 

[coolhouse]

I have removed most of my Thumbs up ratings and still get most of the same songs over and over.  What is being done to fix this?  Also, as I was removing the thumbs up I would get an error message that would not allow me to remove the thumbs up rating indicating technical issues and cant complete that request at this time.

[AdamPandora]

@coolhouse Thanks for sharing your experience.

In addition to removing thumb ratings from your station, I recommend trying out these additional suggestions:

1. Create a custom shuffle mix. If you haven't already, try making a custom shuffle. You can include any station you'd like, and this set of stations will be saved as My Shuffle (or QuickMix) on all your devices. Let us know if you'd like the steps for that. 

You'll then be able to check the boxes next to the stations that you want to include in your custom shuffle, and this set of stations will be saved as My Shuffle (or QuickMix) on all your devices.

2. Avoid including several stations based on similar artists or songs. Choosing several stations of a similar style will create a repetitive shuffle mix. When selecting stations for shuffle (or when creating any new stations in general) consider selecting artists or tracks that musically contrast. This will yield a broader playlist.

3. Put tracks on the shelf. If you get sick of a track but don't want to completely ban it, you can put it on the shelf for a while by selecting I'm tired of this track/song.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Error message when removing thumb ratings:

Could you tell me a bit more about what is happening? Are you listening to Pandora on a computer or on a device?

1. If you are on a computer, are you listening from:
• A Mac or Windows computer?
• Our website, or the desktop app? If you're listening from our website, what browser are you using?
2. If you are on a device, what is the make and model (and carrier, if applicable)?
3. Can you provide me with a screenshot of the error message you're seeing when editing your thumb ratings?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[coolhouse]

Note 20 with verizon

Ill try to get a screen shot next time it happens, but if it has an error message, then the programmers put it in for some condition.  It is intentional. 

[Puffdaddy]

Blah Blah Blah 

Translation: We will continue to extract your hard earned money from your bank account, lead you to believe there will be a solution, but in the end do absolutely nothing to fix this and your frustration and disappointment will multipy.

Oh, and would you like to reply to an irrelevant survey at the end??

[sanhend]

My complaint as well. This community is not with it. Pandora support sent me this link via twitter. I've spent quite a lot of time creating my own station with songs and artists. Today was the first time I've listened to the station. I've had the station on 4 hours and have had no repeats. 

https://help.pandora.com/s/article/Tips-to-improve-stations-1519949305949?language=en_US&utm_source=...

[AdamPandora]

@sanhend I moved your post over to this existing thread: Music is repetitive in shuffle mode

The previous thread you posted on was specific to repetition when shuffling customized playlists for Premium users.

The issue you were describing is for repetition when shuffling your collected stations.

Thanks for sharing your experience, and glad those steps helped resolve this for you.

[kjfrey55]

I have a similar problem with just one channel.  I created one with about 25 artists in it, but I only hear songs from a portion of them, and it's always the same artists.  I've added variety a few times adding artists each time, but I have yet to hear a song from the recently added artists.  Also, I'm playing in deep cuts.  Maybe none of the songs from these artists are designated deep cuts and therefore don't play?  

I use deep cuts because as much as I love Santana, if I wanted to hear Oye Como Va one more time, I'd listen to FM radio.

I'll try to recreate a new station and see if that helps.  Otherwise, suggestions welcome.  Thanks!

[Puffdaddy]

I have so many songs that have NEVER been played on my Thumb's Up playlist that it's ridiculous.  It's insulting to think that Pandora has done ZERO to correct this issue in 3 years.  My guess is it's money-related and tied to royalties paid for songs.   Otherwise, the technology is simple: Exhaust playlist of all songs before repeating.  Period.  No, Pandora does this intentionally, or at the very least offers nothing in the way of an apology or refund or any consideration at all.  Really disappointing given how special music is on our lives.  We are not members by accident....we love our music.  And yes kjfrey55....I watched as Santana collapsed on stage July 5th from the 4th row.  Praying for his speedy recovery and return to the stage.  🙏