RESOLVED: Playlists repeat songs in shuffle mode

[paulpost1517]

I play music from playlist, on shuffle mode, not stations. Some songs & artist overplay. It shuffles, but not well

Moderator Edit: Changed title for clarity

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @paulpost1517.

I moved your post over to My Collection to keep the community organized.

Looks like you've also been in touch with our User Support team regarding this issue. 

Were you able to try out the steps sent over to you via email?

Let me know.

[paulpost1517]

I did, but it didn't work. I'm experiencing the same issue. It seems that it is better, but not much. 

[Neltar23]

Why is it when I shuffle my playlist of over 700 songs I still end up hearing the same, maybe 20 songs. Meanwhile theres other songs of the 700+ that NEVER get played. Is there any way to truly male a playlist do a RANDOM shuffle?

[briantorok]

Agreed. There needs to be a "reshuffle" option to give it a kick in the pants.

[greggr]

I have a curated Christmas playlist with 1300 songs.  I set it on shuffle, but it seems to play mostly the same songs, doesn't get to most of them. Why?

[AdamPandora]

@Neltar23 @greggr 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)?

Let me know.

[eskimotony]

I have a playlist with 448 tracks.  I shuffle the playlist to hear as many different tracks as possible, but I still hear the same 20 or so songs whenever I play the playlist.  Only rarely does it play certain songs.  There are some songs I've added to the playlist that I've never heard.  With 448 tracks I easily have over 24 hours of music.  Why do I always hear the same 20 tracks?  

I have a Google Pixel 3 phone, but I also stream this playlist on a Roku and on a Windows computer with the same results.  

[AdamPandora]

@eskimotony Nice to see you around the community. 👋🏽

To clarify, do the same 20 or so tracks play throughout the same listening session? For example, if you play that specific playlist today for 5 hours straight, will it just cycle through the same 20 or so songs?

Or is the issue that with each new listening session (regardless of what device you are using), the same 20 or so tracks always play first before any of the other tracks on that playlist do?

Let me know.

[eskimotony]

I'm exaggerating a bit, but there are ~20 songs that almost always play when I listen to the playlist for any amount of time.  Then there are other songs that almost never play.  In fact, I've added them a second time, because I forgot they were on the playlist, only to look at the playlist and realize that they were on there, but just hadn't ever played.  I need to track it more scientifically so I can provide exact numbers.  I understand coincidences, but it just seems like the shuffle feature is broken because it keeps picking the same songs.  

[AdamPandora]

@eskimotony I definitely understand your frustration with this.

I know you mentioned this is happening across devices, however let's first focus on seeing if we can prevent it from happening again when streaming Pandora on your phone.

To begin, try running through the troubleshooting steps listed on our help page for Android devices.

If this doesn't resolve the issue, I'd like to report this to our engineering team. Can you send over a bit more info about your device if that is the case?

• Model:
• Carrier:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Build number (Settings > About Phone):
• Android Security Patch Level, if noted on your device (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version:
  • If you can open Pandora, go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number.
  • If you can't open Pandora: from Android Home screen > Android Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Find Pandora

Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening?

Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

Let me know what you can find out.

[Blaing1985]

when i have a created playlist of over 100 songs and i shuffle the playlist i seem to hear the same songs over and over without hearing all the songs even when all songs have been downloaded 

[eskimotony]

I spent some time recording what songs played over multiple listening sessions.  So - I simulated 9 listening sessions (5 on my computer and 4 on my phone), each playing 25 songs on shuffle from a playlist that has 448 songs.  I would start the playlist, hit shuffle, then skip past the first song.  So - in total I listened to 225 songs (roughly half the playlist).  In those 9 sessions, 40 songs played twice and 5 songs played three times.  That means that during each individual session, 1 out every 6 songs I had heard play at least once before in a recent session.  This seems high to me.  It would be nice to see a setting that would allow you not repeat a song until you've played the entire playlist regardless of which device you are listening to it on.      

[AdamPandora]

@eskimotony Thank you for updating us with that.

If are still running into the issue after running through the suggested troubleshooting steps I linked in my last message, please follow up with the requested device information as well.

I can then pass this along to our engineers for further review.

Thanks for all your help with this! 

[AdamPandora]

@Blaing1985 I moved your post over to this thread since it sounds like you are experiencing a similar issue on your Android device.

Please review my post above and run through the linked troubleshooting steps to see if that resolves the repetition you are getting in your created playlists.

If you continue to have trouble after running through those steps, please follow up with the requested device information I left in that same message, and I'll be happy to pass your feedback along to our engineers.

Thanks for your help with this. 

[judylbf]

in my car

[TannerPandora]

Thanks for posting @judylbf.

Can you tell me more about what your issue is? Are you having trouble with playlist repeating songs in shuffle?

[schrocat]

I have the same issue so I'll see if my info will help Tanner.  Playlist has let's say 350 songs I hit shuffle and within 20-30 songs I'm getting repeats then in the end it never expands outside of a hundred songs max.  Meaning you never get to hear all the music in the playlist and the repeats are at a point annoying.  I would recommend a function adjustment by the dev team that says the random pics only come from the yet to be played/unplayed items on the list as the listening session goes on and it should remember that and randomize/shuffle the remaining songs until the playlist is complete then start shuffling the whole list all over.  We spend a lot of time curating our playlists with songs we love we actually want to hear them all and in a more creative way than listening to them in the same order.  

I would love for there to be a shuffle function that says randomize songs not played until it exhausts the playlist.  I've been working in computer development for 6 years I know this isn't a difficult thing to do. Simple logic that would actually shuffle to hear an entire playlist before repeating.  

[dankel]

@AdamPandora Let me suggest you create a new Pandora account. Add 8 very diverse stations. Listen to Pandora for about 3 hours a day in Shuffle mode for about a week. Take notes. How many songs were repeated? How often? Get back to us. Maybe then you will understand what these people are talking about.

It is obvious you don't use or listen to Pandora on a regular basis. If you did, the answers to your questions would be abundantly obvious. Use your own product. Then get back to us.

It is beyond annoying and frustrating when Tech Support blames the customer before looking at their own product. The sheer number of people complaining about exactly the same issue should be a clue that it is not the customer but the product that needs to be addressed. Have your engineers listen to Pandora for a few hours each day for about a week. It will answer all the insane "troubleshooting" questions. 

[thundley661]

Same issue here.  I am a Premium member and have spent many hours developing playlists some with hundreds of songs and yet when I play in shuffle mode it keeps repeating the same 20 songs or so.  Only if I keep hitting the skip button will it eventually move on to songs that I rarely or never hear in shuffle mode.

I listen on an iPhone 8+ running IOS version 13.5.1

Please PLEASE come up with a resolution to this before I switch to Spotify!

Forgot to mention in my previous post that my carrier is AT&T.