Spotify adds a new, less repetitive shuffle, plus audiobook recaps

Music streaming service Spotify said it is introducing a new shuffle option that repeats fewer suggested songs.

The company originally launched Smart Shuffle for paid users in 2023, a feature that added new songs to a playlist’s queue based on users’ previously played songs and their preferences. Users previously could not disable this feature.

With this new update, the company is making shuffle with fewer repeats the default for paid users. This means users will hear fewer songs from their recent listening history and more new songs.

If they want the standard Smart Shuffle, they can go to Settings > Playback and choose the “Standard” option under the Shuffle Mode section.

Spotify added that both free and premium users can tap any song to play next while shuffling without rearranging the queue.

Lauren Saunders, product director for personalization at Spotify, said that shuffle follows randomness, which means there is a higher probability of listening to the same songs again.

“That’s the thing about real randomness: It can be clumpy. Just like you can roll three sixes in a row, a purely random shuffle might never seem to play the song you’re hoping for, or it might stack the same artist or album closer together than your brain expects. The math is right, but the feeling is wrong,” Saunders said.

“Instead of giving you one random order and calling it a day, we now generate hundreds of truly random versions of your playlist. Then we score each one for freshness, looking at how recently you’ve played certain songs, how much variety is packed into the opening stretch, and whether you’re getting repeats too soon,” she said about the new approach to shuffle.

Along with this feature, Spotify is also releasing an AI-powered recap feature for audiobooks to let users catch up on a story to the point where they stopped listening. Users will see a recap button at the top of the audiobook’s page, which will play a summary of the story so far.

Spotify said that the recaps will show up after users have listened to at least 15-20 minutes of a book and are regularly updated as they progress. It added that Spotify is not using audiobook content to train models, and recaps don’t replicate the original narration.

The feature is currently available on iOS in beta for a selection of English-language titles.