Note added 1/1/2022: see also the solution posted here.
When I play albums and playlists, shuffle play is spontaneously reverting to normal play. I select shuffle play via the Queue screen, and I have selected Shuffle in the ‘Play actions’ for albums and playlists (not that that used to be necessary to maintain shuffle play). The reversion to normal play always happens when I switch to a new album or playlist, and it usually happens within albums as well, sometimes after a few seconds. (I can see this by watching the shuffle icon in the Queue screen magically change color.)
I have a Roon Nucleus connected to a Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 router and Netgear Nighthawk CM2000 modem with ethernet cable, and to a McIntosh MA5300 integrated amplifer with USB A to B cable. The Nucleus is running Roon version 1.8 (build 882), and the Roon app on my Samsung tablet is running Roon version 1.8 (build 880). I use the TIDAL streaming service.
Whatever, it’s frustrating - especially having to dig to find it in the queue menu, which often then changes it back again. This is a simple functionality issue - there should be a shuffle button on every relevant page.
Thank you for reaching out to us about this. We’re happy to explain what you’re experiencing.
As @AE67 touched upon, this change was in response to customer feedback.
Now when using the Play Now or Play from here actions in Roon, shuffle mode will be deactivated if it was toggled on. You’ll find note of this change mentioned in the Release Notes for Build 880 here
To expand on that:
If you have music queued up in shuffle mode and you press either Play now on any album or playlist page, it will turn off shuffle. The same goes if you press the Play from here purple play button on an album page or playlist.
Roon will interpret either of those actions as you saying ‘hey Roon, I want to listen to this instead now.’ So shuffle mode gets turned off.
If you have a bunch of music queued up in shuffle mode, and you wish to retain shuffle mode when choosing more music to play, simply click the down arrow next to the Play now button on any page and use the Queue option as seen in the screenshot below. This will add your selections to the queue AND keep shuffle mode in place.
