I converted my itunes library to MP3 in their own windows folder. Now I have duplicates in iTunes. How do I get rid of the duplicates showing in iTunes?

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I converted my itunes library to MP3 in their own windows folder. Now I have duplicates in iTunes. How do I get rid of the duplicates showing in iTunes?

I have both an iPod and a generic MP3 player. The MP3 player can't cope with M4a format files that I use for my iPod, so I converted the entire library (over 7000 songs) to MP3. They are stored in a separate folder but on the same hard drive (no other options of where to store them).

iTunes relentlessly "sees" the original M4a files AND the MP3 files in the entirely separate folder.

How do I get iTunes to ignore the separate file folder full of MP3 files?

I'm especially concerned that, if I upload a new CD into my iTunes library and try to sync the iPod, it's going to attempt to sync all the duplicate MP3 files and really make a huge mess of things.

Posted on Mar 28, 2023 2:24 PM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

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274,970 points

Mar 29, 2023 10:01 AM in response to jimmoore13

Use the Songs view of the library, sort by date added, select the recently created conversions and delete them from the library without deleting them from your computer. You can drag and drop the MP3 collection to your generic device, and iTunes will only have the original content to sync to your iPod.

See also Duplicate songs in iTunes - Apple Community. You could potentially use the script to simply uncheck all of the duplicates, but not actually clean them from the library. This would leave them in place, but stop them being played accidentally or synced to your iPod.

tt2

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Answer 2

jimmoore13 Author

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4 points

Mar 29, 2023 6:54 PM in response to turingtest2

Outstanding. Thank you so much.

And I learned a ton about managing and viewing the iTunes library in the process.

I did the "delete" method. As it happened, my library was fully installed...copied from an immense CD library. After that I did the MP3 conversion en masse, so all the dates on the MP3s were later.

I'll add something I learned...that in the view settings it's possible to open the "file" settings and select "kind"...and this shows the file types. In my case, "Apple Lossless" vs "MPEG". So I could have sorted by kind and found the MP3s that way.

Again, thank you!!

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

274,970 points

Mar 30, 2023 3:46 AM in response to jimmoore13

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

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I converted my itunes library to MP3 in their own windows folder. Now I have duplicates in iTunes. How do I get rid of the duplicates showing in iTunes?

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