After turning on iCloud/iTunes match, my playlist was duplicated 2000 times

I tried the samsoft scripts too but it didn't work please can you tell me how you did it with a step by step guide for windows. Thanks.

I just downloaded it, unzipped it, double clicked the script. Said okay to the warning message. It appears to take the empty playlists away, but iTunes does not seem to be able to tell the Match server that they are all gone, as whenever I sync again with Match, most of them come back. I've tried adding other playlists, which sometimes it will remember on the server, but other times will forget when it syncronizes. Somehow I've managed to get down from 14000 to around 5000, but currently my solution is to turn off Match on my iDevices as they were messed up in the process and had to be restored. My plan for the next month is to try out Spotify premium free trial and forget about this Match nonsense until that's up or someone fixes it.

After hitting this issue in December I finally stumbled upon this thread and was relieved I wasn't the only one experiencing this. (Come on Apple QA...how did you miss this one?) The AppleScript referenced above works great to clear out the hundreds of blank playlists on my iMac but the steps recommended earlier in this thread did not fix the problem on my iPad.

I spoke with Apple Support today and here's what they had me do and it seems to have worked:

1. Turn off iTunes match on all devices (iPad, iPhone, iMac).
2. Run the AppleScript to delete blank playlists on the iMac if still showing.
3. (optional...I did this but I'm not sure now if it's really necessary) Do a full iPad Restore via iTunes with it tethered to the iMac.
4. On the iMac, go to iTunes, hold down the Shift key, then select the Store menu and select Turn On iTunes Match (this step is the key as apparently when you hold down the shift key it forces a sort of reset on the iTunes match process which clears out the hundreds of blank playlists residing on the iCloud).
5. Turn iTunes Match back on iPad, iPhone
6. Valid playlists will now replicate on the mobile devices without hundreds of blank playlists.

I hope this works for others out there!

Holding down shift was the trick! It even worked for me on Windows. Thanks for the clear instructions.

I did notice that it seems to have reset match so only songs on the one synced computer are now in the cloud. Just a warning for anyone who has deleted their originals (though apple warns against this) - make sure you have local copies of everything before you reset as described above.

Let's hope this round with Match goes better than the last, and that soon they get Genius and Smart Playlists working on Match enabled iDevices like they do on iTunes.

Great fix to a confounding problem. So far so good.

I tried this solution and it worked. Until I restarted iTunes which made all my empty duplicated playlists reappear.

I'm having the exact same issue, except I don't even get the courtesy of an error message. It just sits still, not syncing anything.

same problem.

i agree with domtak: „Sorry but I wish Apple would just solve the problem.“

i've done nothing wrong. only using product, which apple designed.

and it's causing me problems…

So I've just tried resetting with the shift key, and wouldn't you know it, everything works again, even the syncing, Such a simple solution to an infuriating problem. Thanks for the help!

I tried the shift key and it caused problems - unless it was a complete coincidence, iTunes forgot the location of all my files, and wouldn't find them again, so ended up restoring from a back up - now my library always has "previous iTunes library written at the top which bugs me but irrelevant to this discussion.

However something that is relevant to this discussion is that after my duplicated playlists I decided to go back to the conventional "plug it in and sync playlists" method for music and turn match off - much easier? Well no.. Because my phone wouldn't sync via cable anymore. 1 full restore later it's back up and running - annoying but fine- its ok now.

BUT I had not only turned on match on my phone, but my iPad, mums phone and dads phone. Last night went to sync my iPad - it doesn't work - had to do another full restore.

Tried mums phone- same, I can make a pretty accurate educated guess about dads!

I love my apple products but am SICK and tired wasting my time searching for and implementing solutions for problems that shouldn't happen in the first place. I still have 2 phones to waste a couple of hours restoring and match now remains firmly turned off on all of my devices because I'm so scared of the damage it might do :-(

Today I finally called Apple and spoke to a customer support. After taking my number—incase he needed to call me back—I explained my entire problem. He said he would look into it and put me on hold for over half an hour. I hung up in the end and never did get that call back like he promised.

Gas Face Apple.

Oh yeah, and I'm also having the syncing issues with my iPad and iPhone as per the person above.

I hear Google offers a good service...

To keep this discussion alive I guess I'll chime in. I went on a cruise so I had no internet or cellular access. I created a playlist during this time. Once I returned home and reconnected to the internet and cell towers, my playlist duplicated on itunes match. In a very short amount of time the playlist continued to duplicate thousands of times. It brought my iMac to a halt. I had to turn off wi-fi and force quit itunes. Then I reopened itunes and ran doug's applescript to delete the duplicate playlists. This worked like a charm, but once I turned on itunes match, the thousands of playlists returned. I emailed Apple regarding this and below is the response I received. Its been almost 2 weeks since I got this response, so Apple must have no idea on how to fix this.

Welcome to iTunes Store Customer Support. My name is Vaishak.

I understand that iTunes Match has created some duplicate playlists of an album. I know how concerned you are and I will provide you with as much information as possible related to this.

Apple is currently working towards a resolution for the issue you have reported. You will receive an email after the matter has been investigated and further information is available.

Thank you for your patience. Apple wants your iTunes experience to be as enjoyable as possible.

I too contacted Apple Support when this issue arose back in January, it sounds like the same guy has Ben dealing with my problem too, although he emails me every 10-15 days reinforcing the knowledge that Apple is aware of this and are working to fix it. Just contemplating now that if they are announcing an iPad 3 this month then an iOS update should follow which will hopefully fix these ****** bugs.

me too!

Trying to keep this going, it appears alot of people have a mac computer with this issue, but it also happens to us PC users. I turned off match over a month ago on my iphone 4s, and my ipad2, and on my itunes... But now I have to safe mode start my itunes every time, and the iphone won't sync with the computer, even though it appears on the itunes. I turned the match back on, and by duplicate list is still there...

I tried the script and it appears that nothing happens... then it hits a runtime error, but I think this is because I have to start in safe mode everytime to even get itunes to do anything... Any thought?

Anything new, please let me know..