how can I delete duplicated songs that are on my Ipod touch but are not duplicated in my library, please help! thanks!

Do you load songs on the iPod touch by dragging them manually from your music library to the iPod in iTunes? Or, do you load songs by using automatic syncing?

If you load songs manually, what's on the iPod does not reflect what's in your iTunes library, so it's possible that you loaded the same song more than once. To delete the unnecessary songs, select the iPod in the iTunes sidebar, under DEVICES. Click the little triangle next to the iPod to "drop down" the loaded media types (indented under the iPod). Select Music there. Over to the right, you will see the list of songs currently on the iPod. You can sort this list by song Name, to make the duplicates more obvious. Select the song(s) you want to delete on the list, and hit the Delete key. You can select multiple songs at once.

If you load songs using automatic syncing, you should not have duplicates on the iPod that do not exist in your main iTunes library. However, it's possible for playlists to have duplicates (even if the main iTunes library only shows the song one time). So in this case, check the playlists in iTunes that you sync automatically to the iPod, to make sure there are no duplicated songs.

I have also had this problem for a few months, now, and although I have seen other forum postings and potential solutions I have not found the right one to solve it. The duplicates are only shown in my albums on my iPod Touch. Each song shows twice. However, there are no dupliactes on iTunes so the conventional method of removing dupliuactes is irrelevant. It's really annoying me because I cannot play albums without listening to each sond twice. What's more, it's also doubled the storage on my iPod. I suspect it has something to do with iTunes Match or Cloud storage. Certainly for me it is clearly a software glitch the result of which there are many sufferers. A fix would be very welcome and long overdue.

I asked this question to the original post, but it applies here as well. Do you load songs on the iPod touch by dragging them manually from your music library to the iPod in iTunes? Or, do you load songs by using automatic syncing?

If you load songs using automatic syncing, that means everything on your iPod touch is in your iTunes library. You should just do a Restore on the iPod in iTunes. This will erase the iPod, reinstall the latest software, and set it to default settings. That will give your iPod a "fresh start" (eliminating whatever glitch is causing this problem) and you can sync it again.

If you load songs manually, you CAN have the same song on the iPod more than once because you could have loaded it more than once, and what's on your iPod does not automatically reflect what is in your iTunes library. You can manually remove the duplicates.

Automatic sync, not manual drag. What is odd is that the dupliactes are only on the iPod touch, not Itunes. Even when I look at my music content on the iPod within iTunes, only one song is listed for each artist. The issue is centres entirely within the iPod.

So, maybe you should do what I suggested in the last post. Since "automatic sync" means everything on the iPod is also in your iTunes library, you should do a Restore on the iPod to give it a fresh start.

An iPod touch is a "real" computer, like a Mac or Windows PC. Sometimes, you need to erase everything, reinstall the OS, and restore your user data from backup. That's what a Restore does for the iPod touch. And your iTunes library (or maybe iCloud in your case) is your user data backup.

OK, so I carried out a restore. Still the same problem - duplicte songs within albums but only shown on the iPod device. Nothing out of order within iTunes. I also tried deleteing all the music from my iPod through iTunes. All the duplicates vanished and the music content on my iPod showing in iTunes was zero...and yet I had a full complement of songs on my iPod. Maybe if I could erase this contect all would be well. Once I sync with iTunes again the content on my iPod reverts back to 2 copies, with just one copy showing in iTunes. How can I wipe my iPod music completely and start again?

How can I wipe my iPod music completely and start again?

That's the purpose of a Restore (done from the iPod's Summary tab in iTunes). The iPod is erased and set to "factory" settings. After iTunes completes the Restore, when it asks if you want to sync to your iTunes library, decline to do that initially. That should set the iPod to Manually manage music and videos (on the Summary tab). At that point, the iPod should not have any content.

You can then try something more limited, such as going to the Music tab (on the same "row" as the Summary tab) and setting it to only sync a few albums (since that's where you see the duplicates). Sync that change; only the songs on those few albums should load onto the iPod (the iPod will no longer be set to Manually manage music and videos).

Check to see if there are still duplicates on those few albums. If that works properly for those albums, you can set the Music tab to sync how you want to sync normally, and load the iPod more completely with music. Hopefully, it will still be working properly (no duplicates on the albums).

I did set to manually manage sync so that tyhere would be no content unless I authorised it. Yet there was still a full set of songs on my iPod...none showing in iTunes for my iPod but there they were.

Are you sure you REALLY did a Restore (from the Summary tab in iTunes)? 🙂 (Just kidding... I'm sure you did.)

Yet there was still a full set of songs on my iPod

So ONE "full set"... there's no longer a dupilcate song problem when you view albums?

You mentioned iCloud and iTunes Match earlier. I'm not directly familiar with how iCloud works on iOS devices, but if you subscribe to iTunes Match (which means your iTunes Music library is in "the cloud"), AND if that iPod touch is set up to sync from iCloud, maybe you are seeing your songs that are stored in iCloud (and not songs that are actually stored on the iPod touch).

I subscribe to iTune Match, and on my second Mac (which does not have the complete iTunes library that I have on my primary Mac), I can still see every song. The songs are not stored on that Mac at all. Yet, I'm seeing those songs in iTunes, because iTunes is seeing them on iCloud (through iTunes Match). I can "stream" them from iCloud, or download them to that Mac. On an iOS device, I believe you can see all the songs on the list, but they are downloaded to the device first, before playing (no direct streaming).

That would explain why, after you did a Restore (with no syncing), you do NOT see the songs when looking at the iPod through iTunes, but you DO see the songs when looking ON the iPod touch. Maybe the iPod touch is showing you what you have access to on iCloud, not what it has stored in its storage.

Joking apart, you were correct. I clearly hadn't retored fully, maybe because I missed something while I let the process run. All back to normal, now. Just need to set up the apps as before but no issue there. many thanks for your help and patience.

Oh really, that's good... BUT, I liked my iCloud plus iTunes Match "theory" SO much! 🙂

I don't remember manually dragging songs but i have the duplicates issue--i tried your solution of clicking on the triangle next to the IPod under DEVICES and then selecting "Music"--i can see all the music but it is "grayed out" and not interactive--i.e. i can't sort it or delete or do anything to those songs. What am i doing wrong?

If the songs are grayed out on the iPod's music listing (when you select Music under the iPod in the sidebar), that probably means you are NOT using the "manually manage" setting. On the iPod's Summary tab (in iTunes), there is a checkbox for Manually manage music and videos. If that is NOT checked, you are using automatic syncing to load content on your iPod.

When syncing automatically, you do not directly add and delete songs on the iPod. That's why the listing is visible, but not "interactive." Instead, you set up the Music tab to sync the iPod as desired; you can set it to sync your entire library, if it will fit, or set it up based on playlists, artists, albums, or genres. So (for example), if you set it up to sync playlists, you can update those playlists (add or remove songs) in iTunes at any time, even when the iPod is not connected. The next time you connect your iPod, those changes are synced automatically.

If you have a duplicate songs problem, first check your iTunes library to make sure those song duplicates don't actually exist in the iTunes library, or on the playlists that you are syncing automatically. If they are not duplicated in the iTunes library, you may want to try doing a Restore as suggested elsewhere in this topic. After the Restore, you can re-sync it the same way from your library. Your iPod's storage may have some type of data corruption, causing the duplicates to appear. If so, a Restore should fix it.

You can set it to Manually manage music and videos and then you will be able add and delete songs directly on the iPod (that listing should not be grayed out anymore). However, you will no longer be using automatic syncing (which for me is much more convenient).

Thanks for your quick response. They are duplicated both on iPod and in Library, but i did a recent sync (automatic) and it informed me there were songs on my iPod that were not in the Library and did i want to put them in the Library--fearing deletion i said yes but i'm pretty sure they are duplicates that i had deleted from the Library previously. I will go back and check the manual manage and see if i can delete them from the Ipod and then the Library. Thanks for your help

If the duplicates are also in your iTunes library, you should just get rid of the duplicates in your iTunes library and then sync the iPod. The duplicates should not exist on the iPod, once the duplicates are gone from the iTunes library, if you are using automatic syncing.

NOTE: There is a Display Duplicates command under the File menu in iTunes, that may be useful. Some duplicates, such as the same song appearing on different albums or different recordings of the same song, you may want to keep. 🙂