remove orphaned entries from my library?

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Level 1

17 points

remove orphaned entries from my library?

These are in iTunes on a Windows 7 PC. My files are ripped from my CD's and not purchased from iTunes.

I want to remove some of my MP3 files from my library. They are in one particular directory on my PC, but are scattered all over my iTunes library (they have different artists, albums, genre etc. No easy way to locate them all inside iTunes).

If I delete or move the files from my hard drive, the entries in iTunes will get orphaned.

How do I remove, cull, weed my library of orphaned files? (I'm surprised that this is not available as a maintenance tool in iTunes...)

These have been uploaded to iTunes Match as well. If I delete them from my library and update my Match, will these get deleted from the iCloud as well?

I would like these orphaned songs removed from both my local library and my Match.

Thanks.

Aloke

PC, Windows 7, iPhone 3GS

Posted on Sep 1, 2012 6:15 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Sep 1, 2012 6:35 AM in response to Aloke

Lost & Found

Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist (it may take some time to count the tracks that are to be dropped). Create a smart playlist called Lost matching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist.

You can select all the entries in the Lost playlist with Ctrl-A, then press Shift-Delete to delete them from the library.

I'm not certain what the score is with iTunes Match as I don't subscribe, but I believe you may get a box to confirm the deletions which includes an option to "Remove from iCloud", in which case select it.

tt2

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Answer 2

Aloke Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 1, 2012 6:33 AM in response to turingtest2

"Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist"

Does this mean that during the process of adding tracks to a playlist, iTunes checks to see if the tracks it is adding is still there on the drive?

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Sep 1, 2012 6:38 AM in response to Aloke

Indeed so, for manual playlists, at the time of adding, whether using the iTunes program or the scripting interface, the track must be where it supposed to be or the request to add to the playlist is ignored.

tt2

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Answer 4

Aloke Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 1, 2012 4:39 PM in response to turingtest2

I tried this. The Found playlist has the missing songs but they are marked with an "!" next to the track # in the left column.

The Lost playlist (which is a smart playlist, automatically updated), is blank unless I manually delete the items marked with ! in the Found playlist.

So, the method works but I have to manually delete the items from the Found playlist to work.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Sep 1, 2012 11:21 PM in response to Aloke

Weird, I've used that method often and "missing" tracks never get added to the "Found" playlist... 😟

An alternative approach would be the script itunes_remove_notfound.

tt2

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