Q: Near Duplicate Playlist is Created when Syncing with IPhone

I am having this problem as well and it is driving me crazy....at first i thought syncing two devices at the same time creates this problem but i tried syncing one at a time and i am still having the same problem.

I have had this issue for quite some time now. I just recently decided to look into finding a fix. Like other users have said, after syncing I will get a duplicate playlist with MAYBE  a few songs being different. The playlist will have a new number beside it also. Example:

Playlist (real one)

Playlist 1 (duplicate after 1 sync)

Playlist 1 2 (duplicate after 2nd sync)

This will just keep adding up until I delete them. After I delete them it justs starts the numbering over and keeps duplicating. This is very annoying as I pay apple for my music and for their service and would like to have the ability to properly manage my music without bugs like this from cluttering up my library and confusing me while looking for the correct playlist. APPLE PLEASE PROVIDE A RESOLVE TO YOUR PAYING CUSTOMERS!!!

I have this one too for some time, and it hasn't gone away even with OS X 10.10.3, iTunes 12.1.2 and iOS 8.3 on an iPhone 6. I've also noticed that it seems to be tied to smart albums/playlists/folders/whatever they're called this week.

I have wondered whether it's something to do with the "Live Updating" option on a smart playlist. EG: You configure the (smart) playlist for live updating. You synchronise it onto the iPhone. You play a track or two from that playlist on the iPhone, which updates the actual set of songs in the playlist. You synchronise again, and because the 2 playlists (one on the iPhone, one on the Mac) are different, iTunes thinks that you've created a new playlist on the 'phone so it creates it too. Then repeat.

I haven't had time to investigate this, but I did notice this problem some time after Apple broke and then fixed "Live Updating" of playlists some time ago, perhaps when the original iPod app on the iPhone was replaced with the new "Music" app.

Does anyone else only see this with smart playlists?

Regards,

Chris

Never was an issue before the latest update in July 2015... But I am also having this issue. I'm sure there's a setting somewhere... It's like my phone wants to keep the original playlist then creates a new one when i add new music. I thought Synching would over-ride the original playlist.

Come on Apple, step your game up!

I've had the same exact problem ever since upgrading to iOS 8.4!

Having this same issue...has anyone figured it out?

Having this same issue too, except on on a Mac (Yes, I know this is a "Windows" forum, but it's the same issue ).

So it seems like it's in iTunes across both Windows and Mac platforms.

Fairly annoying and it only seems to have started in the last month or so.

I notice the duplicating issue when I sync an edited playlist.

For example:

Say I have a playlist named "MIX - Rock" and it was created in iTunes.  I'm syncing it to my iPhone.

In iTunes if I add or remove tracks to that playlist, then sync, I get 2 playlists in both iTunes and on the iPhone.

MIX - Rock

&

MIX - Rock 1

After comparing both the one with the correct ORIGINAL name has my added tracks.

The MIX - Rock 1 seems to be a copy of the former playlist before I edited and synced the changes.

I've been deleting the extra playlist copy but thought I'd try and look for a solution, ended up finding this thread.

So at least I don't feel alone now :>

I am having the exact same issue.

I create playlists on iTunes and then sync them to my iPhone 6, my playlists are entitled:

Car I

Car II etc.

There's never been a problem, until recently, presumably after an upgrade to either iOS, or iTunes?

Now, whenever I do this, some new tracks don't sync, until I've played them on iTunes and I also get this weird duplication of playlists so that

the Playlists on my iPhone read, as follows:

Car I

Car 1

Car II

Car 2 and I end up having to delete them from the iPhone.

If I don't and merely delete them from iTunes and re-sync, then they reappear on iTunes.

So, it seems that I have to manually delete them from the iPhone, but it's a wearisome process, as I tend to change/update playlists weekly.

I'm really pleased that someone has raised this issue and hope that it is resolved quickly.

I'm thinking of phoning the Apple "Support," number in  the UK/Ireland, as they were very helpful regarding an issue I had with iTunes Match earlier on in the year.

Hopefully, it's something that can be resolved in settings, or, if not, a bug that will be dealt with soon.

Same issue except that I am noticing the songs show up in my music library 2 or 3 times and I only have one version on the song in the iTunes media folder. This is really becoming a nuisance as well as creating additional and unnecessary work for us, the users.

This issue with the iTunes playlist duplicating has been an ongoing issue for months, When I look at the post you just have to wonder are they going to have a remedy or fix the problems I had an issue with my playlist duplicating like 60 to hundred 150 at times I'm a DJ and I use iTunes as my master playlist so on a nightly basis when I play I get duplicate playlist all the time and all my friends say get rid of iTunes but I still stick with iTunes and I'm hoping for them to come up with a remedy to fix this problem. It just seems like all they're concerned with is updates and newer technology where they can't even keep up with all the complaints trying to fix it **** that's why went to Apple because they were stable but I'm getting my doubts now because this is serious especially if you do it for a living trying to keep the music straight that's all I'm asking hopefully somebody can help me out with this irritating problem. Thank you

I can't help but agree.

I bought an iPhone 6 for 2 reasons.

1. iOS finally got round to allowing 3rd Party Keyboards, such as "SwiftKey," albeit in a much more limited capacity than it appears on Android.
2. The ease of syncing to iTunes which I've used for years with my iPod and loved, but had recently started to put playlists on my Android phone through a 3rd party app, which was a bit cumbersome, but at least it meant I didn't have to carry two devices around with me anymore!

However, that reason has become a bit redundant at present as syncing to iTunes and having to deal with this is a lot more cumbersome than using the work around solution I had on.

I live in hope that this will be sorted soon.

It looks like this problem fixed itself for me!  I'm not sure if it was the latest iTunes update (12.2.2.25) or if it was installing iOS 8.4.1 on my iPhone 6, but I just added a new song to my singles playlist and it did not duplicate as it had been doing for the last couple of months!  Is the problem fixed for you guys as well?

Yep, me too!

I think, for me, it was a question of updating both the iPhone and iTunes.

I accepted the latest iPhone update last night and it said something about fixing bugs in Apple Music, so I dove in and changed a few tracks in a couple of my playlists, but still had the "duplication," problem.

However, once I'd checked for an iTunes Update and installed it, everything seems to be working OK.

I also had an issue with newly downloaded songs not syncing over to playlists, although they were in the"recently added," section on the phone.

That too, seems to be OK.

Fingers crossed and all that!

Well, that was short lived!

I altered another playlist this morning and as soon as it synced, the newer version appeared and then the older version was still there  with a "1," beside it.

For some reason, it seems as if the old version isn't being removed during the syncing..maybe, something simple in the settings will solve it, if not,I'll definitely be giving Apple a call in the week.

I've learned that you can wait for the duplicate to appear and just delete it and then re-sync, but it's a terribly laborious process, if you're altering a number of playlists!