Near Duplicate Playlist is Created when Syncing with IPhone

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!

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but it seems the new playlists with the next consecutive number, are the process of iTunes checking what is on the device and then syncing to iTunes but saving what is on the phone into iTunes as a different name to allow it to then sync and adjust the original playlist you would have altered (please note this only seems to happen to playlists which have changed since the last sync).

The only current solution I have is to sync and allow iTunes and iPhone to create the duplicates. Delete the duplicates and keep the original playlists which will show the amended amounts of songs. Then after that first sync delete the playlists in iTunes while the device is still connected and then click sync again and both iTunes and the iPhone will return to normal with the original amount of playlists and updated. Unfortunately this is not ideal as it means syncing twice and making amendments.

Apple please fix asap!!!

Well said.

I thought I'd found the solution with the latest update, but, not so.

Everything you describe, including the workaround, has been my experience too

I've also noticed that the duplicate playlist contains the songs which were on it before it was altered and that's the one that has to be manually deleted before a resync.

Weirdly, it's only happening to the playlists I marked with a Roman numeral next to it, that is

Car I

Car II....I've also noticed that new songs downloaded from iTunes Store and added to said playlists don't appear until I remove all of the songs from the playlist and copy them into a "reserve," list, copy them back again and then resync.

There is something very odd going on here and, like I said, I came over to Apple in order to make things as easy on the iPhone as it used to be on my iPod.

Talking of iPods, I've real trouble syncing my iPod to iTunes these days, as I keep getting an error message which states that the USB device hasn't been "recognized."

It sometimes takes 5, or 6 reconnections to sort that out.

Hi guys,

I was trying to find a way to overcome this, since it really is annoying to see new duplicate playlists created all the time when you sync, but finally I don't have that problem anymore.

Try out this: Create new playlist for every existing one with same name and just drag the songs to new one and delete the old playlists and for some reason iTunes will stop duplicating those new ones. It worked for me, hope it does to you all as well.

Cheers

Hi there.

Thanks for that.

I've just done what you've said to my 4 Tracks Playlists and then re-synced.

All was fine, I then altered one of the playlists by changing one song and then re-synced.

All was fine! 🙂

Hopefully, this will work, so thanks again.

I'll have another go when time allows and do some more changes, but fingers crossed!

Sad to say, that for some reason, this fix worked for a couple of days and then the problem with duplicate playlists reasserted itself.

😠

The only time a playlist doesn't duplicate for me, is when I wipe the entire playlist clean and start from scratch, which kind of defeats the object, if you only need to alter one, or two songs in a given playlist.

Still, I assume IOS 9 is due out in a few days, so hopefully, that will solve the issue, if not, I'll definitely be on the phone to Apple!

Same here and I am using iTunes on OS X, so I assume the problem is with core iTunes code or protocols, or on the iOS side.

It's so bad I basically just look for the highest numbered playlist of the duplicates and use that one until the phone runs out of storage, then I have to create a new playlist and begin the process over again. I can no longer change any playlist on the phone or iTunes side without it creating a duplicate for me. Part of the frustration is that it does not duplicate every time, just most of the time, so I've been unable to find the pattern.

Yep, it's so frustrating!

I was chuffed to bits for the first few days! 🙂

I wonder whether e2ward has had a relapse since suggesting the fix..hopefully, he's still following this one, I for one, would be interested to know.

Hi guys,

Yeah, I'm still following this one and it's sad to hear that it got reversed again. To be honest, from the time I posted here, I only synced for about 3-4 times, since I haven't much new music :/ but it seems that everything is still ok for me, however from what I see, I'm pretty sure, it would come back to me as well, if I synced more often.

Hope iOS 9 will have this problem fixed. Will be following this one and I'm sure that we will eventually find a way to get rid of this problem completely 🙂

Good to hear that you're still able to sync OK.

Yep, it worked for me for a few days, but then, I do change whole playlists and alter others fairly frequently.

Let us know if things take a backward step?

😁

I been having the same problem and its driving me nuts. For me it duplicates every time i modify a playlist. The new playlist usually the old song listing. I have just been deleting the new playlist. Does this have anything to do with subscribing to Apple Music? Has this happened to people who have not subscribed to Apple Music?