How to delete 21,000 dead tracks in itunes/Windows7

Did you move your music files to only one location or multiple? If only one, the following method can get your dead tracks be activated.

Double click one track to play it, since the file is not existed in the original path, you will be asked if you want to locate it. Click Locate and find the path of the dead track on your new location. iTunes will help to fix all dead tracks included in the new location.

If multiple, you can locate to different location to fix them.

Apple's official advice on duplicates is here... HT2905: How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls such as lost ratings and playlist membership.

Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created. If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin.

Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.

(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)

The most recent version of the script can tidy dead links as long as there is at least one live duplicate to merge stats and playlist membership to and should cope sensibly when the same file has been added via multiple paths.

Of if you're not worried about ratings, play counts, playlists, date added etc.

Lost & Found Playlists

Create a regular 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. They can be deleted with Ctrl+A to select and then Shift+Delete.

Or try iTunes Folder Watch with its option to check for dead tracks on startup.

For the future see also Make a split library portable and Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.

tt2

It only works when you drag & drop a selection into a regular playlist as described. Tracks that are not at the path where iTunes expects them to be are not added to the playlist Found and then show up in Lost with the appropriate rules.

Try my deduper script or iTFW instead.

tt2

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

To start a complete fresh library you can delete the following from your iTunes folder:

iTunes Library.itl

iTunes Library.xml (or iTunes Music Library.xml)

iTunes Library Extras.itdb

iTunes Library Genius.itdb

sentinel (hidden, won't really matter if you leave this)

Album Artwork

If your library files are in <User's Music>\iTunes then iTunes will create a new empty library for you automatically. If not it will prompt your to choose or create one. Use the create option.

What I would recommend is that you use the shift-start method to launch iTunes so that you get the choose/create prompt, then create a new library at F:\iTunes, move the media folder inside so it becomes F:\iTunes\iTunes Media, check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced that the media folder is shown as F:\iTunes\iTunes (correct if not) then use File > Add Folder to Library to add the media folder to the library. If iTunes is set to organize the media the music items end up at F:\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\<Artist>\<Album>.

tt2

Looks like last time I tweaked something I broke something else. 😊

Try downloading a fresh copy.

tt2

bgulledge wrote:

After much work in Windows Explorer, I now have all my music (with no dups) in two locations:

C:\Bill\MyMusic\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music

F:\iTunes Media\Old Music

Do you mean that F:\iTunes Media\Old Music is a copy of C:\Bill\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music and both folders contain exactly the same things so one is a backup of the other, or that every track is one folder or the other but not both?

Rather than work through each scenario would you mind answering this question before I make the next recommendation?

tt2

OK. Managing a single library and keeping it backed up is less effort, and you can keep the two sets of media organized into playlists, but that is fine.

When iTunes is first installed it will create a new library in <User's Music>\iTunes where the path to <User's Music> depends on the username and OS version. If the last known library was on this path then iTunes would automatically recreate the library files if missing. Since you are getting the error message that the library cannot be loaded your active library was previously on a different path.

Current Library

When you create a new library iTunes wants to create a new folder to place it in so if you're going to get your library on C: rebuilt first rename the folder C:\Bill\My Music\iTunes as say C:\Bill\My Music\Temp, then start iTunes, use the create library option and get it to make a new library called iTunes in the folder C:\Bill\My Music. Check that the media folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced is listed as C:\Bill\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media. If it isn't click the Reset button or manually correct it. Make sure the options to Keep... and Copy... are both enabled. Now that the library is in the right shape move the Temp folder inside C:\Bill\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media. Finally use File > Add Folder to Library and select the folder C:\Bill\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media.

Oldies Library

Close iTunes, give it a few moments to fully save the library. Now press and hold down shift as you relaunch iTunes. When you get prompted to choose or create a library click the create option and browse to the folder F:\. Call the library Oldies. Now move the folder F:\iTunes Media inside F:\Oldies\iTunes Media and then use File > Add Folder to Library and select the folder F:\Oldies\iTunes Media.

In both cases iTunes will shuffle the imported media around into the correct layouts within the respective media folders, and you can shift-start-iTunes to switch from one to the other.

tt2