When I delete duplicates how do I know which version is the original song and which is the duplicate?

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Level 1

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When I delete duplicates how do I know which version is the original song and which is the duplicate?

I have recently transfered all my music to a new computer and duplicates have appeared in my itunes. I have chosen to 'show exact duplicates' so that it is easier for me to delete, but I can't work out which version of the song I need to delete. (When I click to delete on the top version a box appears stating 'move to recycle bin', but when I click on the second version the box which appears just says 'delete file from itunes.')

Also - does any one know where these duplicates have emerged from?!?

I hope I have given enough info. I would be super grateful if someone could shed some light on this!

Thanks.

iPod classic, iOS 8.1.2

Posted on Dec 30, 2014 2:26 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Dec 30, 2014 4:49 AM in response to Ref9

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.

tt2

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