deleting duplicate songs

Question

deleting duplicate songs

I somehow managed to end up with duplicate songs on the albums I copied from cds. So, each album has two versions of every track within the album. Now, I selected every second track - i.e.. the duplicates - and deleted them. However, the remaining tracks listed now have the warning that the file cannot be found. Arrgh! Any way of fixing this without having to replies all the albums? Nothing went in the trash, which is empty.

itunes 12.01 on imac OSX Yosemite

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OSX

Posted on Jan 14, 2015 8:44 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,157 points

Jan 14, 2015 8:56 AM in response to ginoandkaspar

Using playlist and smart playlist combination to isolate dead links for deletion - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2085392

Making a playlist with just broken link files - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3670010?answerId=17349970022#17349970022 - post by turingtest2 and https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2132434?answerId=18359154022#18359154022 - post by Chris CA

Temporarily use a unused tag for a particular media type to assign value, then sort to find missing tags - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4790088?answerId=21189667022#21189667022

Check the relatively inexpensive TrackSift app on the Dougscripts web site.

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Answer 2

Jan 14, 2015 10:37 AM in response to Limnos

Yes, I can now see the dead links. However, I still have many more 'doubled-up' tracks in my albums, and each of these tracks is 'alive' i.e. playable. And when I trash one of them, the other becomes dead. So it is not clear to me whether the two tracks point to the same file, so I don't know how to get rid of these extra tracks safely.

The problem arose when I must have accidentally copied my songs back into iTunes when I was trying to back them up on my ext drive.

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Answer 3

Limnos

Level 10

411,157 points

Jan 14, 2015 10:45 AM in response to ginoandkaspar

Yes, you have two tracks pointing to the same file. Dealing safely with duplicates is never easy. The fastest way is to avoid creating them in the first place.

How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2905

Posts by turingtest2 about different types of duplicates and techniques - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3555601 and https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3293239?answerId=16042406022#16042406022 (Note: The DeDuper script is for Windows).

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Answer 4

Jan 14, 2015 12:15 PM in response to ginoandkaspar

Thanks for the pointers, folks. However I am none the wiser after investigating the various threads. The only thing I can get to work is selecting the tracks individually in each album and deleting, but choosing to keep the file. A bummer because I have so many to do.

I really don't understand how MAC can allow two Identical file names to share one actual file.

It's all very well trying to avoid creating the problem, but you can't know these things in advance, and an intuitive software would prompt the user to avoid.

Further suggestions?

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Answer 5

Limnos

Level 10

411,157 points

Jan 14, 2015 12:29 PM in response to ginoandkaspar

Generally iTunes does prompt you when you are creating a duplicate.

Are you working with the main library or with a playlist? It is easy to create duplicates with a playlist and probably intentionally so. Still, duplicates in a playlist will only be represented by a single file in the main library.

You may find sorting your list by a feature such as date added may help group your duplicates better.

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Answer 6

Jan 14, 2015 12:39 PM in response to ginoandkaspar

I am working with the main library, archiving cds for the first time, so doing lots one after another. This means the dates and times created are so close it is not easy to see obvious irregularities.

Just another wee thought - Is there any way to rip cds into mp3 files on the HD, and then import these into iTunes? I generally find it easier to work with the files directly rather than via the shopfront of iTunes.

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