How to delete items from a smart playlist in iTunes?

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How to delete items from a smart playlist in iTunes?

Hey everyone,

my question is concerning iTunes Version 12.1.1.4 for Windows.

How do I delete items (in my case dead links and long thought deleted podcasts) from a smart playlist (said items don't show up in the general library -as they shouldn't-)? I assume it is all dead leftover data somehow still stored on the iTunes library file. But if possible I would like to see it gone (without simply deleting my library file -too much otherwise important information is stored on it-). Oh, and Shift+delete won't work (anymore?) for me to delete items from a smart playlist...

Your support on that matter would help me out a lot, so thank you in advance. 🙂

Greetings

General Laptop-OTHER, Windows 8

Posted on Mar 25, 2015 11:59 PM

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Answer 1

ed2345

Level 9

62,492 points

Mar 26, 2015 4:01 AM in response to ArteyeXR2

Create a new Smart Playlist with the same rules.

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,783 points

Mar 26, 2015 4:14 AM in response to ArteyeXR2

To locate all of the broken links in your library try:

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 them and then Shift+Delete to discard them.

The exercise can be repeated with different media sources.

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

In general however you fix issues with smart playlists by adjusting the rules. Adding the rule Playlist is Music can often exclude unwanted matches. Location is on this computer can eliminate cloud content. Etc.

tt2

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Answer 3

ArteyeXR2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 26, 2015 10:19 AM in response to turingtest2

Thank you so far for your replies,

unfortunately after having tried out your given steps it didn't work for me. Nothing showed up in the Lost smart playlist since the media kind of mentioned items are podcasts and not music - and as far as I am aware of you can't select Playlist is Podcast.

Nevertheless: I have already a different smart playlist with the rules Media Kind is Podcast and it lists all the items mentioned in my initial question. Some of these are dead links with an exclamation mark unable to be found through their source, others can actually be played when selected. Of the ones that can be played, when I hit the get info command and go to the column file as locations are mentioned random http://[...]adresses.

I can guarantee that non of these files in the smart playlist show up in my music library and when it comes to the podcast section I have unsubscribed to all of them and deleted all previous downloaded ones, so I am given the button to find Pocasts in the iTunes Store and give it all a try - also I don't use cloud services...

And still I am left with these items sowing up in the smart playlist I've mentioned and Ctrl+A, Shift+delete for some reason will do nothing... 😟

Any clues?

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

272,783 points

Mar 26, 2015 11:37 AM in response to ArteyeXR2

Sorry, I thought similar things were happening with music as well as podcasts, hence:

The exercise can be repeated with different media sources.

Locate one of the problem entries in your smart playlist, the right-click and use Show in Playlist > Podcasts. This should take you to the primary entry in the library for this object. It might be necessary to ensure that you are using an Episode List view, and that at the bottom of the screen you have Show: Unplayed/My Episodes and Saved. Hopefully in this view you can see the episode that needs removing from the library.

If that still isn't working perhaps some screenshots would help illustrate the issue you are having.

tt2

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Answer 5

ArteyeXR2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 26, 2015 1:58 PM in response to turingtest2

So,

when right-clicking on one of my problem entries - in episode list view - it won't give me the option Show in Playlist > Podcasts.

When trying to locate these files I am given either option:

A) A path on my hard drive that doesn't exist (anymore):

B) A web adress (these files can actually still be played when selected from the smart play list):

Note: Just to clarify: I've tried to rename all the files DEAD LINK to identify them more easily.

My smart playlist is set as follows:

My whole iTunes library in the iTunes media folder itself has been organised by iTunes since pretty much the beginning when I started building up a decent library years ago:

As explained before, I have unsubscribed from all past podcasts as well as deleted every shown file given in the library, so my podcast section is empty:

When trying to find mentioned problem items shown in the smart playlist through my general music library where all other items should be shown, they don't show up. I've searched through rating, because I've given the problem items in the smart playlist all a one-star-rating as you might have seen in the screenshots before. They are the only files with a one-star-rating in my library, so they should show up at the bottom of my library, which they don't:

At last I can show you the iTunes media folder itself, it doesn't (unsurprisingly) show a Podcast folder, as there shouldn't be any at this moment:

The only way whereas said problem items show up is through a smart playlist searching for podcasts. I really assume that somehow they got stuck and stored on the iTunes Library.itl or iTunes Library.xml files and hence are given as a search result.

This though does irritate me a lot especially when I might return downloading new podcasts which would be cluttered together with these problem files. 😟

This all wouldn't be so difficult if the Shift+del input would work in smart playlists - for some as it seems it does the trick (Option+del for Mac users).

For me it simply won't work - only in the library.

I hope I have provided you with enough information to work with, yet again I am sorry for spamming so many screenshots.

So far a big "Thank you!" for taking your time to help me out. 🙂

Greetings

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

272,783 points

Mar 26, 2015 2:44 PM in response to ArteyeXR2

So there are two different things that show up in the podcasts section of the library, podcast subscriptions and podcast episodes. Perhaps if there are no subscriptions you get that "Podcasts in the iTunes store" view even if there are, or should be, some disconnected episodes. That said, I have just tried and failed to produce this behaviour in a test library, so I guess that isn't it.

The file with the location listed as file://localhost/... is missing from its expected place in the media folder. Those that start https://... are Internet streams, and no longer at their original path if they won't play. I take it you've tried ed's suggestion of creating a new smart playlist in case this one has a stuck memory of content that is no longer in the library?

Failing that I've just updated my script KillSelectedFiles so that it is able to delete file track entries that have a broken path and also Internet streams which my scripts usually ignore. Tested on one of each type in a smart playlist and they were deleted.

tt2

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Answer 7

ArteyeXR2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 26, 2015 4:01 PM in response to turingtest2

YOU

SIR,

ARE

A

GENIUS!!!

No really, thank you so much. Your script did the trick for me. 🙂

At this point I'd like to commend you for your scripts in general as I've found ClearLyrics, ReplaceTextInName & UnAutoSort immensely useful in the past.

Also thank you Ed2345 for trying to help me out.

So I guess we can call it a case closed. 🙂

You all, have a great day.

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

272,783 points

Mar 26, 2015 4:17 PM in response to ArteyeXR2

You're welcome. 🙂

Always good to know the scripts are proving useful. I should really add some download counters to get an idea of how many people use them but there is always something better to do with my time.

tt2

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