itunes transferring duplicates of same songs on iphone

Question

Level 1

27 points

itunes transferring duplicates of same songs on iphone

Some of my playlists have some of the same songs in them. When I transfer playlists, and other assorted music onto my iPhone 6 I am getting duplicate songs. When I go into some of the artists I notice they will have sometimes 2 and 3 of the exact same songs listed on my iPhone. I would assume a playlist does not need to have a separate copy of a song listed in the playlist and the exact same song (duplicate) under the artist if sorting by artist.

I am not sure why this is happening. I am using the latest copy of itunes 12.4.0.119, and my iPhone is running the most current OS also. In case this matters, I drag and drop all my music onto my iphone, (playlists, artists, sometimes just a song here and there but not the whole album).

Hoping someone can help me either fix this, or know why this happens!

iMac (24-inch Early 2009), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), 3.06 GHz C2D 8gb Ram NVidiaGT130

Posted on Jun 2, 2016 1:56 PM

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Answer 1

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Jun 6, 2016 7:46 AM in response to CynicChick

Hello CynicChick,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

I see that you have duplicate songs after transferring playlists and are wondering if it is because some songs are duplicated in several playlists. First, your assumption is correct, a playlist does not contain a copy of the song, but rather a link to the song in the iTunes Library. You can delete the song from the playlist and it will remain in the Library, but if you delete it from the Library, it will also be deleted from all playlists it is in.

If you have duplicate songs in your iTunes Library, the following article will guide you through removing those duplicate songs.

Find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library

Best regards.

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Answer 2

CynicChick Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 7, 2016 6:13 AM in response to chuck_3rd

I did know how to delete duplicate songs from my library and have done so again. This was not the cause of my problem. I took note of every song/artist that I deleted a duplicate of. Some were my doing as I had made mp3 versions of some.

I can't figure out why all these duplicates would have appeared on my iP6. For example I had listed about 22 songs for an album I purchased from iTunes; Cat Stevens 20th Century Masters. In iTunes I have the original 12 songs, nothing more (nor did I create any mp3 versions). On my device were 22 songs from this album. Some had 1 duplicate, some 2, and some even 3. Some of the duplicates did not contain album art, most did.

I'm at a loss as to how to correct this, and also to ensure it doesn't keep happening.

I'd be grateful for any ideas anyone has!

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Answer 3

jeffd55

Community Specialist

Jun 9, 2016 7:43 AM in response to CynicChick

Hello CynicChick,

It appears that at this point, you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - Apple - Support - Product Selection

Cheers.

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