Why do I have two versions of songs in my iTunes Music folder?

However, when I copy my iTunes music library onto an SD card (for use in the car) from "Libraries / Music / My Music / iTunes / iTunes Media / Music" I find that many albums now contain two versions of every track...

Nic,

How are you doing the copy?

Nic,

If you just copy folder to folder, it is not even going through iTunes. If you just copy a few folders individually, does it behave properly?

Nic,

Not clear how those extra files got into the album folders. But since iTunes does not in any way look for new files in the Music folder, they can sit there for years without creating duplicate library entries.

Not sure how you managed to get in that position, but you can tidy up using File > Add Folder to Library to add the Music folder inside your media folder, this will add in every track not already connected to the library. Then use File > Library > Show Duplicate Items > Same Album and sort the resulting list on the Date Added column. Select and delete everything added today only, sending to the recycle bin when prompted. Lastly under Edit > Preferences > Advanced turn Keep Organized off, apply and then turn it back on again to make sure that all tracks are listed in the media folders without any trailing index numbers.

tt2

Yes, I understand they're only in the folders, and not shown in iTunes, but they cause a problem when you try to manage your SD card that you use in your car. Cleaning up the folder will mean you don't have to deal with duplicates when in the car, and allow you to load up more albums than at present. The steps are the simplest method I can think of that will clean the source folder, preserve your library, and potentially reintroduce any orphaned files that have somehow become disconnected from the library.

See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a suggested backup strategy. It might be wise to backup first and then refresh the backup once you are certain that the clean up operation has worked as intended.

See also Re: All songs duplicated on restore -Windows 10for one of my more general posts on deduping in iTunes. You don't need to use a script in this instance because show exact duplicates and date added can clearly indicate which files should be removed. Often this task is more complicated because duplicates have been accumulated over time or are of different types which need to be handled differently.

tt2

You're welcome. 🙂

You should have enough to go on but shout out if you need me to go into greater detail.

tt2