iTunes Duplicate management

The script can be found at http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/scripts.asp#DeDuper. There was a link in the first post but it had a typo. Details on how to use any of my scripts are given at the top of the scripts page, but they generally lead you through the process with a number of dialog boxes.

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iTunes may create duplicates if the same content is repeatedly added from outside the media folder when it is set to make copies of anything that is added to the library, or is added from an external drive that hosts the media folder that was offline when iTunes was launched.

Apple's official advice on duplicates is here: 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, or that sometimes the same file can be represented by multiple entries in the library and that deleting one and recycling the file will break any others.

Start in the Songs view. Use View > Show Duplicate Items (pre iTunes 12.4) or File > Library > Show Duplicate Items (post 12.4) and then click Same Album to display exact 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 (Windows only) 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 on the script, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.

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.

Mac users can see Dupin or Dupin Lite at Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes.

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If you want to see which playlists a particular track in iTunes is in then hover over Show in Playlist in the context menu.

If you use iTunes on Windows, and have ended up with duplicates in your library, I've written a tool that you can download for free that will help you clean up duplicates without having to manually check which playlist each track is in to replace it. If you have two different copies of the same song in different playlists, that you've played a different number of times in each, then having used my script you would have one copy of that song, in both playlists, each showing the correct total number of plays. The highest rating and most recent play and skip counts and dates are also preserved. You can also control, for example, whether the script will keep the largest file, or a particular format. These are all things that serious people want when depuping that are not easily achieved by hand. I know it is doable because I have done it so you don't have to. I cannot speak for the details of Doug's AppleScripts for OS X. In case it isn't clear I'm a fellow user offering help and advice. Feel free to take it or leave it.

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steventrebor wrote:

Also I am not using the windows platform

In which case I can only suggest that you look at what Doug Adams has to offer in the shape of Dupin or Dupin Lite 2. A quick look suggests that only Dupin can preserve playlist membership properly, but I haven't personally tested either product.

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You're welcome. 🙂

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