Cleaning up my iTunes library

A lot of my library is duplicated and the duplicates are none existant, so they have the little exclamation mark next to them.
How do you remove them all quickly? Thanks

If there is just a few of them, hold control and click the tracks you want to delete and then click Edit > Delete (or press delete/backspace on the keyboard). You can also select a track, hold shift and press the up or down arrow to select multiple grouped tracks.
If there are too many, you can use the iTunes File > Display Exact Duplicates option or you can try One of the scripts suggested in this thread -> How to delete lots of duplicates.

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How Do I Clean Up My iTunes Library? I Seem To Have Music In and Out

On my hard drive I have a directory set up:
-- Macintosh HD
-- -- Users
-- -- -- my name
-- -- -- -- Music
-- -- -- -- -- itunes
-- -- -- -- -- -- itunes music
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- music
Even though the bulk of my music is in "music" (the one after "downloads" and before "mobile applications") somehow I've ended up with some albums at the "itunes music" level.
You see somehow I've got a New Pornographers, a Todd Rungren, ... on the same level as the "music" folder.
The "music" folder houses the vast majority of my music.
No idea how I did this move. Is there any harm? Should I do anything about it?

Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
If you have upgraded from version 8 (or earlier) to iTunes 9 (or later) at some point, then your media folder (everything inside the red outline) may still be called iTunes Musicinstead of iTunes Media. The extra Music folder inside the media folder is used if you have allowed iTunes to Upgrade to iTunes Media Organization (iTunes 9) or used File > Library > Organize Library > Reorganize files in the folder "<Media Folder>" (iTunes 10). Depending on your choices for Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library plus a little bug in which one build changed the name of the file storing the choice of layout it is quite easy for some of your files to be organized according to one layout and some the other.
Assuming you're happy letting iTunes organize your files the following steps should tidy things up (should it be necessary):
1. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Reorganize files in the folder "<Media Folder>" and click OK. Skip if this option is greyed out (already upgraded) or you prefer the older layout.
2. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Consolidate files and click OK. This will bring any files currently organised outside the designated media folder into it. NB This will create duplicate copies of any file that needs to be consolidated, and you will need to manually clean up afterwards.
3. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, uncheck Keep iTunes Media folder organized and click OK.
4. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, check Keep iTunes Media folder organized and click OK. This triggers iTunes into reorganizing everything according to your preferences.
5. (Optional) Close iTunes, rename the folder iTunes Music as iTunes Media then restart iTunes. Check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab that the location has automatically updated. If you can't access the media for any reason just undo the folder rename.
PS If you really prefer the older layout, but it is already in the new one then edit the file called .iTunes Preferences.plist in your media folder and change the integer from 1 to 0 before doing step 3.
tt2

Clean up duplicated songs in itunes library

my external harddisk was dead 2 weeks ago , together with my thousands of songs . i ripped some hundred songs from 2 ipods back to my macbook . now , i have problem .
i found duplicated songs , one is real but the other with "!" sign and is only a dead link . how can i clean up all the useless names ?
moreover , i want to clean up my itunes library , kill all duplacted files and all those "hollow names with no songs " . any simple way ?
please help . thanks
PS : the macbook i am using is with latest itunes and OS

Hi,
You need Doug's applescript - "Super Remove Dead Tracks" You can get it here - http://dougscripts.com/itunes/ixarch/arch.php?my=2007-03#032007a
Regards

How to delete multiple old ITUNES LIBRARY files safely ?

I'd like to clean up my Itunes LIBRARY files, but don't know what's safe to do and not to do. (I have Itunes 8.1 / OSX10.4.11)
MY QUESTION IS TWOFOLD :
(1) how do I create a new Itunes library file now with today's date; and
(2) how do I delete multiple (old) Itunes library files, without risking the loss of what I've got ?
This all stems from exploring Itunes as a result of a problem I had today... when trying to import mp3's from my terrabyte drive, after about 150 successful mp3 track imports, Itunes froze and everything else on my MAC froze as well (constant spinning colored wheel). After many failed attempts to force quit Itunes, I turned off my MBPro. On restarting, Itunes tooks ages to "import" files. Eventually Itunes opened but with only half of my original tunes (1500+ songs 8.11GB) and had nothing from today's import.
I found a post suggesting to hold down OPTION while starting Itunes. Then I selected a file from my hard drive > me > music > Itunes > "Itune library" with the most recent date and shezam, Itunes once again has all my songs, as before. Nothing I imported from the terrabyte drive today appears however, but no matter.
In my "Itunes" file there appear MULTIPLE Itunes libraries ! such as Itunes library, Itunes Library (damaged), and as well a folder called "Previous Itunes Libraries" which itself contains multiple Itunes Library files and multiple "previous Itunes Library files" with dates back to 2007. These I want to clean up and delete .... should I ? ... Can I ?
I really could use some words of wisdom from the wise ! Thanks in advance

Whenever you install a new version of iTunes and run it teh first time, iTunes will create a backup of the current iTunes library file and copy it into \Music\iTunes\Previous iTunes libraries, then update the iTunes library file in \Music\iTunes\ for the current version of iTunes.

Duplicates and too many formats in iTunes library

How do I clean up my iTunes library? I have duplicates of every song now in both AAC and MPEG formats in there. I would like to delete the duplicates and all the mpeg songs leaving only the AAC songs in my library to sync with my Nano. THANKS

Robert Jacobson has a script for removing duplicates here:
http://home.comcast.net/~teridon73/itunesscripts/
As for removing MPEG files, have you discovered the "kind" column. If you go to View>>View options, there is a check box to display it.
You could either sort on the kind field or create a smart playlist where Kind is the format you want to delete.
This will group files of the same type together, but you would have to delete them yourself.

How to do a clean reinstall of iTunes?

My problem is that today when trying to clean up my iTunes library I accidentally erased all music from my Mac (oops).
So now I have +60GB of mp3s on my 5G iPod and am very scared of losing it all.
How do I do a clean reinstall of iTunes, then re-connect my iPod all my music will copy into iTunes?
Thank you in advance for your help!

A 'clean' install will not help you.
What ever you do - do not plug in your iPod or iTunes will update and erase the iPod.
Plug in your iPod and hold down the 'Option' +  Keys at the same time until the iPod appears in the Devices section of iTunes. This will prevent iTunes from updating the iPod.
You can also use the following to recover your tunes from the iPod. Senuti - http://www.fadingred.org/senuti/ or Podworks at - http://www.scifihifi.com/podworks/
MJ

I want to sync music from iPhone to Mac iTunes library

Im all confused. my existing library on my computer is all messed up. I have a bunch of duplicate song files and some that aren't able to "be found" and I want to somehow wipe all the info and music from my Mac iTunes library and put only my music from my iPhone into a new fresh iTunes library.

Hello Carrie,
I definitely understand wanting to clean up your iTunes library. There are a few resources I recommend looking at.
Firstly, if you wanted to continue with your existing library, you can identify duplicates in iTunes following these steps:
Choose File > Display Duplicates to show duplicate items (matches are based on the song name and artist). If you have multiple versions of the same song (for example, live and studio versions, or versions from different albums) you can hold the Alt or Option key (for Mac OS X) or the Shift key (for Windows) and choose File > Display Exact Duplicates. This will show only duplicate songs having the same name, artist, and album.
If you are using iTunes 11 (the latest version of iTunes at this time), you will need to go to View>Show Duplicate Items (you can hold Alt or Option here as well to get the Show Exact Duplicate Items option). You can find the full article here:
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2905
If you think the music you are missing in iTunes is located on your computer somewhere, I recommend reviewing this article:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
If neither of those help and you prefer to recreate your iTunes Library, I recommend review this next article. This article outlines what media you are able to transfer from your iPhone to your computer:
iTunes: Transferring media from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or iPod
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1209
I recommend creating the new library and making sure it has everything you want in it before deleting your library that is disorganized. This article outlines creating a new iTunes Library and how to switch between libraries:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

Synchronize iphone 2G with another mac (new itunes library)

Have a lot of pictures on my iphone but am afraid to synchronise to another computer (former synchronisation happened 3 years ago and this computer crashed some time ago).
I think everything (music and photos, contacts also (?)) will be erased as soon as i sync the iphone with my imac (a clean and empty itunes library).
So, is there any solution to retrieve the photos and contacts on my Iphone ?
Iphone A1203 Model MA712LL version 1.1.4 (4A102)

This mayb be of help:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61675

PC died and in turn my main iTunes library. iPhone was synced to it. Now when I try to connect to another library it tells me the phone must be wiped clean before I can manage music with new library. Any way around that? Don't want to lose music.

My PC died and in turn so did my main iTunes library. My iPhone was synced to the library that is gone. Now when I try to connect to another library, it tells me the phone must be wiped clean before I can manage music with new library. Any way around that? I don't want to lose the music that is on my phone. I am looking for a way to tell the phone to "forget" the old library and let me start working with a new library.

It has always been very basic to always maintain a backup copy of your computer for just such an occasion.
Use your backup copy of your computer to put everything on the new one.
It sounds like you have failed to do this, which is not good at all.
You will have to transfer your itunes purchases from your iphone. Authorize your computer for your itunes account
About iTunes Store authorization and deauthorization
Open itunes, plug in iphone, do NOT sync, click File>Transfer Purchases
When you do sync you will lose your pics ( photo library - synced from your old computer), your itunes content ( music, apps, videos,etc) , your contacts and your calendars. So do NOT sync yet. This is why a backup copy is so important.
Enter one unique contact and calendar entry on your computer.
When you first sync, you should get the option to merger the data. Choose it.
If you want your pics, then you will need to e-mail them to yourself before you sync. They will not be of the original quality as they are reduced when synced to iphone.
When all is as goos as it can be, then backup your computer, and always maintain the backup.

How to restore iTunes library from TimeMachine external hard drive backup after clean install

I was not able to solve this problem, hence I decided to open this discussion.
1. Recently, I clean installed Yosemite so my new Mac is completely empty.
2. I have my time machine backup on my eternal hard drive and would like to restore only specific things - such as iTunes library.
3. I did not manually copy iTunes library to my drive, I did the TM backup only, but I also do have all the files in my own "music" folder I manually backed-up.
However, I cannot locate the library there, where is it?
How do I move the library to my new Mac and then establish a new source folder that would be on my drive?
PS: Previously, iTunes used my own music folder as a source = it contained all the music files. I had it on an external drive, later moved it to my Mac.
This leads me to the conclusion that my backup copy of iTunes library did not contain the files anyway.
Any advice?
Thank you in advance.

I am confused as to what you had or have where and when. The bottom line is, your library (for the standard user) is everything in the iTunes folder. As far as iTunes' organization and display is concerned, your library is a file called "iTunes Library.itl" which points to all the other host of files and folders normally in the iTunes folder which all work together.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
If you kept everything together in one place then you need to put the whole iTunes folder on the drive where you want it, start iTunes while holding down the option key and guide it to that .itl file. If things were split up and you had media on the external and the rest of the library on the internal you need to get them back to exactly where they were before. If you can't find that iTunes folder holding the critical .itl file anywhere then you have a bunch of media tracks and no organization and will need to rebuild the organization from ground level.

HT1473 My computer crashed and when it was cleaned and rebooted I lost a lot of music from my iTunes library. Is there a way to sync (or copy) my iPod with iTunes?

Hey y'all,
My computer had a virus recently and everything had to be "cleaned". I've noticed that a big chunk of my iTunes library is missing. I did make sure everything was on my iPod before the IT guy took over, so the question is: Can I upload the music in my iPod into iTunes? If yes, how?
Thanks for your help.
Sue

Copy the entire iTunes folder from your backup to /Music/ on your computer.

I have just made a clean instalation of Lion, with a bootable disk, and I planned to restore my files (music, photos, etc.), but Lion doesn't find my backup files. So, I'm about to loose all of my iTunes library, work docum The installation run perfectly,

I have just made a clean instalation of Lion, with a bootable disk, and I planned to restore my files (music, photos, etc.), The installation run perfectly, but Lion doesn't find my backup files. So, I'm about to loose all of my iTunes library, work documents (I'm a lawyer!!), my kid's photos.... How can I restore my files?? Help!!

Since you seem to be using a new disk for Lion, Time Machine will consider previous backups to be for a "different" computer. Try doing a control-click or click-and-hold on the Time Machine icon in the Dock, then choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disks". This should allow Time Machine to see the previous backups.
In the worst case you should be able to open those Time Machine backups and copy your documents from there to your home folder.
By the way, you've been misled by poor field labeling on this forum into typing a large part of your message into the field intended for the subject. In the future just type a short summary of your post into that field and type the whole message into the field below that.

I just clean installed maverick on my computer and I have nothing in my iTunes library, how can I get back all the music I have bought?

I just clean installed maverick on my computer and I have nothing in my iTunes library, how can I get back all the music I have bought?

From your backups. By doing a clean install you erased your startup volume. You may have installed OS X, but your personal software was erased. You can restore from backups if your have them. If not, then you've lost it all, permanently.

HT4796 I need to transfer my iTunes library, email and a few clean files from my PC to my new Mac. I was about to use the Migration Assistant, however I am concerned that viruses on my PC will tag along. Should I be concerned?

I need to transfer my iTunes library, email and a few clean files from my PC to my new Mac. I was about to use the Migration Assistant, however I am concerned that viruses on my PC will tag along. Should I be concerned?

No.

Clean Itunes library

My Itunes library has become a little untidy with missing art work and track info, can anyone recommend any software which will help solve the problem?

Hey Biggie
Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
I am a religious user of the Software, Rinse and TuneUp media. I refer Rinse because of its great interface, some prefer TuneUp. Install them both and find out for yourself. For me Rinse works smoothly and perfectly.
I really hope this helps you. Let me know if it does. If not feel free to give me a shout. Best of luck.

Cleaning up my iTunes library

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