Duplicates in iTunes Library

I seem to have several thousand duplicates in my iTunes library. Is there a quick efficient method of getting rid of them?
Thanks John

You could take a look at Robert Jacobson's scripts at:
http://home.comcast.net/~teridon73/itunesscripts/
There is a script for removing duplicates and also one for removing dead tracks i.e. the "not found" tracks.
It is best to download the EXE version which has all the scripts in it and you choose the one you want when you run it.

Similar Messages

How can i delete all the duplicates in iTunes library?,

have three copies of each song showing in the library. i am sure there is an easy solution. what is it?

It depends a bit on how they got added and if each duplicate represents a separate file (physical dupes) or if you have multiple entries to the same files (logical dupes). See this article How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. The method given there works fine if the duplicates were all added at the same time and are physical duplicates. If they are logical duplicates then don't delete the underlying files or you lose your only copy of the track. If the dupes are not so easy to isolate by sorting then arrange them in the usual album order and delete all but one of each repeating group.
If that all sounds like too much effort try Dupin/Dupin Lite from http://dougscripts.com/itunes/.
tt2

Lots of Duplicates in Itunes library

I recently bought a Seagate external drive to back up my music, among other things, to using SyncToy. When finished I went to look at the results and found that SyncToy had not backed up all my music and those backed up had a lot of duplicates. Not so concerned about SyncToy here but if anyone knows why it didn't back up everything I would appreciate the help.
The problem is the duplicates in the library.. Some CDs had none. Some had incomplete song titles with a correct title included. Some had duplicates of every title with a (2) at the end. Some were duplicated with no indication of any differences. I did check the file size often enough (by hovering over the title) to generalize they were the same size. Sometimes there are 3 files, two duplicates and one with a (2) at the end.
My library is "organized" in the Music under Itunes Media, I use Itunes 10.7 and do NOT want to "upgrade" to Itunes 11.
Any ideas where they came from? And if I can somehow get rid of them, will they come back? I recently subscribed to Itunes Match to rid my old purchases of copy protection, it worked but those matched songs have no more or less duplicates than those ripped from CDs. I have been using Itunes since about 2003, so the libraries have gone through many upgrades.
Thanks for the help!

Apple's official advice on duplicates is here... HT2905: How to 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.
Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display 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 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, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.
(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)
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.
tt2

Cleaning up duplicates in iTunes library

I just moved my iTunes folder 'offshore' to an external HD to which my MB Pro connects wifi via an Airport Extreme. It's working fine however when it copied over it made a bunch of duplicates.
My question is this; is there an automated way to rid my library of duplicated song files or do I need to continue to do it manually which is taking forever.
Thanks.
MB Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I've read on here that there's a script you can use from dougscripts.com or something like that...sorry, I've never used it, but it might get you going in the right direction.

HT2905 Can't remove duplicates in iTunes library

I just downloaded the newest verion of iTunes and there is no option to "display duplicates" under the "file" tab. Any ideas? Thanks!

The show duplicates/show exact duplicates features have been left out of iTunes 11.0. Rumor suggests they will be restored in the next build. In the meantime I have written two Windows scripts to make playlists of Duplicates and Exact Duplicates, either from a selection of tracks or the entire library. Note that, as with the iTunes feature, this list makes no distinction between "originals" and "dupes", you have to decide which is which.
There is also my DeDuper script for automatically removing duplicate copies but keeping one remaining copy of each set. This can preserve ratings, play counts, playlist membership, etc. which are lost in a manual clean up. Please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping. See this thread for background on deduping and the script.
If you want to manually remove duplicate tracks use shift-delete to remove selected tracks from the library as well as the playlist. Keep one of each repeated group of files and don't send the others to the recycle bin unless you are sure that there are multiple files on the disc as opposed to multiple entries to the same file. Same advice to backup applies.
tt2

How do I divide my iTunes library into multiple libraries based on unique Apple ID?

I have one iTunes library on my iMac that started with just me. As each of my kids and my husband got their own Apple IDs, all of their purcahses are loaded into my library. They have their own IDs because each has their own phone/iPod/iPad and is responsible for paying for their purchases through their own accounts. We decided to use only my computer so we could share content. But Apple restricts each device from having content from more than 5 IDs anyway.
Now, I really don't want my kids stuff anymore though they may want some of my music (which I imported from CDs for the most part). I learned how to create a new library but I don't understand how to move content into each library. Would it make more sense for each kid to set up iTunes on his own computer? If so, how do I move the content from my Mac to their computer, when it's not my entire iTunes library moving?
Thanks in advance for your help

Duplicate the entire library, then in each copy throw away the content that you don't need.
You can duplicate the iTunes library by copying the folder to a new location.
You can switch between libraries by holding down shift as you start iTunes.
iTunes uses the name of the folder as it's window title. You could, for example, rename the copied folder as "Bob's iTunes" and the original as "Alice's iTunes", assuming the two people in question are called Alice and Bob.
tt2

Sharing an iTunes library for syncing with an iPhone

Not sure if this belongs in iTunes or iPhone thread but here goes. My wife and I have our own profiles on our Mac. Right now all the music/video is in my iTunes library. We are both getting iPhones and I want both of us to be able to sync the music/video from iTunes (maybe from some shared library folder) but I want her mail/contacts/addresses/etc. to synch on her phone and mine to synch with mine. She will be logged in to her account when she syncs and I'll be logged into my account when I sync. Is this possible with iTunes? Can we put the iTunes music/video in a shared folder that we both attach to and yet still sync our iPhones with our own info? I'd prefer not to duplicate the iTunes library in both accounts because that just wastes space. Any ideas?

My husband and I have the exact same question. Have you figured this out? We were getting ready to share our music library and then panicked realizing that this might then totally mess up our synching to our own separate iPhones.
Any info would be GREATLY appreciated!!!
-- Jaynie

Is there a way to put music (mp3) from my PC onto my iPhone (5c) without having to duplicate that music by adding it to the iTunes Library?

Greetings all, I am a brand new iPhone owner (my first smartphone in fact) and am very sad that I don't love my new device as much as I was beginning to. I've come into the Apple family with open eyes and heart, but I am heartbroken and mortified and what I've been learning this morning. I just spent five hours (no exaggeration) reading forums, downloading iTunes (which I don't really think I want, I am used to WMP and much more accustomed to it), downloading and installing an update, learning that certain options which were recommended are now gone unless you use secret commands (want to Add Folder to Library? Well, too bad! Unless you know the secret Ctrl-B handshake. Hope you didn't just spend tons of time adding items file by file before you learned that (by scouring the obscure forums for that information, since it's not common knowledge or readily accessible in iTunes now)!). Apologies for the sarcastic tone, still very frustrated with the whole process. I've seen support messages directing people to support pages with QuickTime videos; QuickTime doesn't install easily or quickly or work properly on my PC (perhaps I need to work with it more, buuuut...), it's all just seeming so....proprietary.
Is it really the way this works that I have to duplicate all of the music that is currently on my hard drive not just once but twice, such that I need to have it 1) on my hard drive in my music folder where it has always been (so that I can play it how I am used to, using WMP), 2) copied to my iTunes Library and then 3) "Synced" (whatever this really means...still learning obviously) / copied onto my iPhone? Thus taking up twice the space on my hard drive that it needs to?
There's really no way to simply have the phone take it from my hard drive? Apple seriously needs it to not only be existent on my pc, but duplicated into the iTunes Library (which is really just another folder, right?) in order to allow it to be put onto my iPhone?
Please please please tell me I am misunderstanding how this works. I really genuinely do want to love my iPhone and get accustomed to how it and the software it needs works, but this has been frankly a nightmare and has had me wishing for brief moments that I had gone with something more PC friendly. Please just tell me that it gets better, that you can have a PC that you use, and have an iPhone that you use and marry the two happily once you get used to the way to do that.

HydroThunder wrote:
Greetings all, I am a brand new iPhone owner (my first smartphone in fact) and am very sad that I don't love my new device as much as I was beginning to. I've come into the Apple family with open eyes and heart, but I am heartbroken and mortified and what I've been learning this morning. I just spent five hours (no exaggeration) reading forums, downloading iTunes (which I don't really think I want, I am used to WMP and much more accustomed to it), downloading and installing an update, learning that certain options which were recommended are now gone unless you use secret commands (want to Add Folder to Library? Well, too bad! Unless you know the secret Ctrl-B handshake. Hope you didn't just spend tons of time adding items file by file before you learned that (by scouring the obscure forums for that information, since it's not common knowledge or readily accessible in iTunes now)!). Apologies for the sarcastic tone, still very frustrated with the whole process. I've seen support messages directing people to support pages with QuickTime videos; QuickTime doesn't install easily or quickly or work properly on my PC (perhaps I need to work with it more, buuuut...), it's all just seeming so....proprietary.
Is it really the way this works that I have to duplicate all of the music that is currently on my hard drive not just once but twice, such that I need to have it 1) on my hard drive in my music folder where it has always been (so that I can play it how I am used to, using WMP), 2) copied to my iTunes Library and then 3) "Synced" (whatever this really means...still learning obviously) / copied onto my iPhone? Thus taking up twice the space on my hard drive that it needs to?
There's really no way to simply have the phone take it from my hard drive? Apple seriously needs it to not only be existent on my pc, but duplicated into the iTunes Library (which is really just another folder, right?) in order to allow it to be put onto my iPhone?
Please please please tell me I am misunderstanding how this works.
Okay.
You are misunderstanding how this works.
When you add songs to your iTunes Library, all you are in fact doing is telling iTunes where (on your computer) to find the music. iTunes does not create additional versions of your music (see * below). iTunes is a database (or catalogue) - it simply lists your music and knows where it is so that it can copy it to your iPod.
Synced - synchronise... to make as one, to make the same as each other. Well, that's what my dictionary tells me anyway. To make iTunes and the iPhone the same, to have the same music etc. on or in each. (Subject to your preferences.)
HydroThunder wrote:
I really genuinely do want to love my iPhone and get accustomed to how it and the software it needs works, but this has been frankly a nightmare and has had me wishing for brief moments that I had gone with something more PC friendly. Please just tell me that it gets better, that you can have a PC that you use, and have an iPhone that you use and marry the two happily once you get used to the way to do that.
Okay, I'l tell you that too.
It gets better. You can have a PC that you use, and have an iPhone that you use - and marry the two together blah blah blah.
Now that you have iTunes installed, at least you've got that far, although I can't quite imagine how it managed to take five hours. (You would have all these same issues if you were moving from iPhone to any non-Apple product.)
Secret menus, (CTRL+B etc.) - yes, there have been some very odd moves with all this "hiding menus" nonsense. But with the help of useful contibutors to these discussions, you will find iTunes easy. There are however, so many ways to configure iTunes, that everyone will tell you that everyone else's method is wrong.
So let's start with basics:
Once iTunes is set the way you want to view it, all you will need to do is add music to your iTunes Library, either by;
putting a CD into your computer's CD drive, and telling iTunes to import the CD. iTunes will make a digital copy, put it in a folder (in the iTunes Media folder) and list the album in your iTunes
buying music from the iTunes Store. The store will download the music to your Library.
Buying music from other sources. For example Amazon. Here in the UK, Amazon have a downloader which will download any purchases, place them in an Amazon folder and add them to your iTunes Library
Add other digital files by using the Add Folder to Library. (I can make sure you can easily find that, if you wish.)
Then - you can add songs to Playlists - if you wish. You do not have to add music to Playlists. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
Then - connect your iPhone to the computer, and let iTunes perform a Sync.
Your first ever Sync will need a little bit of configuration. A Sync will copy the new songs to your iPhone. It will also transfer back to your iTunes Library:
any songs purchased, on the iPhone, directly from the iTunes Store.
any apps purchased, on the iPhone, from the iTunes Store.
Play Counts. The number of times a song has been played, on the iPhone, since the last Sync.
Last Played date and time. You won't believe how useful this feature can be.
HydroThunder wrote:
There's really no way to simply have the phone take it from my hard drive?
That is precisely what iTunes is for - it's exactly what it does and how is does it. By the way, also don't let anyone tell you that you should use Manual Management to anage your iPhone. No one with any sense would use Manual Management. Why do housework, when iTunes can do it for you?
* There is one tiny issue in all this. If you leave your music where it is now, it may make it slightly harder for you to transfer all your music to another computer anytime in the future because it will be in various different palces on your current computer. There is a setting in iTunes to "copy files to the iTunes Media folder when adding to library", which will duplicate songs, but that's so that you can store all your music in one parent folder for easy transfer to another computer. Your choice. If you take it, once it's done, you could then delete the older copies in the other storage locations.
Of course, if you transfer all your media, files, documents to the new compurer, it shouldn't be any hassle really.
As for WMP. While you are used to it, now that you have an iPhone, why not try playing music in iTunes? It's really not that bad.
So - you tell me what point you have reached and what other information you need to help you with iTunes, what views you want in your iTunes Library. There are lots of ways to vieww your Library! You only need to tell us how you like to look at things, by albums with artwork, by a sonsg list but with the option of looking at albums, or Last played. On and On it goes!
I may be a bit biased in my choice of views, but I can still help you get the best out of iTunes. It really is a fantastic piece of software, despite the little annoying things Apple put into it.

Will using an external hard drive cause me to have duplicate files on my itunes library?

I put all my ITUNES MEDIA folder on my external hard drive from my older computer.. I recently bought a new computer and installed Itunes. I synced some of my Itunes purchased songs back on by using my Ipod.. however the songs I ripped from my cds are still not reinstalled in my library.. I will have to use my external hard drive or re rip those.. and there are a lot of them.. since I have already replaced some of the ones I purchased back on using my Ipod will it duplicate them if I use the prefrences method and return them all from my external hard drive? If i delete my files that I have already returned on my new computer before using my external will Itunes remember which are Itunes purchased music and which arent as well>??? also how exactly do you move music from an external? just plug it in and click the prefrences box about syncing files and keeping Itunes library organized?? any other thing to click?

An iTunes library consists of both the media and the database that knows which files are in the library and hold details of ratings, playcounts, playlist membership and other details not stored in each file's metadata.
Depending on how you have moved content to your external drive you may find you are only moved the media, but not the database. If you import this media into a new library it will work, but your library will be seen as "new" with respect to any devices that you have and iTunes will want to erase and reload them, losing you current selections, settings and data on the device.
These are two possible approaches that will normally work to move an existing library to a new computer.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entire iTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
Both methods should give the new computer a working clone of the library that was on the old one. As far as iTunes is concerned this is still the "home" library for your devices so you shouldn't have any issues with iTunes wanting to erase and reload.
I'd recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library.
If you have an iOS device that syncs with contact & calendar data on your computer you should migrate this information too. If that isn't possible create a dummy entry of each type in your new profile and iTunes should offer to merge the existing data from the device into the computer, otherwise the danger is that it will wipe the information from the device.
If your media folder has been split out from the main iTunes folder you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See make a split library portable. Alternatively you could copy over the iTunes folder and make sure your external drive has the same drive letter on the new system as the old, however moving the library into a portable form will make every subsequent move that much easier.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library, or a backup of it, then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for advice on how to set up your devices with a new library with the maximum preservation of data.
tt2

How can I delete the duplicates in one go, rather than individually?I consoladated my iTunes library looking for a song I bought...my whole library is now duplicated. Thousands of songs and hundredes of podcasts.

I consolidated my iTunes library and now I have duplicates of everything, podcasts, songs, play lists...everything. How can I delete the whole set of duplicates at once. It is thousands of items I can not do them indiviually.
Thanks

I consolidated my iTunes library and now I have duplicates of everything, podcasts, songs, play lists...everything. How can I delete the whole set of duplicates at once. It is thousands of items I can not do them indiviually.
Thanks

I transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another and added more music on the same day. How do I get rid of my duplicate files without going through them one by one which would take forever?

Please help. I have transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another plus added additional music now I have duplicates of the same music in many albums. How do I delete the duplicates without going through them one by one which would take forever? I understand how to get the "show exact duplicate" feature up on iTunes but, because they were added to the library on the exact day I can't seperate them I'm that manner. So each duplicate is right next to eachother in the exact duplicate screen.

My DeDuper script is designed to help clean up. See this thread for background.
tt2

ITunes Consolidation: Will it create duplicates of media files if they already exist in the new itunes destination folder but arent being referenced by the itunes library?

I have a macbook pro from fall 2010. I have been using my external HD as my primary itunes folder for the past 7 yrs ( i.e it is organized by itunes default categorization, etc). However, there is some overlap between my external HD itunes folder and my comps original itunes folder (probably 20-30% of my current library's media files were already duplicated there from when i first bought the HD and transferred files to the external, however they are mostly referenced from the external now). Also there are files in the comp's itunes folder that are not on my external (probably due to organizational mishaps and podcast downloads when not connected to the external, etc). I do not know how many files this is the case for.
Recently, i decided that i wanted to consolidate all of my itunes music into one concise folder on my macbook's HD to avoid these issues going forward. I also just bought a new external which i will use to back up my comp's itunes folder once i consolidate everything to the comp. But i plan on using the itunes folder on the comp going forward or at least using the consolidate fcn to avoid these issues.
Here is my dilemma. Prior to learning of the consolidate feature today, I changed the default itunes folder in settings to the original itunes folder on the macbook and then manually dragged all of the media files from my external itunes folder to the macbook's itunes folder. There were a ton of duplicates or overlapping folders with similar artist names, so i opted to have them merge all folders where possible. After doing this, i realized the itunes library still references these files that i dragged and dropped from the external since that is where my default itunes folder used to be. At that point i then read and learned of the consolidate itunes feature which seems like the best way to do this. But i am afraid that if i consolidate my library to my macbook's itunes folder now, will it create duplicates of the 4000 + media files i just dragged to the macbook's itunes folder which are already in the itunes library but being referenced from the old external??
Question: Is there a way that i can make these files i just dragged to the macbook's itunes folder become the ones referenced by the itunes library through the consolidate feature without creating duplicates of these 4000+ files? I want to avoid having three copies of these files (two duplicates in the itunes and the originals on the external). Furthermore, is there a best way to find out which files in the macbook's itunes folder are not being included in the library after consolidating everything to the computer's HD? Then after that, what is the best way to start backing this all up to my new external, so that this overlapping issue doesnt happen again? Im assuming i just need to make sure to consolidate first when changing itunes folders going forward. Thank you. I know that was a lot to read but hopefully someone can help with this issue.

In general:
- The best way to check if files are in a library is to drag the whole media folder to the library. If something was missed it will be added. If it is in the library is won't be added a second time.
- If you have a second copy of a file and iTunes does not currently list that specific file in its database then even if it is identical to one already in the database it will add it a second time. So if you have file xyz on the internal drive and the external drive and add them to iTunes you will end up with two entries for the same thing in iTunes because you really do have to copies of the files. While this can happen with two copies on a single drive, it will almost definitely be the case when you have a copy of a file on two drives because iTunes really sees them as two different things.
-Unless you know how iTunes works, avoid moving files yourself. Let the consolidate feature do all the file moving. Manually moving files can really mess up iTunes unless you know what you are doing and have iTunes set to not try to do it itself.
- There's no clean and easy way to delete duplicates. The best thing is to change practice so you don't create them. Here are references:
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2905
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php (commercial)
Posts by turingtest2 about different types of duplicates and techniques- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3555601 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/16042406 (Note: The DeDuper script is for Windows)
http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru_me/

Is there a way to delete all duplicates, other than one by one? some free program or does itunes have one to just identify and delete all duplicates in the library?

How do I delete duplicates in my library as a group, rather than one by one?

Apple's official advice on duplicates is here... HT2905: How to 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.
Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display 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 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, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.
(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)
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.
tt2

On my itunes library my albums are all sorted but when i put onto my ipod touch (4th Gen) it seems to duplicate i have checked everything and there are no spaces in the information my question is how do isort it because these things drive me mad

on my itunes library my albums are all sorted but when i put onto my ipod touch (4th Gen) it seems to duplicate i have checked everything and there are no spaces in the information my question is how do isort it because these things drive me mad i would be most gratefully if you could find a way to help
thatnks

Never mind, got it to work. I stumbled around on Google for a while and somehow ended up reading things from the 'jailbroken' community. They had easy instructions to get out of Recovery mode. Thanks anyway though!
P.S. For anyone who experiences this, here is the fix: Hold Power and Home in unison for 6 seconds, then power on as normal.

HT2905 This is all well and good if you only have a Few DUPLICATES in your Library. But what if you have Hundreds, because every time they come out with a New Version of iTunes, you have to Re-Import all of your Songs and Playlists into your Library?

What is the easiest way to Automatically Remove Duplicates from my iTunes Library (instead of doing it one by one, which is unfeasible when there are Hundreds of duplicates from installing the newest version of iTunes, or putting it and all of your songs on a New Computer, and it loosing track of all of your File Folders and Playlists, so you have to re-import everything, hence why the Thousands of Duplicates...
I know there are programs you can BUY that will remove Duplicate Tracks from your iTunes Library, but iTunes is Free, so why should I PAY to fix something that's screwed up about it?

See my tips on duplicates. If iTunes creates duplicates when you add content then it is a failure of the workflow you are using.
Upgrading iTunes should have no adverse effect on your library, however you should maintain a backup regardless.
See also this migrate iTunes library post on moving the library to a new computer properly so that there is no need to reimport any content and no lost ratings, playlists, play counts etc.
tt2

Duplicates in iTunes Library

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