How to not add songs from Playlists to the library (duplicate entries)

In my iTunes library, I have lots of songs showing up more than once. When I right-click Get Info it seems this is because I have them on playlists that are also in the library. Songs in multiple playlists can even show up more than twice.
I know I can Show Duplicates but it would take me ages. Also I can't tell which songs are direct, and which are from a playlist, unless I right-click and Get Info individually (it probably doesn't matter, but I'd prefer to delete the playlist songs).
How do I edit the preferences so that this doesn't happen, and songs in playlists aren't added again? I looked around preferences and couldn't find anything that seemed to be what I needed.
Message was edited by: DaemonDragon

"Go to Library - Music and click Show duplicates.
Select a duplicate and right click - Show in Windows Explorer.
Everything in the library should be pointing only to an actual file on your HD, not a song in a playlist."
...I'm not sure if you're saying that iTunes shouldn't be behaving like this, but it IS. I followed your instructions, selected Library - Music and clicked Show Duplicates... what I see is 511 entries, most in pairs, some triplets.
Here's an example:
Two identical entries (bitrate, files size, duration, etc., all the same) for Get Me by Everything But The Girl... clicking Show in Explorer for the first entry opens an Explorer window with the filepath:
D:\Music\Everything But the Girl\Amplified Heart
...clicking the second entry opens the SAME Explorer window with the same contents but with the filepath:
D:\Music\My Playlists\..\Everything But the Girl\Amplified Heart
So are you saying that the only way to eliminate these duplicate entries is to individually click each one and check if it's pointing to the original song file or to a playlist that includes that song and then delete it manually? ...for 511 entries? ... and how do I prevent this from happening with any new music I add?

Similar Messages

  • How do I add songs from my iPod to my iTunes

    How do I add songs from my iPod to my iTunes??

    Within Windows' folder options, select the option to view all hidden and system files. Then access your iPod through My Computer. Go into the transulcent iPod "ipod_control" folder. There's a folder in there called 'Music'. All your songs are in the several folders within this folder.
    Sadly they're all renamed by iTunes, but all artist, album and song name information is retained within the files. You can simple copy the files from this folder onto your hard drive and add them into iTunes as normal.

  • Tired of paying for Apple's continued failure. Give us option on phone (NOT thru itunes sync) to MANUALLY delete songs from playlists or the iphone altogether.

    It happens every time I make iTunes music purchases: entire playlists get wiped out, and all I can sync onto the iPhone 5 is what I just purchased, UNLESS, YET AGAIN, I completely restore it to factory and rewrite everything all over.
    So sad, Apple.
    Yes, I have looked thru the forum threads yet again, and found no other working solution.
    Yes, I tried backing up the phone 1st but still get stuck with (expletive) I wanted off the phone, and stuff I wanted on there, ISN'T there.
    For whatever (insert expletive of choice) reason, it will NOT sync my old playlists.
    For whatever (expletive) reason, if I check "manually manage music" under the Summary tab, then go over the music tab, something (expletive of choice)  up in the software decides to uncheck the "Manually manage music" box under the Summary tab, and it just creates a zero-progress loop where I can't sync the old playlists, or even new ones I create, onto the iphone.
    Worse, songs I tried to take off of it long ago seem to manifest the (expletive) right back onto the iphone out of nowhere, and unless I completely restore, LIKE I'M DOING AGAIN, there is no working option I have found that removes the song(s) I THOUGHT I GOT RID OF.
    PLEASE, Apple, is it asking too much to create a music sync that WORKS CORRECTLY all the time?
    It is ONLY ever the music that does this.
    App syncing, photo syncing, all of that functions properly each and every time.
    And yet, oh look, it won't accept any playlists off my AUTHORIZED computer.
    GIVE US THE SIMPLE option on the next iPhone update so we can manually remove/delete unwanted songs from playlists on the iphone, or from the iphone altogether, WITHOUT needing to connect it to a computer thru a faulty iTunes software that obviously consistently fails to properly sync the correct music on and take off what we don't want.
    This is the final time I'm making the mistake of iTunes Store purchases until a sensible fix is implemented that addresses this fail sync issue.
    Again, WHY is it ONLY and only ever the music syncing that (expletive of choice to get the point across) fails, yet apps and photos and mail & phone contacts sync correctly every time?
    Yes, I read in the forum threads and customer support responses what needs to be checked and/or unchecked, yet all too often some software fail decides to revert those selections right back to where they were if I click another tab and come back to it (no, it's not an administrator thing, I am the only authorized user on the computers in question).
      I'm tired of the hassle of having to redo my music library all over again, restore the phone, and hope that once more it will have the correct songs I told it to sync and NOT have a bunch of crap I never checked for it to have on there in the first place.
    FIX THIS PLEASE.

    You're welcome.
    tt2

  • Ever since my last update I have been unable to add songs from my i tunes library onto my i phone.  The "add to" button does not appear for me when I connect my i phone.  Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

    Ever since my last update I have been unable to add songs from my i tunes library onto my i phone.  The "add to" button does not appear for me when I connect my i phone.  Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

    Thanks for that 'sberman' - because my iPhone is backed-up to my work computer (only at this stage) I have had to call our IT Department in Adleaide. (4 times this morning). The last guy managed to get the phone into 'DFU Mode' - no more recovery mode screen - (kind of 'asleep' perhaps) from my understanding of same. I am awaiting a call again from IT so they can get my computer to actually recognise my iPhone on the C Drive. This also happened to  one of my colleagues in Newman (WA). She got so frustrated with the whole process that she bought another phone the next time she was in 'civilisation.' She hasn't had any problems since. (Cross fingers).
    Thanks again, Sandra2474.

  • How can i add songs from my ipod onto a new computer

    How can I add songs from my Ipod onto a new computer

    See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
    B-rock

  • HT4427 how can l add song from my mac itunes to my iphone

    how can l add song from mac itunes to my phone

    Hey Adel Andic,
    Welcome to Apple Support Communities, and thanks for the question. If your music is already in iTunes, all you have to do is sync your iPhone with iTunes on your Mac by following these instructions, and you should be able to easily get your music on there:
    iOS: Syncing with iTunes
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1386
    Have a great day,
    David

  • How do I add songs to my 'on the go' list on my ipod classic?

    How do I add songs to my 'on the go' list on my ipod classic?

    Find the song you want to add, but when you click on it with the Select button, hold the click until it blinks a couple times. That will add the song to that playlist. I hope this helps! :-)

  • How can I transfer songs from one computers iTunes library to another library?

    How can I transfer songs from one computers iTunes library to another computers iTunes library?

    See Here
    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

  • How do I transfer songs from my daughters itunes library onto my ipod?  We both have itunes libraries on a single computer running Windows Vista

    How do I transfer songs from my daughters itunes library onto my ipod?  We both have itunes libraries on a single computer running Windows Vista

    Your question has probaby been answered already because it was posted a month ago but anyways what you do is you plug your phone into your computer. Next you want to open iTunes and click on File. Then you go down to "Transfer Purchases from *your name* iPhone". Then just wait for it to sync and you should be good.

  • I tunes on my iphone will not play songs. it runs through the library at break neck speed when i click on a song...help!!, i tunes on my iphone will not play songs. it runs through the library at break neck speed when i click on a song...help!!

    i tunes on my iphone will not play songs. it runs through the library at break neck speed when i click on a song...help!!, i tunes on my iphone will not play songs. it runs through the library at break neck speed when i click on a song...help!!

    Try force-closing the Music app: from the home screen, double-tap the home button, locate Music in the list at the bottom, tap and hold it until it wiggles, tap to close it, tap the home button again, then try to play your music again.

  • How can I add songs from my internal library to my external backup library without losing ratings and comments?

    Hi, I have some 30.000 Songs in my constantly growing internal library and another 25k in my external backup library. I noticed that I lost all my ratings when fusing my libraries the last time.
    As ratings and comments are essential for my work as a radio dj: How can I fuse libraries or add songs from my internal to my external library and keep ratings and comments and: How can I make sure, iTunes adds ratings and comments from songs I still have in my internal library to the same songs (without ratings and comments) in my external library? Thanks a lot for your help!

    I use http://decimus.net/Synk to keep my iMac's iTunes synchronized with the backup iTunes folder on an external disk.  Any changes I make are automatically synced to the backup.  You might find it useful.

  • How can I transfer songs from Ipod to Itunes library?

    I recently lost my entire Itunes library but still had songs on my Ipod. Now when I try to rebuild my library by transferring songs FROM my Ipod TO the Itunes library, I am unable to. There are a million help subjects of how to transfer your songs from the library to the ipod but none about how to transfer them back and I can't figure it out. Please help!

    Connect your iPod to your computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod. When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use our iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default: Managing content manually on iPod
    Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. The transfer of content sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
    Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
    Comparison of iPod managers
    TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPod2PC Windows Only
    iDump Windows Only
    SharePod Windows Only
    iPodRip Mac & Windows
    YamiPod Mac and Windows
    Music Rescue Mac & Windows
    iPodCopy Mac and Windows
    iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
    There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide
    Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync. I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay.

  • How to transfer all songs from ipod to my library?

    got a new ipod, but some of my songs are only on old ipod, not in my lib. how to transfer all songs from old ipod to lib, so i can put them on new ipod. both ipods are 4GB mini. thanks for help.

    There are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
    Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
    Comparison of iPod managers
    TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPod2PC Windows Only
    iDump Windows Only
    iPodRip Mac & Windows
    YamiPod Mac and Windows
    Music Rescue Mac & Windows
    iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
    Floola Mac & Windows
    iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
    If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content only from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
    There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide

  • I can not add a wmv file to the library. It is not protected

    Can not add a video file to Itunes library and even when I try to open the video using "open with Itunes", Itunes start but instead of the video I see the music library

    iTunes cannot play nor convert WMV files. You'll need to use a third-party application to convert the video to a format iTunes can accept.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2729
    Regards.

  • How to manually add songs and playlists to ipod with new version of itunes?

    So I didn't have any problem adding songs to my ipod nano manually until I updated itunes a few minutes ago, and found the settings completely different than previously.  I can no longer just drag songs and playlists to my ipod.  I have "manually manage music" and "enable disk use" selected.  I do not want to sync my whole library to it.  I have more songs in my library than can fit on my ipod.  And I already have my playlists set up how I want them.  Can someone help?  

    go to iphone, then on the page below click the Add To... icon on the top right.
    then its easiest to view them by songs. and then you can drag and drop from them and click Done when finished

Maybe you are looking for