Prevent duplicate songs in playlists?

How can I prevent adding songs to iPod playlists more than once? I would like to get an error message if I try to do it..Thanks

If you have a whole bunch of duplicates, and you think it will take too long to do by hand, I wrote a program that will help delete the duplicates. Go here:
http://home.comcast.net/~teridon73/itunesscripts/index.html
and click the download button. Extract the ZIP (teridonsitunesscripts.zip) somewhere, and run "teridonsitunesscripts.exe".
In the window that appears, select "itunesremoveduplicates" and click "Run Selected Script".
A new cmd prompt window will appear, listing all your playlists. Select whatever playlist you want (by number) and hit enter. The program will automatically remove the duplicate entries.
The forum TOS requires me to say: "I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my
recommendation or link" because I have a paypal donation link on my webpage, but the program is free
(donation totally optional)
HTH,
Rob

Similar Messages

Duplicate songs in Playlist

Is there a way I can put songs into a playlist, and if it's already in there, it won't put a second one in, it'll just keep one? I remember it not being a problem before, but now it doesn't seem to want to work.
-NicK

In iTunes, select your iPod, then go to the edit menu and click "Show duplicate songs." From there, just delete the ones that you don't need.

HT2905 Is anyone having iTunes crash whenever they try to delete a (duplicate) song or playlist? If so, any workarounds?

Ever since I upgraded to Lion 10.7.4, I've been having a headache-of-a-time with applications unexpectedly quitting (especially Apple apps like Pages & Numbers and iTunes). Every time i try to delete a (duplicate) song (by any method, whether it's control-click, edit menu-delete, or command-delete, etc.) I get the spinning beach ball and then an expectedly quit "do you want to re-open?" window. Can anyone offer detailed advice how to downgrade iTunes to a pre-10.6 version? (where to find and download/install?), or is the problem probably OS-related, and I just have to wait it out until 10.8 becomes available?

Yes, the list on my computer of what is in my iPod library is grey, not black font. I tried "manual" but it will not allow me to drag anything to the iPod. Not even newly purchased music.
That certainly sounds like one of the Automatic syncing options has been engaged.
... quickly doublechecking, just in case. After selecting "Manually manage ..." in the device tab for the iPod in iTunes, did you click "Apply"?

I keep getting exact duplicate songs in playlists and libraries, how can you filter this out when upgrading these lists, or sync to the same device again? And how to do it without going through each and every P'list or Library ?

I have Windows XP-Pro SP3, the latest upgrades of Three media players, iTunes being the default player. I keep getting duplicates in playlists, libraries etc., of the same version of song. Everytime i make a change or renew my media to device or SYNC it wants to add duplicates to the computer disk, lists etc. Can you filter out same copies without having to edit each and every song, which in my case is quite large. For instance if you want to convert all mpeg, or mp4-a files to AAC you will end up with duplicates of each file type. Or you sync to an ipod, the library adds to itself---- including copies of songs already in it, if in a different file version.

Your refer to:
" if you want to convert all mpeg, or mp4-a files to AAC "
This will always duplicate files within iTunes. I need to ask why you're doing this conversion - all formats are compatible with iTunes, and conversion between mp3 and AAC will always involve some loss of quality.

Duplicate songs all over the place!

Ok, first let me give you the layout.
16 GB iPod Nano
Dell Inspiron E1505 with Vista Home Premium
Linksys WR310N (GigE switch)
Sony Vaio running Windows Server 2003
I have ALL of my music located on a shared partition on my Windows 2003 server. I have mapped a network drive (M) to a folder containing all my organized music on this server. Organized meaning.........root folders are Genres (Rock, Pop, Country, Contemporary Chistian, i.e.), with Artist / Band folders under the Genres folders. And under the Artist / Band folders, are the album (yes, old school) names with songs under there. Make sense?? ok. Moving on.
I have uninstalled iTunes numerous times in an effort to consolidate and prevent duplicate songs / albums / artists from showing up in my Music list as well as on my iPod.
In order to put music in my Library > Music folder, I have to Add Folder to Library from the File Menu in iTunes. Not only does this take FOREVER since iTunes has to determine each song, then determine some gapless info, but it hasn't even moved anything yet.
Once it is done, I am able to move music to my playlists, and sync. Syncing takes an eternity as well since it is copying all the mp3's to my iPod.
Now in order to remove OR add music to my iPod, this whole adventure has to be repeated, and then duplicates start appearing in my Library > Music folder.
I have verified several albums NOT to be duplicate on my share, but they show up numerous times in my Library! Why is this??? This means I have to go thru thousands of songs to determine which ones are duplicates in an effort to NOT put the songs on my iPod twice.
Why is it that I am not able to view my iPod as a piece of "disk" LIKE IT IS! This is nothing more than a glorified thumb drive with a small OS. I should be able to use Winders Explorer to remove and/or add music with a drag / drop option. Why is that I have to SYNC this thing ever time I want to take 5 songs off, and add 2. This should be a 5 second ordeal, not 2 hours!!!
Now that being sad, is there an easier way to do this??? Is there something I am missing............or not doing correctly?? I used to use an app called Anapod with my older iPod, but they seem to have went 'under'.........as their URL is no longer active. Sad thing..............cuz that app was the BEST!
Plz advise............Thanks
Bob

iCloud- Resolving duplicate Contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts

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?

How do I prevent purchase of duplicate songs?

I'm new to iTunes and have purchased mostly singles. There was one time where iTunes
gave me a pop-up saying i already had the selected song in my Library
and asked if I wanted to purchase again. So I know there is SOMETHING
thatiTunes has that scans my previous purchases.
Yesterday I purchased two iTune Essentials albums. There were two songs that were duplicated, but iTunes didn't catch those.
My questions are:
Do I end up paying for those duplicated items (purchases)?
Is there a setting I can select that allows iTunes to find and prevent duplicate purchases?
Thank you for any assistance.
nvs4u

The iTunes store should warn you automatically if you are purchasing duplicated songs, however, I don't think it picks up on it you purchase 2 different albums that happen to contain the same song. Reason being, on that song's track information, I'm willing to bet the album name is different, which may lead iTunes to not realize that the songs are in fact one in the same.
If you purchase by the album, you'll pay full price for each album, even if both albums have 1 or 2 of the same songs. One way to get around this is purchase the albums by song, and just leave out the songs you already have. The only problem with this, is that the song won't appear with both albums in iTunes or on an iPod. (You could get around this with playlists if willing to do so).
Hope this is helpful
CG

Adding song to playlist and duplicates in library

Hi,
Every time I add a song from my library to a playlist, that song duplicates itself in my library. Is there a way I can have the song not duplicate itself?

After the duplication has happened, do you see two identical tracks in your music view? If you check with the Get Info Summary tab, are the file names/ paths the same?
i have this problem of duplicate songs after I did a restore with my backed up library. Some of the file paths are the same and others go nowhere. will I be able to remove the song duplicate with the same path without deleting the song as long I say not to remove file? I think there was a time I tried to and that option did not appear. I can't be positivly sure on that though. could the duplicate have happened because the backup copy was from a different version? It is still version 8.0 just a different number after the decimal.
thanks, Don

Why does the iPod duplicate songs when updating my playlists?

Why does the iPod duplicate songs when updating my playlists? Also, you cannot use the "show duplicate songs" feature on the iPod - I suppose that is because it is not supposed to duplicate songs on the iPod. But, if that is the case - why does it do it?

Try resetting your iPod, press and hold the power and the home buttons together approximately 15 seconds until the Apple logo appears. If that does not work try going into Settings>General>Reset>Reset All Settings. If that does not work try connecting to you iTunes library via the cable and un-sync the library from your iPod then sync the library. For the next 2 options backup your iPod first, then do a Restore iPod from backup, if that doesn't work... As a last resort Restore your iPod as New. I too had the red circle and square after updating to 7.0.4 the last resort fixed mine, others have reported doing all the above, all have had reports of fixing the problem and not fixing it. Give it a try, hopefully one of these works, Good luck.

I am trying to delete duplicate songs in my library, when I click on the duplicate and go to edit to delete it, it asks me if i want to delete the playlist!

I am trying to delete duplicate songs in my library, when I go to edit to delete it, it asks me if I want to delete the playlist!

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

Duplicate Songs On iPod When Adding New Playlist?

Hi All-
I'm experiencing a new problem that is driving me crazy. It seems to have started after the last iPod updater but that could just be coincendence. Now, whenever I copy a playlist from iTunes to my video iPod, it will copy most of the song files as well (not all of them but a good portion) - making many duplicate song entries on my iPod that I then have to go in and delete?
Any ideas?

For Authorization issue see:
iTunes Store: Authorize or deauthorize your Mac or PC
For the duplicates
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9276177#9276177
and maybe
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2905

Delete iTunes duplicates songs without losing playlist data?

i have double tripped dupulicated songs in my itunes ... how can i get rikd of them and keep one song each. but without losing playlist data? which means my many playlist are stay same without losing any songs..
possible?
this is furstarating please someone help?
thank you!!

i have like 35-40 playlist.. could u explain to me how to do it simple way and not losing sings from each playlist.. i know removing duplicate songs from entire library is great but i dont want to lose songs from each playlist..
could u help? thank you

Manually manage music + import .m3u playlist to iphone 5 = duplicate songs

hello,
I tried searching the forums for a related questions but didn't find any. if it exists let me know.
i have a iphone 5 (ios 6) and a ipod 2g (ios 4.2). I use itunes on windows and manage both devices manually for music and videos. Now I have a playlist in WMP which I exported as a .m3u file.
In itunes, I can import the playlist and it shows up under the 'playlists' correctly. Now I wanted to transfer this playlist to my ipod and iphone (note: my ipod and iphone already have all the songs in the playlist plus many others. I never use them in 'sync' mode).
I was under the impression that a playlist is just a list of pointers to songs and not songs themselves. So when I drag the playlist into the ipod within itunes, it creates a new playlist with that name on the ipod and correctly transfers the pointers onto the ipod. the playlist works perfectly on the ipod and there and no duplicate songs.
now with the new iphone 5 and new ios 6, something seems to be different. when i drag the playlist into the iphone, it does create a new playlist but it copies all the songs again, even though the exact songs (all metadata identical since they're from the same physical source on my harddisk - album, artists, art, title, etc). so it creates duplicates of these songs.
now the still tougher part. I tunes apparently has a find duplicates feature. But it onyl seem to work for music imported into itunes library. It is greyed out if you click on the iphone and then try to find duplicates (if iphone is set to manually manage music.)
so is this expected behaviour? I think this is a bug in the new ios since the drag drop playlist manually works perfectly in ios 4.2.
any thoughts?

Unfortunately, you'll need to 'start fresh,' as it were. However, you could transfer your library from the old computer and sync. This MAY keep you from having to erase everything. Worst case scenario, if you transfer your library, though, would be to wipe it and then load the same content right back on.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

Preventing duplicate purchases when buying playlist

I find that I sometimes buy songs on playlists from the ITunes Store that I already have in my library. Is there some way to prevent this?

I have the same question...
I'd like to buy several of the iTunes Essentials but some of the songs on different playlists intersect...I don't wanna buy them twice, but it'd be nice to have that song still show up in the playlist and just link to my already purchased song....
that sounds confusing

Duplicate songs when adding new playlists

Ok heres the problem and its been going on far too long for me....
Every **** time I want to create a playlist on itunes and then drag it to my ipod I get duplicate songs that show up on my ipod. I know exactly why its happening. Because there are tiny differences from some of the files in the playlist then from when I first added them to my ipod (for example, lets say I added "Purple Haze" to my ipod then later discovered Purple Haze had a space at the end of the title, so I removed it on the file in itunes but NOT on the ipod, and now if Purple Haze is one of the songs in this new hypothetical playlist i've created it will show up on the ipod twice). I get that. Problem is, I have created a playlist now and 10 out of the 50 songs that were on it were I guess changed in some way shape or form since I last added them to the ipod. I tried cancelling it but a few got thru ..and I have no idea which of the 50 songs were the ones that got duplicated. This REALLY infuriates me man because it happens all the time. How can it be 2011 and an ipod cant just recognize these files are the same? Or better yet, just UPDATE the old song automatically with whatever changed about the old file (for instance, if it was Purple Haze with the space on the ipod before, if I throw a playlist from itunes with Purple Haze without the space on it, why cant the ipod just UPDATE the previous file with the space and take the **** space out rather then adding another file). It would also be nice if I could just go to the ipod (when its connected to itunes) and sort by Date Modified or something and see which ones were the ones that were duplicated. But i cant, it just keeps the last modified date of the song on itunes not on the ipod ..i dont know if im making sense here but I really hope someone can "show me the way" because I just refuse to believe that this is just the way it is ..its gota be something im doing wrong here. So please someone, school me!

You are just making work for yourself by dragging songs to your iPod manually.
I have manually manage music and videos turned off. I sync my iPods using selected playlists. Whenever I make a change in a selected playlist, it is automatically synced the next time I connect my iPod. If I decide I don't want a particular playlist on my iPod any more, I just deselect it. If I change anything about a song in one of my playlist, the change is automatically synced.
Watch these 2 video tutorials and see if you want to make things easier on yourself:
Creating playlists: http://support.apple.com/kb/VI71?viewlocale=en_US
Syncing your iPod: http://support.apple.com/kb/VI72?viewlocale=en_US

Prevent duplicate songs in playlists?

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