iTunes Deleting Duplicates

Deleting iTunes Duplicates

iTunes is sort of bloated and can be annoying sometimes. The biggest issue with iTunes has always been the inability or rather refusal to effectively monitor folders for new content either music, photos or videos.

Not everyone like managing the media catalog from inside iTunes. Actually many prefer managing the music library for themselves using the file systems directory structure. The problem with this approach is that it confuses iTunes. This is because iTunes does not know how to handle the fact that a file has been deleted, moved or replaced.

Another problem with iTunes Find Duplicates is that it does not detect when two entries point to the same file in the library. It will delete the file then you get the cannot get file error dialog the next time you try to play the song.

If you have a vast music collection in your iTunes, you may see copies of files or songs displayed more than once in the iTunes library. To find and remove all duplicate copies of the songs that are repeated, in your iTunes library, the following steps can be followed to delete iTunes duplicates.

The steps affect the following versions of iTunes; iTunes 8, iTunes 9 for Mac, iTunes 9 for Windows, iTunes 7 for Windows, iTunes 7 for Mac OS X, iTunes 8 for Windows, iTunes 10 for Windows, iTunes 10 for Mac, iTunes 9 for Mac

On the tool bar, choose File > Display Duplicates to reveal the duplicate items (iTunes makes matches using the song name/ title/filename and artist). If you willingly have multiple versions of a song by the same artist, for example, one version performed live/ an accoustic version and the original studio versions, or alternatively versions from various albums) you hold the Alt or Option key for Mac OS X or the Shift key for Windows and then on the tool bar choose File > Display Exact Duplicates. This will reveal only repeated songs having the same name/ artist/ file name/ song title, and album.
You can also sort by the date when you added the song to the iTunes library by clicking the Date Added column.
In order to delete the older items, select the item with the oldest date and click on it, hold down the Shift key or the Control key, and then click on the older item that is next to the most current date. After that is done, delete the duplicate items by choosing Edit > Delete from the tool bar.

It is important to know that if you have the same iTunes library synced with another or other computers, you will have to replace the older iTunes library with the newer items in your library.

There are a few problems associated with the manual method of deleting iTunes duplicates. The major one being that you are never sure you are going to delete the correct file. Many a time you will find that the iTunes duplicates differ in quality or length. Usually most of us will save the song with the longest length.

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Deleting iTunes Duplicates Songs

By mikeandpete On December 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Deleting iTunes Duplicates

One of iTunes’ greatest features is the ability to quickly and easily track down any duplicates hiding amidst the files in your library. Duplicates tend to be a big problem because they not only use up hard disk space that is being wasted by the duplicity, but they also turn your iTunes library into one big mess, which many a user hate a lot. Using a couple of quick fix tips, you can clean up your iTunes library neatly. There are two main ways to clean up your iTunes catalog from within iTunes.

The first way to clean duplicates from your catalog, is to have iTunes show you what duplicates are in your library. In order to do this, open iTunes and go to your library window. Then go to click File, and then to Display Duplicates. This will transform your library window to a duplicates window, which will show you every audio file you have loaded onto iTunes which has another with the same title.

You can continue to now look through the files and find what you may want to keep or get rid of, and proceed to do just that. This process works very well for smaller catalogs, or if you just want to see how many duplicate files are in the system, and how much wasted space is in your library. Where this type of vetting becomes increasingly difficult though, is instances where repeats are warranted, for example, a actual studio album versus a live recording at a concert. The songs are different but may have the same title.

In case you have studio mixes or live recording tracks that share song titles with albums version songs, this is the method you need. It works like the previous method, we click on the File menu but this time we hold the Alt, key in windows or the Option key on a Mac, and where it said Display Duplicates, will now read Display Exact Duplicates. Clicking on this will display, rather than like in the previous method songs whose names match, here the songs which are exact matches. This avoids the title track discrepancies in the previous method. The duplicates in your list, and can change your results in a very major way.

The differences between the two methods are very clear. You are going to get more results with the first method, but the second method will offer broader search parameters, and the results will be more specific and accurate. The method to use will mostly depend on your scenario and what you want to achieve with the search. Maybe your hard disk drive is full and you want to get rid of any copied media that is bogging you down, or you want to eliminate the live or dance versions of the songs in your library? The options are endless and it all comes down to your creativity. But one things remains clear, Apple gave us some powerful tools in iTunes to cure what ails our digital media collection.

Its important not to forget to actively keep the music collection tidy as you import more and more media, as prevention is always better than cure and it sure takes less time.