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For some reason, songs in my itunes library are listed twice. Note: It is the exact same song just referenced twice, so removing one of the songs will keep one reference in the library but delete the song efficiently making the remaining song just a dead link.

this is similar to other superuser questions but not exactly.

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6 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Might want to use this project to remove the duplicate files. Note the zip file contains the sources as well as binaries, the binaries are in iTunesCOMSample\iTunesCOMSample\bin\Release\ folder.

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I will try a variation on this, it's the closest answer i s'pose :) – Makach Sep 6 '10 at 12:54
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up vote 4 down vote

Open iTunes and click on "View" and "Show Duplicates."

More /additional info:

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bottom 2 links are the same ;) – John T Aug 19 '10 at 22:09
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@johnt Thanks! Edited. Talking about duplicates ;) – BloodPhilia Aug 19 '10 at 22:28
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When you find the duplicates and go to delete one of them, you'll get a choice between "Move to recycle bin" or "Keep file." Make sure you click keep file so the other reference will be unaffected. – David A. Aug 20 '10 at 1:12
@mvdavid7 if you select keep file, the double entry is kept (nothing happens in iTunes) – Makach Aug 21 '10 at 11:58
this doesn't work and is not related to my question. – Makach Aug 21 '10 at 11:59
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up vote 3 down vote

Just use the native iTunes duplicate track remover.

You can also follow these instructions in order to remove your duplicate tracks from your iTunes library:

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/9226-how-to-remove-duplicate-tracks-in-itunes#add-artwork-and-tags-to-itunes-songs

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up vote 2 down vote
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  1. In the menu bar, go to File > Library > Organize Library...

  2. Check both Consolidate files and Upgrade to iTunes Media organization. alt text

  3. Give your computer some time to process this, depending on how many items you have in your library.

  4. It should now be solved. You're done.

Hope it works for you!

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@Makach I'm just curious: what, if anything, happened when you tried this? – pattern86 Sep 7 '10 at 2:50
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up vote 1 down vote

This is a slight variation on KronoS above but I might suggest the following as a last resort:

This is assuming that you have previously allowed iTunes to organize your Music such that you have a well formed iTunes music tree (i.e. on a Mac, ~/Music/iTunes/...).

Go into ~/Music/iTunes and delete the following files:

  • iTunes Music Library.xml
  • iTunes Library Genius.itdb
  • iTunes Library Extras.itdb
  • iTunes Library
  • Any other very similar *.db or * Music Library * files in that directory which look to be backups.

At this point you should have got rid of all the extra linking which is causing all your problems.

Once this is complete - you can try the following:

  1. Start iTunes as normal.
  2. At this point the list of music in iTunes should be blank.
  3. Inside iTunes go File > Add to Library and select ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/

This should reimport all your music with only a single entry per file.

WARNING: This method will kill off all your podcast subscriptions, playlists and possibly album art and should only be used as a last resort.

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Well of course this will work but I don't want to lose my library... – Makach Sep 1 '10 at 7:01
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up vote 0 down vote

Have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling itunes? Also a selection of organize my itunes and then cancelling that operation may cause the duplicates to arise.

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