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Duplicate Songs

I somehow ended up with hundreds of duplicate songs. Most of the duplicated songs are prompting me to download them. How do I eliminate these duplicates in few steps, as opposed to one by one? I found list of duplicates in "file -> library -. show exact duplicate items". Can I delete the duplicates by, e.g., unchecking them and then hit another command? Other approach? Thx.

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 15, 2019 10:57 PM

Reply
6 replies

Jul 13, 2019 8:53 AM in response to OferC

Hiya,


I'm afraid the Windows-only script only works with local content, at least in its current form. iTunes doesn't provide the script engine enough information to tell local missing tracks from those in the cloud, which is somewhat irritating. By rights iCloud Music Library ought not to allow two copies of the same track in the main library. Playlists however are allowed multiple copies of the same track, though you wouldn't normally want them to play one after the other. Take a look at About iCloud Music Library icons and status - Apple Support in case that reveals anything. Are these purchases or ripped content that has been matched or uploaded?


tt2

Jul 13, 2019 7:24 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2,

Downloaded your script from your site and read your interesting post from 2011.

Ran the script. Got a message "no duplicates found..." but there are indeed duplicates. See screen cap below.

The playlist is on the cloud (i have a very long playlist and don't want to download all of the songs to my local disk)...


Any thoughts what may be the problem, and how to fix?


Thanks,

Ofer.

Jul 14, 2019 12:54 AM in response to turingtest2

all of my music is downloaded (or accessed) from the apple music library (no ripped or uploaded music).


On my main playlist I have almost 2,000 duplicates (sometimes even 4 copies of the same song...) -- I have no idea how they got there...

I have searched so much for a solution to this (aside from deleting duplicates by hand) -- the closest I got was your solution...

it almost seems that there is a "hidden reason" apple music doesn't want for it to be easy to clear duplicates from playlists??



Jul 14, 2019 2:33 AM in response to OferC

Assume the problem playlist is called X, make a new smart playlist Y with the rule Playlist is X, then make a new regular playlist Z and copy the list from Y into Z. Z should be a deduped version of X. The only thing I'm not sure about is if Apple Music will stop that from working because it doesn't like lists based on other lists.


tt2

Duplicate Songs

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