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Apple Music Cloud Status = duplicate

What does that mean? How do I get rid of it?

Windows, Windows 11 (22631)

Posted on Oct 6, 2024 2:23 PM

Reply
5 replies

Oct 7, 2024 9:23 AM in response to William R Bates Jr

It suggests you have two copies of the same song (same track name, number, artist, and album) in your library. Only one of these will be eligible for your iCloud Music Library and any shared playlists. The other can remain connected in the local library only. Ideally you would eliminate all such duplicates from your library, though I would recommend backing the items up first (in case there are subtle differences and you prefer the version that is flagged as a duplicate), and checking what playlists they are in. You may find a playlist that you expected to appear in other devices doesn't because it contains duplicate or otherwise ineligible tracks.


tt2

Oct 7, 2024 12:09 PM in response to turingtest2

Thanks.


It was a manageable set, so I went through and deleted the dupes.


Do you know a link that shows the various "Cloud Status" conditions (e.g., Error, Ineligible, Removed, etc.) in Apple Music for Windows and offers advice on what to do to fix those problems … of if the problems can just be left alone.


These status conditions affect my ability to create playlists for use on my phone. I tried to find a manual, to no avail.


Thank you.

Oct 7, 2024 1:50 PM in response to William R Bates Jr

Not offhand. There used to one but I'm pretty sure it got canned in one of the many clean ups of old support articles. The full list of status codes appears to be Matched, Purchased, Uploaded, Ineligible, Removed, Error, Duplicate, Apple Music, No Longer Available, and Not Uploaded (previously Waiting?).


For Matched, Purchased, and Uploaded, there is nothing to be done, all is good. (Well occasionally some people find that a Matched version in the cloud doesn't meet their expectations, e.g. is clean vs. explicit or a subtly different version, but dealing with that is for another post if anyone is interested.)


Ineligible tracks are too large, long or short, or have too high or low a bitrate. It may be possible to convert some of these to another format that is acceptable. Your iCloud Music Library cannot contain tracks downloaded with a different Apple ID, but if these aren't protected then you may be able to match/upload converted copies.


A Removed track is in your local library but has been removed from the cloud library, e.g. by being removed from another library or device. You can select this item, right-click and Add to Library to add it back. You can try the same with tracks marked as Error or Not Uploaded. Using File > Library > Update iCloud Music Library may also fix such issues.


As noted, Duplicate is used for any item that appears to be a duplicate of another item that has already been added to the iCloud Music Library. You would normally want to delete only the tracks that show with the iCloud status of Duplicate, leaving the primary copy in the library. Be careful using the iTunes/Music Show Duplicates feature as this shows all copies and doesn't make it clear which should be kept and which removed. If you have two distinct tracks where one is being treated as a duplicate when you don't think it should be then you may be able to work around this by changing some of the metadata.


Apple Music items are those that you have only with a continued subscription. These, along with any non-purchased tracks stored only in the cloud will be lost when your subscription ends. You should buy any tracks that you want to keep past that point, and download everything to at least one library which you backup independently of Apple Music/iTunes Match.


No Longer Available indicates an item that has been withdrawn from the Apple Music catalog by the relevant Rights Holder, at least in your region. It may still be available in the iTunes Store but this is pretty rare. To fix you would need to purchase from some other resource. The dead links in the library can be removed, those tracks won't play again.


tt2

Oct 8, 2024 5:08 AM in response to turingtest2

You are totally amazing. Thank you for the considerable time you took to craft such a comprehensive reply.


It amazes me that AAPL threw iTunes for Windows away, replaced it with the seriously clunky Apple Music, and then walked away from the Windows community. Like many folks, I have little choice but to hang with the AAPL music infrastructure. I pay for Apple Music, but that doesn't seem to matter. I feel abandoned. Grrr!

Oct 8, 2024 6:27 AM in response to William R Bates Jr

I'm still using iTunes on Windows. You have to uninstall Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices to restore the functionality lost when any of those are installed. My library syncs happily between my Windows and Mac computers, and my Apple devices. Apple Music for Windows just isn't a fit replacement for iTunes. The Mac version is marginally better, but not by much.


tt2

Apple Music Cloud Status = duplicate

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