Comments on: How can I de-dupe my entire music library while preserving iTunes data?

Question: How can I de-dupe my entire music library while preserving iTunes data?

DrDreidel — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:49:50 -0800

How can I de-dupe my entire music library while preserving iTunes data?

Don't ask me how, but I've recently discovered my entire iTunes libary exists in duplicate. Now, normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, just ditch the duplicate files and re-import. However, my music files are structured as such:

Music -> [Artist] -> [Album 1] [Album 2] -> [Track 1] [Track 2] etc.

Each track is buried within each album file which is buried in each artist file.

Bonus: The files which are currently "the good files" (those which iTunes is pointed towards) are those which were more recently duplicated. In other words, each .mp3 files ends with a (1) at the end of the file name. Being the crazy compulsive person that I am, this seriously bothers me.

Is there any way to run a script on the music folder that will trash any file that ends in 1? I really don't want to have to go through these by hand as there are 244 artist folders and 490 album folders.

Double bonus: I know I'll have to re-import, but I'd like to keep the track ratings (I use a bolean system, they are either 5 star or no star) and the play counts, as I have smart play lists based on this. I've already exported my iTunes library file, but am not sure that is enough to keep anything besides my playlists.

Please help!

By: immlass

immlass — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:13:16 -0800

You should be able to do this with Dupin with the right filtering. It should be by date since the "1" set should be added later.

By: DrDreidel

DrDreidel — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:20:55 -0800

I think I need to further clarify. I have no dupes in my iTunes, but rather in the folders that contain my music files. It looks to me that Dupin only scans your iTunes library so it isn't catching the file dupes, unless I misunderstood the program.

By: Aquaman

Aquaman — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:37:29 -0800

So, you've got a good (non-dupe) list in iTunes, but the music folder itself has duplicate files?

Change the location of your iTunes music folder (in iTunes prefs), then Consolidate Library. This will copy new versions of everything in the iTunes list to the new folder. Then you can trash the entire old folder, and put the new folder back in its place, re-changing the iTunes music folder location in prefs again.

Doug's Applescripts for iTunes will have lots of great scripts to chew off the trailing "[1]". The simplest is "Remove N Characters From Front/Back".

By: Aquaman

Aquaman — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:38:26 -0800

This won't mess up any of your playlists, ratings, etc. at all, BTW.

By: immlass

immlass — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:47:29 -0800

OK, I was unclear on the problem; sorry about that. Aquaman's solution should work for the problem you've got.

By: swift

swift — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:54:33 -0800

1. Search for mp3 in Spotlight
2. Select "Show all"
3. Sort by date
4. The messed up files will be the most recent ones presumably
5. Select them and delete
6. Repeat with m4a and other formats

By: swift

swift — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:58:53 -0800

Or, if the duplication didn't happen all at once, do this:

1. Search for "1.mp3" in Spotlight
2. Select "Show all"
3. Go the Music section and delete the bad files

By: swift

swift — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:59:18 -0800

4. Repeat with other formats...

By: swift

swift — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:01:25 -0800

and of course use [1].mp3 or (1).mp3 instead if appropriate. That's all.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:19:55 -0800

in the Terminal:



find ~/Music -name '*.mp3.1' -print0 | xargs -0 rm

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:21:04 -0800

...assuming you mean the whole file name ends with ".1". If not, put whatever all the bad file's names end with in the quotes.

By: silsurf

silsurf — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:36:07 -0800

I happened to see this piece of software the other day, but I have not tried it myself. Perhaps it can take some of your pain away.

http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru_me/

Henry