Just copied my iTunes collection, having issues...

I had a 120GB HD and just upgraded to a 500GB external. I copied all contents from the 1st hard drive to the 2nd. Then deleted everything from iTunes library. I went to upload everything to iTunes from HD #2 and forgot to change my itunes folder, so I changed it to what i should be and copied again.

Here's the problem.

Everything in iTunes looks/functions fine, however there are duplicates of every song when i goto finder and check each folder in my iTunes folder. For example there will be songA.mp3 and songA2.mp3, both exactly the same, but iTunes only uses one of the two copies (the ones w/ the 2 at the end). I never noticed the difference on iTunes until I did get info->summary and under "where" it showed the source file w/ 2.mp3 at the end

So basically I have about 110GB of music on iTunes, but double that in my folder and I'd love to free up the space. Since theres so much (9532 songs on iTunes, double that in folder), deleting the unwanted ones manually is outta the question. Is there a simple way I can get rid of the ones that are in the folder but not in my iTunes library? I think I can do a search for everything in the folder thats "...2.mp3", but those are the copies that iTunes is using.

I just don't want to do anything too drastic, is there a simple solution to get around this? thanks

ps. i've only been a mac user since november so cut me some slack if i'm overlooking a completely blatant solution

You should be able to create some kind of smart playlist to sort them all out. I'm guessing that if you compair the files, on of them will have either a different modified date, or a different added date. Check multiple files to find out which one holds an identical pattern, then create a smart playlist using that critia. Everything in that playlist should then be your dupes.

Edit: you can try this applescript, might be easier
http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=corraldupes

StretchR said:

You should be able to create some kind of smart playlist to sort them all out. I'm guessing that if you compair the files, on of them will have either a different modified date, or a different added date. Check multiple files to find out which one holds an identical pattern, then create a smart playlist using that critia. Everything in that playlist should then be your dupes.

Edit: you can try this applescript, might be easier
http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=corraldupes

Click to expand...

they all have the same date modified. well, in each folder theres different times, but in any given one, they'll all give the same date and time. and for date created, i just get "----", i'm gonna give that applescript link a try now

I had the same problem... heres what i did:

I first synced my ipod with the itunes, since there is only one of each in the itunes and double in the folder, it syncs to the ipod correctly. then delete every song you have on your computer.. and use sentui to take the songs from your ipod to the computer and it does so with out any duplicates.

PowerBookG4 said:

I had the same problem... heres what i did:

I first synced my ipod with the itunes, since there is only one of each in the itunes and double in the folder, it syncs to the ipod correctly. then delete every song you have on your computer.. and use sentui to take the songs from your ipod to the computer and it does so with out any duplicates.

Click to expand...

i have 110gb of music in iTunes and only 60GB on iPod. I guess I could do the routine twice.

I'm still thinking about searching the music folder for stuff that ends w/ "2.mp3", deleting those, and then uploading the original ones.

knowing me, i could screw up w/ either method, I'm really looking for the one w/ the lowest risk. I'll d/l sentui now and try in on an album or two, and if it works i'll go big

PowerBookG4 said:

I had the same problem... heres what i did:

I first synced my ipod with the itunes, since there is only one of each in the itunes and double in the folder, it syncs to the ipod correctly. then delete every song you have on your computer.. and use sentui to take the songs from your ipod to the computer and it does so with out any duplicates.

Click to expand...

ok, i tried this method for a few albums and it works great, the only problem is that when it puts the files back to my iTunes library&folder, they're m4a files instead of mp3s. is there a way around this w/ sentui or is there another program i could try?

i'm still a mac n00b and would be uncomfortable w/ my whole music collection in m4a format.

bump^

you could try this:

http://ipoddisk.ourbiti.com/index.php/about/