MP3 Collection with multiple copies of songs

Kipperhell

I have just finished putting my CDs on my PC. I have a huge amount of tracks duplicated thanks to compilations of various types.

I am aware I can run programs over the PC to eliminate duplicates but I am guessing this will delete tracks and effect the listing of albums. Am I right about this? Is there a particular program that will keep the integrity of the albums as well as get rid of duplicate tracks?

Basq

Think Foobar2000 will do it!

... yep, just checked mine. Has Edit --> 'Remove Duplicates' and also 'Remove Dead Items'

Kipperhell

Squill wrote:

Think Foobar2000 will do it!

... yep, just checked mine. Has Edit --> 'Remove Duplicates' and also 'Remove Dead Items'

Should have said I don't want to replace my media player as I connects to a wireless player.

cormie

I've the same problem on my iRiver H140, it's small enough as it is without having duplicate tracks. Is there any program that will bring up a list of the actual files that look like duplicates and I can choose to delete them off the actual HD itself. It would also be cool if I could actually just create a shortcut to one of them and use that for the rest, but I don't think my iRiver would recognise the file

TempestSabre

Theres dupliciate finder but its limited unless you buy it.

kinaldo

cormie wrote:

I've the same problem on my iRiver H140, it's small enough as it is without having duplicate tracks. Is there any program that will bring up a list of the actual files that look like duplicates and I can choose to delete them off the actual HD itself. It would also be cool if I could actually just create a shortcut to one of them and use that for the rest, but I don't think my iRiver would recognise the file

Just use iTunes to highlight the duplicates then delete them manually. Surely you can't have so many duplicates on a H140 that this would be too arduous a task. Alternatively you could import your music into iTunes direct from the iRiver and have it delete them all at once.

Kipperhell

kinaldo wrote:

Just use iTunes to highlight the duplicates then delete them manually. Surely you can't have so many duplicates on a H140 that this would be too arduous a task. Alternatively you could import your music into iTunes direct from the iRiver and have it delete them all at once.

You are missing the main point. Deleting the tracks isn't what I want to do as it would mean there would be holes on albums. For example I have lots of box sets and I also own albums by the artists too. If I delete the tracks the box sets would lose their running orders or the albums would.
Space isn't the issue but if I go to play an artist I get many duplicates played. I get the point on a small portable media player you can just delete them but I have over 100g of music. I want to continue to use Musicmatch as it connects to my wireless player in the living room.

kinaldo

Kipperhell wrote:

You are missing the main point.

No, I was responding to cormie who asked

cormie wrote:

Is there any program that will bring up a list of the actual files that look like duplicates and I can choose to delete them off the actual HD itself.

cormie

I'd prefer to stay clear of iTunes:D

Suppose the oul manual way it'll have to be:o

kinaldo

Understandable. I used to swear by iTunes until it started bogging down my laptop. Now I use Winamp, but I still miss the old iTunes browsing.

cormie

I use winamp too:) Wonder is there a plugin that'll find duplicates?

kinaldo

cormie wrote:

I use winamp too:) Wonder is there a plugin that'll find duplicates?

I'd actually be suprised if someone hasn't come out with one yet. I'm too lazy to search though.

cormie

me too! ah well, so much for that:D

noby

Kipperhell wrote:

You are missing the main point. Deleting the tracks isn't what I want to do as it would mean there would be holes on albums. For example I have lots of box sets and I also own albums by the artists too. If I delete the tracks the box sets would lose their running orders or the albums would.
Space isn't the issue but if I go to play an artist I get many duplicates played. I get the point on a small portable media player you can just delete them but I have over 100g of music. I want to continue to use Musicmatch as it connects to my wireless player in the living room.

Kipperhell, I use Musicmatch too, but I'm at work now, so this is off the top of my head:
Can you highlight and edit all duplicate tracks from a particular artist, then set the path to one file? If I get a chance later I'll have a look and see.

TempestSabre

I don't like Musicmatch myself though I did buy a full license at one point. I found that any automated system I tried made mistakes between different versions of the same song and true duplicates. What I do now it use MediaMonkey. You can view by file tree, and sort by length of track. That makes it obvious which are similar, but sometimes I have to check each one to make sure. Sometimes I can see its a whole album or tree thats been duplicated and I can highlight one file I know is a duplicate, and open its folder and then delete the entire album/tree in one go.