If a CD rip into Apple iTunes aborts for some reason, crashing iTunes (yes, it happens), the tracks already successfully copied over remain in the appropriate directory, but unused and invisible to iTunes. This can, of course, add multi-megabytes of unwanted/unused duplicate files, only visible if you actually go into the My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music directory.
How to easily get rid of them? Well, there is no easy way, but the biggest trick is identifying which of the files sitting out there are orphans and which are actually in use with iTunes.
Three methods:
- This was recommended by a site I found last night but have since lost. Go into iTunes and change the iTunes directory (e.g., to My Music\My iTunes or something. iTunes will then copy over everything it’s using into that new directory tree. You can then delete the old directory tree.
Pros: Minimal labor.
Cons: Huge amount of duplicate disk storage needed.
- Use Windows Explorer to look in each artist\album directory to spot where there are dupes. When you find them, go into iTunes, find that album, and right-click Show Song File. This will open up another Explorer window with the song file highlighted. Do this a couple of times in the album (to be safe), then delete everything but that pattern of files.
E.g., you might have “Music Track Name.mp3,” “Music Track Name 1.mp3,” and “Music Track Name 2.mp3.” You quickly discover that all the in-use song files for that album are the ones with the “2” suffix, so you delete the extras in that pattern.
Pros: Well, it works.
Cons: Labor-intensive; makes a few assumptions; easy to delete the wrong file(s).
- This is the current method I’m using, since I don’t have the disk space for #1 nor the patience and accuracy for #2. Use Windows Explorer as in #2 to find an artist\album directory that has dupes. Go into iTunes, select all the tracks in the album, and do a right-click Get Info. Rename the album (fix some spelling, make it consistent, or just add an “x” to the end). iTunes will automatically create a new artist\album directory with just the files its using. Delete the old artist\album directory (since none of those files are in use). Rename (if necessary) the album again.
Pros: Lets iTunes do the work of identifying the right files; gives you an excuse to clean up your album names
Cons: More labor-intensive than #1
Hope this saves you some time and effort.