Itunes - Duplicates Problems

[slimswannie]

Hi all,

As a fairly new convert to MAC i am in the process of bringing over all my Itunes library from my pc. I have saved the music files in Finder and dragged the folder into Itunes. It saved around 80 % of files straight away but then converted another 10% ish to the correct format, leaving around 10% that did not work i.e incorrect formats etc

My query is that i seem to have 2600 duplicates and sometimes around 4/5 versions of the same song! I guess this is because i have constantly moved my library when i had a new pc over the years and it must of converted the song and saved it 2,3,4 times lol!
Also, does this mean i am using un necessary space? I have checked in the itunes folder in finder and the songs seem to be in there but also in the original place when i copied them from my pc. The problem is if i delete duplicates i'm not sure if they are from the original file or the itunes folder and i dont want to lose files? I just want them all in the itunes folder so it is much easier to manage and can delete the originals. Is there a quick way to do this?

Lastly, could any recommend a solution to dealing with the 10% of songs that did not convert into Itunes songs and how i get them into my library? They are in all sorts of formats as some are like 10 years old! Presumably some sort of song converter?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Michael

 

[paulsalter]

The easiest solution I would say is

Go into iTunes preferences and the advanced tab, make sure following are ticked
Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized
Copy Files to iTunes Library….

Then go to File->Library->Organiize Library
from here select consolidate Library

This will copy everything (if it's not already there) into the iTunes folder

Check a few just to be sure it has worked (I have used this in the past without issues), then you can delete the stuff that is outside iTunes folder

 

[Daffodil]

In the future, you can also easily find duplicates in iTunes using File>Display duplicates.

 

[slimswannie]

Thanks il give that a go later!