De-duplicate music library

[MymsMan]

Somehow my music library has numerous albumns with duplicate entries:
nn Track title.mp3 and
nn Track title-Artist.mp3
Obviously I would like a quick, easy and cheap solution to get rid of the duplicate entries which apart from file name are identical (sizes, dates, attributes)

Any suggestion?

 

[Black Hole]

So, what have you done - ripped them twice with different file naming criteria? Can't you separate them based on file creation date?

First, I suggest you re-scan the library but starting at the root directory and with the "subdirectories" option ticked so you list the whole lot (over multiple albums).

Then use a formula in the Filter box to display only the duplicate files – I propose keyed on character 3 of the filename being a "-". MP3Tag has its own scripting language:

"$mid(%_filename%,3)" IS -

(The &mid function has a third parameter for number of characters, but in this case "1" is implied.)

With just the matching files listed, click one to select it, then select all (Ctrl+A). If you then blank the filter box, you will see the selected files in the overall context, and inspect that the set is correct (particularly that there is a 1:1 correspondence between the set you want and the set you don't).

Make any modifications required to the selection with Ctrl+LeftClick as usual. Delete selected set by RightClick on any of the selected entries and choosing Delete from the menu.

I suggest you make a backup first!

 

[bottletop]

In your attached screenshot, I'd remove files that have artist name in the filename suffix, but it may not be as easy as that. I haven't tried this myself, but this looks interesting https://dupeguru.voltaicideas.net/

 

[Black Hole]

That looks useful for lots of things. I imagine it takes a long time to dedupe pictures!

 

[MymsMan]

So, what have you done - ripped them twice with different file naming criteria? Can't you separate them based on file creation date?

I don'r know what I did, but it was a long time ago. Strangely both copies of the file have exactly the same time stamp, size, etc so not an accident of duplicate riipping but something later that preserved the time stamps whilst creating duplicates.

I also have albumns with no duplicates but with file names of one format or the other so while a good idea the $mid idea might not be so easy but I will experiment

I will also look at dupeguru but I think most such tools may be too advanced for my needs - I am not trying to find duplicates in other albumns

I may just go for a simple batch file that crawls through the directory tree looking at each mp3 abc.mp3 and deletes abc-*.mp3

Anyway such attempts will need to wait a while - off shortly for a drive through New Forest to Bournemouth for 'Harry Ramsdens Fish and Chips Afternoon Tea', then on Friday we are off for our annual UK tour to visit our children!

 

[Black Hole]

I also have albumns with no duplicates but with file names of one format or the other so while a good idea the $mid idea might not be so easy but I will experiment

It's easy to "Remove" those albums from the scanned list, before you apply filtering ("remove" takes an entry out of the list, "delete" deletes the actual thing).

And then you can rename the fines consistently, all within MP3Tag.

I can't cay I find Harry Ramsden's very attractive, but if needs must... I will also be down that way.

 

[MymsMan]

I can't cay I find Harry Ramsden's very attractive, but if needs must... I will also be down that way.

A bit batter heavy but actually a very nice twist on the traditional AT and at £15 for 2 with Buyagift Discount codes very good value for money

 

[MymsMan]

In your attached screenshot, I'd remove files that have artist name in the filename suffix, but it may not be as easy as that. I haven't tried this myself, but this looks interesting https://dupeguru.voltaicideas.net/

Many thanks for the suggestion

Using name matching it did show me where I had duplicates in different folders but I couldn't work out how to match the two name formats even though that is claimed as one of its features

But using content matching it did find 122 duplicates in 11K recordings - I am not sure how long it took but a shorter time than washing up and taking clothes out of drier.

It was inconsistent as to whether it chose the long or short name as the duplicate but it was a small enough list that I could switch the choice.

I found the inteface a bit clunky but it did the job a lot faster than I could code and test a batch file