03/28/2008 Internet

The Remove Duplicates Tool scans an entire iTunes or iPod Library and uses the synchronization system's comparison and analysis engine and Sync Options settings to identify duplicate files and then choose the best one to keep. Sync options settings that affect the discovery and handling of duplicate files include:

• The main comparison flags: Genre, Album Name and File type
• The "Don't Copy Tags When Equal" flag
• All Duplicates Tab settings
• All Filtering Tab settings

The general rule is the more comparison fields used the fewer the duplicates.

For example, let's assume 2 songs have the same title, artist, genre, and file type but have a different album name. If the album name comparison flag is enabled the two files will NOT be considered duplicates. If the album name flag is disabled they will be considered duplicates. This is a common situation when the same track is present on different albums from the same artist.

In the context of the duplicates tool the "Don't Copy Tags When Equal" flag means that if all tags are equal consider the files to be duplicates and stop trying to find other differences such as file size and modification date.

Duplicate File Selection Rules

The Sync Properties "Rules" sub-tab settings are used to determine which file within a duplicate set will be marked for retention and which will be deleted.



If you check the "Protected Files" box, all protected files (regardless of owner) will be selected for retention over an unprotected file.

If you also check the "Only Files with my Apple IDs" box, only protected files licensed to Apple IDs entered in the "Apple IDs" tab will be selected for retention. Unlicensed protected files will still be found to be duplicates they just won't be selected automatically.

If you check the "Preferred Types" box, any file type entered in the Types tab will be chosen for retention over files of other types in a duplicate set.

If you check the "Largest File over the Newest File" box, older but larger files will have precedence over newer but smaller files. If this box is unchecked the newer files are always assumed to be better retention candidates regardless of size.

Duplicate File Filtering

As with synchronization the Filtering tab settings determine which files will be sent through TuneRanger's comparison and analysis engine. If a file does not make it through this filter it will be as if it didn't exist for purposes of duplicate file detection and removal.

Duplicates Action List

After scanning your files TuneRanger displays an action list window that gives you a chance to review the results and make changes.



Files found to be duplicates based on your settings are displayed in groups of 2 or more. Within each group a file has been pre-selected based on your options settings. You can choose to keep a duplicate set by un-checking the group's checkbox (the group will be grayed out). You can also change the file to keep by clicking on a different round button. To help you decide which is the best file to keep, TuneRanger displays each file's Genre, Artist, Album name, song title, file type, the complete path to the file, the last modified date, the file size, bit rate, Apple ID (if protected) and whether the file has embedded album art or not.

Press the "Execute" button to accept the actions list and remove the duplicates.