How do I clean up my iTunes library?

Why You Should Clean Up Your iTunes Library

Keeping your iTunes library organized can provide several benefits that make your life easier. As you add more music, movies, podcasts and other media over the years, your library can become cluttered with duplicate, missing or incorrectly labeled files. Taking the time to clean things up can fix a number of issues.

Cleaning up your iTunes library reduces clutter and makes it much easier to find the media you want to play. When everything is properly labeled and organized into playlists, you’ll save time scrolling through your library. Removing duplicate tracks also makes the content easier to browse.

Cleaning your library will also help save storage space on your computer’s hard drive. Duplicate files unnecessarily take up space and can slow things down. Deleting these extra copies frees up room for more music, videos and applications.

Finally, a clean library helps fix problems caused by disorganized files. Missing album artwork, incorrect song information and lost files can all be remedied by doing an iTunes cleanup. This improves the overall media experience.

Back Up Your iTunes Library

Before making any major changes to your iTunes library, it’s highly recommended to back up your library to an external hard drive. This provides you with a full copy of your iTunes library that you can restore from in case something goes wrong during the cleanup process.

To back up your entire iTunes library to an external drive on a Mac, first connect the external drive to your computer. Then open iTunes, go to File > Library > Back Up to Disk, and select your external drive as the backup location. This will create a copy of your full iTunes library on the external drive.

Backing up to an external drive has several key benefits:

• You have a safe copy of your iTunes library in case your local library becomes corrupted or songs go missing.
• You can restore your full iTunes library if you accidentally delete songs or make changes you later want to undo.
• It makes managing and experimenting with changes less risky since you can always revert back.

By taking the time to back up your iTunes library before cleaning it up, you ensure you have a way to recover your full library if needed down the road. It’s a quick, easy safeguard that can potentially save you from major headaches.

For more details on how to backup an iTunes library properly, check out this Apple discussion thread.

Find and Remove Duplicate Songs

iTunes includes a simple built-in tool for finding duplicate songs in your library. Go to Songs in your iTunes library, then under View, select ‘Show Duplicates’. This will show any songs that appear more than once in your library. You can then select individual duplicates and delete them.

However, the built-in duplicate finder has limitations. For a more robust duplicate finding tool, check out apps like TidyUp (source). TidyUp scans your entire iTunes library and highlights all duplicate songs. You can then view the duplicates side by side to compare file details. It makes it easy to delete unwanted song copies.

If you have multiple versions of the same song (like live and studio versions), you may want to keep them. In that case, edit the song titles to make it clear which version is which. That way the songs will show up separately in your library view.

Delete Unwanted Songs and Media

To remove unwanted content from your iTunes library, first view your entire library by clicking “Music” in the sidebar menu. You can sort your library by categories like Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, etc. by using the drop down menu at the top of the iTunes window.

To delete individual songs you no longer want, right click on the song and select “Delete” to remove it from your library. The song will be moved to the Trash bin. You can also select multiple songs at once to delete them in batches.

To remove entire albums or artists, right click on the album name or artist name and choose “Delete.” All associated songs and album artwork will be removed.

You can also delete other media files like movies, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, and more. Click the associated category in the sidebar, then right click and choose “Delete.” For movies or TV shows, this will delete the video file as well as remove the listing from your iTunes library.

iTunes will prompt you to confirm deleting each file or folder. Permanently remove all deleted content by emptying the Trash bin in iTunes.

Add Missing Album Artwork

One of the best ways to clean up your iTunes library is by adding any missing album artwork. Having the album covers makes browsing your music collection much more visually appealing.

To find albums missing artwork in iTunes, create a Smart Playlist with the rule “Artwork is empty.” This will display all songs and albums without artwork.[1] You can then select them and choose File > Library > Get Album Artwork to have iTunes automatically download art from the iTunes Store.

For albums not in the iTunes Store, you’ll need to add artwork manually. Simply right click on the album and select Get Info. Then drag and drop the image file onto the Artwork section. JPG, PNG, and GIF formats tend to work best for album art.[2]

Getting the proper artwork for all your albums can take some time, but it really enhances the visual experience in iTunes and makes your library feel complete.

Fix Incorrect Song Information

One of the most frustrating things about managing an iTunes library is when songs have incorrect information like the wrong artist name or track title. This can happen when you download music from various sources or import CDs. Here’s how to identify and fix incorrect song information in iTunes:

To find songs with incorrect info, sort your library by artist or album and scan for anything that looks out of place. You may see unknown artists, odd titles, or tracks grouped under the wrong album. Select a suspect track and open the Info window to verify the details. Check things like the artist name, album name, genre, year, artwork, etc.

The easiest way to fix the information is to manually edit it in the Info window. Simply make the necessary changes to the artist, title, or other fields to correct the data. This works well for fixing a few tracks.

For large iTunes libraries, consider using a metadata cleaner tool like TuneUp (https://www.tune-up.com/). It can scan your library and match songs against an online database to automatically fix incorrect data. The software can update tons of tracks in just a few clicks.

To avoid bad info in the future, carefully check the details of any new music you import. Always download tracks from reputable sites and avoid file sharing networks where metadata is often missing or incorrect. Purchasing songs from the iTunes Store directly will ensure you get accurate information.

Organize Your Files and Folders

Creating a structured folder system and organizing your files is one of the most effective ways to clean up your iTunes library. An organized library makes it easier to find media and creates a tidier overall system. Here are some tips for organizing your iTunes files and folders:

Start by creating a folder structure inside the iTunes Media folder. For example, you may want separate folders for Music, Movies, Podcasts, etc. You can then create sub-folders within each folder to further categorize your content. Some common music folders include ones for Genre, Artist, Albums, Singles, Playlists, and so on. Determine a structure that makes the most sense for your specific library.

The key benefits of organizing your files and folders include: faster searching and browsing, simplified media management, and the ability to easily backup or move your library. An organized system also provides a better user experience within iTunes.

To save time, use the “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” option to have iTunes automatically organize files into folders based on metadata when adding new content. You can find this option under Edit > Preferences > Advanced on Windows, or iTunes > Preferences > Advanced on a Mac. This will ensure any media you add in the future is auto-sorted.

For more tips, see this Apple guide on using folders to organize playlists in iTunes.

Update Song Information and Metadata

Metadata refers to data about your music files such as the artist name, album title, genre, release year, album artwork, and more. Keeping your metadata updated ensures your music library stays organized with correct information. Metadata also allows your songs to be sorted and searched properly.

If you have outdated or missing metadata, there are apps that can help you fix it such as Mp3tag or TuneUp. These apps can automatically look up song information online and fill in any missing or incorrect metadata. They utilize large online databases to find the proper details for each track.

Once you’ve updated the metadata, you’ll need to refresh the iTunes database so it reflects the changes. To do this, go to File > Library > Organize Library and select the Consolidate Files option. This will rescan your library and pull in the new metadata. Now iTunes will display the updated information when browsing your music collection.

Keeping your metadata in iTunes current allows you to easily find, sort, and enjoy your music library.

Export and Reimport Your Library

If you’ve tried everything and your iTunes library is still a mess, exporting and reimporting your library can potentially fix major organizational issues. This is an intensive process that rebuilds your library from scratch. Here’s how it works:

1. Go to File > Library > Export Library to create an XML version of your library. This saves all your music files, playlists, play counts, ratings, etc. Choose a location to save the XML file.

2. Create a new empty iTunes library file by holding Option (or Shift in Windows) and choosing File > Library > Create Library. This will not delete your original library.

3. Go to File > Library > Import Playlist and select the XML file you exported. This will import your music collection into the new empty library.

Before reimporting, you may want to organize your files/folders so everything will import cleanly. You’ll also want to back up your original library in case anything goes wrong.

The downside is that reimporting can result in lost or changed metadata, ratings, play counts, album art, and other data. Playlists and podcast subscriptions may need to be resubscribed. And all custom Sorting Fields will be removed. So only use this method as a last resort if your library is unmanageable.

Maintain Your Clean iTunes Library

After putting in the effort to clean up and organize your iTunes library, you’ll want to keep it neat and tidy going forward. Here are some tips for maintaining your clean iTunes library:

Enable automatic organization in your iTunes preferences to have new additions sorted into the proper folders and playlists. This will help prevent a disorganized mess from accumulating over time.

Periodically review your library for any new duplicate songs that may have slipped in and delete any you find. You can use the same duplicate finding techniques described earlier to catch these.

When new albums are added, take a minute to add or update the metadata like artist name, track titles, album art, genre, etc. Consistent and accurate metadata will keep your library organized.

Back up your iTunes library regularly to ensure your edits, organization, playlists and other work are not lost if your computer crashes or needs to be replaced. You can back up to an external drive or use cloud syncing via iTunes Match.

By following these maintenance steps, you’ll be able to enjoy your clean and well-organized iTunes library for years to come.