My iTunes XML database recently got corrupted and it seemed I had lost all my many hours worth of song ratings. Luckily I was able to re-construct the database through an few month old backup and my iPod. In doing so, my entire iTunes library was duplicated with broken links. Since iTunes does not currently allow you to sort by the broken (’!’ icon), it’s a laborious, manual process to remove all these track listings.
That was until I found this ingenious process somewhere on the Apple forums:
1. Make a smart playlist called “All Files” with this rule: “Artist” is not “123456789″ (or any nonsense name that won’t be in your library).
2. Make a static playlist called “All Live Files”.
3. Make a smart playlist called “Missing Files” with these rules: Match all of the following rules, Playlist is “All Files”, Playlist is not “All Live Files”
4. Select all the files from “All Files” and drag them into “All Live Files”. The dead files marked (!) will not copy over.
5. “Missing Files” will contain all of your dead files. Select all and delete. Voila, a nice clean iTunes library.
I have these three playlists in their own folder. Whenever I gather more than a couple dead tracks for whatever reason, I delete all the tracks in “All Live Files” and repeat steps 4 and 5.
How to Delete a file from a playlist:
Windows: SHIFT + DELMac: OPTION + DEL
MP3 Search is a web music finder with a simple interface. If you're in need of some quick tunes to listen to, or you're hunting down pieces of an obscure mix, take a peek.