This criteria will be disabled if any criteria related to folders or photos is chosen.
Tidy Up is able to search for MP3 and AAC song files by song tag (song name, album, etc.) and by duration in the iTunes database, or any other storage media mounted on the desktop.
To search by songs’ tag it is important that the tags are well-defined because if the tag you are searching for is missing, the song will be ignored. Following are some suggestions when searching for music files:
If the tags are well-defined, then search by tag.
If the tag are missing, then search instead by file attributes (file name, date modified, etc…).
If unsure of how complete tags might be for song files in your search, then use both search methods, one by tag and one by file attributes.
If you are unsure of the content of only some tag kinds, simply do
not include them as a criterion. Generally the song name, artist and
album associated to other criteria like size is same
are enough
to have a list of true
duplicates.
In the instructions below, the criteria used is the Song Name, but the Artist, Album, Genre and Year criteria all work the same way.
| Song’s name is same | the found songs’ names will be the same. |
| Song’s name is unique | the found songs’s names will be unique in the database you searched in. |
| Song’s name | checking this option, you will have access to the text field and popup menu. It allows you to search by song name (or title), excluding or containing a specific sequence of characters. |
Duration is another criteria set that can have a significant influence on the speed of a search because determining song duration is a time-consuming process. When you use a criterion from this set, it is advisable to include other criteria, such as song name, artist and album. Doing so, Tidy Up will gather only the duration of the songs that have passed the first check(s) and therefore the time required to complete the search will reduce remarkably.
If you check the song duration
radio button, you will have
access to the text fields and popup menu. This allows you to search
for songs that are greater than, less than or equal to the entered
song duration. The tolerance of the duration time as a default is 10
seconds, but it can be modified by the user. If you need the exact
time you can set the tolerance to zero.
In the example screen shown above, the song duration criterion has been set to include only songs of 5 minutes or less, with a tolerance of 10 seconds. To speed the search, additional criteria have also been configured: song, artist and album must be the same.
To enable this set of criteria, you need to select as a search location in the Sources iTunes Music, through Application Support.
There are 3 filters that can be set in this section:
Limit the search to MP3 &AACs, only MP3s, or only AACs. These
options will be enabled only if you include at least one criterion
related to a tag kind. It is also possible to search for MP3s or AACs
without using the tag: just use the extension
or type
filters in the Files and Packages
Criteria Pane.
Report dead tracks
contained in the iTunes database.
This option will only be enabled if you choose as a location to search
in the iTunes
search and synchronize option.
Create a playlist of the found items already loaded in iTunes.
Also this option will only be enabled if you choose as a location to
search in the iTunes
search and synchronize option.
See Applications Support
to learn how to choose the
iTunes
search and synchronize option.
In the screenshot above, iTunes Music has been chosen as a search location in the Sources, allowing access to the Music Options section.
