iTunes playlist and file Duplicates and Moves

Exactly what happens when you add a track to the library or a playlist depends on the location of the file, the location of the media folder, and an option under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced with the legend Copy files to media folder when adding to the library or similar. If that option is enabled, and the file is outside of the media folder, then a new copy is created inside the media folder and the library linked to that new copy. The original file is left behind. This can create duplicates if you repeatedly drag in the same files from somewhere like your downloads folder. A good way to avoid this issue is to move media that you want to add to the library into the Automatically Add to iTunes folder inside your media folder so that no duplicates are created.

tt2

I know, but that isn't how iTunes or Music have ever worked. Either you start with things where you want them before adding to the library, or you move them into the Automatically Add... folder and let the app deal with them, or you add them in from outside the media folder and let it make copies and you manually clean the originals. The final option is to turn Copy files... off and reference everything on the original paths, but that gets messy when you want to move the library to a new drive or computer as it is too easy to leave things behind.

tt2