Why does the music players display duplicate albums with the same name?

[CHCubsFan1997]

I've been experiencing this problem lately. And it is that some music albums, with the exact same name, appear duplicated. Some songs from that album just decide to appear duplicated, with the same name.

And the worst part is, when I edit the Album tags to fix the issue, it reverts back to the duplicated status when I open the music player after a while. Same when editing some character problems in the Album name, artist and/or song name. Doesn't matter if it's in the SD Card or the phone itself (Galaxy S8).

Anyone knows how to get rid of this problem once and for all?

P.S.: When editing the tags I mentioned above of a file in the SD Card, it says that it successfuly edited the tags, but failed to update. Any solution is appreciated.

 

[B. Diddy]

Is this the stock Music app, or the Google Play Music app?

 

[Rukbat]

Do you have the music in only 1 location or in 2 (internal and on the SD card)? If it's in 2 locations, you'll see it listed twice. (Then if you change the itag in one it won't show as changed in the other, even though the player app shows it as being in the same album. "Album", in media files, refers to the name of the folder the file is in, not the name of the music album the music came from. The actual album name only holds true in the itag.)

 

[CHCubsFan1997]

I use BlackPlayer. But it also shows duplicates on the Samsung Music app.

 

[CHCubsFan1997]

Here's a screenshot I did showing the problem, from BlackPlayer. And that's just one of several albums with the issue.

 

[CHCubsFan1997]

Do you have the music in only 1 location or in 2 (internal and on the SD card)? If it's in 2 locations, you'll see it listed twice. (Then if you change the itag in one it won't show as changed in the other, even though the player app shows it as being in the same album. "Album", in media files, refers to the name of the folder the file is in, not the name of the music album the music came from. The actual album name only holds true in the itag.)

Those albums with the issue are in the SD Card only. They show as duplicates (most of the songs in one and a couple from the same album in another, with the same name)

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, so the albums are duplicated, but the songs themselves aren't? I see this occasionally on iTunes (yeah, I still have it on my PC:'(). Sometimes it happens when the tag info for the tracks aren't consistent. Make sure all of the tracks have the same Album Artist, Year, etc. Track Title can be different (obviously), as well as Composer (if applicable).

 

[CraftyMe2323]

I actually noticed my songs have duplicated for whatever reason. Maybe it was my fault when switching phones at some point, I'm not entirely sure. Does anyone know of any ways to scan for all the duplicated songs and manage them that way, so I can avoid having to go through the huge list of songs and delete them manually? I have a lot of music on my phone. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ginger2Zero]

Here's a screenshot I did showing the problem, from BlackPlayer. And that's just one of several albums with the issue.

Hey all
CHCubsFan1997 - I have the same issue as your Reggatta de Blanc issue - Here's what I know;

All my music has been ripped to MP3 using iTunes whist running on my ancient Windows Vista machine. It all looks perfect in iTunes and I only really edit the files by adding my own downloaded album artwork in iTunes.

I copy the files from the "My Music" folder using the windows Explorer to the Music folder on both my Google Pixel 1 and my wife's Google pixel 2.
98% of albums are listed fine in Google Play, but some album names show up twice - it does this for the same albums on both devices.

These duplicate albums do not contain the same tracks and usually one or two tracks are missing from one Album and found in the duplicate Album.
I have used the Windows Explorer to check on the MP3 tags and they all appear to be exactly the same.

The Devices both only have a Single folder for this album.

For the Record (pardon the pun !) I am explaining the issue with "Divine Madness" by Madness and it is track 19 "One Better day" and track 24 "Johnny the Horse" that are showing in the duplicated album.

I am going to try and delete the album from iTunes and rip it again, to see what other data is added for this CD.

 

[Ginger2Zero]

Update: I deleted the Album from iTunes and then decided to go and dig out the original !
Fortunately I found it, and imported it back into iTunes. Without updating the Album Artwork I copied it using the Windows Explorer to my Pixel 1. It seemed to have fixed the duplicate Album issue. I also applied the JPG album artwork and copied it again and it is still fine.

I will repeat on a few other Albums that are duplicated and report back. At the moment I am suspecting Gracenote database was the cause, but leave that with me.......

 

[Ginger2Zero]

Update: I deleted the Album from iTunes and then decided to go and dig out the original !
Fortunately I found it, and imported it back into iTunes. Without updating the Album Artwork I copied it using the Windows Explorer to my Pixel 1. It seemed to have fixed the duplicate Album issue. I also applied the JPG album artwork and copied it again and it is still fine.

I will repeat on a few other Albums that are duplicated and report back. At the moment I am suspecting Gracenote database was the cause, but leave that with me.......

 

[Ginger2Zero]

So I have identified another album that is giving me the exact same problem.
Empire by Kasabian has shown up as 2 Albums on my Pixel. Only track 6 "Apnoea" is in the duplicated album folder.
This Album was originally ripped in April of 2012. So i will delete and re-rip in iTunes and report back.

 

[Ginger2Zero]

So for Kasabian the new Album also now works perfectly on the Pixel - Leaning further towards a Gracenote database issue when the original was ripped.

 

[Ginger2Zero]

Further Update for this Thread
I have finally "bitten the bullet" and purchased a new windows 10 PC ! So after several long hours of getting it to work how I want it to work rather than how Microsoft and HP want it to sell me more rubbish ......I have installed the latest iTunes and copied over my entire collection to the new hard drive.
I then imported my previously perfect iTunes music collection to find that there are a few rogue duplicated albums AGAIN !!
Rather than appearing in the new "Compilations Section" these duplicated albums appear as a single track album in the main album section.
By opening the album then right clicking on the single track, I select "Song Info" and select the "Sorting" tab. In "Album Artist" in start typing Various Artists then click on this (It populates "sort As" for you).
This adds it back into the full compilation version.
AND more to the point this really does lead me to believe its Gracenote