Rekordbox + Mixed in Key + iTunes, duplicate or missing songs?

It looks to me your file names or directory structure is changing when tags are somehow being updated in iTunes.  Don't forget that if you update the Album Artist, Artist, Album or Title field, it's going to change the file name and path.  (I have this problem occasionally too)

I'm super anal about my library in both iTunes and RekordBox as well, (only I don't bother with smart playlists for Keys in iTunes, my Mixed In Key it only updates the ID3 tag)

If I were you, as a starting point, I'd get into the habit of running the Missing Files scan before reimporting your collection into RekordBox, and then relinking rather than deleting and reimporting.  (Don't forget that OS X has a really handy media browser when Importing or Opening stuff as well, when relinking, on the left hand side of the Finder window hit Music down the bottom which when then bring up your iTunes library and save you navigating through the file system.

yeah I understand that editing any of the ID3 tag fields will cause it to get re-analyzed, the issue was that it was happening with random old songs that I hadn't touched in forever.  The more strange issue is that now I see duplicates in my rekordbox collection, however there are no duplicate files.  The I can select "show in finder" for the duplicate entries, and both are pointing to the same file on disk.

I was wondering, however, if importing the files into rekordbox is redundant?  should I just be using the iTunes bridge and exporting the playlists directly from it?  Or is it preferable to keep the files sync'd up with the rekordbox collection?  If I just use the iTunes bridge this is a non-issue, since the duplicates only happen once i drag and drop the files into my rekordbox collection.

I'd still get into the habit of scanning for mising media before importing, at least just for a few reimports, maybe it will help you track down what's going wrong.

You'll need to import into RekordBox first before exporting to a device, otherwise if it were possible (I'm not even sure if it is) you wouldn't get the waveform instantly on the CDJ (amongst other data).

Hmm to test it I just tried to export a playlist directly from the iTunes bridge and it worked fine...?? I never thought to try it that way either, I always just copied my music in the Rekordbox collection.  I also found that I can right-click on songs in the iTunes bridge and have rekordbox analyze them.  Maybe this is the better way to use Rekordbox with iTunes?  Is there any reason not to do it this way?

Also, after I plugged the USB drive into the CDJ-2000, the playlist I exported had waveform and BPM data with it... have I been doing it wrong? lol

None that I can think of, test it and see I guess :)

So just to be clear, you're analysing and exporting straight to USB using Bridge without importing or dragging and dropping into your collection first?

Yeah exactly. I had no idea you could do it that way. I always just followed the directions on the website that says to drag and drop them in... Seems to be good to go so far??

Hey guys... I am new to Rekordbox and was wondering if you could help shed some light on a nice workflow of keeping Rekordbox synced with my iTunes smart playlists, etc. I am converting from Serato, and like you both, I manage all of my music with iTunes. My browsing workflow depends entirely on smart playlists I have created in iTunes. Right now I am trying to figure out the best workflow to update all of these playlists on my Rekordbox device after I purchase a bunch of new music.  

So my question is, once I add a lot of new music to my iTunes collection, and that music spreads across the smart playlists I have created, what is the best way to update all of these playlists in my Rekordbox collection and on my Rekordbox device? 

Thanks for any tips. 

Reimport your playlists into RekordBox using Bridge, it'll just overwrite the existing playlists with the new additions into RekordBox.

I would suggest putting your smart playlists into a Folder in iTunes and importing that (which will import the entire folder into RekordBox)

I'm also using heaps of smart playlists populated by Itunes, importing them to Rekordbox and then exporting the lot to USB. I recently discovered two duplicate files and was very surprised since the tags had not been changed. Since I thought it was an one-off I just deleted the redundant files but will keep a look out for more and then hopefully be able to see a pattern of some sort.

@lolwut > You get automatic kudos because you used the term "eleventy billion".  We are kindred spirits!  :D  lol

My first recommendation would be to ditch the setting allowing iTunes to automatically manage your files.  The problem there is any changes made anywhere to your file tags will result in the file moving location within iTunes.  The "management" is horrible and has been found to cause more problems than good, especially with bridging to Rekordbox.

Hello everybody,

been using rekordbox for a few weeks, and i noticed that when I export an Itunes playlist from Rekordbox to my usb device, there are some tracks missing.

I use mac osx 10,6,8 , and I've imported my playlist via the bridge in rekordbox. My files are mp3 and Aiff, and are all recorded from vinyl or downloaded from legal websites, tagged with Mixed in Key and Itunes. I've also noticed that the illustrations of the tracks are in the wrong order. Can someone tell me if it's the same for him?

Thanks

Paco

Never had either problem that you're having all my playlists have been fine when importing.

With your album artwork is the artwork embedded or is it from the iTunes store? (ie, right click and select Get Album Arywork) artwork from the iTunes store isn't embedded, and from my experience RekordBox doesn't seem to like artwork that's been sourced in that way for music that hasn't been purchased from the iTunes music store.

That's a bit of a mouthful but let me know if you need further clarification.

Hello Angus,

Thanks for replying. Most of the artwork comes from discogs. I tag all my tracks very precisely. But the main problem is the missing tracks. I'll stick to my good old Serato, cause I can't rely on Rekordbox for the moment.

@Guillaume > When you say you're missing tracks - were they brought over via the bridge?  Do you possibly have iTunes set to manage the location of your files?

Yes, i imported the playlist via the bridge, I manage all my music in Itunes in order to have proper archives. And i have unchecked the option "Let Itunes organize the Itunes media folder" in the advanced preferences.

@Guillaume > The engineers think they might have an idea why your tracks are missing -- in the XML file of iTunes, there is an element called "Location" where the info for the file location of each song is stored. iTunes does not store it in some conditions (if the file/folder name is very long.) If you can't find some tracks in Bridge pane, the cause is likely the behaviour of iTunes. If you can find the files missing in rekordbox and send the XML file specified within Preferences in rekordbox, they can confirm it.

No, they actually are in the Bridge pane, everything in my playlists is ok in rekordbox. It's when i export from Rekordbox to my USB devices (32 usb Key) that they disappear. It's an export problem...

Can you dig up your XML file from iTunes? The default locations are...

In Windows (7): C:\users<yourusername>\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml

In OSX: /Users/<yourusername>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml

You can email that to me at

I am also having the same duplicate issue, but another issue has also occured. 

Using a Mac OSX 10.6.8 Dual core.  This is my process. In my playlist I will clear all the information that is in the comments field in iTunes. I then drag and drop my music from a playlist on iTunes to Mixed In Key, music is scanned (and sometimes not).  I have it set in MIK for the key to show up in the 'comments' field in iTunes.  Once that is completed, I go back into the playlist in iTunes, shows that it HAS NOT updated the key into the comments field.  What I have to do is right click on the first track, click on 'get info' and do see that the info has updated, but have to go through all of the tracks by continuously clicking the next button to update the next id tag (huge hassle btw).  Once i'm finished with that P.I.t.A process, I then open up rekordbox, click on Bridge to check to see that the key is in playlist, and it shows that the key has been updated.  Then when I transfer the files from Bridge to my external drive (using a seagate 500gb), the transfer is successful, But for some reason when I go into the check the files in the playlist I just imported on rekordbox, some of the comments that i have cleared out originally have repopulated. some keys may be there, but for the most part the comments section does not update. 

Also instead the key showing up in the "comments" in rekordbox, I would like it to show up in the actual 'Key" field in rekordbox. How do I import the key into that field besides doing it manually in rekordbox?  Is there a shortcut to have it populate?