Find duplicates which are ungrouped? Auto-group (or simply group) Tidal dups and prefer Tidal HiRes?

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

Brand new NUCi10 with most recent ROCK installed, 250gb SSD, 8GB RAM

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

UniFi AP-PROs, USG, CloudKey Gen2+, Synology DS918+ NAS
NAS, ROCK connected via Ethernet 1GB directly to core switch, clients on iOS over WiFi

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Sonos, RoPieeeXLs, AppleTV

Description Of Issue

I have a collection that is primarily FLACs that I ripped to my NAS over the last 15 years. Roon is fabulous for organizing this, and since I started with a fairly-well tagged and organized library that part has been like butter.

However, I also have a large number of MP3’s that I accumulated back when I was in college and Napster was all the rage. They are not tagged well, often not associated with the right album. And some of them I don’t even know why I have them.

I’ve also started to add Tidal HiRes versions of many of the albums I have in FLAC, when I prefer the recording (or where my original CD was scratched, etc).

Finally, my MP3 collection also contains some unique soundboard recordings of friends’ concerts over the years - these are not released, and in many cases are not associated with bands that have any releases. This is a separate issue, but right now they’re just “hanging out”, and they’re hard to find unless I search for them or go into album view. Which may be fine, but doesn’t feel like a neat way of dealing with them. This is really a minor concern vs. the above but I thought I’d mention.

So here are my goals:

1. Find albums where I have an MP3 and FLAC file, delete the MP3 file
2. Find albums where I have only a small number of the tracks (usually MP3s where I don’t actually have the album), add the Tidal album if available, group the albums together, and prefer the Tidal album [here I’m using the fact that I had the MP3 simply as a reminder / note that I once liked an album]
3. Find albums I have ripped where there is a Tidal equivalent that is better in some way (HiRes, or more tracks, etc), add the Tidal equivalent, group and prefer the Tidal album
4. Audit my duplicate albums (those that I’ve grouped - I want to check if the groupings make sense, and those that I haven’t grouped - so I can group them)

So right now my workflow is kind of not working that well. I can use Focus Inspector to:

1. Find albums that have both MP3 and FLAC or mixed formats - but I can’t tell which ones I’ve already got the Tidal version grouping or the FLAC grouping completed
2. Find albums that are MP3s with a small number of tracks - but I can’t tell which ones have already been grouped with a Tidal equivalent, so I don’t have a queue to work my way down
3. Find duplicate albums - but I can’t tell which ones are grouped or ungrouped?

I’d love to hear from anyone who has figured out a good workflow to achieve all this. There are a couple of previous threads I’ve found that are somewhat similar, but none seem to have good tutorials for achieving the goals - just a few questions and ideas…

Is there an easy way to find all the duplicates of albums?

I’m looking for an easy way to find all the albums that I have duplicates of? Be it different resolutions (hi-rez, red book, mp3) or even real duplicates. I would like to be able to decide which ones to keep and which ones to delete. Is that possible? Thanks in advance

Thanks!

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

@support any input here? Thanks!

[dylan (Dylan Caudill)]

@Johnny_Ooooops

Finally, my MP3 collection also contains some unique soundboard recordings of friends’ concerts over the years - these are not released, and in many cases are not associated with bands that have any releases. This is a separate issue, but right now they’re just “hanging out”, and they’re hard to find unless I search for them or go into album view. Which may be fine, but doesn’t feel like a neat way of dealing with them. This is really a minor concern vs. the above but I thought I’d mention.

For this, you can add these albums to a Tag, it should help you find these more easily.

@Johnny_Ooooops

• Find albums where I have an MP3 and FLAC file, delete the MP3 file

You can use Focus on Duplicates to find these.

@Johnny_Ooooops

Find albums where I have only a small number of the tracks (usually MP3s where I don’t actually have the album)

You can also Focus on Track Count — You can set it for something like 1 - 3 tracks to find albums that only have a small number of tracks in them and then you can check the versions for those albums and add streaming versions if they’re available.

@Johnny_Ooooops

Audit my duplicate albums (those that I’ve grouped - I want to check if the groupings make sense, and those that I haven’t grouped - so I can group them)

Similar to 1, the best way would be to Focus on Duplicates and review.

[Johnny_Ooooops (Listener in Chief)]

@dylan

Similar to 1, the best way would be to Focus on Duplicates and review.

Thanks Dylan-

When I focus on Duplicates, I see both copies of the album - both those that are already grouped, and those that are not yet grouped. So I have a hard time knowing what the “queue” of “ungrouped duplicates” is - and can’t work it down.

So, for instance, the A-ha album is not grouped, but the other 3 are… I’m trying to figure out a workflow where I know the “work I have to do” and can work it down. So I need a list of ungrouped duplicates.

Thanks,
John

[noris]

Hi @Johnny_Ooooops,

@Johnny_Ooooops

When I focus on Duplicates, I see both copies of the album - both those that are already grouped, and those that are not yet grouped

@Johnny_Ooooops

Find albums where I have an MP3 and FLAC file, delete the MP3 file

Are all of the duplicates that you’re trying to remove in .MP3 format?

If so, you can use Focus to filter Duplicates and MP3 formats and then that should reveal the duplicates only in MP3 format.

Let us know if this helps!