
Using the Criteria Matrix
The Criteria Matrix tells Dupin which track tags to consider when evaluating tracks as duplicates of each other; it is how you define "duplicateness". This provides a powerful yet flexible way to discover various types of duplicate tracks.
Since the definition of "duplicateness" can vary from user to user or situation to situation, Dupin leaves it to the user to define it.
To Select Criteria:
- Click on the button next to a Criteria Tag's checkbox to check or uncheck it.
- Checkmarked Criteria Tags will be the only tags evaluated when Dupin searches for duplicate tracks. That is, two or more tracks will be considered duplicates of each other if only those tags contain identical data.
- You can set whether or not to use case sensitivity in Dupin's Preferences.
- Your Criteria Matrix settings will be saved between uses of Dupin.
"Filename" as Criteria
Tracks that are duplicates of each other may not have the same filename. If "Filename" is selected as Criteria Dupin would not consider these tracks as duplicates:
- An AAC file and a MP3 file, for example, whose tags may be identical will always have different filenames by virtue of each having a different file extension.
- Quite often, Music will append a number to a filenamewhen the file is initially added to Musicto differentiate it from a file that is already in its database with the same filepath and filename.
- A track's Name and its file's filename are frequently not the same. Thus, two or more tracks with the same Name could be thought of as duplicates even if each of their filenames are different.
...and so on. Use this setting thoughtfully.
"Time Criteria matches +/- seconds" in Preferences:
- When "Time" is selected as Criteria, Dupin will consider two or more tracks' times a match if their times are exact to the second. You can "loosen" this setting in Dupin's Preferences such that two tracks' times must be within a plus/minus range of seconds (:01 ≤ n ≤ :10) of each other to be considered a match.
Very large Music libraries (tens of thousands of tracks) can be cumbersome for Dupin to work with. It may be quicker to work with batches of tracks rather than an entire Music library's worth. You can limit the number of Dupe Groups Dupin returns using the "Limit Dupe Groups to" popup.
Limit Dupes Groups to:
- From the popup select to limit the number of Dupe Groups returned to the first 100, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, or select No Limit.
You may have to experiment with different settings in the Criteria Matrix in order to obtain desirable results. But what's important is that the Criteria Matrix compels you to decide what a duplicate is.