Music Library Doctor
How-to

How to organize a large music collection

Years of downloads, rips, and external-drive rescues end in scatter. MLD's Consolidation Wizard combines duplicate handling and the actual move into one workflow.

The problem

A serious music collection ends up scattered: ~/Music has some, Downloads has more, an old iTunes Media folder was never merged after a Mac switch, an external SSD from 2018 sits in a drawer with another 30 GB. Manual cleanup means dragging files, deciding which duplicate to keep, hoping you don't move something you'll want later — and usually ending up with a different mess.

How Music Library Doctor does it

  1. 1 Install Music Library Doctor. On first launch, pick Folder Library mode (no DJ software required). MLD auto-detects Music, iTunes, Apple Music, and Downloads folders.
  2. 2 Add every folder that holds music — external drives, archived collections, miscellaneous Downloads subfolders. MLD lists them in one tree.
  3. 3 Run a Library Health scan first. The dashboard shows folder scatter and external-drive status. Run the Duplicate Scan and Audio Quality scan to surface duplicate groups and low-quality files.
  4. 4 Pick a target folder (your future single music library). The Consolidation Wizard plans the move: identical copies are skipped, folder hierarchy is preserved, nothing overwrites without confirmation.
  5. 5 Apply. Files move into the target folder with hierarchy intact. The whole move is logged and reversible — one-click undo of the entire batch if anything looks off.

Supported today

Rekordbox · Serato DJ · VirtualDJ (incl. Favorite Folders) on Windows 10+ and macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel).

Why native integration matters

Consolidating a music library combines operations that normally happen separately: spotting duplicate copies and the actual file move. MLD does this in one coordinated workflow. Identical copies (same file size) are skipped rather than re-copied, and folder hierarchy is preserved under the target. Every move is logged with source and destination paths, so the whole operation is auditable and reversible as a batch.

Frequently asked questions

Will it delete my originals?

Only if you explicitly tell it to, and only via the system Trash (never hard-delete). The default flow moves files into the target folder and leaves the source structure intact for verification.

What folder structure do I end up with?

Your existing folder hierarchy is preserved under the target — each source root's structure stays intact, so nothing gets flattened or scrambled. The Wizard shows the full plan before any move.

What about my Plex / Navidrome / Roon library?

Point Plex/Navidrome/Roon at the consolidated target folder once the cleanup is done. The media server rescans and picks up the organized library.

Can I undo if I don't like the result?

Yes. Every move is logged, and you can roll back the entire batch with one click.

Does it touch my iTunes / Apple Music database?

No. MLD reads the audio files in the iTunes Media folder but never modifies the iTunes/Apple Music app database. Your library in Apple Music stays untouched.

Get your library in shape in minutes

Free tier covers scanning and detection. Pro is a one-time lifetime license — paid once, no subscription. Current founding pricing is on the homepage.

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