Impossible to delete duplicate files in Windows Media Player automatic playlist with Python

Question

Hello, Microsoft is causing me incredible frustration with their Windows Media Player program.

Although it's simplistic and not advanced, I like to use it for its clean interface and ability to not miss files when they are moved.

But it seems that its strength is also its weakness. WMP creates duplicate files that are the very same mp3 file showing twice in an automatic playlist.

The duplicates don't show in the library, only in the automatic playlist, and are so pesky and hard to get rid of that they always come back no matter what you try to do.

I tried to remove the duplicate tracks using Python, it doesn't throw an exception, but the duplicate tracks stay there:

Read_PL.removeItem(track)

I tried removing the media item and readding it, but the duplicates come back as well:

media.remove(track,True)
ret = media.add(Arq[i]) 

That is, I can remove the duplicated files, but if I bring them back, they will get duplicated again.

I tried changing the rules of the playlist, modifying the playlist, etc., but WMP is so stubborn that it always manages to bring back the duplicates, even when the files are not duplicated in the library, only in the automatic playlist.

The design of this program is not ideal, it leaves much to desire. But is there any way to fix the playlist at all? Any tips or suggestions?

Here the full code:

# REMOVE FILES THAT ARE COMPLETELY DUPLICATE
# THAT IS, THESE FILES ARE THE SAME, BUT ARE DUPLICATED IN THE PLAYLIST


import win32com.client
import pandas as pd
import WMP_Read_PL
#import Cria_PL
from os.path import exists

# MAIN CODE
def Remove_dupes(PL_name_vl=None,PL_nbr=None,Do_lib_vl=False,rows_vl=None):
    # CALLS FUNCTION
    col_names = ["Arq"]
    dict = WMP_Read_PL.Read_WMP_PL(col_names,PL_name=PL_name_vl,PL_no=PL_nbr,Do_lib=Do_lib_vl,rows=rows_vl)
    
    # ASSIGNS
    playlists = dict['PLs']
    Read_PL = dict['PL']
    df = dict['DF']
    library = dict['Lib']
    media = dict['media']

    # DF INFORMATION
    msg_source = "Library" if Do_lib_vl else "Playlist"
    print()
    print(msg_source,"has:",df.shape[0],"tracks\n")

    # CHANGE POS TO INTEGER
    df['Pos'] = df['Pos'].astype(int)

    # CREATES COL. TO GROUP BY
    print("Creating lower fullnames list\n")
    df["Arq2"] = df['Arq'].str.lower()

    # ADD COUNT COL. AND SELECT
    group_list = ["PL_nbr","Arq2"]
    print("Calculating dupes\n")
    df.loc[:,'Count'] = df.groupby(group_list)['Pos'].transform('count')
    # SELECT ONLY RELEVANT ROWS
    df = df[df['Count'] > 1]

    # DF INFORMATION
    print(msg_source,"has:",df.shape[0],"dupe tracks\n")

    # SORTS 
    sort_group = group_list.copy()
    sort_group.insert(0, "Count")
    sort_group.append("Pos")
    df = df.sort_values(sort_group)

    # Group by columns A and B and assign a unique number to each row within the group
    df['N'] = df.groupby(group_list).cumcount() + 1

    # TAKES THE MAX OF THE ADDED DATE
    df.loc[:,'min_N'] = df.groupby(group_list)['N'].transform('min')

    # REFRESHES LISTS 
    Pos = [x for x in df['Pos']]
    Arq = [x for x in df['Arq']]
    N = [x for x in df['N']]
    min_N = [x for x in df['min_N']]
    PL_nbr = [x for x in df['PL_nbr']]
    PL_name = [x for x in df['PL_name']]
    unique_PL = list(set(PL_name))
    nbr_files = len(Arq)

    # COUNTS HOW MANY TRACKS WILL BE REMOVED
    #Keep_l = [i for i in range(nbr_files) if N[i]==min_N[i]]
    # REMOVE ONLY ONCE
    Remove_l = [i for i in range(nbr_files) if N[i]==min_N[i]]
    Remove_PL_l = [PL_name[i] for i in range(nbr_files) if N[i]>min_N[i]]
    nbr_dupes = len(Remove_l)

    # STATS HAVE TO GO HERE OTHERWISE THEY CAN'T BE SEEN
    print("Dupe files that should be removed:",nbr_dupes,"of",nbr_files)
    print(df['Arq2'].nunique(),"unique files\n")

    # RESULT BY PLAYLIST
    nbr_PLs = len(unique_PL)
    for i in range(nbr_PLs):
        print(i+1,")",unique_PL[i],":",PL_name.count(unique_PL[i]),"dupe tracks,",Remove_PL_l.count(unique_PL[i]),"to be deleted")
    
    # 1o PL
    if nbr_dupes>0:
       Dupes_PL_nm = "Dupes_new"
       #PL = Cria_PL.Cria_PL(Dupes_PL_nm,recria="Y")

    removed = 0
    failed = 0
    for j in range(nbr_dupes):
        i = Remove_l[j]
        m = Pos[i]
        # m = Pos[i]-removed
        if not Do_lib_vl:
           Read_PL = playlists[PL_nbr[i]]
           track = Read_PL.Item(m)
        else:
           track = library[m]   
        ref_valid = track.sourceURL==Arq[i]
        print("Checking file:",Arq[i])
        # TRY TO REMOVE
        if ref_valid:
           try:
              #Read_PL.removeItem(track) (DOESN'T WORK)
              media.remove(track,True) 
              #media.setDelete(track,True)
           except:
                 failed = failed+1
           else:   
               removed = removed+1
               ret = media.add(Arq[i]) 
           # STATS    
           print("Removed",removed,"dupe files of",nbr_dupes,"(",failed,"fails)\n")     

# CALLS PROGRAM PL_name_vl="Mp3-Not D:\mp3"
Remove_dupes(PL_name_vl="Favorites")