Deleted Music Still Showing Up In Pre-Installed Xperia Music Player

[Doodyman]

Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact running Android 10.
I'm using the pre-installed music app to play mp3 files and have approx 6 GB of songs on my phone.
I recently bought a 128 GB memory card and I've put approx 70 GB of music on it, so I thought I'd check to see if it would work okay on my phone. Turned phone off, inserted memory card, etc and everything went okay .... all songs, albums, artists showed up and played okay.
However, now I've removed the memory card, they still all appear in my music list, although they can't be played, cos they're not actually there.
I've tried clearing cache and storage but this didn't do anything.  I've also force-stopped the app and restarted it (I can't uninstall it, as it's part of the preinstalled aps).  It appears like these files must be hidden somewhere deep in the phone's memory, but I can't find them anywhere.

It's no big deal, but it's kinda annoying, as I now have a huge list of songs, most of which won't play and I just want to revert back to my original list of approx 6 GB of songs stored on my phone.
Any tips please??

[_alexdon_]

@Doodyman  you tried to clear data for media storage? That should reindex your media.

[Doodyman]

How exactly would I do that??

I've managed to find the files by navigating from the phone's home screen:

Settings >>>> storage >>>> music & audio >>>> audio files.

From here I can open each music folder, until it tells me that it's empty, or I can navigate to one that I know is still stored on my phone's internal memory and play the song.

When I press and hold on the folder, I can select it and multiple files, but there is no option to delete it.

However, if I go to Settings >>>> storage >>>> files, I can select a folder such as the one labelled "documents" and the delete option appears.

I've tried using an app called "File Commander", but the app can't locate the mysterious folders, it only finds the music that is currently stored on the phone's internal memory.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

To clear media storage you can go to settings> Apps & notifications> see all apps> 3 dots on the top right corner> show system> media Storage > storage & cache > clear storage > OK.

[Doodyman]

Before I go any further, thanks for the replies 😁

A quick question - will clearing storage, using the method described, remove all my songs from my phone, or will it just reset the media player's "memory" itself.  I ask because I got to where it says "clear storage" and I got the warning:

"Delete app data?  All of this app's data will be deleted permanently.  This includes all files, settings, accounts, databases, etc."

I don't want to delete any songs, etc .... I just want to remove unwanted folders from my media player.

Is it safe to proceed??

[Anonymous]

No it  will not delete any files, it's mentioned in the link that no pictures, music or other media content will be erased from your device when you clear the application data.

[Doodyman]

Result - thank you so much 

I was a bit worried at first ...... I went straight to my music app after following the instructions and there were no songs there.  However, a quick reboot of the phone and it quickly sorted itself out ..... the only songs now showing are the ones that are actually stored on my phone .... no more excess folders showing albums/songs there are no longer there 😊

[Anonymous]

You are most welcome , glad to hear that