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[cwcalle]

Would someone be so kind as to give me a quick primer on album cover art?

I prefer to keep mine in the same directory as the album (rather than MC's default cover art directory). When MC "stores cover art inside file" what is it doing exactly?

Does cover art need to be saved as "folder.jpg" as i notice some programs do by default?

What links a cover art file to an MP3 file? Some sort of internal pointer in the tag?

Now that I am using a Home Theater PC to stream music to my stereo I have been downloading the cover art associated with my cpllection of 1700 cd's and there doesn't seem to be a clear standard on how cover art is to be stored and retrieved by various applications.

Thanks in advance! -Carter

[GHammer]

I keep my cover art in the album directory as folder.jpg.

Why?

First Windows XP likes it this way, when you use Explorer to view the folders you get a tiny cover for each one.

Second, if you add cover art to each file, it duplicates the data. Not much per file, perhaps 10 k. But over 1000s of files it adds up.

Third, the players I use support folder.jpg so what is the benefit of adding images to the tag? None for me.

Fourth, if I find better art (not often, but occasionally I do), I do not have to retag all the files the are affected. Simply replace that album's folder.jpg and I'm done.

Some people like to keep front, back, and liner notes. Why? I don't know, completeness I guess. But I don't know of any app that will display all those.

If you "store cover art inside file" you will add the image to each file's tag, at least if it is an MP3. For other formats, I have no idea.

What links the art to the selection? I'd suspect that the app looks for a file named "folder.jpg" in the same directory and if there, displays it.

Hope this helps.

[cwcalle]

Thanks! This was very helpful.

Does MediaCenter look for the folder.jpg file?

[GHammer]

Thanks! This was very helpful.

Does MediaCenter look for the folder.jpg file?

Try it.

[tabalooga]

I also name the cover art "folder.jpg". Generally I like this approach best. Mainly for the reasons GHammer mentioned. However, I have one major gripe: if I rename my files and they are moved to a new folder (rename Files from Properties), folder.jpg stays in the old folder.

It would be very nice if MC would move the cover art as well.

Tabalooga

[Alex B]

I have a bit different approach to this matter. In my opinion an album cover is a piece of art and useful information tool too. (There are exceptions. I have seen websites dedicated for bad cover art.)

I like to have the complete artwork in my computer as well as I have the audio content of the CD disc. I don't like to have only a small front image. I don't like to go to the CD self for finding the CD cover while I listen to the album with MC. (Actually, I don't have a nearby CD self anymore. The discs are boxed and the boxes are placed in a storage room.)

MC is good in handling and showing image files too, but they need to be imported and tagged.

I have explained my filing system for example here:

Topic: Cover Art Question

[godavego]

Am I right to assume that there is no easy way to change from the standard MC approach of putting the image files in the 'Cover Art' dir to folder.jpg in the Album directory? When I setup my 700+ CDs, I followed MC's lead and stored all my cover art in the Cover Art directory.  Switching over to the folder.jpg scheme would be a long and manual process.

[GHammer]

Am I right to assume that there is no easy way to change from the standard MC approach of putting the image files in the 'Cover Art' dir to folder.jpg in the Album directory? When I setup my 700+ CDs, I followed MC's lead and stored all my cover art in the Cover Art directory.  Switching over to the folder.jpg scheme would be a long and manual process.

It makes a nice afternoon of listening to albums you forgot about...

[KingSparta]

Am I right to assume that there is no easy way to change from the standard MC approach of putting the image files in the 'Cover Art' dir to folder.jpg in the Album directory?

one of my plug-ins does this

[Alex B]

King's plug-in is a good option for MC11.

It's also possible to move, rename and relink the old cover art files if your music files are in [Artist]\[Album] folder structure by using basic MC Tools, but you cannot change the default behavior for the new cover art files.

I can write step-by-step instructions if needed.

[godavego]

GHammer: Yes, it does make for great listening.  That's why it ends up taking me so long! I get distracted listening, and I stop doing. 

KingSparta: I should have known that you would have a plugin for this.  Thanks, I will try it.  I haven't fully made the switch yet to MC11, so I will deal for now.   For WAF, I need to maintain a rock-solid media server and HTPC.  MC10 is a rock for me so far, but I really want the new TheaterView.

Alex B: I'm not sure if I understand what you mean.  Right now, all my cover art files are in D:\Cover Art.  The filenames are artist - album.[jpg|gif].  All of my music is stored as [Artist]\[Album].  Where is the command you speak of?  I use the rename based on tags, but I never saw it do anything with the cover art.  Please post instructions.

[Alex B]

It is not a single tool, but a combination of many. There are a few steps, but nothing like moving, renaming and linking 700+ image files manually.

Here you go:

1. Backup your library, the media files and the cover art folder.

2. Import the images to MC from the cover art folder. Right-click the folder > select Media Center > Import

3. Select all the newly imported cover art files in MC. Use MC Tool "Fill Properties From Filename" > untick Directories, use [Artist] - [Album] for the Filename.

4. Select the cover art files again. Use MC tool "Rename Files From Properties" >
Base path: What you have, Rule: [Artist]\[Album], Filename: folder  (Untick this if you like to keep the old descriptive names. MC accepts any names.)

5. Select all music files. Right-click > Image > Remove Cover Art

6. Select all music files again. Right-click > Image > Quick Find In File / Cover Art directory

7. You can remove the images from your library if you like (not from the disc). I like to keep them in the library.

That's it. It works on my system, but don't blame me if something unexcepted happens. I asked to backup everything.

[godavego]

It worked like a champ.

Thanks!