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[johnd126]

Am I misunderstanding how album art is supposed to work or do I have it set wrong? 

I'd prefer not to have the album art included in the files themselves (seems like a lot of duplication for all the songs in an album, for instance).   So I have File Location -> Cover Art set to 'In same folder as file (as Folder.jpg)'.  'Also store image in files tag' is UNchecked. 

Now, when I right click on a file in album I choose Cover Art -> Get From Internet it downloads the album art and creates the folder.jpg.  BUT, it also writes it into the mp3.  PLUS, when I play the music from that album MC only displays the album art for the mp3s which have the art embedded.  It seems to ignore the Folder.jpg in album folder.

[Alex B]

Am I misunderstanding how album art is supposed to work or do I have it set wrong?

I'd prefer not to have the album art included in the files themselves (seems like a lot of duplication for all the songs in an album, for instance).   So I have File Location -> Cover Art set to 'In same folder as file (as Folder.jpg)'.  'Also store image in files tag' is UNchecked.

Your options are set correctly.

Now, when I right click on a file in album I choose Cover Art -> Get From Internet it downloads the album art and creates the folder.jpg.  BUT, it also writes it into the mp3.  PLUS, when I play the music from that album MC only displays the album art for the mp3s which have the art embedded.  It seems to ignore the Folder.jpg in album folder.

MC does not embed the images when your settings are selected, but it updates the file tags (unnecessarily).

It displays cover art only for the files that have valid cover art links. You need to select all album files before using the lookup tool. For checking the cover art status you can add the Image File column to a view scheme.

Just a few days ago I posted this reply in the beta forum:

MC12 updates file tags whenever the cover art tools are used for changing the Image File field contents.

This feature was added a few months ago because some users criticized that MC didn't physically remove the embedded image when an external image file was linked. (Without first removing the embedded file in a separate step.)

I didn't like the change back then and I still don't like it. When I change only externally linked cover art there should not be any reason to rewrite the audio file's tags. The tags don't contain any image file related info.

The new behavior causes a lot of unnecessary backup traffic. My backup program copies only the changed files to my backup drives. Unfortunately, now I need to disable file tagging each time I want to use the cover art tools.

[johnd126]

MC does not embed the images when your settings are selected, but it updates the file tags (unnecessarily).

What's it updating in the mp3 tags?  I do see the file size increasing so I assumed it was adding the image. 

It displays cover art only for the files that have valid cover art links. You need to select all album files before using the lookup tool. For checking the cover art status you can add the Image File column to a view scheme.

Aha, that works.  I don't understand why MC wouldn't just assume that a Folder.jpg in the directory with the mp3 was the cover art and just use it without my having to go through my entire library and 'link' them but this is looking better.

Thanks!

[Alex B]

What's it updating in the mp3 tags?  I do see the file size increasing so I assumed it was adding the image.

It shouldn't. MC11.1 didn't.

The reason for the change is in my quote:

... This feature was added a few months ago because some users criticized that MC didn't physically remove the embedded image when an external image file was linked. (Without first removing the embedded file in a separate step.)...

J River fixed that by making it to always update the file tags so that a possible embedded image would be cleared in any case when an external image is linked.

I don't understand why MC wouldn't just assume that a Folder.jpg in the directory with the mp3 was the cover art and just use it without my having to go through my entire library and 'link' them but this is looking better.

It assumes, but something must trigger the cover art link creation. You can use the "Quick Find..." tool for files that already have a folder.jpg image in the file folder.

[JimH]

It shouldn't. MC11.1 didn't.

The reason for the change is in my quote:
J River fixed that by making it to always update the file tags so that a possible embedded image would be cleared in any case when an external image is linked.

This is a problem either way.  We don't plan to change again.

[Alex B]

This is a problem either way.  We don't plan to change again.

I have seen more complaints now than I did see about the old behavior when the behavior was changed several months ago.

Since this behavior is happening under the hood, users have not been able to connect the constantly changing last modifed dates to the cover art link updates. The new excellent cover art lookup system has inspired people to do a lot of cover art changes and now they are facing the need to re-backup entire media libraries.

IMHO, you should force a file tag change only if the previous Image File value is "Inside File", not if it is empty or a link to an external file
-- or implement the following reasonable suggestion that I posted in the beta board:

I have a suggestion. The Image File field has the usual option to store in file tags when possible. In some old version it was possible to enable it and write the cover art link to a file tag as a comment, but the option has not worked for a long time.

Would it be possible to change this tickbox to toggle between the new and the old behavior? When enabled MC would rewrite the tags and remove the embedded image if present. When disabled MC would not rewrite the tags.

[johnd126]

It shouldn't. MC11.1 didn't.

The reason for the change is in my quote:
J River fixed that by making it to always update the file tags so that a possible embedded image would be cleared in any case when an external image is linked.


It assumes, but something must trigger the cover art link creation. You can use the "Quick Find..." tool for files that already have a folder.jpg image in the file folder.

I'm always seeing the mp3 get bigger even when it's supposedly trying to remove (usually non-existant) embedded images.

Thanks for you help on this ... I've been able to get the image art set for a bunch of albums today that I've been waiting to do for some time!