This is my take on getting/manipulating/using album covers (and other still images). I have not yet had time to install and try out KingSparta's "Album Cover Finder", which once installed will probably change some of the ways I've been doing things in the future. Maybe some of you have some other suggestions too.(BTW I'm using MC 9.0.180 and love it).
First of all, I use a little image viewing program called Irfanview (
www.irfanview.com) ,it's freeware, and it has a lot of features such as resizing,cropping,color and brite/contrast adjustments etc.It will convert just about any type image to bmp or jpeg.
My top three sources for cover images larger than a postage stamp have been: Walmart.com (500x500 pixels), Amazon.com (USA & UK)(300x300 pixels). I resize the amazon images to 500x500 and use the walmart ones the way they come. 500x500 when displayed in full screen is not covered up by the function bars and is also a pretty good compromise when blowing up from 300x300. This is as viewed on a VGA monitor.
For old and rare LP covers that I can't find equivalent CD cover art for, I use a digital camera to shoot my old LP cover and then clean it up as needed with photoshop.
CD art I have, but can't find digital equivalents for on the net, I just use my scanner and resize.
I used to store the covers in the "cover art" folder, but now store the covers in the appropriate album or artist folder on the media HD. That way I always know where it is and don't have to be so anal about renaming the cover art file. The only drawback to this system I have found, is that some other apps don't always find the cover art, is this because MC doesn't store the path to the file in the ID tag?
That's all for now