INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: sch phase on March 02, 2006, 02:36:08 am

Title: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: sch phase on March 02, 2006, 02:36:08 am

Why, well I am running mc on 2 pc's, mine has all the media attached, my sons pc is the client.
At the moment I have all my cover art in a separate folder, and everything is OK.with my thumbnails
However, as mc will not allow the transfer of files to a mp3 player from the client, I have made my sons machine stand alone and have networked the drives with my media on them.
Which means I have to rebuild the cover art for the 5000 odd tracks I have in my library on mc running on his machine.
Is it better to put the cover art in the specific album folders along with the audio media, or still leave it separate in one big cover art folder.
Your recommendations appreciated.

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: GHammer on March 02, 2006, 09:49:32 am

If the covers were stored as folder.jpg in the respective album folders then all machines would find them.

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: ferent on March 03, 2006, 03:09:31 am

I have all my covers in other location...
There is a way to force MC to store all covers in folder.jpg?
I tried rebuilt with no results.

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: Alex B on March 03, 2006, 04:33:38 am

MC has two options for storing the cover art in the file folders (Tools > Options > File Location > Track Images Location):

Next to file ([Artist] - [Album].jpg)  and  Next to file (Folder.jpg)

I prefer the "Artist - Album" naming system because I don't like the idea of having thousands of identically named files on my HDs.

Both systems work fine. If you change the option MC will place new cover art files accordingly.


MC cannot automatically move the old cover art files all at once, but there is workaround.

If you have the music files in the Artist\Album folder structure and have used the old MJ/MC standard (Artist - Album.jpg) for naming the cover art files you can move most of your cover art files by taking the following steps. (You may need to manually move a few files afterwards.)

1. Make a new empty library with the Library manager

2. Import the cover art files from the current cover art folder into this new library.

3. Use the Fill Properties From Filename tool with this rule in the filename dialog: [Artist] - [Album]. Untick the Directories checkbox.

4. Use the Rename files From Properties tool for moving the cover art files.

Directories - Base Path: The base path of your music files
Directories - Rule: [Artist]\[Album]
- If you use a different rule for your music files you may be able to edit this. Be aware of multiple disc and multiple artists albums or other special cases.
- You can also use [Album Artist] instead of [Artist] in steps 3 and 4.

Filename Rule:
Untick the checkbox (this keeps the old filenames and can be the safest option)
or
Folder.jpg  (write the exact filename in the dialog box. This renames all cover art files as "Folder.jpg".

5. After moving the files check the "Filename (path)" field for any errors and move manually the files that need special treatment.

6. At this stage you can change back to your regular library and do the following steps:
- select all audio files (or the files you like to include)
- right-click > Image > Remove Cover Art (don't let MC delete the disk files)
- right-click > Image > Quick Find In File / Cover Art Directory.

Remember to backup your MC library and the cover art folder before starting the process.

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: sch phase on March 03, 2006, 06:10:47 am

Thank you all, I will go away and see if I can suceed in moving my cover art

Nick

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: Alex B on March 03, 2006, 06:25:58 am

- I noticed a couple of errors and edited the instructions a bit.

Quote from: sch phase on March 02, 2006, 02:36:08 am

... However, as mc will not allow the transfer of files to a mp3 player from the client, I have made my sons machine stand alone and have networked the drives with my media on them. ...

I have explained how I can use an identical MC library on all networked PCs here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=28617.msg198156#msg198156

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: JimH on March 03, 2006, 06:33:40 am

Thanks, Alex.  I added this to the FAQ here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=10029.msg221205#msg221205

Your instructions are always so thorough and well written.  Why don't you start a thread to provide links to them?  I could add it to the FAQ.  Your compiled searches would also be useful.

Thanks again.

Jim

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: Alex B on March 03, 2006, 04:19:33 pm

Quote from: JimH on March 03, 2006, 06:33:40 am

Your instructions are always so thorough and well written. Why don't you start a thread to provide links to them? I could add it to the FAQ. Your compiled searches would also be useful.

Thanks for you kind words.

I'll consider the idea. I guess I could start gathering links. Searching my old posts takes a lot of time. A link list would make that easier.

Title: Re: Where is the preferred place to store my cover art jpgs
Post by: avpman on July 06, 2022, 03:08:53 pm

Quote from: Alex B on March 03, 2006, 04:33:38 am

MC has two options for storing the cover art in the file folders (Tools > Options > File Location > Track Images Location):

Next to file ([Artist] - [Album].jpg)  and  Next to file (Folder.jpg)

I prefer the "Artist - Album" naming system because I don't like the idea of having thousands of identically named files on my HDs.

Both systems work fine. If you change the option MC will place new cover art files accordingly.


MC cannot automatically move the old cover art files all at once, but there is workaround.

If you have the music files in the Artist\Album folder structure and have used the old MJ/MC standard (Artist - Album.jpg) for naming the cover art files you can move most of your cover art files by taking the following steps. (You may need to manually move a few files afterwards.)

1. Make a new empty library with the Library manager

2. Import the cover art files from the current cover art folder into this new library.

3. Use the Fill Properties From Filename tool with this rule in the filename dialog: [Artist] - [Album]. Untick the Directories checkbox.

4. Use the Rename files From Properties tool for moving the cover art files.

Directories - Base Path: The base path of your music files
Directories - Rule: [Artist]\[Album]
- If you use a different rule for your music files you may be able to edit this. Be aware of multiple disc and multiple artists albums or other special cases.
- You can also use [Album Artist] instead of [Artist] in steps 3 and 4.

Filename Rule:
Untick the checkbox (this keeps the old filenames and can be the safest option)
or
Folder.jpg  (write the exact filename in the dialog box. This renames all cover art files as "Folder.jpg".

5. After moving the files check the "Filename (path)" field for any errors and move manually the files that need special treatment.

6. At this stage you can change back to your regular library and do the following steps:
- select all audio files (or the files you like to include)
- right-click > Image > Remove Cover Art (don't let MC delete the disk files)
- right-click > Image > Quick Find In File / Cover Art Directory.

Remember to backup your MC library and the cover art folder before starting the process.

I traced my way back to this old thread from the Wiki. I don't completely understand how to do step #. Where exactly is the menu option to Import Cover Art? Does the file renaming to folder.jpg also move the files?