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More => Old Versions => Media Center 15 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: zxsix on August 20, 2010, 10:00:35 am

Title: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: zxsix on August 20, 2010, 10:00:35 am: Code: [Select]
http:////images.google.com//images?q=Replace([Album Artist (auto)],/ , +)+Replace([Album],/ , +)&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1374&bih=739&tbs=isch:1,imgo:1&source=lnt&sa=X&ei=9hxrTOAlhqSxA8Ps5UU&ved=0CBYQpwU

Paste that into a custom link in MC.
Tell it to open in external browser.

Use:
Highlight an album.
Click that custom link.
It opens google images in a view that displays the image size at the bottom of each image.
Once you select one of the images, the resulting page has a pane on the right side with a link to "full-size image"
copy/paste that image back into MC on the album to replace the currently inferior album art.

Hope some of you find this useful.
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: carbo on August 20, 2010, 11:27:50 am: Wow very useful ;D

Thank You !!!
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: sunfire7 on August 20, 2010, 12:25:57 pm: indeed! thanks for posting
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: yooz on August 20, 2010, 12:27:45 pm: Wonderful thx
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: mark_h on August 20, 2010, 12:56:26 pm: Alternatively:

http:////images.google.com//images?q=Hexify([artist] [album])
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: zxsix on August 20, 2010, 01:29:25 pm: I had forgotten all about Hexify. Here's the updated version:
Code: [Select]
http:////images.google.com//images?q=Hexify([Album Artist (auto)] [Album])&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1374&bih=739&tbs=isch:1,imgo:1&source=lnt&sa=X&ei=9hxrTOAlhqSxA8Ps5UU&ved=0CBYQpwU
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: Arbiter on August 20, 2010, 03:53:44 pm: Thanks a lot!
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: Magic_Randy on August 20, 2010, 05:14:10 pm: Thanks...
Title: Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
Post by: rick.ca on August 20, 2010, 06:14:04 pm: Thanks for this. I hadn't before noticed the "show sizes" option. BTW, note that Google Image Search displays things a little differently in Firefox. The image dimensions are shown as an overlay on the image, and the file size is not included. This makes for a cleaner presentation, but file size is useful for determining likely quality. For JPG's, the dimensions can be meaningless—a crappy 100x100 cover can be (and often is, it seems) resized to 600x600. :P

The best way to configure and use Google Image Search is going to vary according to user preferences and needs. The options available are easy to miss if using only MC's embedded browser. I therefore recommend configuring preferred search options in an external browser, then copying the option parameters from the search URL (which is not available in the embedded browser) to the search link configuration in MC. That way, you can include whatever advanced search options you want or need (e.g., safe search setting, image size greater than..., aspect (like "square" for covers), etc.). Since most of these options are easily changed in the results page, the name of the game is to configure a search that provides a useful and logical starting point.

Google is very useful for finding obscure album art that is not readily available elsewhere. For the kind of music I listen to (mainly rock/pop) the Album Art Exchange (http://www.albumartexchange.com/) is the best source I've found for quickly finding quality album art...

Code: [Select]
<Link version="1.2"> <Item Name="Name">Cover</Item> <Item Name="Filter">[Media Type]=[Audio]</Item> <Item Name="Action">2</Item> <Item Name="Base URL">http://www.albumartexchange.com</Item> <Item Name="Search URL">http:////www.albumartexchange.com//covers.php?q=Hexify([Artist])&sort=7&fltr=2&bgc=&page=</Item> </Link>