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[tangolovers]

In the process of fixing a very broken DB and noticed I had been getting messages that Tags were being updated or repaired (can't recall which).  So, without knowing anything about Tags, I made the big mistake of updating Tags hoping it would clean things up.   I "believe" I ran Update Tags (from Library), but not sure.  All I know is over 1000 new files have been added to my Music Folders on my HD.  The added files like:

Folder.jpg
AlbumArtSmall.jpg
AlbumArt_(B5020207-474E-.....)_Large.jpg
etc etc....

Some folders just have the first two files above and other's have several iterations of the longer version.   I believe the tags update is the last change I made other than combining 2 folders (same name) for the same Artist.

Can I reverse this update and remove all of these unnecessary files from my Music folders?   

Then, going forward, should I really be doing anything with tags in general?   If so, is there a best practices for Update Tags (from Library) vs Update Library (from Tags)?

Thank you for the assistance!
Susie  (Using MC23 on Windows 10 PC, will upgrade to MC25 in next month)

[RoderickGI]

Those files would have appeared because your Auto Import settings for your Music folder included image files. You need to change your Auto Import settings to only include Audio files.

There are many ways to remove those files from your Library. Be careful not to delete them, just remove from Library.

If the jpg files have actually been marked as [Media Sub Type]=Audio, then you can just open the "Audio > Files" View, and in the File Type column select "jpg", which should show all the problem files. Check what you see, particularly the location of the files which should be under your Music directory, and if all good, select the files you want to remove and press the Delete key. Make sure the "Remove from Media Library" radio box is selected, then click OK.

Done.

The updating tags shouldn't have caused this issue, particularly the "Update Tags (from Library)". The other way around could cause this if there were bad tags in the files. But that is unlikely.

It would be good if you understood Fields in the MC Library, and how they relate to Tags in the files. I don't have any reading you could do to understand that though, other than search the forum and Wiki to read everything relevant. The Update Tags (from Library) and Update Library (from Tags) functions are simply tools to be used at appropriate times. I don't think there is a best practice for them. You just use them when they are needed, which means you need to understand Fields in the MC Library, and how they relate to Tags in the files.

BTW, the message about updating tags in MC is normal, and many functions in MC do update tags. Let them finish. It would be good if you understood what caused tags to the updated of course. Renaming and moving files do it, most changes to fields in MC does it, doing lookups for metadata does it, and so on.

[tangolovers]

Hello again RoderickGI...

I checked my Auto Import settings and don't see anything that includes images files, unless I'm missing something.  See screenshot of AI below.

It's not my Library that I want to rid of these files.... it's my HD!!     I first discovered them in MS File Explorer - when I noticed my file count had suddenly increased by over 1000 files.  I just now discovered they are  hidden files, but they have to be new because my file count in Explorer suddenly changed significantly!!   Even w/hidden files unchecked in View, when I look in MC under Drives & Devices > Explorer >  I can see them in the same folders as my audio files.   I'm certain these files were not previously in my Music folders on my HD... and I have been vigilantly looking at these folders all last week as I repaired my DB.  This is definitely something very new!  I only noticed them shortly after running Update Tags.  I really want them out of my Music folders and off my HD!!   See screenshot #2 and #3.

When in MC  "Audio > Files" view I am not even aware these new .jpg files even exist.  And, after sorting "file type" column alphabetically, I don't see any jpg listed.  I don't know how to directly select "jpg" as you suggest, but didn't see any in the list.  They all appear to be Flac, mp3, wav or wma files. 

Everything was working just fine before I discovered these (1000+) files!  So it only seems logical to me that I really don't need them on my HD.  The big question is - can they be manually removed using MS File Explorer (or even better yet automatically w/in MC).   

The updating tags shouldn't have caused this issue, particularly the "Update Tags (from Library)". The other way around could cause this if there were bad tags in the files. But that is unlikely.

I'm almost certain I ran Update Tags (from Library) rather than the other way around, although I could be wrong.  And, like I said, it's the last significant DB action I took prior to noticing these new files.   I can't imagine anything else that could have made these files suddenly appear inside my music folders on my HD.   

I have previously attempted (Today included) to read about Tags on Wiki and on the forum only to come away more confused.  I've never "knowingly" made use of tags before... never created any custom fields as some people talk about. 

Also, I think these newly added files are affecting my ability to copy my Music folder from PC to external HD because now I'm getting the error message: "Are You Sure You Want to Copy This File Without its Properties?" and "The file [filename] has properties that can't be copied to the new location."  I'm pretty sure this has something to do with these newly added files.  Specifically an issue with ExFat format which allows transfer between PC &MAC.

Please let me know if it's okay to use MS File Explorer to delete all of these .jpg files that appear in my music folders.  If, I did in fact do an Update Tags (from Library), does this take anything away or change anything stored in my MY Library?

[tangolovers]

These files really look like they're related to Cover Art.  When I repaired my DB (when you were helping me), I recall modifying the Location for Cover Art folder ... see screenshot.

FYI - THE DATE OF ALL THESE NEW FILES IS 12/8/19!  I think that is about the date I did the Update Tags!  I Really don't recall doing anything else that couldn't have created these files...

[RoderickGI]

It's not my Library that I want to rid of these files.... it's my HD!!

My apologies, I misunderstood. Mainly because MC has nothing to do with most or all of those files, so I thought you must have been seeing them inside MC, and hence they must have been imported. Although of course they can be seen under "Drives & Devices > Explorer" if you don't tick the "Show Only Files In Library" checkbox. My bad.

The only command that will save a Cover Art image file in the directory with your music files is the right-click "Cover Art > Save Cover Art To External Location Specified In Options". In that case, it will save Cover Art images as files according to your Cover Art settings in MC, which means they could be saved as "Folder.jpg" or "[Artist] - [Album].jpg" next to your audio files. But I doubt you have run that command, and your current and previous Cover Art settings were "Cover Art > Audio Mode > In the specified folder", which is your "C:\Users\susie\...\Cover Art" folder, so MC would never have created the files you are concerned about next to your audio files.

The "Folder.jpg" and "AlbumArtSmall.jpg" next to your audio files have been created by Windows Media Player (WMP). If you have run that at any time, or the associated Media Server Windows provides, then that is how the files were created. The files are marked as System Files and are Hidden, so they probably appeared "suddenly" when you ticked the "Hidden Items" checkbox in the "Windows Explorer > View" menu. That of course changed the file count at the same time, as Hidden files aren't included in the file count unless that checkbox is ticked. The files have been there a long time. MC didn't do it.

Here is some light reading for you: https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=67704.0
Or just Google "AlbumArtSmall.jpg" and you will find lots of discussion about the issue.

The MC "Drives & Devices > Explorer" will show Hidden and System files, even when they aren't shown in Windows Explorer.

I'm not sure where the extra files with the long names came from, but it isn't from MC. They could come from WMP, or some other media software. Possibly something from the Mac. iTunes? I don't know. It doesn't matter, if you only use MC for Media Management and playback.
EDIT: They are also from WMP.


Yes, you can manually delete these files using Windows Explorer. But they may get recreated again if WMP is run. I have them next to my audio files on my Workstation, because I have run WMP on this PC. Don't run WMP.

The two error messages you are getting, "Are You Sure You Want to Copy This File Without its Properties?" and "The file [filename] has properties that can't be copied to the new location." are probably related to copying System or Hidden files from an NTFS formatted drive to an ExFAT drive, or from your Windows drive to a Mac drive. If you don't delete these files, just copy them and say Yes to the message, and tick the box to apply that decision to all files, if the tickbox is available. Or if you just Hide the files again the copy process won't find them, and so no messages.

================================================================================

As a completely separate issue, because the above has nothing to do with Auto Import (sorry again for the misdirection):

Your image of the Auto Import settings doesn't show the important information. You need to select the "Music" folder and then click on the "Edit" button. Then you will see what file types MC will import for the selected folder. See the attached image.

Note that if you select only Audio files, MC will select one file type under Video as well, MP4, because they can also be Audio files. So that is okay.

[tangolovers]

Whew!!!  What a relief!!    It didn't even occur to me that these files could be something other than from MC.  My fault for only searching the forum and not Google  .

FYI - even after unchecking "show hidden/system files":   My file count was still including the 1000+ unwanted jpg files.  That's how I knew they were recent additions - and the 12/8/19 date on all those unwanted .jpg files seems to confirm this.  They're all gone now!!!  The same error msg definitely seems to be related to going from NTFS to ExFAT, so I'll just find a work around.

Thanks again for setting me straight again!!    Should I changed the post name to something like:  SOLVED!  Folder.jpg & CoverArtSmall.jpg files in my music folder...

[RoderickGI]

Thanks again for setting me straight again!!    Should I changed the post name to something like:  SOLVED!  Folder.jpg & CoverArtSmall.jpg files in my music folder...

Yeah, why not. How about:

SOLVED! WMP leaves Folder.jpg & AlbumArtSmall.jpg files in my music folder.

[imeric]

Yeah, why not. How about:

SOLVED! WMP leaves Folder.jpg & AlbumArtSmall.jpg files in my music folder.

Just ran into this issue using WMP on a new laptop and thought it was related to updating to MC32...But this was WMP creating these AlbumArtSmall,jpg and folder.jpg.

Thx