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[MarkCoutinho]

Something seems wrong with updating the tags after changing the cover art.
Here are my findings: When I do Cover art - remove cover art ' ---->>> 'Library tools - update tags (from library)' ---->>>> 'Library tools - update library (from tags) the original cover re-appears.
Apart from that the next thing is strange: when I mark ''also store images is the file's tag' the mp3 gets bigger when I add a cover. That does make sense. However: when I delete the cover with 'remover cover art' the mp3 does not get smaller. In MC 11 this went just fine: the mp3 got smaller.
For test's sake I added another jpg to this mp3: the file got bigger again. And another jpg makes it even bigger. Then when I do 'Cover art - remove cover art' the filesize of the mp3 does not get smaller.
For more test's sake I added after this a jpg I added earlier on too: the filesize remains the same.

In my opinion this states that the 'remove cover art' option does not work well.

Am I correct and if yes: can this be solved?

[MarkCoutinho]

bump...
Any comment on this would be highly appreciated!

[Alex B]

Something seems wrong with updating the tags after changing the cover art.
Here are my findings: When I do Cover art - remove cover art ' ---->>> 'Library tools - update tags (from library)' ---->>>> 'Library tools - update library (from tags) the original cover re-appears.

Is it coming from a separate file on the disk? What does the Image File library field show?

Apart from that the next thing is strange: when I mark ''also store images is the file's tag' the mp3 gets bigger when I add a cover. That does make sense. However: when I delete the cover with 'remover cover art' the mp3 does not get smaller. In MC 11 this went just fine: the mp3 got smaller.
For test's sake I added another jpg to this mp3: the file got bigger again. And another jpg makes it even bigger. Then when I do 'Cover art - remove cover art' the filesize of the mp3 does not get smaller.

For more test's sake I added after this a jpg I added earlier on too: the filesize remains the same.

In my opinion this states that the 'remove cover art' option does not work well.

How big is the cover art image?

I think you would need to provide exact step by step instructions and sample files (the "before" and "after" audio files and the image file separately).

You could use some copyright free MP3 file (for instance, from http://www.archive.org/details/audio, or create your own small clip with MC's recorder or Media Editor).

[MarkCoutinho]

Thanks for your reply, Alex. As I see: work to be done here, but that's no problem. I'll get back to you as soon as I've done what you ask for.

[MarkCoutinho]

Alright, here we go for the explanation of another test:
I've got 2 files: Michael Jackson.mp3 (size = 1488kb) Michael Jackson.jpg (size = 198kb) I put these 2 files in 1 folder named 'Test'. Then I browse with 'drives and devices' to the folder 'Test'. In the field 'Image file' automatically appears the name 'Michael Jackson.jpg'. Then I do 'Cover art ---> remove cover art'. (And answer the question "Would you like to copy this image to the cover art location you have specified in options?" with "No".)
Next: "Library Tools --> Update Library (from tags)". But then appears in the field 'image file' again the name 'Michael Jackson.jpg'. I get the same result if I do the following actions: 'Cover art ---> remove cover art'. (the question "Would you like to copy this image to the cover art location you have specified in options?" I answer with "No". Then: "Library Tools --> Update Tags (from Library) and next: "Library Tools --> Update Library (from tags)". And again in the field  'image file' appears the name 'Michael Jackson.jpg'.

As for file sizes, as you requested, the next test:
In 'Tools --> File location' I mark 'also store images in the file's tag'
Via 'Cover art --> Quick Find In File/Cover Art directory' MC searches for the file "Michael Jackson.jpg" and the result is that in the field 'image file' states: 'Inside File' (as it's supposed to be)
Size of "Michael Jackson.mp3" has gone from 1488 kb naar 1686kb. (Which is the filesize of Michael Jackson.jpg, being 198kb) So far so good.
Via 'Cover art --> Remove cover art' (the question "Do you also want to permanently delete the cover art files from your hard disk?" I answer with "No".)
Michael Jackson.mp3 remains 1686kb groot. Even if I do "Library Tools --> Update Tags (from Library)" and then "Library Tools --> Update Library (from tags)": the filesize of Michael Jackson.mp3 remains 1686 kb.
After this it is not possible to get Michael Jackson.mp3 back to its original size of 1488 kb.

I hope you can make any chocolate of my story. Bottom line is: in my opinion the (de-)tagging does not work well for cover art.

[MarkCoutinho]

Bump...
Alex? Anyone else?

[Alex B]

The problem is caused by MC's MP3 tagger. It fills the space that was occupied by the embedded image with padding and the file size does not decrease.  As a test I just added a 2 MB image to a 200 KB MP3 file and then removed it. The resulting file is stilll about 2.2 MB and about 90% of it is padded with zeros.

(padding = "empty" space that is reserved for future tag changes or additions)


To JRiver / Matt:

Would it be possible to use a small default padding value when an embedded image is removed, 4 KB or so?

[Matt]

The ID3v2 tagger grows in chunks of 4 KB, but doesn't shrink a file.  This is because it's slow to rewrite a whole MP3.

Perhaps there should be some threshold of space savings, like 256 KB or something at which point it rewrites the file?

[Alex B]

Perhaps the threshold should be a lot smaller than 256 KB. Something like 8 KB would probably be enough for all kinds of text changes including lyrics tagging. Users expect to see the file size shrink when an embedded image is removed. The intention may be to reduce the file size a bit when the files must fit in a limited space.

[MarkCoutinho]

So tell me: is anything done about this peculiar thing?

[JimH]

A change was made in MC14.  Please check the history.