INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art  (Read 1884 times)

zxsix

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1753

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.
Logged

carbo

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 106
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2010, 11:27:50 am »

Wow very useful  ;D

Thank You !!!
Logged

sunfire7

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 550
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2010, 12:25:57 pm »

indeed! thanks for posting
Logged
Happy licensed MC 15-19 User :)
Mac version early bird
My english is not perfect! My native lang is spanish

yooz

  • Regular Member
  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 80
  • **sorry 'bout my baaaad english knowledge**
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2010, 12:27:45 pm »

Wonderful thx
Logged

mark_h

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1854
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2010, 12:56:26 pm »

Alternatively:

http:////images.google.com//images?q=Hexify([artist] [album])
Logged

zxsix

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1753
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #5 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
Logged

Arbiter

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 247
  • In love with music.
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2010, 03:53:44 pm »

Thanks a lot!
Logged

Magic_Randy

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2367
  • I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure..
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2010, 05:14:10 pm »

Thanks...
Logged

rick.ca

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3729
Re: created a most useful custom link for finding better album art
« Reply #8 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 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])&amp;sort=7&amp;fltr=2&amp;bgc=&amp;page=</Item>
</Link>
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up