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[blafarm]

I have heard a number of users discussing downloading high resolution cover art while they rip their discs. Are these covers higher in resolution than what MC9 is able to provide?  and can anyone give me some links to where to find this hi res artwork, including hard to find albums?

Thanks much.

[kiwi]

I use:
http://images.google.com

I usually go into the prefs and set it to super large files.  If i don't find anything, I go to large... and so on.

Ofthen, you'll find someone who has a whole collection.  If I find one, I go through and see what Cover Art is there that I need.

The only thing that I wish MC did was have the ability to have multiple images associates with a file.

kiwi

[blafarm]

>kiwi, Thanks for the hint. Yes, I agree...front and back cover art would be great, not to mention interior folds if they exist. That would seem to be a fairly simple thing for them to support with a preferences selection that either displayed only the cover art - or allowed for a cycle/scroll through the various .jpgs that are associated with a particular album that is playing.

This could be done by allowing advanced users to append any additional .jpgs they may have acquired starting with number 2 and up (eg: "artist-album"2.jpg, "artist-album"3.jpg  etc...) so that by way of a preference setting the application could either only show the cover (no number) -- or cycle/scroll through all available art related to a particula album in numerical order (cover [no number], then #2, then #3, if no #4 - then cover again). This approach would allow advanced users to benefit without complicating the application for non-technical users. Of course, a cycle speed would also be a nice touch.

kiwi: Is the art you get from google searches any higher than what MC9 downloads, and if so, how much? In other words: is it worth the effort to manually seek out the art vs. the automated method using MC9?

Anyone else do this in a different way?

Thanks for your feedback.

[kiwi]

>kiwi, Thanks for the hint. Yes, I agree...front and back cover art would be great, not to mention interior folds if they exist. That would seem to be a fairly simple thing for them to support with a preferences selection that either displayed only the cover art - or allowed for a cycle/scroll through the various .jpgs that are associated with a particular album that is playing.

I hadn't thought about being able to scroll through it.

And yes, having all of the inside booklets would be awesome!

kiwi: Is the art you get from google searches any higher than what MC9 downloads, and if so, how much? In other words: is it worth the effort to manually seek out the art vs. the automated method using MC9?

Anyone else do this in a different way?

The coverart that I've found is often significantly better quality than what MC 9 downloads.

The other place to look that has reasonable cover art is walmart.  Their images are quite good.

Here are some of the places that I found cover art:
http://www.maxalbums.com/covers/covers_t.html
http://www.ilbaluardo.com/index.htm?http://www.ilbaluardo.com/coverzone-A.htm
http://home.hetnet.nl/~tijgertje51/CD-Hoesjes.html

it is a bit of work finding the cover art, but in the end, I think that it's worth it.  In some cases, the fronts, backs and inside booklets have been scanned.

kiwi

[blafarm]

Thank you kiwi, I appreciate those links.

[modelmaker]

My main sources have been Walmart (500x500 image), Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com (US).

I use "IrfanView"(free) to do basic image manipulation - resizing(Amazon 300x300 to 500x500), cropping,  lighten/darken, insert text, adjust color, slide shows, etc. I also use it to create a "panoramic" image with both front and rear covers in 1 image. When installed it becomes the default image viewer. When you click on an image, you have instant access to the controls. I only rarly open Photoshop these days.

[blafarm]

>modelmaker,
Thanks for that info. I generally use Photoshop too but I'll look into Irfanview. From your email I'm assuming that the preferred size for MC9 is 500x500. Is that true?

[kiwi]

My images are much larger... and it doesn't seem to have a problem.

kiwi

[blafarm]

Does MC9 automatically scale the image regardless of actual size?

[modelmaker]

I like the 500x500 size; when in full screen view the image isn't cut off top and bottom by the tool bars. 800 or so will fill the screen top to bottom. I know MC will take larger images and fit them to the full screen size. I think somewhere there is a setting for fitting smaller images to the screen, but I don't remember where - maybe someone else can answer that.

I love IrfanView, you don't have to go though all the motions that you do with Photoshop. It's really great for quickly editing dl'd covers. It was developed by a Finnish guy, hence the odd name and best of all - it's FREE.

There was a thread posted a couple of weeks ago by Zevelle wherein he listed about 30 different links for album covers.

Here's another for some rarer rock stuff: www.collectable-records.ru  They also have LP lables and a lot of the Fillmore posters.


Listening to: Animal Logic - Someone to come home To (Animal Logic I - 1999) on MC 9.0

[blafarm]

>modelmaker,
Thanks for that ru link. I've done, what I think is, extensive searches looking for that Zevelle thread with 30 different links but I can't find it anywhere. Do you have it handy by any chance.

Also, can anyone that uses MainLobby/MusicLobby as a front end to MC9 comment on image resolution and image scaling compatibility issues. Is there a preferred image size that MC9 users should strive for in order to have a seamless ML experience?

Thanks

[modelmaker]

I found Zevelles post, I ment to quote it here, but accidently bumped it instead. See: "links To Art Sleeves"

[blafarm]

>modelmaker,
Thanks. I found it. That's what I wanted.