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[macdonjh]

I used:
Tools -> Options -> File Location -> Cover Art
to find my album cover art.  According to MC, my album cover art files are in this folder:
/Users/Jack/Library/Application Support/J River/Media Center 21/Cover Art

But according to Finder, that folder does not exist.  In fact, doing a search using Finder of my entire internal hard drive does not find a folder called Cover Art.

Any ideas about where my cover art is hiding?  Note that for music files the Image File tag shows "Inside File".  But my movie files Image File tag shows a file name, so I assume that cover art is supposed to be in the folder shown above.

[blgentry]

Cover art is confusing.  Read the wiki article on cover art for full details about all the options.

There are several locations where art can be stored for music files including inside the file.  Inside the file is the BEST!  Because you can't lose it, can't not know where it is, and can't separate it from the music file.  So you've made a good decision by making MC store art inside the file.

If you want to see where the art is for any given music file, open the tagging window, then find the Image portion, and it will show you the image location.  If the image is on disk (and not inside the file) it will show you the exact file path.

Notice that I keep writing "music".  That's because cover art is handled one way for music and another way for movies, and yet another way for TV shows!  I told you it was confusing. 

For movies, the cover art is always stored beside the movie file.  So it's in the same directory (folder) with the movie and should be named the same as the movie.

Hopefully that will clear this up a bit for you.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

Thanks, Brian.  I did read the Wiki.  My confusion stems from two sources:

• Near as I can tell, MC on my computer is set up to store music cover art BOTH in the music file AND in a cover art folder, and
  The folder MC tells me to look in for my music cover art doesn't exist according to Finder.

My movie cover art is saved in the same folders as my individual movies (one folder for each movie).
My TV Show cover art is grouped with the shows.  I have one folder per show (I don't have sub-folders for separate seasons).

[blgentry]

• Near as I can tell, MC on my computer is set up to store music cover art BOTH in the music file AND in a cover art folder, and
  The folder MC tells me to look in for my music cover art doesn't exist according to Finder.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think if that folder does not exist, then MC just won't use it.  If you want to also store cover art in a separate folder, then you should create a folder to do so.  I recommend creating it outside of the JRiver master folders.  Why?  Because there are JRiver major versions (V23, V24, V25) released every year.  When you upgrade, a new folder will be created.  Then it's going to be confusing as to why your cover art is in the V24 folder, while you are using V25 (or 26, or 27, etc).  Instead, create a cover art folder somewhere else.  I might put it inside of "Documents/JRiver/Cover Art" if I was doing it.

I don't personally think it's necessary because you are storing the art inside each file anyway.   But the option is there if you would like to use it.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

Based on what you wrote, Brian, I guess MC is storing my album cover art in the tags/ files and NOT in a separate folder.  I found a folder path because that is where MC WOULD have stored my album cover art if I didn't direct it to be stored in the tags/files?

I figured there would also be a folder with cover art in it because a folder was defined for MC to store album cover art, it was just never created because tags/ files are being used.

[blgentry]

Strangely enough I don't think MC will create a cover art folder.  I think it has to use an existing one.  Though I haven't done any formal experiments; it's just what I remember, which might be wrong.

Note that if you really wanted to force this to happen, you can create the folder, then select one or more albums and use the "cover art > write cover art to external folder (specified in options)" function.  That will force the cover to be copied to that location from whereever it is now.

Seems like you're hitting a lot of the corners and crannies of MC.  Good for you.  It's a big program and there's a lot to know.  Here's hoping you gain mastery over MC *and* your media collection. 

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

I think it has to use an existing one.  <snip> which might be wrong.

Don't doubt yourself Brian, you are correct! MC won't even let you just enter the path in File Location settings. You must Browse to an existing folder.

There is a "Make new folder" button in the dialogue to create a required folder though. But once created, it must be browsed to in the tree for selection.

Okay, my experience is in Windows, but I suspect it is the same on a Mac. 

[macdonjh]

Tonight I double checked how my Cover Art is set up in Tools -> Options -> Cover Art.  I found:

Audio mode: in the same folder as the file (as Folder.jpg)
…Folder: /Users/Jack/Library/Application Support/J River/Media Center 21/Cover Art/
There is this "check box" for "Also save image in the file tag", which I have checked.

According to tags of various audio files I've reviewed, the image files are, in fact, being stored in the tags.  However, as I said above, that folder I listed above does not exist on my computer. 

So I guess MC is supposed to write album cover are to the specified folder.  It is also supposed to save album cover art to the file tag if that check box is checked.  In my case, for some reason, MC is not doing the former and is doing the latter.  Weird.

[blgentry]

You have MC set up to write the image to the same directory as the music files, and name it "folder.jpg".  It will totally ignore your setting for a central folder to put all images in.  However, if you change that first option to "in specified folder", THEN it will use the central folder instead.

I think it's behaving as intended.  You should now have "folder.jpg" in the same directory with each album that you have saved cover art for.  I have mine set up almost like this, but I have it naming the files as the same as the album instead.  I do not use the central folder because I think that serves no purpose for my particular desires.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

blgentry,

I just checked what you suggested above.  I checked several "old" audio folders and none that I looked in had a cover art file named Folder.jpg.

I did rip a CD today, though.  That CD does have a cover art file named Folder.jpg in the [Album] folder. 

I kind of like the idea of having a copy of cover art as a .jpg in each [Album] folder.  Is there a way to copy cover art files from the tag/ file information into a .jpg file?  Also, how do you instruct MC to name cover art [Album].jpg, instead of Folder.jpg?

[blgentry]

I did rip a CD today, though.  That CD does have a cover art file named Folder.jpg in the [Album] folder. 

Good.  It's working as intended. 

I kind of like the idea of having a copy of cover art as a .jpg in each [Album] folder.  Is there a way to copy cover art files from the tag/ file information into a .jpg file?

Yes.  Highlight the files in the album.  Now, right click > Cover art > Save cover art to external location specified in options

That will force a re-write of the cover art to your selected area.  You can do this with many files at once.  I don't think I'd do more than about 20 albums at a time.  Just because it's going to hang up MC until it's done, which might take a minute.

Also, how do you instruct MC to name cover art [Album].jpg, instead of Folder.jpg?

Remember that options dialog that has three selections? 
Tools > Options > File location > Cover art > audio mode > (select here)

choose the one that says "in the same folder as the file" .  That makes it name the jpeg the same as the album.

Good luck.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

Thank you, sir.  That worked well.

(edit) I should add that I did all my copying of cover art files while watching TV, so I didn't care if MC got hung up for a few minutes while copying files.  As suggested, I tried a couple of albums first.  That worked, so I tried a dozen albums.  That worked and took only a few seconds.  I worked my way up to doing entire "letters of the alphabet" at a time; every artist whose name begins with "F".  Eventually I was doing sixty or so albums at a time.  It never took MC more than two minutes to do all that copying, so the task wasn't that tedious or time consuming.