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[Osho]

Hi,

I ripped my collection of CDs to FLAC using MC12 a while ago and also scanned the cover art for each of the CD. At that time, I believe FLAC encoder/decoder did not support cover art embedded in the file itself (about 4-5 months ago from today). The newer release of FLAC does support this. I have checked the option to embed the cover art in the file itself. This has always been checked. My question is how do I embed the cover art in the FLAC now that the newer encoder/decoder supports it?  Also, how do I check if the FLAC file has the cover art inside it or not?

thanks,
Osho

[Magic_Randy]

You can check if the cover art is embedded by looking at the Image File tag.  If the cover art is embedded, the value of Image File will be Inside File.  One way to look at this tag is to customize current view and add Image File as one of the columns to show.

[scthom]

If you haven't updated tags recently, it still may not be there.

Another way to check is to use the Format command from the Tag Action Window (Action Window->Tag->Format).  This is basically a report from the file what is inside it.

[Osho]

You can check if the cover art is embedded by looking at the Image File tag.  If the cover art is embedded, the value of Image File will be Inside File.  One way to look at this tag is to customize current view and add Image File as one of the columns to show.

Thanks for the tip. I see that the Image File tag is showing the full file path of the cover art image file. I did Update Tags (from Library) but that didn't change the Image File tag to "Inside File". What to do??

thanks,
Osho

[Magic_Randy]

Thanks for the tip. I see that the Image File tag is showing the full file path of the cover art image file. I did Update Tags (from Library) but that didn't change the Image File tag to "Inside File". What to do??

thanks,
Osho

You should test this before doing it to all of your files.

The option to "Store Images in Tags Also" only effects new activity.  It does not update any of your existing tracks.  So first of all, make sure this option is turned on. Also, if there is a pointer (path/filename) in the tag, I don't think a quick find will embed the file. So you have to clear that out.

1) To eliminate the cover art reference, go to: Cover Art->Remove Cover Art
2) To add it back, go to: Cover Art->Quick Find In File/Cover Art Directory

The Image File tag should now = Inside File.

Let us know if this works.

[Osho]

The option to "Store Images in Tags Also" only effects new activity.  It does not update any of your existing tracks.  So first of all, make sure this option is turned on. Also, if there is a pointer (path/filename) in the tag, I don't think a quick find will embed the file. So you have to clear that out.

1) To eliminate the cover art reference, go to: Cover Art->Remove Cover Art
2) To add it back, go to: Cover Art->Quick Find In File/Cover Art Directory

The Image File tag should now = Inside File.

Let us know if this works.

I tried this on one file only. And it did not work. The Image File tag still refers to the file name and not "Inside File".

Is this a bug with the new FLAC encoder/decoder or MC12?

thanks,
Osho

[scthom]

Try using the flac commandline "metaflac" to verify if there is an image file inside the flac.  That way you can at least determine whether the file actually has the image or not.  I use the front cover art location (3).

Also, what kind of image are you using?  The flac decoder plugin only supports jpg, png, and gif.  Valid file extensions are "jpeg", "jpg", "gif", and "png".  Upper case and/or mixed case is fine.

[Osho]

Try using the flac commandline "metaflac" to verify if there is an image file inside the flac.  That way you can at least determine whether the file actually has the image or not.  I use the front cover art location (3).

Also, what kind of image are you using?  The flac decoder plugin only supports jpg, png, and gif.  Valid file extensions are "jpeg", "jpg", "gif", and "png".  Upper case and/or mixed case is fine.

So, I finally got time to work on this issue and used the metaflac utility as you suggested. When I examine the block 3, I get

METADATA block #3
  type: 6 (PICTURE)
  is last: false
  length: 397806
  type: 3 (Cover (front))
  MIME type: image/jpeg
  description:
  width: 1456
  height: 1416
  depth: 24
  colors: 0 (unindexed)
  data length: 397764
  data:
    00000000: FF D8 FF E0 00 10 4A 46 49 46 00 01 01 00 00 01 ÿØÿà..JFIF......
    00000010: 00 01 00 00 FF FE 00 2E 49 6E 74 65 6C 28 52 29 ....ÿþ..Intel(R)
    00000020: 20 4A 50 45 47 20 4C 69 62 72 61 72 79 2C 20 76  JPEG Library, v
    00000030: 65 72 73 69 6F 6E 20 5B 31 2E 35 31 2E 31 33 2E ersion [1.51.13.
    00000040: 34 35 5D 00 FF DB 00 43 00 03 02 02 03 02 02 03 45].ÿÛ.C........

This seems to indicate that the image is indeed embedded in the FLAC file but MC12's "Image File" tag still shows the name of the actual file on the disk rather than "Inside File".  I tried clearing the cover art associated with the file and then reassigning it from the file and then doing update tags (from library). Still MC12's "Image File" is pointing to the file on the disk.

thanks,
Osho

[scthom]

All you want is the "Image File" tag to say "Inside File", right?

--

I was putting a TODO: into my code, and realized I don't actually set the tag.  I may not be able to do this, but will try to investigate.

[Osho]

All you want is the "Image File" tag to say "Inside File", right?

--

I was putting a TODO: into my code, and realized I don't actually set the tag.  I may not be able to do this, but will try to investigate.

Yes and of course, MC12 should be able to use the image file from the FLAC file and display it in theater view/thumbnails etc.

thanks,
Osho

[Alex B]

I did some testing. It looks like the In_FLAC plugin can't currently add or remove embedded images in FLAC files at all. The previous cover art state in the library doesn't matter.

It can show the image and populate the Image File field correctly with the "Inside File" value if the image is already embedded before importing the FLAC file. Also the Update Library From Tags tool can do this if the Image File field is empty before running the tool.

[Osho]

I did some testing. It looks like the In_FLAC plugin can't currently add or remove embedded images in FLAC files at all. The previous cover art state in the library doesn't matter.

It can show the image and populate the Image File field correctly with the "Inside File" value if the image is already embedded before importing the FLAC file. Also the Update Library From Tags tool can do this if the Image File field is empty before running the tool.

Thanks for the testing Alex B.

Osho

[scthom]

Hmmm.  OK, let me take a look.

Thanks for the testing...

[scthom]

Actually, the plugin writes the image file to the tags just fine -- when told to by MC.

It used to be that simply enabling "Store in file tags (when possible)" in the "Image File" library field was sufficient to make MC write the cover art.  However, it seems this value is ignored now in favor of File Location->Cover Art->"Also store image in the file's tag".

That said, there is a bug in the export of the image.

[Alex B]

I just updated MC to the latest development build and removed and reinstalled the latest FLAC plugin. I am not sure if this made a difference, but the same actions that I tried before seem to work better now. I tried adding cover by dragging to AW, by adding from file, by "Quick Find..." and by pasting from clipboard to AW. As you said, the embedded image was correctly added or changed. (I checked this outside MC.)

However, MC does not correctly create the "Inside File" field value. It creates a link instead and when an image is pasted from clipboard to AW MC creates a new file in the defined cover art location and a link to this file. When there is a link MC also seem to use it instead of the embedded image. If the linked file is removed the image disappears from MC's cover art displays in AW or Playing Now.

[Rudy81]

I am having a similar problem, and have made some observations on the behaviour of MC12.  I am ripping my files with dbPoweramp in .flac.  I then import into MC12, with the latest flac plugin.  Usually, most files will have embedded cover art, but will not create a cover art copy in the designated cover art folder ( as set in the options menu).

A few files will show "folder.jpg" as the source of the cover art.  If I delete the cover art from that tag, then use "copy cover art" from one of the embedded cover art tags and then use "paste cover art" in the one that had "folder.jpg" as my link, MC12 will update the tag to an imbedded cover, AND will also creat an album .jpg in the designated cover art folder.

Strange behavior.

[Rudy81]

Let me add the following as well.  I can do this with any file, even when all my songs for a given album have imbedded cover art.  I delete the cover art from any of those songs, then copy to clipboard from the other songs, then paste and voila, cover art re-imbedded, and new cover art file added to cover art folder.

[Alex B]

... but will not create a cover art copy in the designated cover art folder ( as set in the options menu).

This is normal. MC does not embed and create copies of the image files when audio files are imported. If a file has an embedded image MC can use it automatically, but this does not start MC's "add cover art" function. This function can be started manually when the files don't have cover art.

Scthom has released a new version of the In_FLAC plugin. The reported cover art problems should be fixed now.
If anyone is still having FLAC cover art problems after installing the new version please report in this thread in the plugins forum: Topic: In_FLAC v2.2.1 decoder plugin released.