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Topic: Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder (Read 42249 times) previous topic - next topic
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Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #25 –
@docnoq: it sounds like iTunes is/was only part of your problem with having lots of random files. The default behavior of Windows Media Player is to download album art and save four files per album (and per-folder if you have a given album's tracks spread through multiple folders). Folder.jpg, AlbumArt1234978.jpg, AlbumArtSmall123478.jpg (those number strings are random, fyi) and I think one other file. These are all set as hidden files and also classified as "system" files so that you have to answer "yes" whenever you delete them. The larger files are 200x200, there are two that are smaller 100x100 I think.
If this was your problem, you should change your windows explorer settings to show hidden files and show system files. And if Windows is downloading artwork automatically in the background, it's overwriting the (likely better-quality) Folder.jpg that you've downloaded painstakingly with Album Art Downloader. This is a pain.

You don't say what version of Windows you have. In Vista, WMP may be more integrated into Windows so that it runs in the background and does stuff even when you don't ask it to. I have XP, and WMP only runs if I start it manually.

However, even though I've disabled WMP from downloading info from the internet, every so often it grabs stupid little album-art stuff and overwrites my 600x600 Folder.jpg with a smaller 200x200 hidden-system file. So I just make sure to manually check all files whenever I sync to my external hard drive.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #26 –
Quote from: probedb on
Does foo_dop support the iPhone?
I have not tested it myself. But according to the official site it does. I quote: MobileDeviceSign library; Required for iPhone/iPod touch 2.x software support. Extract to your main foobar2000 folder.

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #27 –
Intersting posts on the itunes thing.

Heres my take on it.  I do use the folder.jpg system mostly.  Occasionally I download music from emusic.com.
They provide album art as a jpg that comes along with the download and is stored in the album folder.
I used to wonder the same thing about itunes  too... but when I import the album downloaded from emusic to itunes media player it recognizes the album art.  It also shows up on the ipod when sync'd!'
So, I wonder if TimCuprey is right, that itunes recognizes it and saves it in some big directory (itunes xml file) somewhere?

Winamp also will read folder.jpg and when their art downloader is used will put a .jpg in the album folder. not embed it.

Like I said I like the folder.jpg but one drawback mentioned by someone in another post is that if you have a stereo or car audio player that shows artwork you would need that art embedded in the tag info to have it show up.  A folder.jpg in that situation and your outta luck.

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #28 –
Either your tracks from emusic have embedded art in addition to the separate jpeg that comes with the download or iTunes is grabbing the artwork from the iTunes store.

iTunes does not do anything with external artwork files.

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #29 –
Quote from: timh22 on
Occasionally I download music from emusic.com.
They provide album art as a jpg that comes along with the download and is stored in the album folder.
I used to wonder the same thing about itunes  too... but when I import the album downloaded from emusic to itunes media player it recognizes the album art.  It also shows up on the ipod when sync'd!'

eMusic has album art embedded in every mp3 file, as greynol suspected
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #30 –
thanks for clearing that up guys. sorry for the misinformation...
I think at one point in the past they did not embed artwork, but they must just add an additional jpg file as well for whatever reason now.

so goes my theory anyway, but if I could get winamp to act the way i wanted it with peripheral devices I would use it as my ipod but until then i'm stuck with itunes to sync with my ipod

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #31 –
@timcupery:

I am running XP (I very much dislike Vista). It's strange; I've had 'show hidden files and folders' ticked, and even turned it off and on again to make sure it was working, but the files are hidden elsewhere. They are not stored in My Music folder or any subfolder that I am aware of. I've even ran the search feature of XP with hidden files and folders included to try and find these hidden artwork files to no avail.  Would using 'cover.jpg' as my artwork title prevent these things from happening? Also, it appears these hidden files have been created multiple times in some folders. I created a new directory, moved all my music to it, but kept the old directory in tact. In the old directory, I have gone through and checked some of the folders, and some artist folders have 15+ files in them with NO visible files at all (and I do have hidden files/folders on). This is getting rather irritating. I think I'll contact Microsoft and/or switch to just embedding artwork.

Edit: Well it appears contacting Microsoft is out of the question. Assholes trying to charge me $59.00 to talk with tech support when I have a legit copy of Windows? Wtf.

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #32 –
Folder Options -> Do not cache thumbnails

check this also:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=68178

Please refrain from interrupting discussions with requests for help that are not on-topic.  If you want help from an individual user send a PM.  This is a public forum.

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #33 –
Thanks; didn't even know that option existed. I have since taken several measures to counter this annoyance: I have reverted back to WMP 9 that came with XP to prevent WMP 11 from screwing over my covers, deleted my entire old structure and started anew, and have begun naming my art cover.jpg. And now with your handy suggestion, I have gone through and deleted all the Thumbs.db files that had started accumulating in my new structure. Hopefully all of this is enough to prevent Windows from adding hundreds of pointless files to my collection. Thanks all,

-Docnoq

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #34 –
another thing that you can do is, if you use a sync program, simply tell it not to copy any files named thumbs.db (I use filesync and this has a line for file types of filenames to exclude from the syncronization process)
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #35 –
hi,
i don't want to embed my folder.jpg into my mp3s but i also don't want them to be eaten by wmp.
does anybody know how i can "protect" them against wmp? My own solution would be to copy each folder.jpg to e.g. front.jpg or cover.jpg;
in the end i want to have two files in each folder: the original folder.jpg and the copy of it, e.g. front.jpg

is this a good and safe idea? if yes, how can i automatically do this (i only know "flex renamer" which only can rename but not copy files)?

thanks,
asnaeb1918

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #36 –
You can set them to 'read only'
TheWellTemperedComputer.com

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #37 –
for keeping folder.jpg files safe from WMP´s write-over, I just use my backups on an external hard drive. If a jpg file is newer, and way smaller (wmp uses 200x200), I´ll set it so the older one copies back. But this is some  manual work. I rarely use wmp so it doesn´t much matter for me.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #38 –
Is there any way to make foobar not to look for embedded art and just for external (in folder) art? I looked in the preferences but all I could find was to make it only look for embedded artwork.

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #39 –
Quote from: Dexter_prog on
Is there any way to make foobar not to look for embedded art and just for external (in folder) art? I looked in the preferences but all I could find was to make it only look for embedded artwork.


nope. it will use what it decides to be the best quality.

you could use mp3tag to find embedded album art should you wish to remove it. add your music folder and then use the filter dialog at the bottom of the screen.

%_covers% PRESENT

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #40 –
Oh, I did that but I have A LOT of files an embedded album art. Is there any way with this tag editor to mass remove it?

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #41 –
Yes, you can do this with the so called "Actions":
http://help.mp3tag.de/options_format.html#removedupes

Quote
Removing embedded cover art

Please use PICTURE as field name if you want to remove cover art from the tags.


Regards,
Quellcore
Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one! (Benjamin Franklin)

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #42 –
sir, you rule. The program even offered to remove the "read-only" setting on some files as it proceeded to delete the album covers

Embed cover art vs. putting it in folder

Reply #43 –
Glad it worked for you.
More than once i wanted to do some funky tag actions and Mp3tag provided me with the right tools.

Regards,  Quellcore
         
Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one! (Benjamin Franklin)