[russ123]

Got my first Ipod, a classic 160gb and apart from it being a bit quiet which is covered elsewhere, all is fine with the unit.
However I'm also new to Itunes and have yet to find a way to add the cover art to the albums I've ripped that Itunes does not recognise. Can this be done? There seems a lot it does not have that I can easily get a jpg from elsewhere.

[daveb975]

I am having a few problems with this myself.

The way I have always done it previously is:

1. Highlight all of the songs from one album.

2. Press CTRL-I to enter the album information screen.

3. Copy the jpeg from the original source, and paste into the Artwork box on the info screen.

Lately, I am finding that the paste option is oftern greyed out, and I cannot select it.

Anyone know any better ways?

[Matt Horne]

I used a free bit of software (german website... erm the name at the mo escapes me) to embed the album art in the mp3's which itunes then picks up automatically. Very handy if you already had the album art as a (for example cover.jpg) in each of the directories with your music.

All you did was point the app at the top of your tree, give it your name for the album art (cover.jpg) and it would then link the correct jpg to all the mp3's

Main reason I did it was for sonicstage.. to save me manually linking the artwork to each album..

< Heres the website for the software : http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ >]

Tutorial : http://cococokie.wordpress.com/2007/...for-your-mp3s/

[butleri]

Quickest way I find is highlight all tracks in the album, goto play.com or somewhere like that to find the album art - drag it into iTunes either onto the blank coverflow space or onto the album art box in the bottom left corenr of iTunes.

[J0hnEast0n]

Its not free, but fixtunes is quite good. I used it myself and was impressed.
I posted a discount code for it not long ago. Here you go...

fixtunes discount :)

[Autopilot]

Yeah, i use MP3tag also

[russ123]

Thanks all. Will try the CTRL I option but have a feeling I've looked here already. Simply dragging the file onto the empty art box does not work for me for some reason. Seems a bit silly that you have to go to another application to do this but maybe that's the only way.

[juglandblues]

Searching on google images seems to work pretty well for me. It even tells you the size of the images

[russ123]

I can add it in Itunes for one song but as soon as I select multiple songs, even within the same album it does not allow me to add them, same as DaveB975 mentioned. Seems to be a bug in Itunes to me as the functionality appears to be there. If you add the picture manually to the first song it is enough to get Cover Flow to pick it up but then when playing the other tracks on the album it won't appear in the playback screen. Adding it manually track by track is not workable so it appears another application is the only choice.

[Greggles]

What version of iTunes are you running (7.4.2)? I have never experienced any problems adding multi-entry artwork on my Mac - I just drag it over from the source website (usually Amazon) onto the artwork box on the info screen. One thought - What operating system are you using on your (presumably) PC? Vista has a number of compatibility issues with iTunes (it won't run at all on Vista Home Basic)

[russ123]

PC is running on XP. Not sure of Itunes version (will check tonight) but it is whatever was downloading from Apple on Friday. I had to update an old version of it to support the Classic.

[AMc]

on XP Drag and dropping art work out of web pages seems to get messed up if the image is also a link.
On Play if you click to enlarge the image then that image will drag to iTunes.
Alternatively right click and save to the desktop then drag from there.

If you have a classic you have to get at least iTunes 7.4.1 to get it to work.

I've been avoiding adding album art to my 15000 tracks as we have Netgear MP101s that barf if its in the file and my partner was using a 3G ipod with BW screen.
Now I have a 5G and she has a classic I used the iTunes get album art function - What a bodge! Lots of compliations seem to have matched a single word in the title so I've got deathmetal sleeves on 80's compliations. About half my collection failed to match at all - but that's better than having to individually delete the wrong art track by track

[Bobba]

iTunes itself should be able to provide artwork for most tracks (even downloaded mp3's) if they have the correct artist, album and track details.

[chic]

I use itunes art importer can be found here http://www.yvg.com/itunesartimporter.shtml


all you do is run the programme, seltect the songs you want a cover for and then hit search, when it finds your cover just hit the apply buttin and the cover is copied over. Works fine with my itunes and 80gig classic.

[eddidaz]

Is there a way/program to do this automatically?

I have tons of folder with album art in but only a few seem to have been picked up on the iPod. It would take far too long to sort it manually for 160gb of albums!

[Gary D]

Originally Posted by eddidaz

Is there a way/program to do this automatically?

I have tons of folder with album art in but only a few seem to have been picked up on the iPod. It would take far too long to sort it manually for 160gb of albums!

I dont think so. My MP3 collection is a labour of love that was started in early 2000 and has been added to, and refined over the years. i'm very "anal" about my Mp3 tags, so long hours have been spent tagging MP3's

It not too bad a process if you use the right software to do it with. I use "Tag and Rename" to do mine. I try not to use iTunes unless a have too and its a nasty piece of software (well for PC's it is)


Gary

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by eddidaz

Is there a way/program to do this automatically?

I have tons of folder with album art in but only a few seem to have been picked up on the iPod. It would take far too long to sort it manually for 160gb of albums!

Yes, if you have the artwork .jpg's then MP3tag will embedded your entire collection in the click of a button.

[Craw]

I haven't tried dragging and dropping however cutting and pasting directly into the 'artwork' box on the 'get info' tab works a dream.

[spl23]

There is a hack that allows you to effectively run a local version of the iTunes Music Store to serve cover art locally - Google for "coverartserver". It's a Python script that runs on your machine and intercepts artwork requests to the ITMS, responding with your own choice of artwork. The scripts currently published only work with iTunes 7.3, but I've managed to hack mine to work with iTunes 7.4.

This has one big advantage over dragging and dropping - there is a single artwork file for each album, rather than n identical copies of the artwork embedded in the tracks, which over a large collection saves a lot of space on your iPod hard drive.

This is what I've used for all my cover art, and it works a treat. If you have a working knowledge of Python and a set of cover art with sensible filenames, it's pretty easy to automate the entire process of adding art to your collection.

Probably a bit too geeky for the average iPod user, though...

[Kevo]

Originally Posted by Craw

I haven't tried dragging and dropping however cutting and pasting directly into the 'artwork' box on the 'get info' tab works a dream.

Dragging and dropping onto the left hand corner box does not work for all selected tracks, only one and that has to be playing!

I found this out the hard way after dragging about 10 or so album covers over only to realise that only the first track of each album had the artwork attached, the rest did not!

I then discovered Craw's method on another ipod forum and it works a treat.
In fact it may be the only way to do it via 'copy & paste' with multiple tracks.

[ash]

Originally Posted by spl23

There is a hack that allows you to effectively run a local version of the iTunes Music Store to serve cover art locally - Google for "coverartserver". It's a Python script that runs on your machine and intercepts artwork requests to the ITMS, responding with your own choice of artwork. The scripts currently published only work with iTunes 7.3, but I've managed to hack mine to work with iTunes 7.4.

This has one big advantage over dragging and dropping - there is a single artwork file for each album, rather than n identical copies of the artwork embedded in the tracks, which over a large collection saves a lot of space on your iPod hard drive.

This is what I've used for all my cover art, and it works a treat. If you have a working knowledge of Python and a set of cover art with sensible filenames, it's pretty easy to automate the entire process of adding art to your collection.

Probably a bit too geeky for the average iPod user, though...

How did you do this, sound interesting. As I don't have an Itunes account.

[spl23]

Originally Posted by ash

How did you do this, sound interesting. As I don't have an Itunes account.

First, you need to install Python, which is a free scripting language, from python.org. You then need to install the cover art server routines from http://www.jacobweber.com/scripts/ - that's all you need to get it up and working on iTunes 7.3. There is a readme in the cover art server download file which tells you how to run it, and about the changes you need to make to the HOSTS file on your machine to redirect connections to the ITMS to the local server. Basically, you then run iTunes, tell it to get album art, and it will fail for every file, but you then point your web browser to http://localhost/, and you get a simple interface listing every album that iTunes tried to find artwork for. You just pick the JPEG file you want for each - you then tell iTunes to find album art again, and the server sends the desired file. Harder to describe than it is to do!

As far as I know, I'm currently the only person with this working for iTunes 7.4 - I've sent my changes off to the author, and he may incorporate them at some point. Failing that, if you *really* want to do this, PM me and I'll send you the updated file - but make sure you're happy with Python and hacking your HOSTS file first, as this method is not entirely for the faint-hearted!

[eddidaz]

Originally Posted by Autopilot

Yes, if you have the artwork .jpg's then MP3tag will embedded your entire collection in the click of a button.

Yeh I have jpegs in most of my folders (sometimes different file names though). I've had a look on mp3tag but can't seem to find this feature. Little help please?

[PJD007]

Hi, first off so far I've not had too many probs with this unit and am impressed with it (even though the TV guide still isn't working !).

My problem is this, when I connect my Sony NWZ-A818 mp3 player to the Archos 605 it reports device not supported and it seems to be related to the updating of album art and possibly tagging info (if I connect the mp3 player with an mp3 track on it which hasn't been auto updated the 605 see the mp3 player).

I have tried to use windows media player and winamp to update individual tracks album art and tagging, does anyone know how to undo these changes ?

It seems with WMP it creates the jpg files in the directory where the mp3 resides but for winamp possibly it is embedding album art into the file.

In either case deleting the ablum art doesn't fix the issue so something else in the mp3 file is being updated and preventing connectivity to the 605.

I really need to get this sorted ASAP as I'm off travelling and need to be able to manage my mp3's between the two devices.

Any help appreciated.

[Autopilot]

Download MP3tag, it's free and you will be able to properly get your tags sorted with it.

[TeeDoubleUDee]

Hi Guys,
Since retiring, I have spent considerable time lately in ripping all my CDs and copying all my old vinyl (going back to late fifties!) to mp3 so I can listen to them on my MVIX multi-media player. Every one has had album art embedded (thanks to mp3tag - great program!) - some I've had to actually take a photo of the cover where I couldn't find anything on the web.

I am now thinking of treating myself to a portable player but I want one that will display the cover art. Unfortunately this capability isn't always advertised, so my question is which player should I buy bearing in mind 2 provisos. 1. I will NOT be downloading any tracks from the internet and 2. I DON'T want an Apple!

I quite fancy the new ZEN but again no mention of cover art on Creative's site.

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by eddidaz

Yeh I have jpegs in most of my folders (sometimes different file names though). I've had a look on mp3tag but can't seem to find this feature. Little help please?

First off, as they are all with different names, do a search in the the relevant image files with Windows explorer for *.jpg - highlight all the files - right click then 'rename' - rename to "folder.jpg".

Now, In MP3tag chose 'add folder' and add the root folder that all your albums are in (i.e. the same as above). You should now have every file you have on the list (in my case thousands). Now select every file with Edit->select all (or press CTRL-A). Now go to Convert->Actions. In the actions window click the start button to right of the window to add a new action. Call the action "embed art" or whatever. Again, hit New (top right with a little start icon) and choose "import cover to file" from the little option list that will pop up. It will now ask you for a format string - type "folder.jpg" if thats what each file is called. Then click OK back to the main Actions menu and run the action. It will only add the artwork to the file thats in that same folder, so every album will have its own artwork. As you have set this action up now you wont have to do this all over again, in future select the files and the action will be there. It a great tool MP3tag, quite a lot can be done with its actions

MP3tag can also often find any missing artwork. Click Tag Sources and choose Discogs.

EDIT - I have attached the basic action script file for embedding "folder.jpg". You will need to remove the .TXT extension and make it a .MTA file (forum restriction). Then you will need to find the MP3tag action folder and drop it in there. In my case (vista 64) its found at - C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Mp3tag\data\acti ons

[BananaTiger]

I use a program called mediamonkey. You can get it to look up an album on amazon and it can download the album art, and imbed it in the mp3 file. Works very well.

[stooshee]

Originally Posted by Autopilot

Download MP3tag, it's free and you will be able to properly get your tags sorted with it.

I would like to bump this thread instead of opening a new one. I have recently put all of my cds onto my PC. I use Itunes to listen to music etc. but sometimes use WMP11 (vista)

Question...regarding the artwork that is downloaded from itunes, I am assuming that it does not embed the album art? It is not showing in WMP.

Next, When I highlight a whole album and copy an album art in itunes (under get info etc) it will embed onto the whole album and show in my documents, WMP etc. but it does not embed when I drag and drop a picture over for an individual song...anyone know why?...will MP3tag embed on individual songs (sorry at work, so cannot try just now)

Last but not least...when I use MP3tag, can I use the pics that itunes have downloaded (but not embeded) for a given album? I like their pictures lol!

I hope this has made sense...I half know the answers to my questions but am just clarifying.

Thanks

[Uridium]

i always use Jtagger to batch edit the tags to my chosen format and album art cover downloader to add the album art. prior to importing to wmp or itunes.

i like album cover art downloader as it both adds the art metadata and creates wmp's "folder.jpg" at the same time.

Using this method has always guranteed perfect art and tag display in every app i've ever tried.

Sorry not really answering your questions directly. just sharing my method after years of of perfecting it