[Grr Argh]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can explain to me the best way to get album artwork working on my PS3. At present I use my PC as a media server. My music has been recorded using itunes and all the artwork added manually within itunes. To then get it visible to my PS3 I searched my music folder with WMP11 and shared it that way.

This is another issue actually, not only do I not get album artwork on my PS3 but I don't even get it in WMP11. Does itunes attach album artwork differently or something? Is there a standard way?

I've been thinking about re-recording all my music anyway at a higher bitrate and then copying to my PS3 (I upgraded the HDD to 320GB so figure a media server for 20GB of music is pretty silly). What's the best way to do this and get my artwork working on the PS3?

Apologies if that was long winded, any help would be much appreciated

[COOPERMAN]

Hi mate,
I use a program called Tag and Rename.
It lets you enter all ID3 tags and also lets you embed album art.

Link: http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm

[Grr Argh]

But does that then show up on the PS3 and if so is it over media server or direct copy onto the PS3?

[derek1971]

I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong but i am pretty sure you can only display album art from music files present on the internal hdd of the ps3. Those being streamed from a media server won't show album art even if the image file is embedded in the music file. It's the same for music played from an external hdd connected by usb

[Uridium]

Originally Posted by derek1971

I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong but i am pretty sure you can only display album art from music files present on the internal hdd of the ps3. Those being streamed from a media server won't show album art even if the image file is embedded in the music file. It's the same for music played from an external hdd connected by usb

That'll be me then

It depends on how your music is tagged on the PC and also the software you are streaming with.

WMP will stream artwork if there is a "folder.jpg" for the MP3 album.

TVersity will stream album art if the artwork is embedded in the "Album Art" ID3 tag.

PMS (try this it's by far the best streaming software) will stream artwork if it is either embedded into the ID3 tag or if there is a "Folder.Jpg" file in the same folder as the MP3 album.

itunes uses a pretty crappy method for artwork

Tag&rename is ok if your ID3 tags are pretty messed up but for just embedding album art i've found either Jtagger or Album cover art downloader are better

[Grr Argh]

Brilliant answer Uridium that's what I was looking for. One last thing though. As I've said I plan to re-record all my music at a higher bitrate then transfer to my PS3. What would you recommend to do this with for good artwork and naming? Will WMP do the trick and if so are there any settings I need to change? (i.e. if you can set how it stores the artwork)

Thanks again.

[Uridium]

My music is already ripped as 320k MP3 but if i was to do it again i'd rip as Lossless FLAC with EAC.

For album art and tagging i like Jtagger. Not because of speed or ease of use (has to be done one album at a time) but i like the level of control it gives you.

then stream using PMS. not tested it myself but believe from the changelog it supports FLAC now.

Have a look in the MP3 forum further up the board. There are some very very good guides to ripping/tagging there.

[Grr Argh]

Thanks for the opinions dude

[derek1971]

Originally Posted by Uridium

That'll be me then

It depends on how your music is tagged on the PC and also the software you are streaming with.

WMP will stream artwork if there is a "folder.jpg" for the MP3 album.

TVersity will stream album art if the artwork is embedded in the "Album Art" ID3 tag.

PMS (try this it's by far the best streaming software) will stream artwork if it is either embedded into the ID3 tag or if there is a "Folder.Jpg" file in the same folder as the MP3 album.

itunes uses a pretty crappy method for artwork

Tag&rename is ok if your ID3 tags are pretty messed up but for just embedding album art i've found either Jtagger or Album cover art downloader are better

Not sure what i am doing wrong then - i have used all of the above and although i have all my album art embedded i get no art work displayed using any of these media servers - i can see the album art when looking at track lists but not when actually playing it!

[Uridium]

Originally Posted by derek1971

Not sure what i am doing wrong then - i have used all of the above and although i have all my album art embedded i get no art work displayed using any of these media servers - i can see the album art when looking at track lists but not when actually playing it!

What software did you use to embed the album art? Try retagging the art to a 'test' album using Jtagger and stream using PMS

iirc the folder.jpg option was only added to PMS very recently

[derek1971]

Originally Posted by Uridium

What software did you use to embed the album art? Try retagging the art to a 'test' album using Jtagger and stream using PMS

iirc the folder.jpg option was only added to PMS very recently

Cheers, I'll give that a go. Not really too bothered now since i have stuck a 320gb drive in the ps3 and have all my music on there anyway but would be nice to get it to work.

[visioneer]

I am embarassed to ask this question but when you refer to "folder.jpg" does that mean that I have to have an image file that is actually called "folder.jpg" in each album folder or do I replace "folder" with the name of the album?

[Uridium]

Originally Posted by visioneer

I am embarassed to ask this question but when you refer to "folder.jpg" does that mean that I have to have an image file that is actually called "folder.jpg" in each album folder or do I replace "folder" with the name of the album?

You need to drop an image file named "folder.jpg" of the picture you want displayed into the same folder as the album tracks.

[madmonk3y]

Originally Posted by visioneer

I am embarassed to ask this question but when you refer to "folder.jpg" does that mean that I have to have an image file that is actually called "folder.jpg" in each album folder or do I replace "folder" with the name of the album?

Don't forget mediamonkey this gets album art and can tag and rename your music. I've used it recently and found it to be brilliant

[visioneer]

I've got Mediamonkey actually but thanks for the pointer. I think that my image files are called various things rather than just "folder.jpg" so I'll have to rename them. Unless Mediamonkey will rename them all in one go??

[madmonk3y]

Originally Posted by visioneer

I've got Mediamonkey actually but thanks for the pointer. I think that my image files are called various things rather than just "folder.jpg" so I'll have to rename them. Unless Mediamonkey will rename them all in one go??

Yup you're right, Mediamonkey does them one by one. I have to admit the naming of the album art files is mad, sometimes the filenames something like "Album Art 122333333.jpg", sometimes it's "Album Art Small 122333333.jpg" and then a folder.jpg. I tend to make sure there is a folder.jpg in each folder,

[Uridium]

Open your music folder in windows explorer and hit CTRL+F

search for *.jpg

rename the results to folder.jpg

[visioneer]

I tried the folder.jpg thing and it worked for tracks but not for the actual album folder itself. How do I get it to display the album art for the folder that contains the tracks? eg: Brothers in Arms album folder contains the various tracks, all tracks show the album art but the Brothers in Arms folder doesn't display the album art. I've put the folder.jpg inside the b-i-a folder - Am I doing something wrong?

[prvjoker]

I highly highly recommend this

PicardQt - MusicBrainz

and make sure you grab and enable the coverart plugin here:

PicardPlugins - MusicBrainz

you'll need to manually put the plugin into the plugin folder and enable it for it to work in the options.

then add a folder, hit scan and watch it gooo

[Uridium]

Originally Posted by prvjoker

I highly highly recommend this

PicardQt - MusicBrainz

and make sure you grab and enable the coverart plugin here:

PicardPlugins - MusicBrainz

you'll need to manually put the plugin into the plugin folder and enable it for it to work in the options.

then add a folder, hit scan and watch it gooo

Don't think that is really answering the OP's question, he's not asking how to add album art to MP3's he's asking how to get the album art to display on the PS3 folders as well as the individual tracks.

Unfortunately the answer is you can only do this for music physically stored on the PS3. Streamed music will only display art next to the MP3 itself not on the actual folder.

If you have MP3's stored on the PS3 i believe it will also assign an image to the folder containing the MP3's as well.

[visioneer]

Originally Posted by Uridium

Don't think that is really answering the OP's question, he's not asking how to add album art to MP3's he's asking how to get the album art to display on the PS3 folders as well as the individual tracks.

Unfortunately the answer is you can only do this for music physically stored on the PS3. Streamed music will only display art next to the MP3 itself not on the actual folder.

If you have MP3's stored on the PS3 i believe it will also assign an image to the folder containing the MP3's as well.

Thanks for letting me know, although it isnt really what I wanted to hear !! It's a real lack of functionality that it won't display the art on the folder itself. There must be loads of people streaming music through the PS3 that want the same as I do - a nice list of folders with the album art displayed, rather than a bland list of generic ps3 folders.

Is this the case with Tversity/WMP11 etc as well as PMS- ie, is it a PS3 issue rather than the media serving software?

X-box Media Center (XBMC) manages to do this with no difficulty but I am loathe to put that back into the equation since the PS3 is such a fantastic piece of kit otherwise.

[Uridium]

Yes I'm afraid so. believe it is a limitation in the PS3 OS. It may be something that can be added as a workaround by PS3 Media Server.

Maybe try adding it as a suggestion in the requests section over on the PS3MS forum.

[ahylton]

For those of you they have said the album art only shows up on the PS3 when the files are stored on the PS3 harddrive you are INCORRECT. I am using Twonky and my 40GB PS3 is accessing my media via wireless access (HP Media Smart Server) and the album art shows up fine. My problem is that my 60GB PS3 is hard wired in to the network and it does not show the album art. Anyone that figures out what this is please let me know.

[Uridium]

Originally Posted by ahylton

For those of you they have said the album art only shows up on the PS3 when the files are stored on the PS3 harddrive you are INCORRECT. I am using Twonky and my 40GB PS3 is accessing my media via wireless access (HP Media Smart Server) and the album art shows up fine. My problem is that my 60GB PS3 is hard wired in to the network and it does not show the album art. Anyone that figures out what this is please let me know.

Think if you read the above posts again properly people are referring to album art on FOLDERS not files. This is only possible on media stored on the PS3 internal drive.

Bizzare problem you have thoguh as my album art shows up fine on either of my PS3's (I have one wired and one wi-fi)

[ahylton]

thanks for clearing that up Uridium. I dont know what my issue is. I am trying to reset a number of things so we will see. Not a huge deal just iriritating.

[Uridium]

Is your Album art display done via a hidden "folder.jpg" image in the same folder as the music files or by an "Album cover" ID3 tag on the MP3's themselves?

Try tagging a folder of MP3's using this app dronten - jTagger

Mine are tagged using this and album art displays correctly on every device i've ever tried...(PS3, Mobiles,MP4 players etc..)

[Niksan]

Visioneer - did you find a solution to this? I'm having the same issues.

[MP3]

I've got some problems showing album art that is saved on the PS3. I'm using WMP11 to stream and copy, but only certain albums get their art copied across. These are the albums that have a folder.jpg in the album folder (or any named jpg actually), or those which had the 'paste album art' option carried out in WMP. The rest were found using 'find album info', and these are the ones which don't get copied across.

Is there a simple solution to get all of them to work, without having to manually change every album?

[Uridium]

Originally Posted by MP3

I've got some problems showing album art that is saved on the PS3. I'm using WMP11 to stream and copy, but only certain albums get their art copied across. These are the albums that have a folder.jpg in the album folder (or any named jpg actually), or those which had the 'paste album art' option carried out in WMP. The rest were found using 'find album info', and these are the ones which don't get copied across.

Is there a simple solution to get all of them to work, without having to manually change every album?

Afraid you really need to tag them manually using a tagging app such as Jtagger, Tag & Rename or MP3Tag.

Media management programs such as WMP and iTunes are notoriously hit and miss with there tagging once you try using the music in other applications

[MP3]

I was hoping you wouldn't say that! It's ridiculous that WMP can't get the two methods to apply album art give the same result!

I'll give jtagger a go.