[xenithon]

Hi all. I've got my entire collection in iTunes and would like to add album art, but without embedding it in the files. Call me pedantic, but I just don't like the idea of wrapping jpegs inside lossless audio file structures

.

Is there any way to add album art (most of I get/scan myself - not the iTunes store) without embedding it in the files, but still have iTunes display it? I miss the folder.jpeg system of F2K...sigh.

Cheers,
X

 

[CapQ]

maybe the answer is no........
will the embedding cover art affect the SQ? im not sure.....
I love Foobar2K, but it always lost its cover arts.......

 

[krmathis]

I really don't think that is possible.
Whenever you "Get Info" on files and paste your own artwork it will be embedded into the file. It has no influence on the sound, but I sort of see the point of not adding 100's of KB of data to every file.

 

[screwglue]

Yeah, I have the same problem hear. I really really want album art one my portable setup but my nano only holds 4 gigs which isn't very lossless friendly..

 

[poo]

I thought that if you 'drag & drop' into the artwork section it doesn't embed the image file, just stores it into a proprietary folder system so iTunes knows where to reference the file. I'm likely totally wrong about that...

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought that if you 'drag & drop' into the artwork section it doesn't embed the image file, just stores it into a proprietary folder system so iTunes knows where to reference the file. I'm likely totally wrong about that...

I think that is true when handling single files at a time, but as soon as you handle (Get Info on) multiple files at a time it will embed album art into each of the files.

Hmmm.. Perhaps I should edit my previous post then?
Cause if I am right the OP can do it my way, but it will be time consuming since he have to "Get Info" on every single file at a time...

 

[blessingx]

I suspect there are two ways as when I embed (in get info) album art is retained when I move files to other libraries (I have a few), however if I remember correctly when I let iTunes "get album art" it is lost when moving the files between libraries. Afraid though I don't remember details as I always want to guarantee the art is retained so embedded.

 

[vulc4n]

The only way iTunes will add album art to its database but not embed it in the files is when it gets it download the art from the iTunes store. Unfortunately, the iTunes store is really hit or miss if you have music that is not in the store or if your naming conventions differ at all with what is in the store.

Now, there is a workaround/hack to get around this limitation. Basically you run a local server that intercepts requests to the itunes store and sends back a response with the art you want injected.

Fortunately, someone has already written a python script that does just this. It is a bit of a hack, but it works very very well. I use it on OS X and set up an automation workflow that modifies the hosts file and everything in one step, and also another automation that reverses the process. Makes using it much more convenient.

http://www.jacobweber.com/scripts/

 

[xenithon]

Thanks for the tip vulc4n. I too thought that pictures from the iTunes store are not embedded - however, after upgrading to the latest iTunes (8.x IIRC), and running the Get album art on my collection (this was the first time I used this as I previously did not have an iTunes store account) it downloaded them, and when I viewed the files in Finder I see that the images have been embedded. When I used the Clear downloaded album art action it stated that it would remove it from the database but not the file.

I'll give that workaround a go this week, hopefully it does the trick!

 

[vulc4n]

I've done some pretty extensive testing and have not had the Get Album Art function ever embed album art into the file. I see art in finder, but I suspect that finder may be using the itunes album art db.

 

[scytheavatar]

*Cough*

Album Cover Art Downloader

I hope you are not a Mac user.

 

[Chri5peed]

Every song I own goes like this:


FLAC MUSIC/Artist/Year - Album/03 - Peace Sells...and fully tagged. So it is easy as all hell to bolt a 'cover.jpg' in each album folder.

Both fb2k & my D2 read these. Heard it is not ideal to embed in lossless.



Also, clue is in the name; AlbumArt, it is not IndividualSongArt.

 

[krmathis]

The main point in OP's post are 'iTunes'.
Anyone talking about solutions for Foobar2000 is irrelevant, as iTunes and Foobar2000 don't have the same supported features.

 

[Chri5peed]

^So isn't that a failing of iTunes?

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^So isn't that a failing of iTunes?

iTunes have some features that Foobar2000 don't, and the other way around.
Hence both fail...

...or in short, no player are 100% perfect.


Edit: xenithon run Mac OS X on an iMac, where Foobar2000 is not option.
Hence he try to find ways to get iTunes to handle album art without embedding them into the files. Which is not how it works out-of-the-box.