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iTunes Album Art Problem


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Would like to know why my album art does not always embed correctly in iTunes?  On about 15 albums I noticed the art is not embedded in a few songs within an album.  Some tracks are blank, while some tracks have the art correct, and some tracks have a partial strip of the artwork displayed.

 

My method for adding artwork is the following:

Save art to HD
Get Info > Artwork > Add Artwork > OK

 

Things I've tried to resolve problem:

1)  Delete artwork from iTunes album and re-add
2)  Delete artwork from iTunes album, trash Album Artwork cache folder, restart computer, re-add
And different variations of the two above.  No success.  Actually, option 2 worked once, if I recall, but not on another album.

 

One thing that has worked has been to delete the album from iTunes library, trash album art cache folder, empty trash, restart computer, re-rip CD, add artwork.  Not sure if all these steps were necessarily related to any success, just describing what I did. 

 

Would like to avoid having to re-rip additional problematic albums and learn why the issue occurs in the first place?

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I do all my tagging manually and add the cover adding manually to the album on iTunes and in some tracks the cover image just doesn't attach to the track, even when I use the Doug's Re-embed Artwork scrip.

 

Usually I am able to work around this by pasting the image then going back to the "Details" tab and adding text to one of the fields, but sometimes it won't work unless I restart the computer...

"Science draws the wave, poetry fills it with water" Teixeira de Pascoaes

 

HQPlayer Desktop / Mac mini → Intona 7054 → RME ADI-2 DAC FS (DSD256)

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I was wondering if you were using a utility or other app to test for the existence of image data in the file's metadata.

 

I am not sure what you mean when you say "in some tracks the cover image just doesn't attach to the track". Do you mean it fails to appear for the track/album/whathaveyou in iTunes or that it does not get embedded in the file's metadata? And, again, if the latter, how are you verifying that the file does or does not contain image data in its metadata?

 

Hope that's clear.

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19 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

you select all tracks before the Get Info step??

 

also, are these ripped from CDs or downloaded or...

I right click the album and then Get Info.  I've also tried adding the artwork to individual tracks of the problematic album with no success.  I've added art to over 500 albums using the same method, but only these dozen or so have given me any problem.

 

All ripped from clean, scratch-free CD's.

9 hours ago, DougAdams said:

How are you detecting that the files do not have embedded artwork?

By checking the album file in my Music folder.  Also, the little artwork box at the top of iTunes which shows details of the current track in play.

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5962bf49cb02a_ScreenShot2017-02-17at11_05_01PM.thumb.png.44232a42e11a259f4ce94ac89f9a8a29.png

5962bf74e1787_ScreenShot2017-07-09at3_53_52PM.thumb.png.a054b78ff4f1f63515963f1c2f046a30.png

5962bf87c4f41_ScreenShot2017-07-09at4_27_09PM.thumb.png.04b2cb882d2b53230e468086840791d0.png

Yes, just fails to appear.

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I too have noticed that some of my music files (over the years, and copying them to other HDDs as my collection grows) also have become corrupted. Some times it is the album art that goes wonky - bits of it go missing or a part of the image is displaced, other times, it is the metadata, and iTunes files them as "Unknown Artist" or "Unknown Album". The corruption seems random enough, so I usually go into iTunes to re-edit the files. Does anyone know why this happens?

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

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In my experience: The longer you possess audio files with metadata, the more likely you are apt to see corruption as a matter of course as you copy from file system to file system, process with various operating systems, add/remove metadata, use with various apps (including iTunes) and so on. If you have many, many files then you are even more likely to see this simply because you have a bigger pool. I get lots of email that contain the phrases "carefully for many years", "over 50 thousand files", and "corruption".

 

It is really easy to corrupt an audio file's metadata. One bad byte is all it takes.

 

On the other hand, if you are seeing consistent and reproducible problems, then that is a different story.

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Two questions:

 

1. Where is the album art stored?  In the same file as the music?  or in a separate sidecar file for each? or all together in one big database with pointers to each music file?  or??

 

2. As I am about to move everything from my long suffering mac mini to a newer iMac, what is the best way to avoid the corruption noted above?

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On 7/10/2017 at 2:19 AM, kirkmc said:

It looks like the artwork is corrupted. If it weren't embedded, it wouldn't show up at all. Try deleting it and adding another image. 

I'll add that deleting the bad artwork from the album, even multiple attempts, does not completely remove it.  It still leaves remnants of the corrupted art and looks similar to the examples posted.  Any attempt to delete the art and re-add, even a different art, leads to the same failed result.

 

Also, if the art was corrupt, would it work on disc 1 and not disc 2?  Two of the examples I posted are two disc albums and I used the same art image from my HD for both.  Disc 1 art is fine while disc 2 art failed.

 

Maybe the Add Art process corrupts the music file for some reason?  It may be that after adding the art and clicking OK I moved to the next album too quickly at times and start another before the first had enough time to complete the embed process?  I was adding art to a bunch of newly ripped albums at a rapid pace.

 

So far the only way I've been able to resolve the problem is to delete the entire album and re-rip, as described earlier.  But as mentioned, would like to find the cause and avoid having to re-rip those effected, if possible.

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On 12/07/2017 at 7:34 AM, rwdvis said:

I'll add that deleting the bad artwork from the album, even multiple attempts, does not completely remove it.  It still leaves remnants of the corrupted art and looks similar to the examples posted.  Any attempt to delete the art and re-add, even a different art, leads to the same failed result.

So, are you suggesting that any files that display issues with bad artwork should then be re-ripped from the original source (CD, etc.), rather than trying to fix the file?

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

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On 10/07/2017 at 0:32 AM, DougAdams said:

I was wondering if you were using a utility or other app to test for the existence of image data in the file's metadata.

 

I am not sure what you mean when you say "in some tracks the cover image just doesn't attach to the track". Do you mean it fails to appear for the track/album/whathaveyou in iTunes or that it does not get embedded in the file's metadata? And, again, if the latter, how are you verifying that the file does or does not contain image data in its metadata?

 

Hope that's clear.

 

Yes, embedded is a better word.

 

I look for a quality image of the cover online, resize it to 300x300pix with Photoshop then paste it in the ARTWORK tab of the album on iTunes.

Sometimes one or two tracks will not retain the pasted image - I can't see it in iTunes if I select the track and do Command+I, and it doesn't show in a Finder window or in HQPlayer either.

"Science draws the wave, poetry fills it with water" Teixeira de Pascoaes

 

HQPlayer Desktop / Mac mini → Intona 7054 → RME ADI-2 DAC FS (DSD256)

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1 hour ago, semente said:

 

Yes, embedded is a better word.

 

I look for a quality image of the cover online, resize it to 300x300pix with Photoshop then paste it in the ARTWORK tab of the album on iTunes.

Sometimes one or two tracks will not retain the pasted image - I can't see it in iTunes if I select the track and do Command+I, and it doesn't show in a Finder window or in HQPlayer either.

 

I use iTunes to tag and manage my music library. Once in a while, I experience an anomoly like what you describe. I can usually fix it by importing the bad tracks into Audacity, then exporting them back onto the desktop at the appropriate bit depth and sample rate. I then re-import them into iTunes, adjust any track numbering issues, and re-paste the cover art into the Tunes artwork tab.

Don't know why this repairs bad metadata, but it nearly always works. BTW, I'm using AIFF files on a Mac.

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On 7/11/2017 at 0:22 PM, DougAdams said:

In my experience: The longer you possess audio files with metadata, the more likely you are apt to see corruption as a matter of course as you copy from file system to file system, process with various operating systems, add/remove metadata, use with various apps (including iTunes) and so on. If you have many, many files then you are even more likely to see this simply because you have a bigger pool. I get lots of email that contain the phrases "carefully for many years", "over 50 thousand files", and "corruption".

True.  Though, in my case the entire library is recently ripped and fresh; iTunes is used for ripped CD music only, no iTunes account/apps/movies/Apple Music; and my Mac is clean and streamlined for music serving only, so no additional unnecessary programs or processes going on.

16 hours ago, foodfiend said:

So, are you suggesting that any files that display issues with bad artwork should then be re-ripped from the original source (CD, etc.), rather than trying to fix the file?

I'd like to understand why it's happening and find a fix without having to re-rip, that's why I'm posting here; but so far, the only solution I've found is to re-rip.

15 hours ago, kirkmc said:

Yes, about a hundred times and a hundred different ways, i.e., close and restart iTunes, Secure Empty Trash, delete art, delete art from download folder, restart Mac, etc…

 

I've deleted and re-ripped the eight remaining problematic albums, used the same art, and they are all displaying correctly now.  For now, my only solution.

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2 hours ago, rwdvis said:

I've deleted and re-ripped the eight remaining problematic albums, used the same art, and they are all displaying correctly now.  For now, my only solution.

What programme do you use to rip your music? And what programme do you use to try to re-attach album art? Just curious.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

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I the past, if I have a tune or group of tunes that will not hold the artwork or ID3 data I give it, converting the tunes to the latest iTunes AAC or whatever you use, always solved the missing artwork or data. I don't know why it worked, but the file converted by iTunes seemed to correct any missing issues.

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On 7/11/2017 at 8:22 PM, DougAdams said:

In my experience: The longer you possess audio files with metadata, the more likely you are apt to see corruption as a matter of course as you copy from file system to file system, process with various operating systems, add/remove metadata, use with various apps (including iTunes) and so on. If you have many, many files then you are even more likely to see this simply because you have a bigger pool. I get lots of email that contain the phrases "carefully for many years", "over 50 thousand files", and "corruption".

 

It is really easy to corrupt an audio file's metadata. One bad byte is all it takes.

 

On the other hand, if you are seeing consistent and reproducible problems, then that is a different story.

 

Yes, but... I have a large iTunes library, and I rarely see artwork corruption. When I do, I delete the artwork cache folder, and that sorts it out. Perhaps it has something to do with the way Photoshop resizes the files, or the way the files are exported from Photoshop. I've ripped thousands of CDs, and have honestly never seen this problem. I do see it sometimes on artwork that came with files I bought, but not with files where I've added artwork myself. 

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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9 hours ago, kirkmc said:

Perhaps it has something to do with the way Photoshop resizes the files, or the way the files are exported from Photoshop. I've ripped thousands of CDs, and have honestly never seen this problem. I do see it sometimes on artwork that came with files I bought, but not with files where I've added artwork myself. 

Could you share at what size you export the cover art at? On PhotoShop, that is.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

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