Get Album Artwork in Itunes...Possible to save to actual folder?

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Headbust

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 10, 2003
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Hey guys, in Itunes the get ablum artwork works great, but is there anyway to get it to place the album artwork into the folder automatically so you have a hard copy and not just in Itunes?

Thanks
 
Yes, but it's time consuming (unless there is a program out there that does it automatically).

There is no folder you can just copy and save, BUT if you go into a song, open the properties, copy the art image and then paste it in an image editing program, it will show as the full res version. I did this with my music collection a few months back.

I'm sure there's a simpler way, but I don't know of one offhand.
 
I typically use Mp3Tag to embed the album art in each file, so no matter what I do with the file, it is available. It's been a while since I've checked, but I though iTunes had the album art in the folder already, just hidden. I thought it was folder.jpg, as the file name.
 
DeaconFrost said:
I typically use Mp3Tag to embed the album art in each file, so no matter what I do with the file, it is available. It's been a while since I've checked, but I though iTunes had the album art in the folder already, just hidden. I thought it was folder.jpg, as the file name.
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iTunes keeps it stored as part of the library in some sort of proprietary db (or somesuch). You're probably thinking of WMP.
 
As noted by another poster, the "best" and most carefree method (if you're dealing with mp3 files) is to use a utility to embed the artwork directly into the mp3 file itself - that way you're never dealing with the stupid concept of separate artwork files for given mp3 files. Seems silly that iTunes doesn't embed the artwork directly when it acquires the info, but then again, it's an Apple product. The primary reason they keep the artwork separate is for Cover Flow nowadays, but even so...

I have a shitload of hand-tagged mp3 files, all transcodes from FLAC originals, all having embedded artwork done by hand as well, literally, using Tag&Rename. It took some time to get it done, but at least it is now correct and reliable because I did it all myself. :)
 
http://itsfv.sourceforge.net/

IIRC, and the features confirm it, while it fixes your library, it will make a folder.jpg and export it to the folders. It also has a myriad of other features that make this something to at least consider.
 
Just as an FYI. iTunes stores art in the MP3 files themselves. For art from the music store it it keeps them in the itunes folder though. It also caches the other art there for faster access.
 
Oneos said:
iTunes keeps it stored as part of the library in some sort of proprietary db (or somesuch). You're probably thinking of WMP.
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I started using WMP to retrieve album art just yesterday and can confirm it does store them in the same folder as the mp3 but hidden. I found that using google images for album art that Microsoft doesn't have works well too. What I don't like about WMP is how it will tag art to an album that is not even related to the band. It tagged AC/DC album cover art to Amon Duul II. <scratches head>
 
Klob said:
I started using WMP to retrieve album art just yesterday and can confirm it does store them in the same folder as the mp3 but hidden.
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Be careful - WMP and Windows Media Center have a nasty habit of overwriting any file called "folder.jpg" with their own low-res (200x200px) equivalent, without so much as a by-your-leave.

If you've spent ages acquiring your own high-quality, high-res album artwork for your large music collection, and you're using the "folder.jpg" convention which many apps prefer, imagine how amusing this would be. :rolleyes:

Incidentally, iTSfv mentioned above makes a duplicate with a different name in each folder (I think it's called "cover.jpg") as a backup against this happening.
 
nick8571 said:
Be careful - WMP and Windows Media Center have a nasty habit of overwriting any file called "folder.jpg" with their own low-res (200x200px) equivalent, without so much as a by-your-leave.
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Not what I'm seeing. I've got hundreds of albums each with their own folder.jpg file per folder and they've been untouched since day one. The ONLY time they get overwritten is if the album art is stored in one of the files as metadata.
 
Snowknight26 said:
Not what I'm seeing. I've got hundreds of albums each with their own folder.jpg file per folder and they've been untouched since day one. The ONLY time they get overwritten is if the album art is stored in one of the files as metadata.
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It's a pretty well-documented problem (just google +folder.jpg+resize+wmp), but there doesn't seem to be much consistency - some like yourself only see it when there are embedded JPGs, others claim they can avoid it by simply switching off automatic file updates, others still say their album art gets trashed whatever they do.

The worst thing is that it happens silently and automatically, so unless you're at least aware of the possibility, by the time you've noticed what happened it could be too late.

If you're letting WMP anywhere near your music collection and you value your album art, it's probably a good idea to keep renamed copies of your folder.jpgs anyway, just to be on the safe side. :)
 
nick8571 said:
IIf you're letting WMP anywhere near your music collection and you value your album art, it's probably a good idea to keep renamed copies of your folder.jpgs anyway, just to be on the safe side. :)
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Or just set the folder.jpgs to read only. :p
(Unless of course, it deletes the old folder.jpg first, then it wouldn't work.)
 
nick8571 said:
It's a pretty well-documented problem (just google +folder.jpg+resize+wmp), but there doesn't seem to be much consistency - some like yourself only see it when there are embedded JPGs, others claim they can avoid it by simply switching off automatic file updates, others still say their album art gets trashed whatever they do.

The worst thing is that it happens silently and automatically, so unless you're at least aware of the possibility, by the time you've noticed what happened it could be too late.

If you're letting WMP anywhere near your music collection and you value your album art, it's probably a good idea to keep renamed copies of your folder.jpgs anyway, just to be on the safe side. :)
Click to expand...

I have never had an issue with WMP touching anything of my files if you set Retrive additional information from the internet to off in library options.
 
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