Anyone know why I have missing album art? I previously used iTunes to load all the album art into the individual mp3s and now on the Droid, the majority of the album art is not present.
Itunes is not tagging the files itself. It just puts the covers into a library.
So if you use it on another device or program the covers are gone.
Try playing an mp3 file which has no cover in another media player(wmp, mediamonkey, winamp or whatever) and look if the cover is there. If it is than it's a Droid problem. But I would guess it's not.
I had the same problem when I switched from Itunes to Mediamonkey
I have a 'default' album art in most of my music...how do I get rid of it?!?! I don't think I accidently made this into a default, unless I wasn't paying attention...
iTunes grabs album art but saves it as a hidden file I believe, and not actually within the MP3 file, so I think that's why the Droid is not seeing most of them.
You can either edit the info of the songs, and drag a jpeg of the album art (thus embedding the art within the .mp3) - free method.
Or, you can do what I did, which is purchase the Album Art Grabber app. It searches the web for the album art for you. And in the worst case scenario, you can put the image on your SD card and it will assign for you.
I thought it was worth it, depends on your level of OCD though I guess.
Itunes is not tagging the files itself. It just puts the covers into a library.
So if you use it on another device or program the covers are gone.
Try playing an mp3 file which has no cover in another media player(wmp, mediamonkey, winamp or whatever) and look if the cover is there. If it is than it's a Droid problem. But I would guess it's not.
I had the same problem when I switched from Itunes to Mediamonkey
Hm, it looks like you are right. I downloaded Winamp and the cover art was missing on the album that it is missing for on the Droid. What is odd though, is that some of the cover art is present. Not sure how that happened.
Thanks for the reply. I thought iTunes embedded the art into the mp3. Oh well.
I'm with you! I posted a similar question on a different thread, but didn't get anywhere...
I seem to be having a problem getting my album art to transfer when I use the Sync feature of Windows Media Player. The strange thing is that if I copy/past the album folder directly from the file location on my PC to the “Music” folder on my Droid, it works fine.
All the MP3 files on my computer have the album art embedded. For some reason, the Droid seems to strip the files of this only when using the WMP Sync feature. When I copy/past directly to the Music folder, the Droid creates a separate folder for the album art... but only AFTER it's disconnected from USB.
I’ve owned several different MP3 players (as inexpensive as $50) that pull over the album art just fine when using the Sync feature of WMP, so I’m a bit surprised that a device as sophisticated as the Droid is unable to do this without having to download Album Art Grabber.
I tried Songbird and it added the album art to the majority of my mp3s. It does this by appending the mp3 tag to the individual mp3s. So once you get this done, you'll probably never have to do it again for that album. Go into Tools > Get Album Artwork and it will scan all your mp3s and add the album covers it can find.
It's nice that there are options available to fix this, but doesn't it bug you guys that a device of this caliber can't automatically bring over the album art if it's already embedded in the files on your computer?
The more I think about it, I've got to believe that the issue is a bug in the software. As I mentioned previously, album art transfers over properly if you use the cut/past method. In fact, the process strips the MP3 file of the album art and places it in a separate folder named "albumthumbs".
I was actually hopefully that the Sync feature of WMP would begin to work properly now that the separate folder was automatically created by cut/past, but as I found out tonight... it's a no go.
The Following User Says Thank You to dja1980 For This Useful Post:
It's nice that there are options available to fix this, but doesn't it bug you guys that a device of this caliber can't automatically bring over the album art if it's already embedded in the files on your computer?
The more I think about it, I've got to believe that the issue is a bug in the software. As I mentioned previously, album art transfers over properly if you use the cut/past method. In fact, the process strips the MP3 file of the album art and places it in a separate folder named "albumthumbs".
I was actually hopefully that the Sync feature of WMP would begin to work properly now that the separate folder was automatically created by cut/past, but as I found out tonight... it's a no go.
Actually WMP sync does not transfer all album art into any windows mobile devices' SD cards either. It's a WMP problem. Apparently it sees the device as a SD card and internally things it is a device with no screen, therefore it will not transfer the art. There are tricks you can do to fool WMP to transfer the art, but i found album art grabber to be very fast so i just use that.
That's good to know. I did end up installing Album Art Grabber, which is definitely a nice app. To try it out, I transfered 47 full albums over with WMP (in a single transfer). I was surprised to see that a handful of album art actually made it over. Things like this drive me crazy... why would some album art make it and not others, when all the files were ripped in and stored in identicle formats?
Anyway, you make a good point in that maybe WMP has a problem with SD cards. Admittedly, of all the MP3 players I've synced with WMP, this is the first that uses a SD card.
Just for kicks... would you be willing to share the tricks to fool WMP into transfering the art?
That's good to know. I did end up installing Album Art Grabber, which is definitely a nice app. To try it out, I transfered 47 full albums over with WMP (in a single transfer). I was surprised to see that a handful of album art actually made it over. Things like this drive me crazy... why would some album art make it and not others, when all the files were ripped in and stored in identicle formats?
Anyway, you make a good point in that maybe WMP has a problem with SD cards. Admittedly, of all the MP3 players I've synced with WMP, this is the first that uses a SD card.
Just for kicks... would you be willing to share the tricks to fool WMP into transfering the art?
I don't know how you would do it exactly on Android but when wmp syncs to a device it puts a WMPinfo.xml file which it uses to identify the device. If it sees a device with a screen it is supposed to transfer the art i also believe it may adjust the resolution, but I am not sure. I believe on my touch pro i had it sync to the touch pro internal storage then I took the wmpinfo.xml from that internal stoage and overwrote the one on the SD card. Winmo had no good apps like album art grabber, so that was the fastest way. I honestly think album art grabbber is better/funner to use than mediamonlkey or WMP's art search tool.
I just wish droids music player didn't look like ass...
I'm bumping this thread because I just got a Droid and noticed the exact same behavior. What's odd is the fact that has already been mentioned in this thread: why do some songs have the album art and others (ripped in the exact same file format) NOT have the album cover art. Hello, Google? Please advise.
This is not google's fault that itunes, window media, and winamp dont follow the standard of embedding the tag in the file
What standard are you talking about then since MOST people use iTunes or WMP? Google should have addressed this in Android when they developed the media software. And no, it's not a big deal to me and I'm not going haywire since I mostly listen to songs rather than looking at their cover art, but if the iPhone, my Sony Walkman, and every other MP3 player I've ever owned can sync cover art, Android ought to be able to as well.
What standard are you talking about then since MOST people use iTunes or WMP? Google should have addressed this in Android when they developed the media software. And no, it's not a big deal to me and I'm not going haywire since I mostly listen to songs rather than looking at their cover art, but if the iPhone, my Sony Walkman, and every other MP3 player I've ever owned can sync cover art, Android ought to be able to as well.
The ID3 standard that has, you know, been around since 1996.
Just because Apple and MS dont follow it doesnt mean it's not a standard. You should consider looking things up before you spout off with indignant fervor.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to alostpacket For This Useful Post:
Great...now my album art is solved. In the same vein...I have multiple artists appearing as "unknown artist." Is there any way to correct this? I think they were all originally ripped via Windows Media Player. Thanks in advance.
I tried Songbird and it added the album art to the majority of my mp3s. It does this by appending the mp3 tag to the individual mp3s. So once you get this done, you'll probably never have to do it again for that album. Go into Tools > Get Album Artwork and it will scan all your mp3s and add the album covers it can find.
I just tried this and it is great!! It's like an itunes for the Droid. Puts album art in no problem. When it was installing it said not compatible with windows 7. I installed anyway and have had no problems whatsoever. Great program.
Glad it worked out for you -- you used Windows Media? Maybe post your settings so that the next person who comes along knows what to do too
Yes, I used WMP 11. I had previously set it to rip lossless (wav). However, it cause issues when porting to another device (Droid or Sony Walkman) with regard to artist and album art. So, I simply re-ripped the same CD's using mp3 (max bitrate). I deleted all the old music from my machine and then resynched. It worked perfectly. I hope this helps someone else as well.
The ID3 standard that has, you know, been around since 1996.
Just because Apple and MS dont follow it doesnt mean it's not a standard. You should consider looking things up before you spout off with indignant fervor.
I'm fully aware of enhanced MP3 tagging data. My point wasn't that ID3 is NOT a standard; my point was that iTunes especially and Windows Media Player additionally are the programs that most droid users will probably be using to listen to their music. Accordingly, it would seem a no brainer that Android can sync properly to these two programs without having to pull down cover art that ALREADY exists in the programs. Anyway, as we've seen already, 3rd parties have already designed programs to sort of address these issues but I hate laying on layers of programs to solve issues that should have been properly implemented in the first place. I mean seriously, can you tell me why a Sony Walkman has no problem doing this but the Droid virtual computer does? It just doesn't make the most sense.
Yes, I used WMP 11. I had previously set it to rip lossless (wav). However, it cause issues when porting to another device (Droid or Sony Walkman) with regard to artist and album art. So, I simply re-ripped the same CD's using mp3 (max bitrate). I deleted all the old music from my machine and then resynched. It worked perfectly. I hope this helps someone else as well.
I too use WMP in Win 7 to rip CDs in mp3 format and can't respond that all the cover art comes across properly as you've been able to report. :-( Some do, some don't. It's beyond curious.
I'm fully aware of enhanced MP3 tagging data. My point wasn't that ID3 is NOT a standard; my point was that iTunes especially and Windows Media Player additionally are the programs that most droid users will probably be using to listen to their music. Accordingly, it would seem a no brainer that Android can sync properly to these two programs without having to pull down cover art that ALREADY exists in the programs. Anyway, as we've seen already, 3rd parties have already designed programs to sort of address these issues but I hate laying on layers of programs to solve issues that should have been properly implemented in the first place. I mean seriously, can you tell me why a Sony Walkman has no problem doing this but the Droid virtual computer does? It just doesn't make the most sense.
alostpacket, you're being argumentative just to be that way. Chill out dude. The Droid is a virtual (virtual as in essentially) a computer. I was trying to emphasize that it's a lot more powerful than a lot of folks' laptops from years ago. And to reiterate, I was AGREEING that ID3 is a standard. Reread my post: it says "my point WASN'T that ID3 is NOT a standard". Indeed, you raised the ID3 issue. You're doing the usual thing that defensive people do when they can't really address a simple argument...you're deflecting it from the argument...which is that WMP and iTunes should sync cover art with Android. Fine, I get it, you don't think so. Enjoy your workaround.
alostpacket, you're being argumentative just to be that way. Chill out dude. The Droid is a virtual (virtual as in essentially) a computer. I was trying to emphasize that it's a lot more powerful than a lot of folks' laptops from years ago. And to reiterate, I was AGREEING that ID3 is a standard. Reread my post: it says "my point WASN'T that ID3 is NOT a standard". Indeed, you raised the ID3 issue. You're doing the usual thing that defensive people do when they can't really address a simple argument...you're deflecting it from the argument...which is that WMP and iTunes should sync cover art with Android. Fine, I get it, you don't think so. Enjoy your workaround.
I'm agruing with you because you seem ignorant about standards and software. Anyways, sorry for misreading the word 'wasn't', you're right I misread that sentence.
The question I'm asking you though, is why should Android support a non-standard?
For me, it's Microsoft and Apple that have failed to treat the consumer well. Why you seem to miss that point and blame Google is beyond me.
I don't know... what's the definition of a standard if it's not being used by the 2 largest players in the game? (hypothetical)
As I mentioned previously, I find it strange that my previous $50 mp3 players were capable of doing something that this $600 device is not... regardless of standards.
The question I'm asking you though, is why should Android support a non-standard?
For me, it's Microsoft and Apple that have failed to treat the consumer well. Why you seem to miss that point and blame Google is beyond me.
I totally get what you're saying. As I mentioned, it's just a nice feature that I think a lot of users would have appreciated. As I recall, Android certainly seems capable of playing AAC and WMA file formats from Apple and MS.
Speaking of, I don't have WMA songs, but do they sync cover art properly?
I too use WMP in Win 7 to rip CDs in mp3 format and can't respond that all the cover art comes across properly as you've been able to report. :-( Some do, some don't. It's beyond curious.
Are they all mp3? If so, did you drag and drop or sync? If you sync, they should all work. If you drag and drop, maybe, maybe not. One other little tidbit, if you go to "album" and then "get album information" it seems to be much more reliable.
Last edited by jwbeeler; January 12th, 2010 at 12:02 PM.
Hey Jwbeeler. All of my songs are mp3 format. I sync'ed through Windows Media Player (rather than drag and drop...though earlier in this thread it was mentioned that the latter did work for them). Everything comes across well except for the cover art. Besides, I don't mean to belabor the issue. The music plays fine and since the phone is generally in my pocket, I'm just happy that I'm not getting corrupt file errors like I used to read in Blackberry forums when I had a Curve. But it's peculiar and confusing as heck. I can't determine why some of the albums have cover art but most don't. I checked the files themselves and they seem almost identical. I'd almost be happier if all of the art was missing because then I would know it's a sync issue. Clearly it's a tag, file, or rip issue. Oh brother!
As for "get album information", is that on the Droid or in Windows Media Player? I generally "Find Album Info" in WMP in order to populate the MP3's song information. I'm going to more thoroughly investigate the tags when I get home tonight. Maybe there's a difference between some albums that I overlooked the first time round.
Guys, I think this post may have the solution for why our MP3s are displaying the cover art. It's as Alostpacket described, but in a slightly more pedantic fashion so people like me can understand it thoroughly. I'm betting that the solution is to find a program that automatically takes WMP's cover art and applies it into the MP3's tag.
However, before I try doing that, I may try this guy's suggestion whereby I verify that WMP's privacy is set to allow media files to retrieve information from the internet:
Quote:
In Windows Media Player 11 go to Tools → Options → Privacy and check Update music files by retrieving media info from the Internet and click OK to confirm.
This is not google's fault that itunes, window media, and winamp dont follow the standard of embedding the tag in the file
Well, there's an hour of my life I'll never get back, thanks to the recommendation for this crappy program. To my disappointment, this monkey program doesn't carry over all of the album artwork that iTunes contains. So, who cares that the monkey program can sync album artwork, if the artwork is missing? I read their forum, and all sorts of people are complaining about it and are having to install some third party script they have to run to get it to copy over the artwork. No thanks...
Well, there's an hour of my life I'll never get back, thanks to the recommendation for this crappy program. To my disappointment, this monkey program doesn't carry over all of the album artwork that iTunes contains. So, who cares that the monkey program can sync album artwork, if the artwork is missing? I read their forum, and all sorts of people are complaining about it and are having to install some third party script they have to run to get it to copy over the artwork. No thanks...
Nope. Sorry to hurt your precious feelings that something you recommended is crap, but it is...
lol, I couldn't care less if you cant figure out how to use basic MP3 software. I hope you dont ruin it for others though with your biatchy little impatience.
Device(s): The DROID - no other electronic devices are needed any more
Carrier: Not Provided
Thanks: 6
Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by nycebo
All of my songs are mp3 format. I sync'ed through Windows Media Player (rather than drag and drop...though earlier in this thread it was mentioned that the latter did work for them). Everything comes across well except for the cover art.
I did a wholesale drag and drop of all the music files (mp3) in my WMP universe (XP machine) to the Droid, organized with songs in album files, and ALL of the album art displays very nicely on the Droid. I didn't touch anything in WMP settings.
Last edited by allanlaw; January 12th, 2010 at 06:00 PM.
lol, I couldn't care less if you cant figure out how to use basic MP3 software. I hope you dont ruin it for others though with your biatchy little impatience.
LOL yourself. Here you are questioning my abilities to figure out a "basic MP3 software", and yet you apparently have difficulties reading? Earlier, I mentioned that I had figured out what it would take to make the software work, but it was more trouble than it was worth. I'm done with you.
For everyone else, I downloaded Album Art Grabber from the Market for like two bucks. After two clicks, it had 99% of the missing artwork and took a total of about 5 minutes...
I drag and drop all my files. I use mp3tag to edit my mp3s and add album art and I have noticed that SOME of the time, even though the mp3 has art embedded in it, when I copy the files to my phone the album art seems to vanish. I just have to open them in mp3tag from the phone and just manually add the art again and its fixed.
It could be a Windows Vista issue. Windows Vista is so weird...
LOL yourself. Here you are questioning my abilities to figure out a "basic MP3 software", and yet you apparently have difficulties reading? Earlier, I mentioned that I had figured out what it would take to make the software work, but it was more trouble than it was worth. I'm done with you.
For everyone else, I downloaded Album Art Grabber from the Market for like two bucks. After two clicks, it had 99% of the missing artwork and took a total of about 5 minutes...
Lots of people on this forum made it work, you just apparently couldn't and decided to whine about it. Glad your pay app worked, but please stop whining like a child.
I did a wholesale drag and drop of all the music files (mp3) in my WMP universe (XP machine) to the Droid, organized with songs in album files, and ALL of the album art displays very nicely on the Droid. I didn't touch anything in WMP settings.
Hey guys, I didn't get a chance to resync my device yesterday so I can't follow up with you about whether or not adjusting the privacy setting resolved the missing cover art issue. I'm betting that it doesn't because the files on my machine may need to ALL be re-looked up for tag information. I may do one or two albums that I know are missing covers and see if that's the ticket.
Meanwhile, it's starting to piece together pretty well in terms of what's happening. During sync, I think that WMP is just 'sending' the files to the Droid and not the hidden album.jpg files. I don't know why Android doesn't do this and Sony does but that's the way it is. Allan, in your case, I think that the reason why a full drag and drop of directories is working is because you are ALSO taking the album.jpg with you. I guess this is a workaround but it's not remotely my preference because I can't control the sync with playlists and for file size. For now, I'm going without cover art (unless my earlier attempt works). I guess the next step will be to use mp3tag or something of the sort to embed the album cover into the mp3 and see if that works...though from what I've read, some people have problems with that route also since not all the cover art shows.
Just so very peculiar. Maybe 2.1 will resolve this issue. Hey, by the way, any Nexus users out there care to comment about music sync and album covers?
Hey guys, an update on the settings changes that I made to WMP: they made no difference. I did find what accounts for some of my files having cover art and others not. Anything that I've purchased from Amazon has the cover art embedded in the file so it shows up in the Android media player. Curiously, sometimes it doesn't show up until the file is actually played, but it's definitely in there. As for MP3s that I rip from CDs in WMP, the cover art is seemingly NOT embedded in the file. My next step is to consider using one of the taggers to embed the cover art. Or, I could just sit around and wait and see if the issue is addressed in 2.1. Lazy as I am, and since the music still plays with or without cover art, I'll likely just wait around and hope for a 'fix' (I know, the error is with my MP3 but just in case).
Missing album art
