Album/Cover art for individual songs or singles

Stennie! · 02-15-2008, 04:14 PM

I currently have my Zune setup with ~20 albums and the rest of the space filled with individual tracks from ~400 different artists, all stripped of the "album" ID3 tag. I do this because I have relatively few full albums, and I do not want the "Albums" view on the Zune to show me roughly 800 different album names when only 20 or so are full albums.

The problem I'm running into is that the Zune will not read the embedded album art for individual tracks. The software sees the album art perfectly fine and displays it correctly, and the Zune hardware shows embedded album art, but only for complete albums. The hardware will not, however, show album art for individual songs (ones without an entry in the ""album" field).

I've tried multiple solutions -- I gave every individual track the tag of "Singles" in the album field, thereby making all these various songs part of the "Singles" album, with "Various Artists" in the "album artist" field. This showed up alright in the software, but the Zune hardware would only display a single cover for every song instead of the cover art I had acquired for each individual song.
I also tried adding the art via WMP11 instead of embedding and this did work, BUT each track had WMP11's really ****ty 200x200 blurry cover art instead of the high resolution images I had acquired.

It would seem that the Zune does not accept embedded album art for individual songs that do not have an "album" tag. It does, however, accept album art as long as its in the WMP11-format -- "AlbumArt_{code}_Large.jpg" type hidden files that, as far as I can see, are generated ONLY by using WMP11 and also are limited to really ugly size restrictions (200x200?! Come on!!)

Does any one have any other ideas or know any way in which I can tag individual songs with album art, retain decent quality in said album art, AND have said album art display using the Zune?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Gregory · 02-15-2008, 04:32 PM

I believe the album art images need to be "ZuneAlbumArt.jpg".

Stennie! · 02-15-2008, 05:10 PM

I dont think so, as it reads it just fine in the software.

As I currently see it, the only solution is to create the album art using the "AlbumArt_{GUID}_Large.jpg / AlbumArt_{GUID}_Small.jpg" method that WMP11 uses. Are there any other programs that create album art in this fashion and don't rape the quality of the images to be unusable? One of the large deciding factors for getting the Zune was the large size of the album art in the display, but if I'll have to settle for terrible 200x200 blur, I might as well return the Zune and try again with another player. =/

HarlequiN · 02-15-2008, 06:57 PM

Could you not simply add the album information, making it the same as the songs title (which is what you would probably get if you ripped a cd single, at least it's what I get when I rip CD singles)? Then you'd have the album art working correctly, because the Zune would think it was the art for a complete album, even if it was only one song.

Or am I misunderstanding and you want a seperate image for each song on one album, rather than the albums cover art?

Stennie! · 02-15-2008, 07:48 PM

Adding the album tag is a remedy, but it still leaves the issue of the Albums view on the Zune being cluttered with roughly (I'd guess) 500 albums when in reality only 20 or so have more than one track. If an mp3 has nothing in the Albums field, its grouped together with all that have that missing information in a group called "Unknown Album" on the Zune, which is fine. I'd just like the album view to only reflect complete albums with probably one album grouping for any and all non-album songs. And I can get that far, and even have album art for all those singles, but the album art is WMP11 garbage.

I think, unless a solution comes along, I'll retag all full albums with "[Album]" at the beginning of the name, so they should show first. Any singles will then be unfortunately listed in the Albums view on the Zune, but they'll at least be at the end of the list.

Thanks for the help, all!

jackluo923 · 02-16-2008, 09:33 PM

The zune software will accept embeded album art.
1) Turn off "automatically find meta information" thing in zune software under settings.
2) Delete your library in zune software
3) Drag and drop all your media into the zunesoftware.

After doing the 3 simple steps, the zune software should be able to recongize the embeded album art. After you've made sure the embeded album art showed up,
1) sync
2) if sync doens't fix it, delete the songs off your zune or reset the zune and then resync your music.
3) If #2 still doesn't fix, download HD hack and drag and drop your songs onto the zune. Make sure you have old version 2 software instead of the one that's updated 2 or 3 weeks ago.

amdmatt · 03-07-2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackluo923

The zune software will accept embeded album art.
1) Turn off "automatically find meta information" thing in zune software under settings.
2) Delete your library in zune software
3) Drag and drop all your media into the zunesoftware.

After doing the 3 simple steps, the zune software should be able to recongize the embeded album art. After you've made sure the embeded album art showed up,
1) sync
2) if sync doens't fix it, delete the songs off your zune or reset the zune and then resync your music.
3) If #2 still doesn't fix, download HD hack and drag and drop your songs onto the zune. Make sure you have old version 2 software instead of the one that's updated 2 or 3 weeks ago.

does this really work? i tried with the the nin album i bought and every song has the same art? which it shouldnt

jackluo923 · 03-07-2008, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amdmatt

does this really work? i tried with the the nin album i bought and every song has the same art? which it shouldnt

You'll need to have correct meta/tag information on your mp3 in order for my method to work properly. If you had the correct meta/tag information, zune software will pick them up and use it instead of downloading them from zune marketplace.

amdmatt · 03-08-2008, 07:03 AM

sorry for the bump btw...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackluo923

You'll need to have correct meta/tag information on your mp3 in order for my method to work properly. If you had the correct meta/tag information, zune software will pick them up and use it instead of downloading them from zune marketplace.

each mp3 has the correct meta/tag info.. and i disabled the auto fetch information option, deleted the album from my library and zune, then added it back to the library and resynced with zune but each song had the same album art still..

then i tried the autoUnlock tool and deleted the album manually from my zune then just dragged the actual folder with the songs on to my zune but then it just didnt show any album art or album.

jackluo923 · 03-08-2008, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amdmatt

sorry for the bump btw...

each mp3 has the correct meta/tag info.. and i disabled the auto fetch information option, deleted the album from my library and zune, then added it back to the library and resynced with zune but each song had the same album art still..

then i tried the autoUnlock tool and deleted the album manually from my zune then just dragged the actual folder with the songs on to my zune but then it just didnt show any album art or album.

When you manually put music onto your zune, make sure you put it on correctly

1) Put it in "music" folder
2) The directory goes like this music\artist\album\songs

02-15-2008, 04:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
Stennie! Zewbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3 Reputation: 10 $zB: 3 Donate	Album/Cover art for individual songs or singles I currently have my Zune setup with ~20 albums and the rest of the space filled with individual tracks from ~400 different artists, all stripped of the "album" ID3 tag. I do this because I have relatively few full albums, and I do not want the "Albums" view on the Zune to show me roughly 800 different album names when only 20 or so are full albums. The problem I'm running into is that the Zune will not read the embedded album art for individual tracks. The software sees the album art perfectly fine and displays it correctly, and the Zune hardware shows embedded album art, but only for complete albums. The hardware will not, however, show album art for individual songs (ones without an entry in the ""album" field). I've tried multiple solutions -- I gave every individual track the tag of "Singles" in the album field, thereby making all these various songs part of the "Singles" album, with "Various Artists" in the "album artist" field. This showed up alright in the software, but the Zune hardware would only display a single cover for every song instead of the cover art I had acquired for each individual song. I also tried adding the art via WMP11 instead of embedding and this did work, BUT each track had WMP11's really ***ty 200x200 blurry cover art instead of the high resolution images I had acquired. It would seem that the Zune does not accept embedded album art for individual songs that do not have an "album" tag. It does, however, accept album art as long as its in the WMP11-format -- "AlbumArt_{code}_Large.jpg" type hidden files that, as far as I can see, are generated ONLY by using WMP11 and also are limited to really ugly size restrictions (200x200?! Come on!!) Does any one have any other ideas or know any way in which I can tag individual songs with album art, retain decent quality in said album art, AND have said album art display using the Zune? Thanks in advance for any help! Last edited by Stennie! : 02-15-2008 at 04:17 PM.*

02-15-2008, 04:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
Gregory Support Team Moderator Ultimate Zuner Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: What a stalker! Posts: 6,433 Reputation: 257 $zB: 3740 Donate	I believe the album art images need to be "ZuneAlbumArt.jpg". __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Do you live outside of the US, have Paypal, and want the Zune Pass? If so PM or visit my To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. .

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02-15-2008, 05:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
Stennie! Zewbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3 Reputation: 10 $zB: 3 Donate	I dont think so, as it reads it just fine in the software. As I currently see it, the only solution is to create the album art using the "AlbumArt_{GUID}_Large.jpg / AlbumArt_{GUID}_Small.jpg" method that WMP11 uses. Are there any other programs that create album art in this fashion and don't rape the quality of the images to be unusable? One of the large deciding factors for getting the Zune was the large size of the album art in the display, but if I'll have to settle for terrible 200x200 blur, I might as well return the Zune and try again with another player. =/

02-15-2008, 06:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
HarlequiN Squirt Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 15 Reputation: 10 $zB: 14 Donate	Could you not simply add the album information, making it the same as the songs title (which is what you would probably get if you ripped a cd single, at least it's what I get when I rip CD singles)? Then you'd have the album art working correctly, because the Zune would think it was the art for a complete album, even if it was only one song. Or am I misunderstanding and you want a seperate image for each song on one album, rather than the albums cover art?

02-15-2008, 07:48 PM	#5 (permalink)
Stennie! Zewbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3 Reputation: 10 $zB: 3 Donate	Adding the album tag is a remedy, but it still leaves the issue of the Albums view on the Zune being cluttered with roughly (I'd guess) 500 albums when in reality only 20 or so have more than one track. If an mp3 has nothing in the Albums field, its grouped together with all that have that missing information in a group called "Unknown Album" on the Zune, which is fine. I'd just like the album view to only reflect complete albums with probably one album grouping for any and all non-album songs. And I can get that far, and even have album art for all those singles, but the album art is WMP11 garbage. I think, unless a solution comes along, I'll retag all full albums with "[Album]" at the beginning of the name, so they should show first. Any singles will then be unfortunately listed in the Albums view on the Zune, but they'll at least be at the end of the list. Thanks for the help, all!

02-16-2008, 09:33 PM	#6 (permalink)
jackluo923 Senior Zuner Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Greater Vancouver BC Posts: 1,275 Reputation: 122 $zB: 759 Donate	The zune software will accept embeded album art. 1) Turn off "automatically find meta information" thing in zune software under settings. 2) Delete your library in zune software 3) Drag and drop all your media into the zunesoftware. After doing the 3 simple steps, the zune software should be able to recongize the embeded album art. After you've made sure the embeded album art showed up, 1) sync 2) if sync doens't fix it, delete the songs off your zune or reset the zune and then resync your music. 3) If #2 still doesn't fix, download HD hack and drag and drop your songs onto the zune. Make sure you have old version 2 software instead of the one that's updated 2 or 3 weeks ago.

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