Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3 (Read 7123 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Downloading iTunes cover art automatically (i.e. via "Get Album Artwork") does not embed the cover art into individual mp3s.

How do I do the same thing manually? I want to add cover art without embedding it into every single mp3 file.

I don't have an iTunes account (I don't live/have a credit card anywhere there's an iTunes store) so I can't use the automatic option.

(In effect, something like the reverse of this: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....p;#entry515322)

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #2 –
Hi, thanks for replying.

Hmm, what I really wanted to do is to add the cover art into iTunes, not really download it. I'm more concerned with getting iTunes to detect my cover art that I've downloaded but without embedding it into the mp3.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #3 –
I'm wondering how to do this too.

All my album folders already have cover art in them as JPEGs, but iTunes doesn't seem to pick these up, it goes to download its own.

What's the easiest way to get these album covers on to my iPod?

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #4 –
Quote from: whkoh on
How do I do the same thing manually? I want to add cover art without embedding it into every single mp3 file.


Why?  A typical 300x300 jpeg (which is as big as you need for iTune/iPod) is only around 14K.  Compared to the size of a typical MP3 (at 192VBR a typical pop/rock song is maybe 5 MB).  So why sweat 14K?  Even if you rip at 128 the embedded jpeg is about 0.5% of the files size.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #5 –
Don't know if this will help, but MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com) allows you to choose either embedding the cover in the mp3 file or merely linking to it. I don't have an iPod, so I don't know how it's handled on the portable end, but it does work fine on my computer.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #6 –
Quote from: PlazzTT on
I'm wondering how to do this too.

All my album folders already have cover art in them as JPEGs, but iTunes doesn't seem to pick these up, it goes to download its own.

What's the easiest way to get these album covers on to my iPod?



I used Mp3tag to do the job. There's an "embed artwork" action, just tell it to embed "folder.jpg" or whatever your album art is, and run it on all your files. worked great for me.
 

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #7 –
I have the same need; when you find out let me know. I don't want to add to the size of my files, I don't want to rewrite the files in question, and I don't want to change the timestamp either.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #8 –
Quote from: whkoh on
Downloading iTunes cover art automatically (i.e. via "Get Album Artwork") does not embed the cover art into individual mp3s.

How do I do the same thing manually? I want to add cover art without embedding it into every single mp3 file.


AFAIK, there's no ready-to-go solution around.

I did just try a Google search on itunes album art database, and there is an old Mac OS X Hints post that gives a method for using Python scripts to "intercept iTunes' requests for cover art, and allow you to send your own images". However, it apparently doesn't work with iTunes 7.4.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #9 –
Quote from: plnelson on
Quote from: whkoh on

How do I do the same thing manually? I want to add cover art without embedding it into every single mp3 file.


Why?  A typical 300x300 jpeg (which is as big as you need for iTune/iPod) is only around 14K.  Compared to the size of a typical MP3 (at 192VBR a typical pop/rock song is maybe 5 MB).  So why sweat 14K?  Even if you rip at 128 the embedded jpeg is about 0.5% of the files size.

Well, I have a lot of files that I want to add cover art to, and I don't really want to rewrite every file just to embed the cover art into the MP3. It'd be ideal if I could do without that.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #10 –
Quote from: plnelson on
Quote from: whkoh on

How do I do the same thing manually? I want to add cover art without embedding it into every single mp3 file.


Why?  A typical 300x300 jpeg (which is as big as you need for iTune/iPod) is only around 14K.  Compared to the size of a typical MP3 (at 192VBR a typical pop/rock song is maybe 5 MB).  So why sweat 14K?  Even if you rip at 128 the embedded jpeg is about 0.5% of the files size.


I use tag & rename for this. The files that come with itunes purchases are big,some as much as a hundred and 50 kilobytes.

I strip the jpeg with tag & rename, shrink to 300 by 300 and replace the tag picture.

With 1890 files, this gives me a lot of extra room for music.

Itunes should have a "shrink album art feature" too I think but so far you can only remove it completely.

How do I add iTunes cover art without embedding into ID3

Reply #11 –
So adding the Cover art  to the same Folder as the album doesn't do the trick?  (i.e. adding Back To The Future.jpg to that folder)  I know with Creative players and other brands it does the trick.