Different album art for individual tracks within the same album

[juli_]

I've been able to assign different album art for each composer in my 'Classical' album on the 808, which is useful for when I wonder who I'm listening to

I tried doing this on the 706 as well, but although I was able to change the album art for individual tracks within SS - when the album was transferred to the player, the regular artwork shows, ie; the cover in the library. I applied it in exactly the same way as I did with the 808, and I can't get the 706 to display anything other than the one cover, the library cover. Can someone please confirm if only the 808 can apply album art to individual tracks within the same album? Thank you

[Shinji Ikeda]

It does not seem that the NW-S700/S600 series supports multiple Album/Cover Art for an Album. Additionally, It seems to only transfer the album/cover art that is most commonly used. If this is not the case, then the album/cover art assigned to the the album.

- First: if there is a album/cover art used for more that one track then that album/cover art is used instead of the cover/album art assigned to the album.

-Second: if each track has its own individual album/cover art then the assigned album/cover art is used.

There is a work around for this. You can create a playlist called 'Classical' which includes all the files from. However, this does require that you separate all your album into individual albums.

[LuLu]

I'm glad Juli started this thread. I'm having problems with cover art as well.

Shinji wrote:

It seems to only transfer the album/cover art that is most commonly used.

Based on what I've read here it seems as though my cover art is working differently. It never transfers automatically. It can be attached automatically - this happens with almost all the podcasts I've imported/transferred using SS.

First I should add that I'm using SS 4.3, installed on top of many other versions (perhaps as far back as 2.0 on this particular computer) and I'm in Canada. Apparently the latter tidbit is an issue.

When I import CDs into SS it automatically "grabs" all the info I'm interested in (title, artist, album). But there is no cover art so I must manually attach that.

If I right click on a highlighted track the menu offers "Get CD info" and "Search for cover art/more info". When I try to use "Search for cover art/more info" to grab the cover art I'm prompted to "Get CD info". This can be a bit annoying since the entries from Gracenote are often not as accurate as what has already been added when I imported the CD.

Then I still have to "Search for cover art/more info" to add it. When I do this I get this:

Unfortunately there is no option for me add this cover art from here. There is no right click menu or add button. When I click on the "more info" button on the bottom I'm linked to Amazon.ca. From there I can save the cover art to my hard drive, then manually add it using the "add" link on the "properties" menu. Even after all that it doesn't always "stick" with the song in SS. This happens regardless of whether I've used Gracenote to add the song info or it has come right from the CD imported into SS.

My questions are:

1. Is there a better/faster way to add cover art?

2. Is there some reason why it doesn't stick?

Thanks in advance.

LOG

p.s. I just saw this similar post.

Edited August 4, 2007 by LuLu

[riceb0i87]

This doesn't answer anyone's questions here, but I just wanted to let you guys know how I apply album art, and some things I've noticed.

1) always embed the album art, and make sure it is a jpeg file. I used to use itunes, because it lets me copy pictures (from amazon or photoshop) and paste it in the album art window, without having to save as a jpeg file, then adding it later. DO NOT DO THIS, because itunes creates a png file, with some .itc (itunes cover?) extension, which sonicstage can recognize (since it is a PNG format), but it doesn't show up on the player.

2) you can't update the covers on the player, unless you delete the track off the player first, then retransferring the song with the cover.

3) if you have a various cd with multiple artists, and you have a different cover for each song, make sure you DO NOT TICK COMPILATIONS, because it messes up the cover art in the player. For example, some of these songs I didn't have a cover for, and on the player it has the cover for the first track, when it should have had no cover. So yes, it should be able to show different album art in the same album, as long as it is not a "Compilation"

Unfortunately, I don't think there's really a quick and easy way of getting album art. I'm really picky with my album art, so I usually photoshop all the covers I save to get rid of the white borders, make sure it is 250x250px, high quality, etc. I can't really help you with SS and the get info because I don't use that. I usually use this program called Tag&Rename, which does a good job tagging and embedding album art easily.

LuLu, have you tried adding the cover art through itunes? Is it a jpeg file? To be honest, I really don't trust SonicStage as a tagging program, so I use other ones to tag my songs.

[LuLu]

1) always embed the album art, and make sure it is a jpeg file.

How exactly do you embed it? Is it when you use the Tag&Rename application you mention below?

LuLu, have you tried adding the cover art through itunes? Is it a jpeg file? To be honest, I really don't trust SonicStage as a tagging program, so I use other ones to tag my songs.

All of my cover art files are jpg.

The few songs I've bought in iTunes I've had to re-record, saving as mp3 in order to use in SS. Because I've created the mp3 all tagging information and cover art is added manually. Even if the cover art was embedded with an iTunes song it can't be used in SS because it won't import it due to DRM.

SS automatically points me to Amazon (the Canadian version) to grab cover art. If there is no automatic way to do so within SS then I might as well search for the CD at Amazon to start with and avoid having Gracenote mess up my tags. SS won't let you search for cover art without using their "get CD info" first.

I'm going to take a look at the application you mentioned. Thanks.

LOG

Edited August 4, 2007 by LuLu

[Richard]

Then I still have to "Search for cover art/more info" to add it. When I do this I get this:

Unfortunately there is no option for me add this cover art from here. There is no right click menu or add button. When I click on the "more info" button on the bottom I'm linked to Amazon.ca. From there I can save the cover art to my hard drive, then manually add it using the "add" link on the "properties" menu. Even after all that it doesn't always "stick" with the song in SS. This happens regardless of whether I've used Gracenote to add the song info or it has come right from the CD imported into SS.

My questions are:

When you get the pop-up of the art from CDDB you should drag that art into the title bar of the SS application where the blank square is that normally displays the cover art. The cursor will change to a plus sign. If you get the cover art for an album this way, when it assigns the art to the album it will ask you if you also want to assign it at a track level to all the tracks in the album. If you don't then it will just attach it to the top level album.

This means if you transfer the album as a whole in one go all tracks in the album will have the cover art assigned as it will be inherited from the album. If you drill into the album and you just transfer the tracks seperately if the tracks themselves have not been assigned a cover art they won't have art on the player.

Generally I always assign art at the album level and usually only transfer entire albums. If i do transfer individual tracks I check the properties of the track before transferring to see if it has art or not.

[LuLu]

When you get the pop-up of the art from CDDB you should drag that art into the title bar of the SS application where the blank square is that normally displays the cover art. The cursor will change to a plus sign. If you get the cover art for an album this way, when it assigns the art to the album it will ask you if you also want to assign it at a track level to all the tracks in the album. If you don't then it will just attach it to the top level album.

I get it now (and I doubt I would have ever guessed to do that if you hadn't told me!). So there is some value in potentially mucking up my CD information by letting SS use Gracenote before using the "search for cover art/more info" option.

Does this mean the cover art is saved on the hard drive somewhere as well?

LOG

[Richard]

I get it now (and I doubt I would have ever guessed to do that if you hadn't told me!). So there is some value in potentially mucking up my CD information by letting SS use Gracenote before using the "search for cover art/more info" option.

Does this mean the cover art is saved on the hard drive somewhere as well?

LOG

To be honest you're right searching for art after the albums are imported this way runs the risk of messing up your titling. If CDDB finds the art when I am importing then I'll drag it in, but make any adjustments to the track titles myself. Generally if it doesn't find it during the import stage I will find it manually from Amazon or elsewhere and save it as a jpeg. Usually I'll crop it if it has any white borders then add it to the properties of the album. (My library view is set to Albums/Playlists).

To answer the other question, yes all imported art (via CDDB or otherwise) is usually re-copied as jacket.jpg into the same folder on your hdd as the source atrac or mp3 files. For some strange reason this doesn't apply to all albums and the cover art for some is found in a sub-folder of the library called "Fringe" wherein there appear to be a series of randomly numbered folders each representing an album and containing the jpegs for the cover art.

How does SS know what art belongs to what album? There is an MSACCESS database in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sony Corporation\SonicStage\Packages that contains the metadata for all the track info and art. A bit flaky but there we are...

Edited August 4, 2007 by richyhu

[LuLu]

To be honest you're right searching for art after the albums are imported this way runs the risk of messing up your titling.

You're right and this is annoying because I have already painstakingly fixed up the title/artist/album information. I can see why SS directs me to the Canadian version of Amazon. That way I'm more likely to find the cover art of the CD I've actually purchased. For example I was using the drag and drop method to add cover art to all the Blondie songs I have in SS from the "The Best of Blondie". But I could see that the cover art did not match the CD cover I owned. Sure enough another version was at Amazon.ca. So back to adding it manually to ensure I get the cover most familiar to me!

LOG

Edited August 4, 2007 by LuLu

[Richard]

You're right and this is annoying because I have already painstakingly fixed up the title/artist/album information. I can see why SS directs me to the Canadian version of Amazon. That way I'm more likely to find the cover art of the CD I've actually purchased. For example I was using the drag and drop method to add cover art to all the Blondie songs I have in SS from the "The Best of Blondie". But I could see that the cover art did not match the CD cover I owned. Sure enough another version was at Amazon.ca. So back to adding it manually to ensure I get the cover most familiar to me!

LOG

Just as a footnote you can actually change the country database for CDDB in the Sonic Stage options. It seems some countries are better than others at finding the correct info and some will generate more typos than others

[juli_]

3) if you have a various cd with multiple artists, and you have a different cover for each song, make sure you DO NOT TICK COMPILATIONS, because it messes up the cover art in the player.

But that just scatters all the tracks into several individual albums, doesn't it? If you want 'multiple artists' in one album, I'm sure you have to tick the compilation box. Anyone?

Re: Album art - I've picked up some useful information here, much more than I would have done if I'd had to wade through the seventeen-million-page user manual. You guys are better than the manual and easier to read

[LuLu]

But that just scatters all the tracks into several individual albums, doesn't it? If you want 'multiple artists' in one album, I'm sure you have to tick the compilation box. Anyone?

Not sure if I'm following you here. Do you mean album as in a collection of songs like a CD or do you mean album as a way to have a collection of songs associated together in SS?

If the former I think it depends on what information you have entered under 'album'. If I have the songs from a soundtrack, for example, that has different artists but the same album name (and you don't change this) then they won't be scattered across different albums regardless of whether the compilation box is checked off.

LOG

[LuLu]

Just as a footnote you can actually change the country database for CDDB in the Sonic Stage options. It seems some countries are better than others at finding the correct info and some will generate more typos than others

I can change the language (including the option of esperanto!) but unfortunately not the country. Thanks for your help.

LOG

[riceb0i87]

How exactly do you embed it? Is it when you use the Tag&Rename application you mention below?

All of my cover art files are jpg.

When I said embed, I meant the program (SS?, iTunes, Tag&Rename) attaching a picture (jpeg) to the id3 tag information of the mp3. It's just that some iTunes Podcasts I download use a PNG format for their album art, and I don't think SS supports PNG formats. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

But that just scatters all the tracks into several individual albums, doesn't it? If you want 'multiple artists' in one album, I'm sure you have to tick the compilation box. Anyone?

It does, but I didn't have the album art for some songs (I expected the player to show no cover when I played these songs), and when I listened to the songs on the player, with Compilations checked, they had the album art for the first track of the album. So unless you have covers for all the artists of the album, it shouldn't be a problem. (Remember I'm picky lol, and the compilations is just an organization thing anyways)

Sorry for confusing everyone

Edited August 4, 2007 by riceb0i87

[juli_]

It does, but I didn't have the album art for some songs (I expected the player to show no cover when I played these songs), and when I listened to the songs on the player, with Compilations checked, they had the album art for the first track of the album.

Sorry for the confusing everyone

Don't be sad confusion is par for the course with SS and album art, and I've just discovered yet another foible re: album art and split albums. I just imported 3 songs from one 'Doors' CD - and 5 songs from another. I gave them the same genre, title and numbered them sequentially and in the SS library it showed 8 songs together in one album. Art was applied as usual, then when I transferred the songs to the player - it went over with 5 songs in one album with album art - and 3 songs in another album without album art.

The track numbers had rearranged themselves 1-5 first album, and 1-3 second album. Transferred back and forth with no luck, and then I checked in 'my music' (saving location) and there were 2 folders, one for each album - so I made one new folder and put the 8 songs in that, and transferred that to SS and then to the player - with the same result as before. I had the same problem with 'The Wall' which is 2 discs, and I wanted it to be under one album. No matter what, it split them into Disc 1 and ". I 'solved' that by deleting the album altogether and re-importing it. I can do that with the Doors but there must be an easier way than that!

[juli_]

When I try to use "Search for cover art/more info" to grab the cover art I'm prompted to "Get CD info". This can be a bit annoying since the entries from Gracenote are often not as accurate as what has already been added when I imported the CD.

It's maddening isn't it? I just don't use the covers they provide, since A, like you, I couldn't 'grab' the damn things - and B, the 808 has such a beautiful screen, it demands nice pics, so I Photoshop everything and add it myself. I find the less involvement CCDB/Gracenote has with 'assisting' me - the less likely I am to have problems. With the 706 and its much smaller screen, detailed covers are not so essential, so I just get the cover from Amazon - save as jpeg on the desktop and then drag it on to the album in SS. As I've just 'finished' re-ripping everything and getting everything I want on both players - I am hoping not to need SS for a little while! I could defnitely use a break from it

[Superhai]

Just wanted to recommend what I use for my "tagging" and adding pictures.

http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html

It can automatically import from amazon.com the info they have including trackdata and album art. Usually that info is better and less of typos than on cddb. And you can go into each file if you want full control og the tags.