An attempt to explain Cover Art rules

Edit 2007-11-15

This have been upgraded rewrite and simplified here Three method of Cover art in Meizu players

Thank you for your time

Just an ammendment to your 2b.

The folder which you place your album in can be named whatever you want. The cover art retrieved by your miniPlayer is simply album name.jpg , where album name is the name of the album in the audio files' ID3 tag.

Eg. You have an mp3 and the ID3 tag information is as follows:
Artist: Mikuni Shimokawa
Album: Love Contract

Then in order to enable album art on your miniPlayer, simply place the cover art image into the folder where the songs of the album are located and name that image file "Love Contract.jpg" (without the quotation marks). [Which is what you were trying to say I think, judging by your example]

I havent tried 2a, but it seems like a slightly more tedius process when we can just use album name :D

Good guide btw, great for people who are too lazy to use search function.

Just a point \aaaaaa folder can't be equal to aaaaaa.jpg

This is what works for me:
sample: artist: "The Beatles"; album:"Abbey Road"
1. Create Folder called "ALBUMS", equal to other folders, like "MUSIC" (in miniplayer).
2. Google Image Search: "Abbey Road", select an image: square, small, looks good. Copy to desktop. Rename image file "Abbey RoadTheBeatles". Drop this file into "ALBUMS" folder.
For me, this is simple and always works.
_______________________________
***For Special Albums***sample: artist:"David Bowie" "Best of Bowie"
1. Google Image Search: title one:"David Bowie Space Oddity" save image then rename "01 Space Oddity"; title two: "Changes"save a different image, etc.
2. Open folder "Best of Bowie", create new folder: "01 Space Oddity", drop in the music file "01 Space Oddity" and the image file "01 Space Oddity"
3. Repeat.***
This way, I get a different image per song (albums over the years)

sample: artist: "The Beatles"; album:"Abbey Road"

This is ID3 tag information, not folder names just to make it clear.


Another issue i came across was after following all that, some of my tracks and albums show in Meizu as =VariousArtistes Nobuo Uematsu Final Fantasy VII

More or less like that.

So where exactly do i place them ?

I did like this

Music > Various Artists > Nobou Uematsu > Final Fantasy VII

Originally Posted by Moogle Stiltzkin

This is ID3 tag information, not folder names just to make it clear.


Another issue i came across was after following all that, some of my tracks and albums show in Meizu as =VariousArtistes Nobuo Uematsu Final Fantasy VII

More or less like that.

So where exactly do i place them ?

I did like this

Music > Various Artists > Nobou Uematsu > Final Fantasy VII

For Various Artists, I like to see an album for each song, so I use the second method, if I really like the music. Of course, if I don't really like the music, then I don't put it on my miniplayer.

Originally Posted by aquatint

For Various Artists, I like to see an album for each song, so I use the second method, if I really like the music. Of course, if I don't really like the music, then I don't put it on my miniplayer.

Read method 2a... you just need to copy in folder \ALBUMS, the cover art you want for each track with AlbumArtist.jpg according to its ID3. All the tracks can go in just one folder together named as you want or in \ROOT directory or in many folders as you want.

When the track is played it will pick appropriate cover art from \ALBUMS according with matching Artist Album in ID3. Then \ALBUMS folder is like a common warehouse of cover arts for the player.

Winamp does the footwork for you. For the more well known albums Winamp will detect and download the appropriate image. For the others you can find them online yourself and apply it. Winamp will put the image in the appropriate folder and rename it.

The only ones you should watch out for are the album names with characters like ":" or "/."

Originally Posted by hwcnyc

Winamp does the footwork for you. For the more well known albums Winamp will detect and download the appropriate image. For the others you can find them online yourself and apply it. Winamp will put the image in the appropriate folder and rename it.

The only ones you should watch out for are the album names with characters like ":" or "/."

What if I already have cover art embedded in tags?
What would Winamp do?

Read thread Solved the problem of alphabetical order within albums Meizu players doesn't like cover art embedded in tags, that spoil order of Tracks within Albums.

Originally Posted by DaremoS

Read method 2a... you just need to copy in folder \ALBUMS, the cover art you want for each track with AlbumArtist.jpg according to its ID3. All the tracks can go in just one folder together named as you want or in \ROOT directory or in many folders as you want.

When the track is played it will pick appropriate cover art from \ALBUMS according with matching Artist Album in ID3. Then \ALBUMS folder is like a common warehouse of cover arts for the player.

DaremoS, How would you do this, using method 2a?
Case: Album: Best of Bowie; Artist: David Bowie
Total number of tracks: 16; Total number of album covers: 16
Tracks: 1. Space Oddity; 2. Changes; 3. Suffragette City; 4. Ziggy Stardust; 5. The Jean Genie; 6. Rebel Rebel; 7. Young Americans [Single Version]; 8. Fame; 9. Golden Years [Single Version]; 10. Heroes [Single Version]; 11. Ashes to Ashes [Single Version]; 12. Let's Dance [Single Version]; 13. China Girl [Single Version]; 14. Modern Love; 15. Blue Jean; 16. I'm Afraid of Americans (VI) [Radio Edit]
Album Covers: (a new one for each track; the album art for "1. Space Oddity", let's call "x1") x1; x2; x3; x4; x5; x6; x7; x8; x9; x10; x11; x12; x13; x14; x14; x15; x16. Each track shares the following: ARTIST/ALBUM.

Originally Posted by aquatint

DaremoS, How would you do this, using method 2a?
Case: Album: Best of Bowie; Artist: David Bowie
Total number of tracks: 16; Total number of album covers: 16
Tracks: 1. Space Oddity; 2. Changes; 3. Suffragette City; 4. Ziggy Stardust; 5. The Jean Genie; 6. Rebel Rebel; 7. Young Americans [Single Version]; 8. Fame; 9. Golden Years [Single Version]; 10. Heroes [Single Version]; 11. Ashes to Ashes [Single Version]; 12. Let's Dance [Single Version]; 13. China Girl [Single Version]; 14. Modern Love; 15. Blue Jean; 16. I'm Afraid of Americans (VI) [Radio Edit]
Album Covers: (a new one for each track; the album art for "1. Space Oddity", let's call "x1") x1; x2; x3; x4; x5; x6; x7; x8; x9; x10; x11; x12; x13; x14; x14; x15; x16. Each track shares the following: ARTIST/ALBUM.

If you want to make things difficult

\ALBUMS
x1.jpg
x2.jpg
...
x16.jpg

\ROOT (Or maybe in any folder)
ID3 tags track 1: ARTIST = David Bowie ALBUM = x1
ID3 tags track 2. ARTIST = David Bowie ALBUM = x2
...
ID3 tags track 16. ARTIST = David Bowie ALBUM = x16

Anyway:

This is just one album with one cover, in other words: a normal album,
I don't understand why you write "Total number of album covers: 16"
Then:

*** (ID3 tag of all tracks: ARTIST = David Bowie; ALBUM = Best of Bowie) ---> Best Of Bowie (O upper case... wont work) ***

ROOT

\ALBUMS
Best of BowieDavid Bowie.jpg <---- cover art

\MUSIC
_____\David Bowie
__________\Best of Bowie
______________ Track 1~
______________ Track 16

Here are used folders ALBUMS and MUSIC at the same level.
Folder "David Bowie" under folder MUSIC.
Folder "Best of Bowie" under folder "David Bowie"


Not asked but just to show the difference
Method 2b

ROOT

\MUSIC
_____\David Bowie
__________\2002 Best of Bowie (I've added year of release to make it different than cover art name)
______________ Track 1~
______________ Track 16

Best of Bowie.jpg <---- cover art


Are is NOT used folders ALBUMS
MUSIC at the ROOT level.
Folder "David Bowie" under folder MUSIC.
Folder "Best of Bowie" under folder "David Bowie"

I guess I should have written "Total Desired Number of Album Covers".
Why so difficult?
Reason #1: Because Bowie has been around for awhile and has produce several albums throughout the years
Reason #2: Because it's nice to look at image dated from original album/song release (kind of a visual album art history)
Reason #3: Because others may have a use for this. For example, a various artist album-wouldn't it be nice to see a picture from each artist or group?
Reason #4: Because it can be done.
Thanks, DaremoS!

I forgot that in a compilation a user would want to remain original covers. I like anyway the cover of Best of Bowie because the artistry works take advantage of this rarity as it is to have different colours eyes.

I am sure that this method works fine with song in ROOT directory, especially for some songs that I like to listen in my Meizu player, but I don't want the whole album.

My albums are in folders named after the album title. /i simply drage those folders into MUSIC, then copy my existing FOLDER.JPG and rename it albumtitle.jpg, and I copy/paste the albumtitle from the foldername to be sure.

So Prince/Planet Earth's jpg will be called Planet Earth.jpg. Simple.