iTunes Artwork Finder is extremely useful when trying to get high quality artwork for music (and programmers and films, etc.). He also provides the related Apple Music Artwork Finder.
Failing that, I usually turn to Discogs. The artwork tends not to be particularly high resolution, but there is often a good selection, especially for albums with multiple versions.
I wish I had an answer, but at this time last year I was having the same issue, and the only way to solve the issue was to delete the tracks and reimport the CDs. A long time I ago I was using the group field for smart playlists, but I noticed this issue later on my iPhone and iPad. I am both an iTunes Match and Apple Music subscriber, and I always wondered if one of those services was somehow involved.
Discogs is a great site, crammed with info–I haven’t been able to stump it yet, no matter how obscure the album or song. Also a great clearinghouse for used media (particularly LPs).
While I usually have success finding art with a DuckDuckGo search, other places to look include AllMusic.com and…Amazon!
I understand about not connecting to the internet but once you acquire the art which usually is through the internet somehow, then it will attach to the files if added properly in iTunes as I’ve said previously when this discussion occurred in another thread. I only rip my own CD’s or digitize records and I only use the Gracenote database for metadata and correct as needed. I locate the art myself using Google or scan if the cover is not available or poor quality. But if you embed it properly, then it will carryover to other situations like a phone or to use in a car environment. iTunes does fine for most metadata in my experience.
If you’re using these sites for the art, then what is the issue with the album art since you’re not letting iTunes acquire it, correct?
I’m not sure that’s true as listeners generally want variety and don’t want to hear a whole album on the radio. Maybe when FM started to take off in the 60’s and 70’s as it was more experimental then.
Via iTunes, over the internet? The Gracenote site doesn’t appear to have a direct end-user accessible database.
I tried adding audiobooks to Books and to Music, and Audible wound not authorize those that I had purchased. Books will not open public domain audiobooks I downloaded from Librivox. Music will only one chapter at a time from my Librivox audiobooks. I believe this is all the result of “upgrading” from Mojave to Big Sur. I haven’t been listening to audiobooks recently, but this also affects voice recordings I have made during interviews. I wonder if the problem is that I have never bought music from Apple. I haven’t looked into this much, so maybe I’m missing something, but right now I have a bad feeling about it.
Via iTunes as I’ve done for years over the internet. But you said you’re not connected to the internet for that computer but even if it’s an older system, you could connect just for that part if needed. The database is usually accurate but not always but then you just edit in iTunes as needed. I could also rip in XLD which gives you a choice of databases to use but I stick with iTunes for the metadata and find the cover art manually.
You can manually edit iTunes all you want, until your arms fall off. I merely suggested a couple of tools that people might find convenient if they get involved in a lot of tag editing (ID3.x) on iTunes (and maybe music.app). You seem to take great exception to these suggestions.
You want to put your “obsolete” Macs on the internet, have a blast. I keep my isolated, vulnerable Macs off the internet. Period. I use my fully up to date, full Apple security updates installed, Monterey Mac to download art then sneaker net to my server Macs (as I’ve said several times now). You don’t want to do that, great. Do what you want. I’m not going to do what you seem to want.
And pardon my apparently bottomless ignorance, but I don’t know what “XLD” is. Nor will I bother to look it up.
I don’t find your “suggestions” or comments helpful. You might consider redirecting them to someone who does.
Here is a link to XLD which has been around for years:
There is nothing wrong with your methods but you made some incorrect statements regarding iTunes and metadata and you appear to dislike criticism and/or comments but that is fine as well. We all learn from these posts and I plan on checking out the Meta app you mentioned.
Please point these out. I suggest using forum email because I doubt anybody else is interested in this aspect of the discussion.
I already stated in a previous post that the iTunes storage method embeds the metadata and art so that if you move the file to another computer or device, that data is intact and appears there. You stated:
iTunes attaches tag information directly to the file even if you had to manually enter it since some of your computers are not on the internet as you stated.
I meant to reply to you but ended up replying to myself so see the last post.
My statement stands. Sometimes, iTunes DOES NOT retain the metadata. Maybe this has never happened to you. Maybe I’m the only iTunes user in the world where after transferring files between libraries, some album art is not retained (using an “iTunes transfer” within iTunes with both libraries open). If so, then people are free to disregard most of this discussion. Sorry to waste your time.
However, editing metadata can be much easier (depending on the user) using a tool such as either Multi Item Edit or Meta to facilitate the changes, which was my main point.
Here is a screen shot of one of the directory of one of my iTunes libraries:
Note the “Album Artwork” folder within the library (folder “x-iTunes PM”). Note the huge size of the contents: 20.37GB (library size is 2.83TB). If iTunes stores all art with individual tracks, what is the 20.37GB for?
Also, note the generic icons used for the tracks in the 10,000 Maniacs album. Tracks that have had art added by Meta or Multi Item Edit show very small icons of the actual album art, as would individually edited iTunes tracks.
music.app seems to do this differently:
Note there’s no “Album Artwork” folder.
If anyone can explain how/why iTunes manages album art considering the “Album Artwork” folder as compared to binding the artwork directly with the music track itself, I’d love to hear it.
I think that there is something in your process which causes the metadata to disappear or change but that has not been my experience. I simply copy the audio files to the other computer I use as well as backup drives and it’s all there. I have tested this out so I know it works but I do not have any purchased tracks from the Apple Store so that could be an issue for some. Sorry it doesn’t work for you.
EDIT: Also, Meta is a paid program correct? But iTunes handles most of the tasks from what I read except the album art which I do myself anyway since any program might not find the “best” art on its own depending on criteria.
I see your screen shot but in Catalina which is what I’m using, AIFF files don’t show art thumbnails as in Mojave and previous OS versions. You said you’re on Monterey so it may be different for you. My mp3 and ALAC files show album art thumbnails in the Finder for all of my iTunes tracks which were embedded in iTunes.
Here is a screen shot for a change I made today when I realized that one track had an artist misspelling. Patti LaBelle became Pattie LaBelle so I changed that. Notice how the date has changed which is because iTunes saves those changes in the file. Thumbnails are present.
This screenshot was from a server running Catalina. But I disagree Catalina changed the art thumbnails–I believe this has always been the case, Mojave and earlier, UNLESS the source of the recording specifically added the art to each individual track. My argument is that usually, iTunes managed the art ok. But not always, especially on library transfers.
The question of why iTunes required a separate “Album Artwork” directory remains.
The AIFF art thumbnail issue with Catalina is well known. Google it and you should find something as I remember it was a problem. It also did the same with ALAC but one of the updates fixed that at some point.
I don’t worry about the Album Art folder as long as my files have the art embedded in iTunes which they do. Maybe someone here knows about that folder.
