Artist/Album thumbnail creation (1 Viewer)

smaclee

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MediaPortal Version: 1.0.10.0
MediaPortal Skin: Indigo
Windows Version: WIn7

HI there - I give up....need help! I've been struggling to get what I want out of the MP thumbnails in the music browser.

I suspect the problem is my file structure, but here's the issue:
My music is stored in 7 folders within the 'my music' directory of Windows. Each folder is a genre, and inside are the music files. No artist folders, no albm folders. All files (mostly MP3) are correctly tagged (ID3v2.3) with title and artist. MOST are tagged with album, however I tend not to tag the album on singles or one-offs.

I have the views set up as I want; pretty much just one for genre->artist->album->track and another for artist->album->track. I do not care about a thumbnail at the genre level (but understand how to do one via the programdata/teammediaportal/thumbnails/music folder) but I AM expecting MP to correctly detect and use the embedded tag thumbnails for albums when I view an artists albums.

By default MP doesn't seem to use embedded images, it only uses ones it has generated from folder.jpg or sourced online, is that correct?. Because of my file structure folder.jpg isn't practical.

Also, if I choose "create artist preview thumbs" in the config the thumbs generated seem to be completely random - they certainly don't match the correct album and artist.

Hopefully this is clear. AM I completely stuffed by my flat file structure? Or can anybody offer some insight into how to drive MP thumbnails?

Thanks
 

jameson_uk

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    opefully this is clear. AM I completely stuffed by my flat file structure? Or can anybody offer some insight into how to drive MP thumbnails?
    Artist thumbs are handled differently to album art; MP will not pickup any embeded artist images, only album covers. You can use the audioscrobbler plugin to download artist thumbs for you once you have scanned your files into the database.

    For album thumbs it depends on what you have setup. If you only want embedded images have a look at this
    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-high-resolution-cover-art-now-playing-76665/

    I am guessing that MP might struggle to get album artwork if your music is not tagged correctly as it will not know what makes up an album as all the tracks are in a single folder. MediaMonkey is actually able to tag your files based on folder structure (to set genre tags) and also move files based on tag (ie. create folders for artist/albums) which could help a lot with your setup. (this might need the paid for gold version though)
     

    hwahrmann

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    MediaMonkey is actually able to tag your files based on folder structure (to set genre tags) and also move files based on tag (ie. create folders for artist/albums) which could help a lot with your setup. (this might need the paid for gold version though)

    Or you use the FREE MPTagThat Tag Editor Which can organise your files based on tags as well.
     

    smaclee

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    I am guessing that MP might struggle to get album artwork if your music is not tagged correctly as it will not know what makes up an album as all the tracks are in a single folder.

    That's the thing though, my files are tagged correctly, they're just not in the file structure that MP likes. Easiest fix might be to just change that, EasyTag can do it....easily :)

    Thanks for the heads up about audioscrobbler for artists though, will have a look.
     

    tomtom21000

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    smaclee,

    i had a similar problem as you.
    My folder structure is like artist -> track (no folder per album).
    Can't give you a step by step guide right now.
    Try the following:
    1) switch off anything in music advanced configuration that sounds like "folder.jpg"
    2) clean your folders from any *.jpg
    3) don't use windows media player in between, which allways creates folder.jpgs

    Not sure if all these things are necessary. It's been a long time since I solved this.
    Anyway it is working here in the way you expect it.

    tomtom
     

    kiwijunglist

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    i have a feeling that by default MP uses folder.jpg over embeded album art. so you must change that, plz check my guide.
     

    smaclee

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    Kiwijunglist, I've checked your guide both before and after posting this thanks. It was after following that guide (except the bit about audioscrobbler) that I noticed the issue. One suggestion I'd add - you give a good guide on how to set up some views, however it's not overly apparent (to a new user) what they are actually setting up. eg it's not explained that the rows work in sequence as you dig down. I've read a LOT of posts on issues related to the music views recently, and most would be answered if people just RTFM. That's the clearest description I've seen yet of how they actually work....funny that! ;)

    tomtom you might be on to something with the note about media player. I have used it to quickly check tracks sometimes....it may be slotting in the folder art after I have deleted it.

    I think I'll just bite the bullet and restructure the collection.....seems to be less hassle than messing with options when I can't tell 100% what they are doing.

    Thanks all
     

    kiwijunglist

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    ok I'll edit it sometime and try add what you suggested. If you feel like it you could write the appropriate paragraph(s) here and I will consider adding / editing them and adding to the guide. Thanks.
     

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