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iTunes, migrated to new Mac, some artwork missing
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13950		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  isofa [ Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:15 pm ]
Post subject:  iTunes, migrated to new Mac, some artwork missing
I've migrated my iTunes library to a new Mac. It was always stored on a separate drive on my old one, and now is stored on a separate data partition on my new, all moved file, exported library and setup manually and what I assume is correctly, never had an issue. But I've noticed that about 1/3 of the album artwork is missing. Have I missed a folder somewhere?
Author:  jonbwfc [ Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: iTunes, migrated to new Mac, some artwork missing
More recent version of iTunes, rather than storing the artwork in the ID3 tag (or whatever the equivalent for AAC files is) of the file, store it in a folder called 'Album Artwork' in the iTunes folder and put a reference to the location of the artwork in the iTunes library file.

That means even if you copy the folder across when you move your library, if the path to the Album Artwork folder has changed, the reference in the library file will be wrong, so the artwork won't show up. You used to be able to edit the iTunes library file but I don't think you can any more. So the bad news is you can't just update the iTunes library file with the new path. The even worse news is the artwork isn't even stored in easily readable form - I think the .itc files in the folder are actually just renamed JPEGs but that still doesn't help you matching image to track.

There's more detail on this page, which also includes links to a couple of useful applescripts that may help you out, particularly the first one on this page. You could also use the 'get album artwork' option in iTunes to download some of the stuff that's missing again or use something like coverscout to do it for you. However I should warn you Equinux (the makers of coverscout) use some of the most braindead and half-baked licensing DRM I've ever seen on any platform. Ever.

And yes, it was absolutely bloody stupid decision on Apple's part to store artwork this way rather than in the song file itself. I really don't know why they decided to do that.

Jon
Author:  smithsocksimon [ Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: iTunes, migrated to new Mac, some artwork missing
jonbwfc wrote:
And yes, it was absolutely bloody stupid decision on Apple's part to store artwork this way rather than in the song file itself. I really don't know why they decided to do that.


Some possible reasons:

It saves disk space (one artwork file per album instead of one per track) — not such a big issue on Macs these days but certainly pertinent on iOS devices.

It’s more efficient, iTunes/iPod can load the music file without having to also load the artwork.

It makes the artwork available to other apps, such as the iOS lock screen; this only displays art that is in the Album Artwork folder. (Art that is manually added in iTunes is still stored with the tracks, as far as i can tell).
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