i have tried my best to solve this on my own but even after searching the faq and the rest of the internet i cannot get my album art images to embed. i have selected embed art options within picard preferences (see below) and the images show in iTunes but are not embedded (see image). They therefore do not transfer to iPad, iPhone etc. i have all apple products, in part bc of work, so another player isn’t an option. But from the apple tv to the MacBook, to the phone to apple CarPlay this is frustrating. please let me know what i am doing wrong?
catalina 10.15.7
apple music 1.0.6.10 (auto art download - off)
picard 2.5.5 w/ amazon add-on only
iPhone 11 iOS 14.2
Artwork in iTunes is handled in a different way to normal media players. It keeps a separate database for its artwork. On a PC you have to refresh that database separately to pick up the images. Not exactly sure what is needed on a Mac.
After using Picard to tag the file, instead of looking in iTunes just look at the files on the disk in Finder. Is the art in the file when you select INFO for that file?
When you drag the music file BACK into to Picard a second time, does Picard show the image?
If the answer is “yes” for those two questions then Picard is working and embedding artwork and it is iTunes that needs a swift kick in the refresh.
so the album art shows both through picard and in the finder view on the mac. only when looking through info on iTunes it appears to not be embedded. but when i paste an image into the same info box within iTunes the image imbeds and show across all platforms. so i have refreshed iTunes (music) by quitting and restarting the mac with no luck at refreshing the library. thoughts?
Without me pulling an old Apple laptop off the shelf, the obvious thoughts have run out.
What you have now seen is that Picard is embedding the image correctly. Just that iTunes hasn’t seen it yet. The image in the first post is iTunes trying to show the artwork from it’s own database. Somehow iTunes needs to be told to “look again because it has changed”.
What does “file” show?
Have a dig on the menus and see if you can see an “update library” option. I can’t remember from memory what is there, but the software is not expecting you to use a different app to update the music files which is why you don’t see it.
i agree and i can’t seem to find a way for it to force a library refresh or “update”. the only thing i have gotten to work is to remove the file from its location in finder in the music folder and play it from a new location. when this happens iTunes creates a duplicate of the file back in the music folder then recognizing the embedded art but it is then seen as a new file so all its associated playlists, play count and other meta data are gone. idk wtf is going on. i hate apple
the truly odd thing is that the album artwork shows in iTunes when playing the song but doesn’t show in the iTunes info under artwork. as shown below. so iTunes is seeing it but just not embedding it.
That is the key point that shows you that the iTunes database is not updating. The image IS embedded, but iTunes only updates its database when you add the music track the first time. It is not aware that things may “change”. Trouble is Apple see iTunes as a shop front which is why the database is a PITA as they only expect files to come from certain directions.
There should be a delete option on the menu for the dups you are now getting?
If I find some time, I’ll pull out that laptop and see if I can work it out. Hopefully an Apple user will appear with a solution as there should be a menu option somewhere.
image below appears to be one of the only options to update the library. which i am very hesitant to do. second option would be to move the entire music folder which i am also very hesitant to do bc there is no guarantee that will force iTunes to refresh and with 30k songs it could be catastrophic
Though even that method does not seem to fit your experience. I’ve seen you both on the Info page and playing the track and it is clearly not updating.
I certainly would not be hitting those “Organize Library” options as that is likely to make a big mess of your carefully organised folders.
A real Apple user should appear at some point to say how they do it.
that is correct, playing the track, restarting the music app as well as restarting the computer have not helped to “refresh” the library. again its beyond frustrating by the artwork is showing in the miniature icon while in the music app. have i mentioned i hate apple…
I have similar feelings about iTunes, but it is a painful thing that is forced on Apple owners. Apple are very narrow minded when testing. So this is not surprising. At least you didn’t have to pay for those Apple devices.
In the Windows version you can at least delete things from the database and rescan. Be patient - an Apple fan will be along soon with their solution. Hopefully before you throw the computer out of the window.
additionally wanted to let u know i have been trying to figure this out with little luck. if the file is removed from iTunes(music) and opened again in finder it properly attaches the artwork but all the other metadata is lost, playlists, play counts, etc. so i am certain a library refresh will work but i can’t figure out how
I’m not an Apple expert, but I will be working one later this week. (was supposed to be today but delayed). Did you try that Applescript in the post above? Or is that obsoleted now?
If no real Apple people appear, I’ll find some time and pull this Apple laptop out I have on the shelf and see if I can get anything to work. I like puzzles and Apple’s limitations often annoy me enough to go find a way around them.
i haven’t tried the AppleScript work around yet as I’m not exactly sure how the process is working. both pages its posted on do not provide a great description. thoughts or recommendations?
additionally i didn’t try bc the page says iTunes recognizes new data when the track is played. done that and it isn’t fixing my problem as we discussed.
And especially @st3v3p as he actually uses Apple iTunes. So does playing the tracks not fix this like he suggest?
I am kinda disappointed at the lack of Apple users in the forum Was hoping someone who actually uses iTunes may know how they solve this. I just ain’t had the time to pull that old laptop out and setup a test.
Organize library probably will not update it either it just moves or copies the music to different folders on your computer. it is good for keeping things tidy
guys thanks for the responses. i tried multiple times with the applescript in different setups all with no luck. see screen shot below. i also reached out to apple and after two hours on the phone i had a call scheduled with an engineer to which i got a response 2 days later stating they know about the problem and there is no current work around but will be rectified in a subsequent update.
Was hoping someone who actually uses iTunes may know how they solve this. I just ain’t had the time to pull that old laptop out and setup a test.