iTunes artwork - how to make it all available in SlimServer/SqueezeCenter in Mac OS X

[Sune]

Just a short note, for all Mac-users who'd love to see their album artwork appear all over their SlimServer/SqueezeCenter skins (especially nice with iPeng / and the default skin with large artwork in SC7).

This is better than only getting the current artwork with iTunes Update (which is doing a very good job, though :-).

The solution is simple and free of charge:

a) Get iTunes to get artwork for all albums (advanced menu) in 10.4 / 10.5
b) Get the shareware software CoverScout
c) In CoverScout (unlicenced Demo), select Copy iTunes Artwork
d) Wait for some hours
e) Behold - all covers are now copied into the actual music files, and thus all available to the server. It looks great :-)

Get CoverScout here: http://www.equinux.com/us/products/c...out/index.html

And consider registering - if nothing else, then for the use of all the other cool functionality in this software.

Sune - Mac OS X 10.5.2

P.S. You could actually do the same with an applescript, but the one I got up'n'running was not entirely stable - CoverScout worked "out of the box".

[jhonsberger@msn.com]

So if you ripped your cd collection using itunes on a mac it will not show up in squeezecenter?if so,is it because there is a completely separate artwork folder in itunes?

[Sune]

Hi there,

Yes. And the downloaded artwork is not linked to the music in an understandable way. Thus - this is an issue that e.g. the good people behind iTunes Update, iPeng and TrackStat have been fighting.

It's the same problem on Windows.

iTunes Update makes (most) artwork available for the currently playing track, but not for all the other tracks.

This utility solves this issue for Mac users.

[jhonsberger@msn.com]

Thanks for the info.

[jhonsberger@msn.com]

Thanks for the advice as coverscout works quite well.

One question.As i rip more music to itunes,doo i then just hit copy to itunes
button again to add the new music or is there a way to edit specific albums?

When I open coverscout it shows just the first 10 albums in itunes.It says to see more i must register.does register mean purchase full version?

[Sune]

Hi there,

All other functionality in CoverScout is limited (this is a demo).

With respect to new albums, I guess you have to run the whole process again. But it should be faster second time, since it'll probably only do the copying for albums where the only attached artwork is the one downloaded from iTunes Music Store...

If you wish to use it for chasing missing album art, you can try using the demo (Select: show songs with missing cover art in one of the on-screen drop-down menus)...and register if you like it and wish to do it for your whole music collection.

There are other apps that can add album artwork as well...used something called "MPFreaker" a while back. It has similar funtionality to CoverScout in this respect. Also shareware. There's also some freeware that can be used for this - e.g. Clutter or some "Add Album Artwork" Dashboard widgets. But they're all more manual than MPFreaker / CoverScout.

Sune

[jhonsberger@msn.com]

You have been a huge help .Thanks for your very helpful tip.

Anyone using a mac should try coverscout as it works well.

[b33k34]

alternatively download the "embed artwork" script from Doug's scripts. You can then highlight and run the script on just the itesm you want in iTunes - your 'recently added' list for example.

[Sune]

Yeah, an AppleScript can probably also do the job. All that is done is an automised copy-paste.

Anyone who has a tip for a good artwork locator that is freeware and works with iTunes 7.6 / Mac OS X 10.5?

Sune