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30 Most Recent RSS FeedManaging Artwork
UPDATED: Is Artwork Embedded v2.0
For macOS 10.15 and later only. This script will examine the metadata of the audio file of a single selected track for image information and will report if such embedded artwork does or does not exist.
For faster access and activation, assign this script a keyboard shortcut.
Latest version:
- Accommodations for macOS 10.15 Catalina
- Performance and security enhancements
More information for Is Artwork Embedded v2.0 and download link is here.
UPDATED: Size of Artwork v3.0
For macOS 10.15 Catalina and later only. This script will display the size (width x height) of the artwork of the single selected track.
Latest version:
- Accommodations for macOS 10.15 Catalina
- Performance and security enhancements
More information for Size of Artwork v3.0 and download link is here.
UPDATED: Sort by Artwork Size v2.0
For macOS 10.15 Catalina and later only. For users who are particular about managing artwork, this script can write the size of a track's artwork (eg: "600x600") to choice of Category, Comments, or Description tag (enabling tracks to be sorted by artwork size in a playlist using the chosen tag) and/or copy tracks with artwork less than or greater than a user-entered size to a new discrete playlist, named, for example, "Artwork < 300".
Latest version:
- Accommodations for macOS 10.15 Catalina
- Performance and security enhancements
More information for Sort by Artwork Size v2.0 and download link is here.
UPDATED: Re-Apply Downsized Artwork v4.0
For macOS 10.15 Catalina and later only. This applet will examine the artwork of each selected track (or tracks in the selected playlist) and if greater than a user-set resolution (n x n pixels) will downscale the image to that resolution. Artwork already at the set resolution or smaller will not be affected. Includes options to pad image to make square, preserve extant track artworks, adjust preview proportionally and export displayed artwork to disk.
More information for Re-Apply Downsized Artwork v 4.0 and download link is here.
UPDATED: Coverscope v2.0
Coverscope is an applet that helps manage track and file artwork. It will display both the track entry artwork and the artwork metadata from the track's file:
If one or the other is missing, the extant image data can be applied or embedded to the other. If both artworks are missing, an image from the clipboard can be pasted or an image file dragged to the Track entry artwork well to apply and embed it to the selected track.
Additionally, the Track entry artwork can be copied to the clipboard or exported as a file.
Coverscope is free to try in Demo Mode. In Demo Mode, any combination of features can be used up to five times per launch. A registration code to remove this restriction is US$2.99. More information and download is here.
And here's a cool trick I've been using Coverscope for:
(more…)
Some Artwork Scripts Updated
I got the first batch of some Catalina-ready artwork management scripts posted today. The four scripts are:
Save Album Art to Album Folder v6.0 will export the artwork of the selected tracks (or the tracks in a selected playlist) as an image file to the folder which contains each selected track's file--presumably each track's Album folder--or a single user-selected folder.
Applying Artwork in iTunes Corrupts Some MP3 Files
Over the past few months—I want to say since Mojave's release last year—I have gotten a few reports from users of my artwork scripts regarding a bizarre corruption issue when applying artwork to some types of MP3s.
Essentially, when artwork is applied to the MP3, its file "echoes" the last few seconds of audio data which increases the size of the file. Here is a screenshot sent to me by Correspondent Brandon Pfeiffer, showing the phenomenon in an audio editor (I think it's Fission; no matter, really):
Each "echo" represents a single attempt to add artwork. The new size is reflected in the Size and Time for the file in iTunes as well.
I have not been able to replicate this myself so it has been very difficult to figure out what's going on. However, Brandon did some experimenting and discovered some details. First, it's probably not an issue with the AppleScripts, since Brandon was also able to see this issue when he "manually" applied artwork via a track's Info panel.
Some other observations:
- The source of the MP3s did not seem to make a difference (home rips, Amazon downloads, etcetera)
- The image file being applied may be a factor, its size, type, and so on. However, Brandon could not find a consistent factor in this regard.
- Changing the ID3 version in iTunes had no effect.
- Re-converting a corrupted MP3 to MP3 in iTunes restored the file to its un-corrupted length. (Subsequently adding artwork to such a file, however, eventually corrupted it again.)
- The new file encoded by iTunes did not appear to have the issue at first (the song duration did not change); however, closer inspection using an audio editor (or even just playing via QuickLook in Finder) revealed that the duration had in fact changed, but was yet to be reflected in iTunes.
- Re-encoding the corrupted file using FFmpeg produced several of the following errors: “Header missing - Error while decoding stream #0:0: Invalid data found when processing input”
- Re-encoding the original downloaded source MP3 using FFmpeg did not produce any errors.
Sure beats me. I'll have more follow-up as it develops.
[Update: Several Correspondents have emailed to confirm that they have seen this behavior after manually editing artwork; AppleScript was not a factor.]
NEW: Artwork as Album Folder Icon
I usually recommend that you should just ignore the files in the iTunes Media folder. There's not much of a reason to go poking around in there if iTunes is managing your audio files. And interfering could disturb iTunes.
But plenty of iTunes users manage these files manually outside of the iTunes Media folder (although iTunes will still use this folder for Store downloads, CD rips, podcast downloads, and so on, in cases where it needs to know where to save something). For example, users who share their iTunes audio files with DJ'ing software may prefer to access these files manually. So it might be handy to make Album folders more easily identifiable by using the album artwork as the Album folder icon.
Artwork as Album Folder Icon will use the assigned artwork from the selected tracks as the icon for the folder containing each track's corresponding file in the Finder:
Just select some tracks, or a playlist of tracks, and begin processing with the script. If the tracks have artwork and their files are accessible, the individual album's artwork will be applied as the icon for the folder containing the files.
More information and download is located on this page.
Album Artwork in the Finder
I have seen some observations on the interwebs that some AAC and MP3 files are not displaying their artwork metadata as the file's icon under High Sierra 10.13.1. That is: the file for a track with assigned artwork in iTunes displays in the Finder with a generic audio icon rather than the album artwork. If I recall correctly, there have been periods over the years where this has both worked and not worked as expected.
I've paid little attention to this issue because I don't care about artwork for my audio files. Assigned artwork for tracks in iTunes is one thing, but how the files appear in the Finder is of little interest to me. But obviously this is something that many users have come to expect if not rely on.
My understanding is that Apple is aware of this issue. In fact, I'm running the latest High Sierra 10.13.2 beta and don't detect a problem. So don't sweat it.
UPDATE, December 6, 2017: This issue appears resolved after installing macOS 10.13.2.
Find Tracks with Multiple Artworks
This will corral all the tracks in the Music library that have more than one assigned artwork to a new playlist (whose name you supply; any existing playlist(s) with that name will be deleted beforehand):
tell application "iTunes"
try
set newPlaylistName to text returned of (display dialog ¬
"Enter a name for the playlist:" default answer "Multi-artwork tracks")
on error
return
end try
try
delete (every playlist whose name is newPlaylistName)
end try
set newPlaylist to (make new playlist with properties {name:newPlaylistName})
set musicLibrary to (get some playlist whose special kind is Music)
repeat with i from 1 to (index of last track of musicLibrary)
try
set aTrack to track i of musicLibrary
if (count of artworks of aTrack) > 1 then
try
duplicate aTrack to newPlaylist
end try
end if
end try
end repeat
display dialog "Done" buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end tell
Open this in Script Editor by clicking the little script icon. Save it named whatever you like as a Script Bundle in your ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder so that it will be listed in the iTunes Script menu. Launch the script and enter a name for the playlist; the default is "Multi-artwork tracks"; press OK.
