Comments on: Album Art and Design, Alive and Well in the Digital Age http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/ The latest gear, software, and techniques for electronic music production and performance Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:41:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Eoin Rossney http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-616027 Eoin Rossney Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:07:29 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-616027 I use a program called AlbumArtDownloader, which I use with Foobar. AAD is an .exe file unto itself, but using the Foobar extension Run Services it can be run from within Foobar - you right-click on an mp3 in the playlist, click Album Art Downloader and (after some setting up) Foobar will pass the Artist + Album Title as arguments to Album Art Downloader. The nice thing is it searches quite a few (I think around 15) sources for art, then returns what it finds in thumbnail form. Click + Hold and you see the full size/quality of the art, then click the little save button on that thumbnail and the art will be saved to the MP3's folder as folder.jpg. It does take a while to get through your files (and is a little tricky to set up) but if you're picky like me it's nice. Metadata? P'eh, who needs metadata! I'll leave that for another OCD fueled project... I use a program called AlbumArtDownloader, which I use with Foobar.

AAD is an .exe file unto itself, but using the Foobar extension Run Services it can be run from within Foobar - you right-click on an mp3 in the playlist, click Album Art Downloader and (after some setting up) Foobar will pass the Artist + Album Title as arguments to Album Art Downloader.

The nice thing is it searches quite a few (I think around 15) sources for art, then returns what it finds in thumbnail form. Click + Hold and you see the full size/quality of the art, then click the little save button on that thumbnail and the art will be saved to the MP3’s folder as folder.jpg.

It does take a while to get through your files (and is a little tricky to set up) but if you’re picky like me it’s nice.

Metadata? P’eh, who needs metadata!

I’ll leave that for another OCD fueled project…

]]> By: MaxvaX » Flickr Finds: Free and Cheap Mac, Windows Music Setups and Other Inspiration http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-603359 MaxvaX » Flickr Finds: Free and Cheap Mac, Windows Music Setups and Other Inspiration Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:12:59 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-603359 [...] If these visuals got your attention, there’s another lesson to be learned here. Not only does this visual illustration give you a sense of what his workflow is about and perhaps passes along some tips, but he uses photos and illustrations as a great promotional tool. It helps that Jumahat is a talented designer. I love his mini-portfolio, below. He also makes wonderful promotional posters and stickers. As I noted earlier this week, the ability to make something visually expressive that is meaningful to your music can be powerful - starting with album art, but going beyond that. [...] [...] If these visuals got your attention, there’s another lesson to be learned here. Not only does this visual illustration give you a sense of what his workflow is about and perhaps passes along some tips, but he uses photos and illustrations as a great promotional tool. It helps that Jumahat is a talented designer. I love his mini-portfolio, below. He also makes wonderful promotional posters and stickers. As I noted earlier this week, the ability to make something visually expressive that is meaningful to your music can be powerful - starting with album art, but going beyond that. [...]

]]> By: Create Digital Music » Flickr Finds: Free and Cheap Mac, Windows Music Setups and Other Inspiration http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-594867 Create Digital Music » Flickr Finds: Free and Cheap Mac, Windows Music Setups and Other Inspiration Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:19:22 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-594867 [...] If these visuals got your attention, there’s another lesson to be learned here. Not only does this visual illustration give you a sense of what his workflow is about and perhaps passes along some tips, but he uses photos and illustrations as a great promotional tool. It helps that Jumahat is a talented designer. I love his mini-portfolio, below. He also makes wonderful promotional posters and stickers. As I noted earlier this week, the ability to make something visually expressive that is meaningful to your music can be powerful - starting with album art, but going beyond that. [...] [...] If these visuals got your attention, there’s another lesson to be learned here. Not only does this visual illustration give you a sense of what his workflow is about and perhaps passes along some tips, but he uses photos and illustrations as a great promotional tool. It helps that Jumahat is a talented designer. I love his mini-portfolio, below. He also makes wonderful promotional posters and stickers. As I noted earlier this week, the ability to make something visually expressive that is meaningful to your music can be powerful - starting with album art, but going beyond that. [...]

]]> By: KimH http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-593526 KimH Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:14:48 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-593526 A forum dedicated to "Collecting and sharing meticulously scanned and edited album cover art": http://www.albumartexchange.com/forums/ I'm KimH there, too. A forum dedicated to “Collecting and sharing meticulously scanned and edited album cover art”:

http://www.albumartexchange.com/forums/

I’m KimH there, too.

]]> By: em ess http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-592511 em ess Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:33:22 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-592511 sorry, funked up my html sorry, funked up my html

]]> By: em ess http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-592509 em ess Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:32:35 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-592509 I have had a lot of success over the past 6 weeks dumping my ragtag tracks into the <a href="http://www.tuneupmedia.com/" title="TuneUp Media" rel="nofollow"> (tuneupmedia.com) plug-in</a> for iTunes... The full versions are $12/$20 US, and there is a free trial version. I have a lot of pretty obscure small-release electronic and art music tracks and have been really suprised at how well TuneUp has done.... I'd say it comes up with the right tags & cover art maybe 90% of the time on the weird stuff, and rock-solid for everything else. Slick interface & functionality. Downsides: No version for Mac yet; still an early release and slightly buggy, I've gotten several iTunes lock-ups since installing TuneUp. I have had a lot of success over the past 6 weeks dumping my ragtag tracks into the (tuneupmedia.com) plug-in for iTunes… The full versions are $12/$20 US, and there is a free trial version.

I have a lot of pretty obscure small-release electronic and art music tracks and have been really suprised at how well TuneUp has done…. I’d say it comes up with the right tags & cover art maybe 90% of the time on the weird stuff, and rock-solid for everything else. Slick interface & functionality.

Downsides: No version for Mac yet; still an early release and slightly buggy, I’ve gotten several iTunes lock-ups since installing TuneUp.

]]> By: martin http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-592358 martin Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:02:42 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-592358 iTunes 7.7.1 on my PowerBook 17" + some of hubi's & doug's iTunes scripts = works great! iTunes 7.7.1 on my PowerBook 17″ + some of hubi’s & doug’s iTunes scripts = works great!

]]> By: aRm3l. http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-592180 aRm3l. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:24:55 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-592180 i use media rage on mac. it find tags on freedb and many onthers things. it find album arts on amazon but i prefer to go on discogs because album arts are in greater quality. i use media rage on mac. it find tags on freedb and many onthers things. it find album arts on amazon but i prefer to go on discogs because album arts are in greater quality.

]]> By: KimH http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-591745 KimH Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:26:27 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-591745 JIMBALAYA: "As far as I’m aware, iTunes doesn’t strictly modify the id3 tags as much as it modifies its database to appear as if it’s modifying the id3 tags" This is false. iTunes manipulates ID3 tags in a standard way. It even lets you select a version of ID3 tags, from ID3 v1.0 to v2.4. PETER KIM: "There’s no need for iTunes specifically for the job — in fact, as Jimbalaya observes, iTunes often doesn’t do a very good job." I understand that the information is embedded in metadata and iTunes is not needed- but I don't see where iTunes "doesn’t do a very good job" - unless you're talking about features to *automatically* add artwork/info. But I find *all* automated artwork software unsuitable, and I've tried a few. You end up getting wrong art or bad art. Of course, I'm into vintage R&B, and I'm picky, which complicates things considerably. MK: "One thing I found with iTunes was that it didn’t understand folder.jpg files. I had to start embedding the album artwork into every MP3 file so that iTunes would recognise the artwork." This used to bug me, but I now prefer it. HDs and iPods are getting bigger- I'm using higher bitrates, and the proportion of space used by cover art is acceptable. -Adding cover art to individual MP3's: 100KB-200KB per file -Cover art always viewable; without hassle or exception: Priceless Anyway, I guess the real issue here is that people are looking for automated solutions, whereas I'm picky enough that fully automated solutions aren't relevant. BTW, if you use iTunes on Mac, the best resource for manipulating music metadata is "Doug's Applescripts for iTunes" - http://dougscripts.com/itunes/ 446 scripts for manipulating metadata and files, including lots of powerful & arcane stuff. JIMBALAYA: “As far as I’m aware, iTunes doesn’t strictly modify the id3 tags as much as it modifies its database to appear as if it’s modifying the id3 tags”

This is false. iTunes manipulates ID3 tags in a standard way. It even lets you select a version of ID3 tags, from ID3 v1.0 to v2.4.

PETER KIM: “There’s no need for iTunes specifically for the job — in fact, as Jimbalaya observes, iTunes often doesn’t do a very good job.”

I understand that the information is embedded in metadata and iTunes is not needed- but I don’t see where iTunes “doesn’t do a very good job” - unless you’re talking about features to *automatically* add artwork/info. But I find *all* automated artwork software unsuitable, and I’ve tried a few. You end up getting wrong art or bad art. Of course, I’m into vintage R&B, and I’m picky, which complicates things considerably.

MK: “One thing I found with iTunes was that it didn’t understand folder.jpg files. I had to start embedding the album artwork into every MP3 file so that iTunes would recognise the artwork.”

This used to bug me, but I now prefer it. HDs and iPods are getting bigger- I’m using higher bitrates, and the proportion of space used by cover art is acceptable.

-Adding cover art to individual MP3’s: 100KB-200KB per file
-Cover art always viewable; without hassle or exception: Priceless

Anyway, I guess the real issue here is that people are looking for automated solutions, whereas I’m picky enough that fully automated solutions aren’t relevant.

BTW, if you use iTunes on Mac, the best resource for manipulating music metadata is “Doug’s Applescripts for iTunes” - http://dougscripts.com/itunes/

446 scripts for manipulating metadata and files, including lots of powerful & arcane stuff.

]]> By: Jason http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/03/album-art-and-design-alive-and-well-in-the-digital-age/#comment-591742 Jason Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:24:45 +0000 http://createdigitalmusic.com/?p=3962#comment-591742 ^ See "Muv Under Cover" in the above link. ^ See “Muv Under Cover” in the above link.

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