Cover Art

Media Center can automatically download your album cover art, and display it while listening to your music.

Automatically Get Cover Art after Ripping

To set automatic downloading of cover art after ripping a CD, go to Tools > Options > CD and select "Get cover art from internet after ripping".

Set the Cover Art Path

To modify where your cover art is saved, go to Tools > Options > File Location.

To save Cover Art in the file (when possible)

You can save Cover Art in the file itself as a tag. Note, however, that not all file formats will allow this, and for those that do, the file size will increase.

Go to Tools > Options > General and check "Save cover art inside tags when possible".

If your file format is mp3, you must set the modify the mp3 settings to include id3 tags. Go to Tools > Plug-in Manager > Input > MPE Plug-in and select Configure. For details about these options, see Save File Properties (id3 tags) in Disk Files.

Saving Cover Art Next to Files

Thanks to Alex B for this information.

MC has two options for storing the cover art in the file folders (Tools > Options > File Location > Track Images Location):

Next to file ([Artist] - [Album].jpg) and Next to file (Folder.jpg)

I prefer the "Artist - Album" naming system because I don't like the idea of having thousands of identically named files on my HDs.

Both systems work fine. If you change the option MC will place new cover art files accordingly.

MC cannot automatically move the old cover art files all at once, but there is workaround.

If you have the music files in the Artist\Album folder structure and have used the old MJ/MC standard (Artist - Album.jpg) for naming the cover art files you can move most of your cover art files by taking the following steps. (You may need to manually move a few files afterwards.)

1. Make a new empty library with the Library manager

2. Import the cover art files from the current cover art folder into this new library.

3. Use the Fill Properties From Filename tool with this rule in the filename dialog: [Artist] - [Album]. Uncheck the Directories check box.

4. Use the Rename files From Properties tool for moving the cover art files.

Directories - Base Path: The base path of your music files

Directories - Rule: [Artist]\[Album]

• If you use a different rule for your music files you may be able to edit this. Be aware of multiple disc and multiple artists albums or other special cases.
• You can also use [Album Artist] instead of [Artist] in steps 3 and 4.

Filename Rule:

Uncheck the check box (this keeps the old filenames and can be the safest option)

or

Folder.jpg (write the exact filename in the dialog box. This renames all cover art files as "Folder.jpg".

5. After moving the files check the "Filename (path)" field for any errors and move manually the files that need special treatment.

6. At this stage you can change back to your regular library and do the following steps:

1. Select all audio files (or the files you like to include)
2. Right-click > Image > Remove Cover Art (don't let MC delete the disk files)
3. Right-click > Image > Quick Find In File / Cover Art Directory.

Remember to back up your MC library and the cover art folder before starting the process.

Which files are missing cover art?

Media Center comes with pre-made smartlists, one of which is to display all files that are missing covert.

1. In the tree, select Playlists, then Smartlists
2. If Smartlists does not exist, right-click on Playlists and select Create Stock Smartlists
3. Select the Missing Covert Art Smartlist.

Get Cover Art for Selected Files.

1. Right click on file(s) in the content pane.
2. Select Image and choose from the available options on the menu.

Play/Show (first file)	This plays the image in full screen mode. It will play the image for just the first file if more than one track is selected.
Add From File	Browse to the file on your hard drive. Use this if the image isn't stored in your Cover Art directory.
Quick Find in File/Cover Art Directory	Automatically looks through your default Cover Art directory for the image, and links it to your file.
Get from Internet.	* Download (if missing). Use this for files that have no Cover Art. It's a good option for when multiple files are selected, because it will not overwrite any files that already have Cover Art. Download (always). If you have the wrong Album Cover associated with a file, use this option. Use already downloaded cover art. Select a Tolerance level.
Get from Scanner.	Automatically get an image from your scanner. You may have to first select your scanner.
Select Scanner.	Select your default scanner.
Paste from Clipboard(image or URL)	See "Copy to Clipboard".
Copy to Clipboard(first file)	Copy an image to the clipboard, and quickly paste it as another file's Cover Art.
Remove Cover Art	Removes links to Cover Art, as well as Cover Art stored in the file's tags. You can also permanently remove the image from your hard drive by clicking 'Yes' in the dialogue box that appears when you select this option.

You can also quickly view which files have cover art by adding the "Image File" header to the columns in the content pane list. Just right-click on any header in the list, go to "Columns to Show" and select "image file".

View Cover Art while listening to Music

Play files and then go to Playing Now. Make sure the Display Pane is visible (if not, double-click the horizontal splitter bar in Standard Mode). If the display plug-in is set to "none", your cover art will display by default. You can double-click on the image to quickly toggle between full screen and windowed modes. See Display Plug-ins for details.