Rebecca Rainbow

Q: Why can't I manually add artwork for some albums (Mac)

Hi All, I have looked at some of the discussions on this. All quite long winded! All I know is that I never used to have problems importing art work until this new version of iTunes. Even purchased cd's are not receiving the art work; apart from the odd one. So the problem is intermittent.

The art work attaches itself but does not save. Horrible to have all that grey......And my friend who is the musician I bought from actually uploaded her own album art work for people to use in iTunes - but it won't attach!
Please advise.

Thank You.

iMac

Posted on Oct 1, 2013 9:24 AM

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Q: Why can't I manually add artwork for some albums (Mac)

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  • by Terrence Tobin,Helpful

    Terrence Tobin Terrence Tobin Jan 1, 2014 6:05 PM in response to Rebecca Rainbow
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 1, 2014 6:05 PM in response to Rebecca Rainbow

    I was fighting with this today also, trying to add 'custom' artwork to some of my own songs in iTunes.  I discovered that iTunes will allow artwork to be added to MP3 and MP4 (Apple Lossless) format files, but not to AIFF files.   I am not sure about other formats like AAC, haven't tried all yet.   So if you are using AIFF files in iTunes, you may need to convert to something else if you want the album artwork to attach properly.

  • by Rebecca Rainbow,

    Rebecca Rainbow Rebecca Rainbow Jan 2, 2014 10:25 AM in response to Terrence Tobin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 10:25 AM in response to Terrence Tobin

    Thank you Terrence, but I don't think that many of my files are AIFF.

    Do you have any tips?! Is there a secret I am missing?! (Even though it used to be so clear and easy to do)
    As it happens, in the Apple Store in London, one of the assistants told me that the latest updates of iTunes do not allow any art work to be imported unless actually purchased from the iTunes Store. What a shame.....the walls are closing.....

  • by Chris CA,Helpful

    Chris CA Chris CA Jan 2, 2014 10:46 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow
    Level 9 (79,611 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 2, 2014 10:46 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow

    Rebecca Rainbow wrote:

     

    As it happens, in the Apple Store in London, one of the assistants told me that the latest updates of iTunes do not allow any art work to be imported unless actually purchased from the iTunes Store.

    The employee knows not of what he speaks...

    Adding art to songs in iTunes still works. It has not been removed or changed.

     

    What format are these songs?

    If they are WAV then you cannot add your own artwork because WAV files do not have tags for adding artwork (or anuthing else).

  • by Timbuktu,

    Timbuktu Timbuktu Jan 2, 2014 10:50 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow
    Level 3 (699 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 10:50 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow

    What type of files will not retain the artwork? Check your import settings and and see if you have accidentally checked WAV files which will not accept or hold any artwork. How are you adding the artwork? Do you automatically fetch it or add it manually using the "Get artwork" function in iTunes? Does manually adding artwork using the Get Info option work? (this way artwork will be embedded into the file and will "travel" with the file).

     

    When you let iTunes fetch your artwork either automatically or thru the "Get artwork" menu function, the actual image files are not embedded into the file but added to the artwork folder. This means that they will only display in your library and linked devices and will not be transferred with the file.

     

    Are you getting any iTunes Store errors?

  • by Rebecca Rainbow,

    Rebecca Rainbow Rebecca Rainbow Jan 2, 2014 11:13 AM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 11:13 AM in response to Chris CA

    Hi Chris, I will check. My files are a mixture - but one day, after an update it became a dead end job trying to jolly up my iTunes library.

    WAV gives the clearest sound - yes? (Has the most space?) So, converting to MP3 just for the sake of importing art work would be a little foolish would you say?! I long to have art work back!

    And, how can I see which format I have imported an album in? I know this may be silly but I really can not find who to do that once I have aleady imported.  (Once I can easily do this then I can go ahead and either convert of stick with no Art work if it is in the incorrect encoding to receiving art work).

    With thanks.

  • by Rebecca Rainbow,

    Rebecca Rainbow Rebecca Rainbow Jan 2, 2014 11:17 AM in response to Timbuktu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 11:17 AM in response to Timbuktu

    Hello Timbuktu - it seems to be various files. And, not accepting in the various ways. Yes - importing but not retaining.

    I usually used to use 'Get Artwork' menu function and that always worked.

     

    No iTunes error messages.

     

    (Why did the chap in the Apple Store London say that Apple had changed things if they hadn't....?!)

    Thanks.

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Jan 2, 2014 11:23 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow
    Level 9 (79,611 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 2, 2014 11:23 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow

    Rebecca Rainbow wrote:

     

    WAV gives the clearest sound - yes? (Has the most space?)

    WAV, AIFF & Apple LOssless are all equla sound. Apple Losless is ~50%-60% size of original.

    AAC @ 256 (which is about 20% original size) you very likely won't be able to tell the difference

     

     

    And, how can I see which format I have imported an album in?

    Select a song, right click - get info and see what is shown on the Summary tab.

    iTunes prefs > General - Import settings will show what audio CDs are converted to when you import them.

  • by Rebecca Rainbow,

    Rebecca Rainbow Rebecca Rainbow Jan 2, 2014 11:31 AM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 11:31 AM in response to Chris CA

    Ok, thanks Chris. Yes, so the latest album I tried to import Art work for is a WAV file. So, the only way to bring some colour in, is to convert to - what do you recommend of those choices above (which will allow some art and not be too drastic quality reduction wise?)

    Thank You from Rebecca.

  • by Chris CA,Solvedanswer

    Chris CA Chris CA Jan 2, 2014 11:32 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow
    Level 9 (79,611 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 2, 2014 11:32 AM in response to Rebecca Rainbow

    AAC, 256 kbps (Which is the iTunes Plus setting).

  • by Terrence Tobin,

    Terrence Tobin Terrence Tobin Jan 2, 2014 3:44 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 3:44 PM in response to Chris CA

    I was just doing some reading to determine the best digital formats to use going forward.   Wiki has a good article that defines all the different lossless and lossy formats.  Of course, there will always be a compromise between quality and file size.  So I then did a quick test on each 'major' file type by doing some conversions in iTunes.  The following are some comparative results, based on a song of 4:15 duration as reference:

     

    AIFF @ 1411 kbps (44.1 khz / 16 bit CD quality):   full quality, no compression. Size 45.3 MB.

     

    WAV:   full quality, no compression.  I assume it would render a similar size as AIFF above. If you use Windows, WAV might be a better format choice than AIFF, which tends to be more common on Mac.

     

    MP4 (Apple Lossless):  full quality, compressed.  Size: 29.5 MB   It's too bad Apple does not use this as their default format when buying music from iTunes. (see below)

     

    AAC @ 256 kbps: medium-high quality, lossy.  Size: 8.1 MB   Note: This is the default format for iTunes Store downloads.  It is 'okay' quality, not perfect, but makes for a faster download than, say, an MP4 would. At least they no longer use 128 kbps!

     

    MP3 @ 192 kbps: medium-high quality, lossy.  Size: 6.3 MB  Note: iTunes does not offer conversion higher than 192 kbps.  Even at similar bit rates, Wiki article says 'AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates'

     

    AAC @ 160 kbps: medium-low quality, lossy.  Size: 5.2 MB

    MP3 @ 160 kbps: medium-low quality, lossy.  Size: 5.0 MB

     

    CONCLUSIONS:

     

    First, it would seem that MP4 (Apple Lossless) would be a good choice for full quality archiving when ripping CDs into your computer; however, though the file size is about 65% of what an AIFF or WAV file is, it is still quite a large file.

     

    Second, I agree with Chris that if you want to save 70% more space than MP4 (80% more than AIFF), and are willing to give up a bit of sound quality, then AAC @ 256 kbps is a good choice. Even if you reduce to 160 kbps, AAC will still be better quality than MP3. I currently use MP3 @ 160 on my iPhone to play in my car, which seems tolerable, but I may rethink this and go with AAC @ 256, given the files are only a few MB bigger. By the way, no matter what, avoid resolution less than 160 kbps, as you will definitely notice the harsh sound quality, even on a lower end car stereo. 

     

    Finally, the only question that nags me is how sure can we be of which formats will still be around and readable by all equipment (computer, phone, tablet, car stereo) in 10 or 20 years from now?  Will AIFF, WAV, MP4, or AAC still be common?  Who knows. The wonderful thing about digital is its 'virtual' convenience.  The downsides are how fast formats change, and how most storage mediums are not truly permanent (hard drives and even CD-R or DVD-R will eventually fail, so remember to re-backup every so often).  It would really suck to have to convert your entire mega-collection of digital music into some other format in future, yes?

     

    I hope some of this helps.

  • by Rebecca Rainbow,

    Rebecca Rainbow Rebecca Rainbow Jan 2, 2014 3:57 PM in response to Terrence Tobin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 3:57 PM in response to Terrence Tobin

    Wow Terence - this article you've just written needs to be archived and published out and about. You have brought together a lot of different information - very impressive and of course helpful.

    Maybe it shows my superficial side that I am more interested in having art work than art quality!! But the thought of duplicating lots of albums just to be able to submit art work is rather daunting (or wouldn't be if I had little else to do!)

    I do have plenty of space and love high quality - just wish Apple could level all features so that there is some sort of uniformity within the whole iTunes system.

    I preferred it when it in its infancy when it was simpler but was much easier. It seemed to do less, but on another level it gave more as there was less to go wrong!

     

    Thank You for such a fantastic and professional response!

     

    From Rebecca.

  • by Terrence Tobin,

    Terrence Tobin Terrence Tobin Jan 2, 2014 5:07 PM in response to Rebecca Rainbow
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 5:07 PM in response to Rebecca Rainbow

    Sorry, I never addressed the issue of adding artwork above.  I am using iTunes 11.1.3 on Mac.  By using Cntrl-click > Get Info, Artwork, 'Add'...  I am able to successfully add artwork to the following formats:

     

    MP4 (Apple Lossless)

    AAC

    MP3

     

    Now, regarding AIFF format files:  I have read a lot of forum posts where people say they are able to add art to AIFF files, and I seem to remember that in the past I was able to, but now I am not able to directly using the method above. However, if I have, say, an MP4 file that already has the artwork embedded, then I use iTunes to convert that into an AIFF file, the artwork stays embedded in the AIFF file. This is the ONLY way I can get artwork into an AIFF file.

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Jan 2, 2014 4:58 PM in response to Terrence Tobin
    Level 9 (79,611 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 2, 2014 4:58 PM in response to Terrence Tobin

    Terrence Tobin wrote:

     

    MP3 @ 192 kbps: medium-high quality, lossy.  Size: 6.3 MB  Note: iTunes does not offer conversion higher than 192 kbps.  Even at similar bit rates, Wiki article says 'AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates'

    FYI: The dropdown only offers 3 bit rates but you can go to 320 kbps by selecting Custom.

    (however, I still recomend 256 AAAC unless you need MP3)

    Screen Shot 2014-01-02 at 5.56.38 PM.png

  • by Terrence Tobin,

    Terrence Tobin Terrence Tobin Jan 2, 2014 5:12 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 2, 2014 5:12 PM in response to Chris CA

    Great, Chris, thanks for pointing that out!  In fact I use the Custom setting for my AIFF conversions, to match the 44.1 kHz / 16-bit resolution of the CD to ensure no loss.  But I agree that if I want a smaller file, AAC is the best compression CODEC.  

     

    The only issue I see with AAC is in submitting original music to internet/radio/reviewer destinations that may still require MP3 as their standard.  In that case they typically want minimum 192 kbps resolution, but if they will accept even high res, so much the better.

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