There used to be an option that you could turn on or off, that fetched the artwork for a CD, but not only has that option disappeared, but it appears that iTunes simply doesn't get the artwork anymore. So either it's a feature that Apple have quietly dropped, or it's a bug that no one has noticed.
One reason why the change may not have been noticed is because there's less demand for the feature. After all, if you're going to add a CD to iTunes, why buy the CD? The last time I bought a new CD from Amazon, it was made available to me as a digital download before the CD arrived at my house. Although I buy second hand CDs, whenever I import them into iTunes I simply accept that iTunes fails to find the artwork and I get it myself and paste it into the album.
You can send feedback to Apple, requesting that the feature be brought back. Go to Feedback - iTunes - Apple but be aware that Apple will not respond to you and if it chooses not to add the feature again, there's nothing you can do.
I suspect there may be a good reason why this feature has been dropped, but if I mention it, that would amount to speculating about an Apple decision, which we're not allowed to do on this Apple owned forum. (Perhaps it wasn't so much "their decision" as "they had no choice".)
Regarding the fact that the artwork for albums sold in the iTunes Store is not found for a CD, that's because iTunes gets information (including the artwork) about a CD from a third-party database, which is completely separate to the digital format music sold on the store. There is no connection between the two sources.
- Music purchased from the store should already have the artwork contained in the file, so songs and albums that you purchase as a digital music files, from the iTunes Store, should have the artwork. If it doesn't, seek help from the iTunes Store
- Music that you buy in digital form, from other sources (such as Amazon, Bandcamp etc.) should also have the artwork in the file when you download it. If it doesn't, seek help from that particular source
In the meantime, the obvious thing to do is simply get a copy of the album cover online and paste it into the album. I use pictures that are between 300x300 and 600x600 pixels. If you use an image that's too large, it won't work correctly, particularly once copied to an iPod.
Unfortunately, in their wisdom, Apple has made adding artwork non-intuitive, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. In your iTunes Library, select all the songs on an album and click on Edit/Get Info (or use CTRL+I) to open up the edit album dialogue. Answer Yes to the question "are you sure you wish to edit information for multiple items" which will open the dialogue on the Details tab. Select the Artwork tab:
- if you click on the Add Artwork button, a navigation box opens so that you can find artwork on your computer. In this case, choose the picture you want and add it
- if you wish to paste in a picture that you have copied from online, ignore the Add Artwork button and simply use CTRL+V to paste it in to every song that you have selected
