Why can't I copy/paste album art in latest version of iTunes?

Alright, just saying, I think this was purposefully part of the iTunes update. Copying and pasting from the internet, when saved, isn't saved as a JPEG file.

Until iTunes gets rid of this, if you want to use artwork from the internet, save the image as a JPEG file. If you're saving it from the internet, rename it and just make sure to add .jpg at the end of the file name.

Then go to "Get Info" for the individual song, click on "Add", and browse to the image you want. (Sadly, you can't for the entire album at once--I tried.)

It seems to me that the current behaviour with artwork is not intentional. Apple are aware of the problems so it should be resolved in the next build. It happens when you paste a image from the copy buffer into iTunes as distinct from pasting a reference to an image files. It seem, for example, that with IE9, if you select the image, copy, then paste, what gets passed to iTunes is the reference to the file, so it works as expected. If the source is an image editor like Paint.NET or another browser such as Google Chrome then what is passed is the actual image and, for some reason, iTunes 10.4.0.80 picks up the dimensions, but pastes in a transparent image.

If you paste artwork on to the artwork panel at the bottom left of the screen it gets added to any existing art. Use Get Info on multiple files and you can paste an image file into the artwork panel on the info tab to replace all existing embedded art. For a single file the artwork tab in Get Info will let you add, remove or reorder the images so you can delete any corrupt images before pasting in a new one.

tt2

turingtest2 has the best solution. The reason why this has happened is that currently BUT not for much longer - and not many people realise this - it is actually illegal to store your own legitimate CD's "on" any machine. Therefore, once this law has been lifted/ammended - very soon - iTunes hopes to inconvenience us enough to keep / encourage us buying from iTunes once we can officially and freely perform the process. It's probably just a trial; if we all keep making a point of it, it'll get ammended in the next software upgrade as it's so silly.

Why is it illegal to rip cds I own to my computer? I've never heard that. Ever.

Personally I think the current artwork issue is more c**k-up than conspiracy while I'm pretty sure removing the backup to disc feature is deliberate policy aimed at nudging users into taking up the new iCloud service.

tt2

The current copyright terms attached to CDs, at least in the UK and no doubt elsewhere, usually contain something along the lines of Unauthorised copying, public performance, hiring or rental prohibited. This includes ripping a CD you've purchased for your own personal use on your you computer or portable devices. I've not heard of anyone being prosecuted for this act rather than unlawful distribution of said copies however the law has been out of step with custom for some time.

tt2

Another workaround is, instead of saving the image to your computer, copy the image location. Then, double-click on the image and, instead of selecting the saved image from your computer, paste in the link into the dialog box. Click OK and it should load the artwork.

Works on Windows PCs. Not sure about Mac's though...

HTH

Martin

Ripping a CD to a personal computer - your personal computer, not letting someone else "borrow" it - is legal, and has been since the days when people wanted to copy albums to cassette tape so they could use them in their car.

Ripping a CD that belongs to someone else? Not okay.

Downloading copyrighted material from the Internet? Not okay.

Making copies of your own material and giving them to friends / cousins / anonymous strangers on the street? Not okay.

But it's perfectly legal to rip music that you have purchased in order to play it on a different platform than what it was originally intended. However, once you rip it, can you destroy / give away / sell the original form factor (a compact disc in this case)? Not okay. Once you do that, you must destroy any / all copies in all formats that you made.

Read this article if you want more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shifting

Dave Rathbun wrote:

Ripping a CD to a personal computer - your personal computer, not letting someone else "borrow" it - is legal, and has been since the days when people wanted to copy albums to cassette tape so they could use them in their car.

This is the case in the US where you have the principle of fair use to limit the restrictions granted to the copyright owner. Elsewhere, the UK included, different rules apply, and both home taping and ripping CDs, even for personal use only, have been breaches of copyright.

tt2

That's an excellent point regarding differences between US and Non-US interpretations of the law, thanks for pointing that out.

I have to got the same error. when I try to copy artwork to the artwork box I just get a black box the only way I can get album artwork to import is via going to the "Get info" option in the right click menu and the going to the "info" tab and importing it from a saved image.

Please distribute a bug fixed update of itunes Apple

I'm encountering something just a bit different, but its equally annoying ...

With some recordings I like to copy and paste liner notes and other info into the Comments section of the Get Info pane. I've been doing this for years but can't do it now. I typically copy them from a website and then paste them into Comments. I've tried to copy/paste them into Word ... and then copy/paste into iTunes, but that doesn't work either.

Interesting, I have not experienced any issues with pasting data into the comments section. I see that 10.4.1 is out, has anyone tried it to see if it fixes the album art issue?

The paste artwork issue has been fixed in iTunes 10.4.1.10.

tt2

Well, it seems that it both has and it hasn't.

Yes, I can now select a bunch of songs, right-click, select "Get Info" and paste artwork into the small box presented there. But when I do, the artwork doesn't show up. Not immediately.

In 10.3 when I would paste artwork in that fashion the art shows up (albeit in very small thumbnail form) right away. The first time I tried this after upgrading, I put in some artwork and it was just blank. I cancelled the screen and tried again. I tried different art formats and various other techniques. When I finally quit cancelling out of the "Get Info" screen and clicked the OK button instead, then the art showed up.

I wonder what other code was being fixed when this broke, because it seems like a very odd thing to go wrong. And to my humble opinion, it's only partially fixed at this point as it does not restore the full functionality that was present in earlier versions.