iTunes Match artwork reverting to old version

Question

iTunes Match artwork reverting to old version

On my primary iTunes Mac, embedded artwork that I've changed since turning on iTunes Match reverts back to previous artwork. For example, if I have a 500 dpi cover artwork in a track that iTunes has matched, then today I go upgrade the artwork to a 1000 dpi version, the next time iTunes Match updates it will wipe out my 1000 dpi version and replace it with my old 500 dpi artwork. It is NOT grabbing the iTunes Store artwork, it is somehow recovering MY old artwork from the cloud.

I've tried DougScripts Re-Embed Artwork script - no luck. I've dried deleting artwork, updating iTunes Match, pasting in desired artwork, updating iTunes Match again - pulls back old unwanted artwork. The only solution I've found is to upgrade the artwork, drag the tracks out of iTunes before Match updates, delete the tracks from iTunes and iCloud, and finally drag the tracks back in to iTunes. iTunes Match appears to keep my new artwork from now on (so far at least!).

I REALLY wish there was a setting that says "Never mess with my artwork!" It's great that Match doesn't change my iTunes audio files unless I tell it to. Why in the world does it change my artwork?

Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 Quad Core, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Dec 4, 2011 11:32 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 6, 2011 8:15 PM in response to Andy Abernathy

I have updated hundreds of album art images since turnig on iTunes Match and have been experiencing the exact same issue. The new art seems to display in the Cover Flow view. However when I select an individual track from the some albums the old art work is displayed in the selected item window on the bottom left.

I would be interested to find out how this can be fixed.

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Answer 2

Dec 6, 2011 8:20 PM in response to Iain Gilbert

I had a similar problem, here's how I fixed this in iTunes.

First, match your music, then delete your files so that you then have the option to download the matched files.

Highlight the album and clear the artwork.

Download the matched files.

Once downloaded, highlight the album and Get Artwork, but make sure the title of your album is written exactly how it's written in the iTunes store to have a better chance of matching the right cover.

If it finds the cover you wanted, Get Info on one of the tracks, and Copy+Paste the cover art onto your computer.

Clear the artwork from the entire album again.

Now highlight the album again, and drag the cover art you saved on your computer into the Cover space and click ok.

Now the cover is truly saved on your files.

If you just Get Artwork and leave it like that, the cover probably won't get saved.

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Answer 3

Dec 12, 2011 9:16 AM in response to Andy Abernathy

I have the same problem, and nothing in this topic helps me to replace the wrong album art. I tried everything including "deleting from iCloud" and re-adding songs - nothing, it still remembers the old art and refuses to take a new one.

I have constant crashes in Cover Flow mode on my iPhone, so the idea was to replace LARGE album art (about 2000x2000) to its smaller version - about 600x600 to prevent crashes - and I cannot!

It just pushes this 2000x2000 version OVER and OVER again, no matter what I do inside iTunes.

I really miss some RESET button, or some working algoritm to make it forget the old art, but I can't seem to find it yet.

Please let me know if you have better luck with that.

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Answer 4

Dec 12, 2011 9:49 AM in response to sysfrommiami

Well, as djluis2k7 said, there IS a way to replace art, and when it doesn't work all you have to do is to do it several times, also turn off the iTunes Match, power off your device, repeat the "replacement process" and then power the device back on and check if everything works as expected.

Still, this procedure is VERY inconvenient.

iTunes NEVER actually delete uploaded songs from iCloud (well, maybe it does after some unknown amount of time), because it never uploads back songs just "deleted from iCloud". They just appears instantly when you add them.

Careful with your album art - changing it later can be the really painful.

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Answer 5

Dec 12, 2011 12:16 PM in response to Andy Abernathy

My awkward solution in my original post IS still working on my primary iTunes Mac - my beautiful high resolution artwork is staying put in iTunes. Sadly, I realize I don't expect any artwork to match correctly on my iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and my MacBook Air. iTunes Match simply doesn't work at all for artwork, which is a drag especially when the horrible new iPad Music app puts the artwork front and center! I'm losing faith in Apple making all this new stuff ever work smoothly - maybe they just released too many new products all at once.

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Answer 6

Dec 14, 2011 1:50 PM in response to Andy Abernathy

Had the same problem

If its bothering you like **** ( it did for me) then

here is the solution:

1. Turn off the auto-artwork-download option in setting

2. Select the album, Get inf > remove all the artworks

3. find the album in finder

4. COPY it to desktop (not moveing)

5. Remove the album from library (also from iCloud)

6. add the album again from desktop

7. "Get Album Artwork" from iTunes

Need some effort but this is the only solution , until apple fix these artwork bugs..

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Answer 7

Dec 19, 2011 11:55 AM in response to Andy Abernathy

I see this horrid behavior as well. So much for "sync" with the cloud, this is just PULL from the cloud. Updating artwork on my Mac Pro ended up being wasted HOURS of work. Boo Apple, boooooo!

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Answer 8

Dec 19, 2011 12:59 PM in response to Andy Abernathy

Sadly, iTunes 10.5.2 doesn't fix this. I just tried updating artwork on a few albums - iTunes Match Update switches it right back to the old artwork. And our workarounds are completely absurd. Apple CAN fix this, can't they?

In the meantime, I've tweaked my workaround:

1. Paste in new album artwork: Select all related tracks and "Get Info" (Command+I)

2. Select one of the tracks and "Show in Finder" (Command+Shift+R)

3. Back in iTunes: Delete tracks including "Also delete these songs from iCloud". Choose "Keep File".

4. Go to Finder. Folder with tracks should be sitting there open. Select tracks and double-click to add back to iTunes.

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Answer 9

Dec 22, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Andy Abernathy

I've found this worked for me and is the simplest way to fix once and for all (albeit a pain in the butt....). I'm on a Mac.

1/. Move the file folder of the album you wanna change from the Music folder to another locaction (I used desktop)

2/ Delete the album in iTunes (inc the cloud)

3/ In iTunes add the file folder from wherever you put it. It will add in with the old/wrong art.

4/ In iTunes go to GET INFO and drop the NEW artwork in. It will now change the art once and for all.

I have 3 macs and an iphone and an ipad attached to the account. Seems to work...

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Answer 10

Jan 3, 2012 9:10 PM in response to RonEdwards

Still working fine for me, did this fix everyone else too? Anyone heard of an less time wasting fix?

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Answer 11

Jan 6, 2012 1:31 PM in response to RonEdwards

@ RonEdwards - I will try your method tomorrow, but it honestly is a pain in the a** ... just not how you would expect a cloud-based service to work. Especially not one with the apple on it. Something is going seriously wrong here :-(

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Answer 12

Jan 6, 2012 2:38 PM in response to Crawler666

I agree it's a pain, but it seems to be the only way it will work. I've been slowly going theough my 1000 albums and they seem to be sticking, but boy it's time consuming. Hate that I have a little OCD about it!!

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Answer 13

Jan 7, 2012 3:33 AM in response to RonEdwards

Just phoned Apple Express Lane and they promised to send the problem to the developers and call back with a solution next week ...

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Answer 14

Jan 7, 2012 10:01 AM in response to Crawler666

Interesting! Please keep us informed.

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Answer 15

Jan 22, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Andy Abernathy

I think I'm giving up on iTunes Match. I've spent countless hours organizing my iTunes library, scanning or sourcing beautiful artwork, searching out the best mastering of my favorite albums (spending too much $!), carefully fixing all metadata. iTunes Match basically screws all this up. The artwork problem is obvious from this thread. Now I've realized that when I match an entire album, iTunes Match may pull songs from differently mastered albums! So Track 1 may be from a newer louder remaster and Track 2 will be from an older softer master. On my iPad I'll sort by artist and will see 1 Badfinger album, even though there are 3 Badfinger albums (I can find them if I view by album - all metadata is correct in iTunes).

I realized the other day that I never expect to see artwork on my iPhone anymore - and there rarely is any artwork - seems like it has gotten worse! The terrible new iPad Music app looks really terrible because of all the blank artwork and the lack of list view on all screens.

I love iTunes. I'm just not having as much fun with it trying to trick Match into working the way I want it to. iTunes (without Match) + MOG or Spotify seems like a better solution.

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