iTunes 11 - Album artwork not showing up in Finder

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iTunes 11 - Album artwork not showing up in Finder

Hi,

Since I have upgraded to iTunes 11 my music doesn't show the album artwork in the Finder: icon and QuickLook thumbnail preview.

It's not just some songs but all of them.

It's not a tagging problem as everything is displayed the right way in iTunes and Media Rage.

I have tried the Voice Memos trick which consists of removing them from the iTunes library but it didn't work in my case.

Finder tests

I have been able to debug my problem and I know a lot more about it.

All songs outside the /Volumes/Drive/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music folder are showing up their artwork.

If I rename the Music folder to let's say Musics the problem disappears. The thumbnails preview appears. Icons are another story: some of them display the artwork and other not.

But if I copy the songs outside of the Musics folder they show up, like below. If I just move them they don't, weird.

It's like they is some hidden process that checks if songs are part of the iTunes library even if iTuns is not running.

Tests with qlmanage

Another interesting test is to use the qlmanage command line tool.

1) If I execute it in a terminal window I get the following output:

qlmanage -d 1 -p 01\ G.B.\ Evidence.m4a

Testing Quick Look preview with files:

01 G.B. Evidence.m4a

[DEBUG] Registering <QLGenerator Built-in 0x7ff16142fd20> for public.image

[DEBUG] Preview test for 01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a -- file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/. Content type UTI: com.apple.m4a-audio

[DEBUG] file://localhost/Applications/iBooks%20Author.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/iB ooksAuthor.qlgenerator/ might shadow a plug-in with the same identifier and version (<QLGenerator /Library/QuickLook/iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator>)

[ERROR] Can't get plugin bundle info at XTUM/ -- file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/

[DEBUG] Previewing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a. Content type UTI: com.apple.m4a-audio. Generator used: <QLGenerator Audio.qlgenerator>

[DEBUG] Loading <QLGenerator Audio.qlgenerator>

[DEBUG] Previewing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a finished

[DEBUG] Thumbnailing 01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a -- file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/ (try #1)

[DEBUG] Thumbnailing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a. Content type UTI: com.apple.m4a-audio. Generator used: <QLGenerator Audio.qlgenerator>

[DEBUG] Thumbnailing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Accordo%20Dei %20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a did not produce anything

Yep it says "did not produce anything!"

2) Now let's rename Music into Musics and retry the experience:

Testing Quick Look preview with files:

01 G.B. Evidence.m4a

[DEBUG] Registering <QLGenerator Built-in 0x7fa3ca81fa80> for public.image

[DEBUG] Preview test for 01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a -- file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/. Content type UTI: com.apple.m4a-audio

[DEBUG] file://localhost/Applications/iBooks%20Author.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/iB ooksAuthor.qlgenerator/ might shadow a plug-in with the same identifier and version (<QLGenerator /Library/QuickLook/iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator>)

[ERROR] Can't get plugin bundle info at XTUM/ -- file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/

[DEBUG] Previewing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a. Content type UTI: com.apple.m4a-audio. Generator used: <QLGenerator Audio.qlgenerator>

[DEBUG] Loading <QLGenerator Audio.qlgenerator>

[DEBUG] Previewing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a finished

[DEBUG] Thumbnailing 01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a -- file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/ (try #1)

[DEBUG] Thumbnailing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a. Content type UTI: com.apple.m4a-audio. Generator used: <QLGenerator Audio.qlgenerator>

[DEBUG] Thumbnailing file://localhost/Volumes/######/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Musics/Accordo%20Dei%20Contrari/Kublai/01%20G.B.%20Evidence.m4a finished

It works, the thumbnail is produced.

Final word

Is there a way to fix the problem?

Could some of you try the same tests and tell me what results do ypu get?

Thanks

Nicolas

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 16, 2012 4:33 AM

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Answer 1

Litabel

Level 1

8 points

Dec 16, 2012 12:35 PM in response to Morglbltrio

I have part of a solution, maybe that this gives new ideas:

(But it's only for people who know how to handle iTunes libraries!!!)

Open a new user account.

Make a new iTunes library called 'itunes' nothing else.

Import some files with embedded album art.

Drag such a file back to desktop and you should see the icon of album art. Everything is like it should be.

Now copy this itunes library to your user account of origin.

But first rename your old iTunes library different from 'itunes' to e.g. 'itunesorigin'

Open iTunes and point it to the imported library 'itunes'

Drag one file of itunes to desktop, now miraculosly all audiofiles in all of your itunes libraries should show up album art IN FINDER and preview and quicklook. It is like that in my case!

Unfortunately this is not stable. As soon as I open my old library 'itunesorigin' the problem starts up again. All files who were opened in a finder window or dragged to desktop have lost the icon of album art. I can fixit by openimg the new library 'itunes' but again it will not be stable. 😠

I hope one of you geniuses may know more with this information?

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