Corrupt Album Art

Can I rebuild the album art database on the ipod without reloading 45 playlists and 2,698 songs???!?!??

No.

Try the following all-purpose steps for dealing with erratic device or sync behaviour. They assume that all of the content you want on the device is in your library ready for restoring. If it isn't see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device first. I would also recommend you copy everything out of the camera roll if you haven't already.

1. Backup device.
2. Restore as a new device.
3. Restore the backup you made earlier.

Use an encrypted backup (*) if you want to preserve passwords, Wi-Fi settings, web history and health data where appropriate. I also suggest syncing with a selection of playlists (unless you're using iCloud Music Library) rather than manually adding content as, if nothing else, the process above is easier to do if you ever have to go through it again.

(*) The downside with backup encryption is that if you forget the password when you need it again, which could be years later, you may need to invoke a workaround to turn off encryption as shown in Re: disable encrypted backups, which can only help if your device is in a state that can backup to iCloud.

tt2

Thanks for the fast reply!

Let me add a couple more bits of info that may help clarify (and my apologies for not describing this well in the first place).

One is that the album artwork show perfectly normal within iTunes. By the way, all versions of phone, Mac, iTunes, etc. are the most current.

Here's a screenshot of what it looks like in iTunes:

This is all correct artwork.

But on my iPhone, the playlist looks like this:

Crazy, right?

I had some mp3s of this "Dan Carlin's Hardcore History" which I had downloaded (by the way I highly recommend his podcast). Once this issue with the album artwork started I deleted all traces that I could find of those mp3s from my Mac and iPhone.

I did try deleting the playlist several times but to no avail.

Hope this helps.

Thank you!

I meant that on its own the first image wouldn't demonstrate that each track had the right artwork. But you've checked that it does, so that isn't the issue. If you've copied and pasted the images in then you know the embedded artwork is correct. Sometime ago Apple started loading up your unhidden purchase history on your devices automatically. The metadata associated with the purchase can sometimes show instead of any changes you have made. In addition removing the tracks you've synced to the device may not clear the cached version of your purchase, which it would seem has somehow become associated with the wrong image.

Try Hide and unhide music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and books - Apple Support and hide the album from your purchase history, then remove the device, and add back. That really ought to clear things up. Otherwise I think you'll have to nuke and pave.

tt2

See Grouping tracks into albums for some tips on logical organization. You shouldn't try to merge different things together with a common sort value. Results are unpredictable.

I set up a playlist folder for each device, then put the playlists I want on the device in that folder. I can manage what will go on the device without having to connect it. Once you're organized you can select all playlists that sync in a flash, and you don't have to wait for one list to sync before adding the next, or queue up multiple operations at the same time.

tt2

I am experiencing a similar issue with my iPhone 8+ and the artwork for one playlist in particular. It shows correctly in iTunes on my iMac, but in the playlist on my phone it's got artwork for the wrong item. Even weirder is that within the playlist (this playlist is actually a single album - don't ask why, I just wanted this album as its own playlist) two of the sixteen songs have the correct album art, but 14 do not. And of course, the playlist itself shows the wrong artwork.

Is there any other way besides doing this radical method of restoring the phone as a new device that will work? I would actually be happier living with the wrong artwork than doing this. Not that I'm not grateful that you have answered this and many other questions for those of us who are just not all that good at this stuff - I am. So thank you for being willing to help others out.

But please tell me there's another way to correct just this one playlist. 🙂

You can try removing the playlist and all tracks associated with it from your device, reboot, then add back again. You could step through the individual Song Info view for each track in iTunes to see if its art is different from that shown for the album, which is normally drawn from the first track.

tt2

If image 3 is what you see when viewing different tracks from the album that is fine. Image 1 isn't enough. I have a small test playlist of an album where each track has different embedded artwork, but the playlist view in iTunes shows the same image against each track.

I'm assuming that the art is embedded and not store associated artwork. If you're not sure copy the image from the Song Info window of any track, then select all of them, Get Info, and paste the image onto the small square at the top left. This will replace all of the images in all of the items with the selected image.

Is this a purchased album, or do you have iTunes Match or Apple Music? The next possible line of attack would be to backup the album then remove it from your purchase history or iCloud Music Library before adding it back.

tt2

Ok, let's see if I can answer your questions...

Starting with the last one first:

This is an album I purchased through iTunes. I do not use iTunes Match or Apple Music streaming.

I have to assume the artwork is embedded since it came that way from iTunes, but I may not be understanding correctly.

I don't know what you mean by "Image 1 isn't enough." Sorry!

Image 3 is what I see when I go into iTunes on my Mac, select any of the songs from the playlist/album, and then select "Song Info". So it shows the correct artwork for every song in the album/playlist.

It's only on the iPhone where the playlist has the wrong artwork, and then it's for 14 out of the 16 songs, plus the "Album/Playlist" itself.

I made sure that all the artwork was the same by copying and pasting the correct album art into each song.

Ah, ok. I get it. Thank you for explaining.

I tried this quickly (and it didn't seem to work) but I'm afraid I may have gotten the steps wrong. I'll try again tomorrow. Been a hectic day and I don't want to keep at it tonight.

Thank you, again. I'll post here when I've given it a good try.

Well, sadly, hiding and unhiding the album doesn't do anything. It was worth a try though.

If there was only a way to purge the offending album artwork from my iTunes and Mac, that would probably do it.

Thanks for your patience and help!

I was think you would leave the purchase hidden, remove the album from the device, reboot, add it back again. But as I say you may have to go the whole hog and wipe the device completely before reloading it.

tt2

I may end up having to do that, or I will just leave it alone and look at the wrong album art. Just can't understand how these things happen and then manage to stay messed up. You'd think that this type of error would just fix itself when you synced up, but I guess that's not how they work.

Thanks again for your help. I appreciate it. If I ever do get it straightened out, I'll post how I did it, even if it means wiping the device.

Also meant to add this screenshot to show that the info for the artwork appears correct in the entire album. This is what they all look like when I choose "Show Info":