[8188]8Why can't we just link artwork to an existing file...

[rycher]

Hi,

In MM4 we lost the ability to link artwork to an existing file, which was possible in MM3.
Now, we have to either save the artwork in the tag, or to a new file, which causes a duplicate it the source file is already in the album directory.
Why can't we just link to an existing file anymore?

Thanks,

Rycher

[nynaevelan]

I don't understand what you mean, you can still link art in MM4. What are the steps you are taking?

Nyn

[rycher]

I don't understand what you mean, you can still link art in MM4. What are the steps you are taking?

In MM3, when you add an image already in the album folder, for the image location there is an option "Link to image file". It does not put it in the tag, it does not need to copy it in the album folder (it's already there).

In MM4, this option does no exists anymore. The options have change, now you specify the location as the tag and/or folder, and you specify the filename (for when it's in the folder). The filename default pattern is set in the options; I set it as the album name for when I auto-tag from web, it works great then. But if the file already exists in the folder under a different name (i.e. could not find it on Amazon, and found it through google and saved the file in the album directory), there is no way to tell MM4 to link to the existing file, it will save a new image file under the default name (thus having 2 copies of the same image in the album directory).

Rycher

[nynaevelan]

You still can, just select the Properties - Artwork - Add - select file and open - Change Image Location to save image to file folder - change Image Name to name of file including changing thm to the extension of file.

I am not sure how much this has changed from MM3 but the option is still there if a little more convoluted.

Nyn

[rycher]

You still can, just select the Properties - Artwork - Add - select file and open - Change Image Location to save image to file folder - change Image Name to name of file including changing thm to the extension of file.

Nope. Even if I follow your recipe (which requires to copy the name of the file when selecting it in order to paste it afterwards in "Image File" text box), MM4 creates a copy of the file (adding _2 at the end of the name), I still end up with 2 identical files in my album directory. Not what I want to do.

In MM3 you simply had to check the box "Link to image file" and everything worked fine.

[nynaevelan]

Reported here: http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=8188

[rycher]

Thanks!

[rusty]

We're probably not going to fix this issue. If you have a look at the bug, you'll see that one of the reasons we implemented it in the current fashion is to enforce consistent naming of Album Art so that when files are scanned, MM 'knows' which images to consider as Album Art.

I think that the current behavior is much more logical than past behavior, except for the problem that you pointed out--i.e. if attempting to link to an image that is already contained within the directory, it's kind of annoying to have 2 identical images with different filenames.

Do you think it would make sense that in such cases, the user is prompted with 'Do you wish to delete the original image file to prevent duplicate images in the directory?' with a 'don't show this again' prompt ?

-Rusty

[HaraldBluetooth1963]

Rusty if you manually Add/rescan files to the library, it works perfect without annoying behaviour. If you choose "Save image to file folder" the import automatic will only link to the existing picture files in the folder.

Why can't we get this option if we want to edit Artwork properties afterwards?

Personally I feel Artwork worked much better in version 3.

Who have pictures in the file folder, that don't belong to that album and shouldn't be imported. I don't understand your argument about this.

I have many albums with over 20 picture files including inlay and so on and don't need Media Monkey to make double pictures or other strange things.

The new edit Artwork is also much slower than before. It's normal for me to wait about 2 minutes before all Album Art is shown in edit Artwork and before the annoying "Please wait" message disapears.

Sorry for my rant, but I don't feel, that this is working properly for the time being. I've "married" Media Monkey for many years ago, because I love to control how my music manager should act and not the other way around.

I would prefer much more simple Edit Arkwork features. Only the option to Save Image to tag or Link to image and drop the delete and control functions and let the user be responsible for the images in the file folder.

[rycher]

Who have pictures in the file folder, that don't belong to that album and shouldn't be imported. I don't understand your argument about this.

I agree with HaraldBluetooth, who keeps pictures that don't belong in an album folder? It might even be an interesting side effect for people with misplaced pictures to see them linked to an album an realize they didn't mean to put/save them there.

If you offer an option to delete the original picture when saving it to the same directoy, it will look like a patch, but as long as it does the job.

Ultimately I want a single copy of the artwork. I don't mind the current name of files even if some are just a bunch of numbers and letter. I don't mind if they get renamed/saved back to a better namem as long as there is still just one copy.

Rycher

[nynaevelan]

I want the ability to save my artwork in a folder outside of where the files are stored, unfortunately what we want and what we get are two different things...

[rusty]

Thanks. These are tracked as follows:

Performance issues with many images in Properties > Artwork: http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=8258

Direct Linking to images: http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=8188

-Rusty

[jiri]

Any specific configuration for the performance problems? I have just tried a tagged mp3 with 20 jpegs (all >100kB) and it's shown in ~2 seconds.

Jiri

[HaraldBluetooth1963]

I primary have larger flac files with linked artwork (<>500kB-1MB), but it also happens in ogg files.

Debug log is uploadet under support ticket JOM-420138 - see also http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =6&t=59794

[rusty]

The performance problem is fixed in build 1422. Please confirm that it works for you.

Thanks!

-Rusty