What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Get answers about using MediaMonkey 4 for Windows.

Moderator: Gurus

cotp
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 7:53 am
Location: France

What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by cotp »

Hi everyone

I am interested in knowing what image system you have decided to apply to your files. Do you save it in tags, do you link it ? Do you add it to your library without wondering about it ;)

1) I was wondering what you consider a good size for covers in term of pixels and kb. If it's too small it will be pixillated and if it's too big, I don't really see the point...

Some other questions about images:

2) Do you consider saving in tags as the best option, or do you think one should have a cover.jpg copy in the folder ?
3) I realied I rarely look at backcovers anymore since I am interested mostly to listen to music, since these appear (if I am not mistaken) only in the properties, do you think it is a good choice to erase them ?
4) I am trying to save some space in my Music folder, do you know of any scripts that would let me :
a) resize images that are too big inside the folders
b) delete unnecessary images (back, or dupes)
c) insert in tags if that has not been done.

Thanks in advance for your feed back :)

Cotp
nohitter151
Posts: 23640
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:20 am
Location: NJ, USA
Contact:

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by nohitter151 »

cotp wrote: 1) I was wondering what you consider a good size for covers in term of pixels and kb. If it's too small it will be pixillated and if it's too big, I don't really see the point...
For me, the bigger the image, the better. I'd say my images range from 150x150 to about 800x800 pixels, but I always try to get art that is at least 300x300 when possible. Sometimes you can't find anything anywhere on the net even that big for rare stuff.
cotp wrote:2) Do you consider saving in tags as the best option, or do you think one should have a cover.jpg copy in the folder ?
I consider tags the best option. Why have to manage music files and images? It seems much easier to just embed the art and forget about it - if you ever have to move your files somewhere, now you have to worry about the art moving with it. The only downside to the art in the tag is that you'll take up slightly more disk space (since the image is saved for each track on an album), but in the end that probably only works out to a few hundred kBs per album anyway.
cotp wrote:3) I realied I rarely look at backcovers anymore since I am interested mostly to listen to music, since these appear (if I am not mistaken) only in the properties, do you think it is a good choice to erase them ?
This is a personal choice, some people really want to have everything - and you never know what will happen in the future (maybe there will be some good way to display multiple images when a track plays, or to cycle through images, etc. Personally though, the front cover is enough for me -- you could probably go crazy trying to get every bit of art associated with an album saved to the track.
cotp wrote:4) I am trying to save some space in my Music folder, do you know of any scripts that would let me :
a) resize images that are too big inside the folders
b) delete unnecessary images (back, or dupes)
c) insert in tags if that has not been done.

Thanks in advance for your feed back :)

Cotp
a) I don't know of any
b) Album art tagger
c) Album art tagger for existing art, Batch art finder for finding new art
MediaMonkey user since 2006
Need help? Got a suggestion? Can't find something?

Please no PMs in reply to a post. Just reply in the thread.
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by Lowlander »

There are also plenty of topics on this subject you can read for more ideas on this. For me the biggest size available and embedded. Size is important as screen resolutions keep going up (so you're future proof) and embedded to make sure you don't loose relationship between songs and art. With harddrives of 1.5TB costing $130 it's worth doing it so that you don't have to redo your art in the future.
conchobar

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by conchobar »

Sometimes you can't find anything anywhere on the net even that big for rare stuff.
Try http://www.albumartexchange.com/ - they have an album art searchable DB with a minimum 600x600 resolution.

And, you know about Ctl+L in media monkey I presume (Tools > Auto-Tag from Web)? It will use Amazon for art data, and you can choose which tags to update. Also, note at the top of the Auto-tag from Web window, there's a pull down. Most popular stuff will generate multiple matches for the same album. I've found it can be worthwhile to look through all the results (you can click the pull down and use the keyboard down arrow) and find the best quality art that way.

I choose both embed art as tags, and, create folder.jpg.
Eyal
Posts: 3116
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:27 am
Location: Québec

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by Eyal »

Lowlander wrote:There are also plenty of topics on this subject you can read for more ideas on this.
Some other interesting topics on the subject:
http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =2&t=17993
http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =1&t=30018
Skins for MediaMonkey: Cafe, Carbon, Helium, Spotify, Zekton. [ Wiki Zone ].
cotp
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 7:53 am
Location: France

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by cotp »

Thanks for all your feedback. Of course I know of Tag from the Web and Batch Art Finder. My question actually is not about finding art but what do do with my existing covers. I relized through a desktop search that I had some covers that were png 3000x2700 and around 25000Kb !! Of course that is what I call usless...

That's why I asked for a good size to resize them... I am thinking of 500 maximum what do you think ? And will proably go jpg and include them in tags.

I remember before I kept a cover.jpg that my cowon X5 needed for displaying art but after that I realized also it was usless since I didn't care about looking at art wile listening to music outside :)

Cotp
Eyal
Posts: 3116
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:27 am
Location: Québec

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by Eyal »

500x500 is good. It laso fits right most of the mp3 players. I was tagging all album arts in the tag at 500x500, but since I got a bigger monitor (1920x1200) I began to increase it to 600x600. I also keep all images as jpg in the album folders along with a 100x100 Folder.jpg for thumbnails, and larger hi-res originals in "Big AA" sub-folder (useful when I need to print them). As said Lowlander, disk size isn't a matter today.
Skins for MediaMonkey: Cafe, Carbon, Helium, Spotify, Zekton. [ Wiki Zone ].
sonu
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:57 am

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by sonu »

300X300 to 600X600 is decent size. However, sometimes this size is not available, then I have to live with 150x150 or something like this. Nope, I never resized any image yet. It's a headace to first resize them, then retag all the music. Its waste of time, since it takes only few Kilobytes.

I store album art in Tag + Album Folder (Option enabled in MM as <Album>.jpg) I also store back and leaflet images in the Album folder. Even though I only care about the front cover, but it's good to have those extra pages in available for future.
cotp
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 7:53 am
Location: France

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by cotp »

You will maybe think I'm complicating things but here is what I did :)

1) Moved all the art files to another drive. I use Beyond Compare with a filter for images. Therefore I have the same structure as I have in my music drive but now this last one has only music in it 8)
2) Used a small freeware to erase empty folders that were created on my cover folders
3) Catalogued my music drive with Acdsee Photo Manager, then made a search for images with a width > to 700 pixel, then resized them all to 700 width
4) Using Art Tagger i am now including the linked files inside the tags (caused MM3 to crash in the end, will try again)
5) Erasing all my images from my musing drive (don't now yet if I want to keep a tiny cover.jpg or not in it for reference or mp3 player)

Here it is :wink:
Eyal
Posts: 3116
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:27 am
Location: Québec

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by Eyal »

cotp wrote:You will maybe think I'm complicating things but here is what I did :)

1) Moved all the art files to another drive. I use Beyond Compare with a filter for images. Therefore I have the same structure as I have in my music drive but now this last one has only music in it 8)
Why do you put the pictures in another place? Are you taking out the covers from your CD cases and put them in a safe place? For me it's just illogical. Let say you want to make a gift to someone by giving him music. You will have to copy the music folders AND find the corresponding art on the other drive... Just duplicating actions.
Skins for MediaMonkey: Cafe, Carbon, Helium, Spotify, Zekton. [ Wiki Zone ].
cotp
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 7:53 am
Location: France

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by cotp »

Eyal wrote:Why do you put the pictures in another place? Are you taking out the covers from your CD cases and put them in a safe place? For me it's just illogical. Let say you want to make a gift to someone by giving him music. You will have to copy the music folders AND find the corresponding art on the other drive... Just duplicating actions.
Ah ah good question, that is because my drive was getting out of space :-? need to buy a new one, indeed now the prices or low. And actually, I like the idea of having a drive where i have only nothing but music in it.

Cotp
gumbootiner
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:31 am

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by gumbootiner »

I usually both embed the artwork and keep a copy in the folder, embedded files are usually around 400x400. Some of my albums have huge scans of all artwork, inlays, backs, media, etc... I don't embed them but I keep them in a subfolder called Artwork or Cover.
cotp
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 7:53 am
Location: France

Re: What image system do you use ? Image size for covers

Post by cotp »

gumbootiner wrote:I don't embed them but I keep them in a subfolder called Artwork or Cover.
That makes more sense :)

Cotp
Post Reply