Artwork forgets it's given order

[waypointwatchman]

I'm not a newbie, and have been using MM for some years and have always been conscientious in tagging my artwork, giving it specific order. I'm using version 4.1.0.1692. Up until this last update some months ago, I had no problems with the stable order of my artwork. Since the update, on doing searches for music, many albums now return with the media label or a leaflet page first instead of the album cover. It matters not if I remove and add again the album, or remove the artwork and add it again. Once the order is how I want it, it will return on a search out of order again in a random manner. Any ideas what is the problem please?

[Lowlander]

What do you mean by searching for music? Are you doing a Library search, using auto-Artwork lookup or Auto-Tag from Web? Also are you working with files in the Library or My Computer?

Note, you're using an old version of MediaMonkey. It's recommended to upgrade to the latest version when encountering issues so you're not chasing fixed bugs.

[waypointwatchman]

Thanks for the reply Lowlander. I'm doing a simple library search in Media Monkey through the files pre-registered in the library, but are on a hard disk, not artwork lookup or auto-tag from the web. I will certainly upgrade to the latest version today, but I assumed that since I couldn't find a post on this problem that it wasn't a known bug. I'll upgrade, test and post again. Thanks again.

[waypointwatchman]

Ok Lowlander, I've upgraded to the latest version of Media Monkey, and I've done a few searches again in the library purely by selecting 'search entire library' inserting the name of the group in 'any text fields' and I have a repetition of examples of albums returned with a leaflet or cd image displayed instead of the front cover. All of these albums have previously been carefully filed with images stored and returned in correct order. Obviously this simple search returns all work by an artist in alphabetical order. Although sometimes the correct cover image is returned, when I right click on this album and select 'Find more from same/album' the correct cover image then changes to a leaflet page when the album is returned in its library playing order. Every time that I try to correct this again through 'Properties/artwork/apply to all selected files' or by deleting and refiling the album Media Monkey still forgets the given image tag order again. The only thing that I have done in the last few months is transfer the library to another hard drive and I asked Media Monkey to find 'missing files'. If this were to have some cause, it would not explain the fact that I am correcting the order of images in the library, and they are again forgotten. To clarify the point, when I say 'forgotten' I really mean that on examining the properties and images of the files all are supposedly saved in the correct order but the given saved principal image (i.e. the cover of the album) is not that which Media Monkey choses to display. I'm at a loss, sorry.

[Lowlander]

Note that MediaMonkey chooses Artwork from a single file from the Album, thus if a single file has Artwork wrongly sorted it could be the culprit.

I'd suggest to try removing the MMCache*****_* folders from the MediaMonkey Temp folder (location is set under Tools > Options > General). You may also want to run File > Maintain Library with complete optimization checked. Lastly it doesn't seem you mentioned the View (Art or Art with Details you're using.

[waypointwatchman]

I've tried all that has been suggested, i.e. removing the MMCache*****_* folders from the MediaMonkey Temp folder, (there were very few files here) and I've been running with File > Maintain Library complete optimization checked. I was going to say that this has improved the odd situation when the program hangs, but today it hung again, just as I was removing an album yet again to try to re-add it and let Media Monkey sort automatically the order of images. I'm just playing catch up because Media Monkey will do it again and again afterwards and I cannot fathom the problem. The situation is this:
I am using Art with Details showing;
I have the tag images properly sorted, in fact the example album that I'm experimenting on is one that has just 3 album images in the folder, front, back and label, so that it makes the test very simple;
No matter how many times I correct the order, on the next search, it will return the album with the label as principal image;
When I remove, add, check order and do search, it returns wrong again;
What is more, when I remove the album to try again, the next folder in the library that shows on screen after the removal (from library only) returns its images in the wrong order too;
I've just done the last test and Media Monkey hung and did not want to play. After a very long wait I was forced to shut it down via Windows Admin.
Hence I write again with no idea how to correct this.
I have spent much time gradually recorrecting file images and leaving a check symbol on each file. I know that these are correct but they are always included in the ones that return a false order.
I am running Windows 7.

[waypointwatchman]

Here is more detailed behaviour now noted of tags that are properly labelled and clean of rogue files in their folders.
After a search is made using any of the fields for an artist, the following is the result:
'Show art with details' selected - art column has random artwork showing, but never the cover, whilst the 'Now playing' art box always shows the cover correctly;
After the tag is corrected using 'properties', the former list of results which always showed albums files together, now displays as individual file results only and the first result is correctly showing art. When 'show more from this album is selected', the artwork is correct and full albums appear again. New search of same artist, artwork correct. Shut down and start again, we start with the same problems from zero yet again. It seems incurable.

[nohitter151]

What type of files? This was reported some time ago for WMA files and determined to be a bug with the WMA format.

[waypointwatchman]

Nohitter,
I've just done a test on searching artists and am finding that the artwork affected, and I have some persistent offenders that will not conform, all belong to mp3 category. I cannot find any examples of WAV format misbehaving at the moment.

[MMFrLife]

I cannot find any examples of WAV format misbehaving at the moment.

No probs with WAV is good, as they can be very problematic.
What about WMAs as Nohitter suggested?

[waypointwatchman]

I 've just done another check. I have an album copied in two formats within MM, an original WAV for listening to lossless reproduction, and mp3 for transferring to mobile devices. Wav is behaving itself and the tagged images of the mp3 formatted copy are consistently coming back in disorder no matter how many times I correct them. So it appears that mp3 is the format that is problematic here.

[Peke]

FYI WAVs can't have embed Album Art and if MP3 have incorrect order of AA in tag you need to clear tags and resync in order to fix them as each time you rescan files order will be as it is in Tags.

[waypointwatchman]

Thanks Peke, that's informative and helpful, but am I missing something here? I have cleared tags and rebuilt them. I haven't resynchronized them, (I need a clue on that one), but after a rescan, why would they come back 'in the order of the tags' incorrectly. I've just cleared them and put them right. Is it the synchronization then? I think I am missing something because I have thousands of files and in years of use MM has never done this before.

[Peke]

To Sync Tags select tracks and press CTRL+S I just tried and Album Art is Saved in MMW properties order.

RE WAV: I suggest converting them to FLAC, much better and still lossless.

[waypointwatchman]

Thanks again Peke,
I'll certainly be converting my WAVs to FLAC.

Now then, the problem persists. I have just deleted from the library all the albums from one artist. All the music files are mp3 format. I checked that all images are correct and are present in the folder. All other images saved to the tags have been removed, and all images have been given an order that has been applied to all files on the album. I then performed a resync as suggested. On adding the next album into the library I then see that the previous album is immediately displaying the incorrect order again, and then the next and so on. I reiterate that I have never had this problem with previous versions of MM, only with the version mentioned above and the latest one that I have upgraded to. I cannot believe that other users have not witnessed this problem and can only believe that we have a bug that needs a fix. I am loath to leave MM, because the competition is nowhere near as good, but this problem is very, very frustrating.