Multiple duplicated album artwork on most tracks

[Cliff232MB]

Hi all, I am reasonably new to Musicbee but I cannot find an answer to having scores or even hundreds of Album cover artwork linked or embedded to most of my tracks. This seems to be prevalent on tracks that I have used for a long time and are in a playlist that I add to and update to then copy to USB for the car. So firstly, what are the correct preferences and Tag settings needed to stop this duplication, and secondly,  how do I remove all artwork and rescan to correct this for future use?  Please explain click by click. I am unable to screenshot the problem as it's a right-click menu when a track is playing and disappears when you open a new snipping tool screen. The screenshot of Amy Winehouse has 173 images when it is right-clicked. I have found I can manually delete these multiple duplicate images in the edit menu for each track but I feel I will not live long enough to complete my whole Library!!!    To confirm I would like to delete ALL artwork from Musicbee and start again. Where does Musicbee store the artwork?   I run Windows 11 and do not have a Folder.jpg.  I believe this feature has been removed from Win 11/. Many thanks in advance.https://i.imgur.com/lsGFA6U.png

[frankz]

Hi all, I am reasonably new to Musicbee

You have been posting here for three years

but I cannot find an answer to having scores or even hundreds of Album cover artwork linked or embedded to most of my tracks. This seems to be prevalent on tracks that I have used for a long time and are in a playlist that I add to and update to then copy to USB for the car. So firstly, what are the correct preferences and Tag settings needed to stop this duplication

This is dependent on how you store your music files (are they all in one big folder or are they organized in Artist/Album folders for each album or something similar) and how you store your artwork (are pictures embedded in each file, or are there separate image files for each album).

and secondly,  how do I remove all artwork and rescan to correct this for future use? Please explain click by click.

The artwork settings are under Edit->Edit Preferences->Tags(1).  Once you get your settings set in a way that matches the way your files and artwork actually exist, select the files - right click - Send To->File Rescan
 

I run Windows 11 and do not have a Folder.jpg.  I believe this feature has been removed from Win 11

I have no idea what you're talking about here.

Here's the image you were unable to embed.  

Why do all of your titles start with numbers? Is this post about files in your music library or are were talking about files after you sync them to some device as they then exist on the device?  The settings for what to do with artwork on files that you sync to a device are on the device sync settings menu.

[phred]

Why do all of your titles start with numbers?

I would guess those are track numbers. It would nice if the OP included the column headers in the screenshot.

[frankz]

There are track numbers in one column, and then the next column is the title, which appears to be the same number with a leading zero plus the actual title. This is also displayed as the title in the pane where the album art is shown. It is very odd.

[Steven]

I think the OP is looking at a folder on a device where the 'create sub-folder for each playlist and it's tracks' option is used.
So each track is named starting with a number in sequence for the playlist in question.

[frankz]

Yes I think so too, and that's kind of what I was getting at in my response. 

So the question asked isn't actually the question that needs to be answered to resolve the issue.  This likely isn't about artwork in the library or "delet[ing] ALL artwork from Musicbee and start[ing] again," but managing which artwork winds up on a device (which happens to be being viewed in MB in this instance).

We could probably use some clarification about the process and intention here.

[Cliff232MB]

Thank you for your prompt reply Frankz and Steven. My music is stored in two folders in Windows Music. One is titled Musicbee and I have a few tracks stored in a folder called 4Kyoutube to Mp3.
The artwork is embedded in each track.
The 3 digit numbers before each track are to keep the alphabetical order of the playlist when transferred to a USB stick otherwise the stick will jumble up the tracks randomly as it's Fat32.
When you Google 'where does Musicbee store its artwork' you get that it will be saved to 'Folder.jpg'  a Windows default, which has been removed from Win 11 as stated. Also as stated I do not have this folder.
So clarification from you would be good as to specifically what settings I need in Edit-edit preferences-Tags 1 now you know how my music is stored. At the moment, under artwork storage,  I have just the 'embed picture in the music file' ticked, and under 'set which pictures are displayed' I have just 'Embedded' displayed on its own.
Can I simply delete all artwork from Musicbee and rescan?  I have hundreds of tracks with hundreds of duplicate album cover artwork which I would like to delete.
With the above settings when I do as you suggested, select some music files from Musicbee Library, then right click-send to-file-rescan, nothing happens, all the scores of duplicate images remain with the tracks.   Thanks

[frankz]

Thank you for your prompt reply Frankz and Steven. My music is stored in two folders in Windows Music. One is titled Musicbee and I have a few tracks stored in a folder called 4Kyoutube to Mp3.
The artwork is embedded in each track.

When you look in those folders, are there any files in them besides music files?

The 3 digit numbers before each track are to keep the alphabetical order of the playlist when transferred to a USB stick otherwise the stick will jumble up the tracks randomly as it's Fat32.

You do not need to create a fake title tag to do this.  If you tick "create a sub-folder for each playlist and its tracks," in the device sync settings (Edit->Edit Preferences->Devices...Settings...playlist storage), then this will be done automatically.

When you Google 'where does Musicbee store its artwork' you get that it will be saved to 'Folder.jpg'  a Windows default, which has been removed from Win 11 as stated. Also as stated I do not have this folder.

Folder.jpg is not a folder.  Folder.jpg is (generally) an album cover image file that would be linked to all files that sit in a specific folder.  It is used when a user will have individual albums each in their own folder in lieu of embedding the artwork into each file.  It is not a feature which would be added or removed from any specific version of Windows. People with Windows 11 can store Folder.jpg files just fine.

So clarification from you would be good as to specifically what settings I need in Edit-edit preferences-Tags 1 now you know how my music is stored. At the moment, under artwork storage,  I have just the 'embed picture in the music file' ticked, and under 'set which pictures are displayed' I have just 'Embedded' displayed on its own.

This seems correct if there are indeed no separate image files in the two folders you say your music is in.

Can I simply delete all artwork from Musicbee and rescan?  I have hundreds of tracks with hundreds of duplicate album cover artwork which I would like to delete.

If these hundreds of images are truly embedded in each of the files, I don't know of a way to do this in bulk. You would probably need to delete the incorrect images from each file. Someone will correct me if there's a way I'm not seeing.

With the above settings when I do as you suggested, select some music files from Musicbee Library, then right click-send to-file-rescan, nothing happens, all the scores of duplicate images remain with the tracks.   Thanks

Yes, if they're all embedded rescanning will not help.

If you open one of these files in the tag editor (Right Click->Edit) and go to the artwork tab, it will show each image associated with the file. If you hover over each image with your mouse, it will tell you how that specific image is stored.  I'd be curious if each image is actually embedded.  Also, you can see there where you'll be able to delete each of the incorrect images (the Delete button).  

A screenshot of this Artwork tab for one of the files might be useful for us to see.

If you open the playlist in MB and then go to Tools->Artwork->Album Artwork Manager, deselect all of the filters there at the upper-left and hit refresh, it will give you a list of all the files in the playlist along with the number of images associated with each one and how those images are stored.  This will at least help you to identify the problem files that need to be corrected.  A screenshot of one page of this might be useful, too.

[psychoadept]

If these hundreds of images are truly embedded in each of the files, I don't know of a way to do this in bulk. You would probably need to delete the incorrect images from each file. Someone will correct me if there's a way I'm not seeing.

As long as the artwork is the same for every file in the album, you should at least be able to do it a whole album at a time. The Album Artwork Manager is also helpful for this because it will show you if all the tracks in an album are the same or not, which will help you figure out which ones you can do as a group.

Or you can find the artwork for that specific album, copy it, and paste it to the whole album. That should clear out the extra ones.

[The Incredible Boom Boom]

mp3tag

The artwork is embedded in each track.

...

Can I simply delete all artwork from Musicbee and rescan?  I have hundreds of tracks with hundreds of duplicate album cover artwork which I would like to delete.
With the above settings when I do as you suggested, select some music files from Musicbee Library, then right click-send to-file-rescan, nothing happens, all the scores of duplicate images remain with the tracks.   Thanks

mp3tag can delete duplicate embedded artwork.
You can save my script as an MTA file extension to the Actions folder after downloading and then run it export the duplicated artwork, remove them from the file and then import it back.

Code

[#0]
T=13
1=$replace(%_cover_type%,Media,cd$regexp(%discnumber%,'(\\d+)/[\\s\\S]*?$',_$1))
3=0|3
2=0

[#1]
T=9
F=PICTURE

[#2]
T=12
1=Front Cover.jpg
2=0
3=3

This way, you can just load all your music files into mp3tag and let it run. It will take a while.

[Cliff232MB]

Excellent replies and information, thanks.
Firstly the only other files in any of the music folders are shown in screenshot 1 in the Musicbee folder.
https://i.imgur.com/XWVGJsY.png
Thanks, Frankz for the  "create a sub-folder for each playlist and its tracks," tip, this will save me hours using the edit and 3 digits method.
The next screenshot is of the Artwork tab for an Amy W track which has 171 duplicate album covers. In mp3tag it shows 123 images.
https://i.imgur.com/C7MgEvn.png
Going to the playlist 'The Latest' and then to Album Artwork Manager I have the next screenshot. I am not sure what I should be doing here as far as settings and filters etc. Could you confirm frankz?
https://i.imgur.com/VcrbAtt.png

As to reply to Boom Boom, I don't use mp3tag but I have downloaded it and have all my music 'loaded'  I have found the Action setting but am not sure what to do next. Do I copy and paste your commands somewhere? Could you please confirm click by click how to proceed? See next screenshot.
https://imgur.com/VOuvoJX

[Cliff232MB]

Frankz, just to add If I manually delete all the duplicate images in the edit area using the delete button, then I have to click 172 times to remove the duplicates from one track and as I said in the original post I don't think I will live long enough to finish the task for my whole library.!!  Have you come across Boom Booms's solution before? What do you think of this route?

[frankz]

For the picture of the music folder (first screenshot), what I was getting at was seeing what files were in the *same folder as your music files*  Are there any besides audio files there?  Are there image files there? 

Otherwise, that is very odd stuff. 

IBB is expert at mp3tag, and if he says that it'll do what you need it to do trust him.  I use it in a very rudimentary way and don't know anything about its more powerful functions like scripting, but he does.

[Cliff232MB]

No, just to be clear I do not have any other file types in any of my music folders only mp3 audio files.
So it seems I will have to wait for IBB to reply as I'm a bit lost as to what he means by 'You can save my script as an MTA file extension to the Actions folder after downloading and then run it to export the duplicated artwork, remove them from the file and then import it back.'  
When I highlight the script there is no 'save' option or a download option.
BTW this is a link that I mentioned earlier, to the Windows 11 problem of not having .png files or thumbnails available at all.
 https://superuser.com/questions/1715298/windows-11-file-explorer-no-longer-shows-thumbnails-for-png-images.

I appreciate all of your input.

[frankz]

BTW this is a link that I mentioned earlier, to the Windows 11 problem of not having .png files or thumbnails available at all.
 https://superuser.com/questions/1715298/windows-11-file-explorer-no-longer-shows-thumbnails-for-png-images.

I appreciate all of your input.

You said that there aren't folder.jpg before and also said that folder.jpg is a folder, both of which are entirely different than this issue of not showing thumbnail previews for png files. 

If it makes you feel better, I'm about 100% certain none of it has any relation to the problem you're having.