Automatically embed cover art into files

[steagl3]

I've noticed that in all my cars' entertainment systems when playing audio via USB, if the cover art for an album is not embedded into each audio file, the screens display a generic (and frankly terrible) image, like the outline of a CD or in some cases even just a blank square. They do not display art saved as a separate file in the same folder. The only workaround is to go back to the album in MusicBee and manually embed the cover art into the files for each album and copy back to the USB drive.

Would love an option for art embedding to happen automatically as soon as a new file or folder is added to the MB database.

Would also be great to be able to do this in bulk for the entire database, rather than only newly-added files, but I'd would look at either method as a very useful enhancement.

[Mayibongwe]

Would also be great to be able to do this in bulk for the entire database, rather than only newly-added files, but I'd would look at either method as a very useful enhancement.

In the device synchronization settings (Preferences > Devices), there is an option for this.
When performing a sync operation, you'll be able to embed all album covers during the process.

[steagl3]

Thanks Mayibongwe... I took a look at those settings for my USB drive, and embed artwork was already toggled, but "automatically synchronize when the device is connected" was not. Does that have to be toggled or is there a way to manually do it one time?

[Mayibongwe]

I am a bit confused now.
You say that the setting to embed artwork when synching was/is already on, but the tracks synced/copied to your USB drive did/do not have the covers embedded?

..."automatically synchronize when the device is connected" was not enabled.
Does that have to be toggled or is there a way to manually do it one time?

This does not have anything to do with the embedded artwork setting, but if what you're asking is "how do I resync the whole library back to my USB drive?"
I would say empty your USB Drive (specifically the music files), and then resync your collection (with the embed artwork option still enabled).
If the artwork still does not get embedded, then something else is going on.

[frankz]

I think I remember that a change in artwork settings does not trigger a file to be resynchronized to a device. 

I agree that starting over with an empty drive with the setting on should produce the desired result.

[steagl3]

So my use case is I have my library on a 4tb portable drive, which isn't recognized by my car (nor would I want that much music to have to sort through with a clunky interface like a car system). What I put in my car is a 128gb thumb drive, which has albums that I copy over from the main library drive. Up till now, if I don't manually embed the cover art for an album via the library drive, then it doesn't copy over to my thumbdrive with embedded artwork. What I have been looking for is a way to embed all cover art into all files in bulk on the library drive, and keep this setting enabled for all new content I add to the drive, so I don't need to worry about doing this manually ever again.

If I am understanding correctly - I can do this with the library drive, but I would need to copy everything over to a different drive first, wipe the first drive, then copy everything back to it again and that toggled setting will carry out the embedding task?

[Mayibongwe]

If I am understanding correctly - I can do this with the library drive, but I would need to copy everything over to a different drive first, wipe the first drive, then copy everything back to it again and that toggled setting will carry out the embedding task?

No-no. If by "wipe out first drive", you mean the "main 4TB library or portable drive", then no, that's not what we're saying.
Nothing needs to change on your main 4TB drive.

What essentially needs to happen here is for a resync to be done to your 128GB thumb drive so that the enabled embed artwork option does its thing.
There are many ways to trigger the resync. The easiest that we suggest is to:
- Delete the copies of the music files on your thumb drive.
- Then resync them with MB back to your thumb drive.

Hope that makes sense

Edit:
In fact, before you do any deleting mentioned above:
- get a new song into your MusicBee.
- ensure the embed artwork option is on.
- then sync that one new file to your thumb drive.
- if the artwork is embedded as desired, then the same process can be done for the rest of your files.

[steagl3]

Thanks for the clarification. I think our misalignment here comes with the way I am putting files on the thumbdrive. Per your comment - "resync them with MB back to your thumbdrive" - I don't sync this thumbdrive with MB, I simply drag and drop folders from my the main library drive to the thumbdrive. I never know which albums I'll want on a given week so it's totally spur of the moment and very much a manual copy + paste approach. As such, and to repeat my original request, I want my MB library to have all cover art embedded into all files at all times - all at once through a bulk job, and then automatically as I add new folders to the library. That way anything I move over to the thumbdrive in the future is guaranteed to have the cover art embedded. Hopefully this makes sense now.

[Mayibongwe]

I think our misalignment here comes with the way I am putting files on the thumbdrive.
Per your comment - "resync them with MB back to your thumbdrive" - I don't sync this thumbdrive with MB, I simply drag and drop folders from my the main library drive to the thumbdrive.

My bad, I'd made the assumption that you were already syncing your files, but I now see that the specific term you've been using all along is "copy" not "sync".
Anyhoo, it still stands that you will have to make use of the sync feature in order to do a bulk conversion with MusicBee.

1.   As such, and to repeat my original request, I want my MB library to have all cover art embedded into all files at all times - all at once through a bulk job,
2.   and then automatically as I add new folders to the library.

1.  See here:   https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=30594.msg169612#msg169612
2.  I don't think there's an option for that at the moment.
     You would just have to occasionally repeat step 1 if all your tracks already have the artwork as separate files before getting to MB.