Prevent album art loss without embedding artwork in file?

[J_Overcraft]

Hello everyone! First time posting on this forum.

My issue is that everytime my files move for whatever reason in file explorer, some of my album artworks get lost. Last time, I changed drive letter of my external disk with all my music and the artworks got unlinked again. This usually means a large amount of manual labor which I'm frankly quite sick and tired of at this point.

I usually link the artwork to the original file which I keep in the same folder as an album. I do this instead of embedding to preserve some space on my disk (quite helpful for large albums). But is it possible to prevent "artwork unlinking" - to preserve album artworks without just straight up embedding them in the files?

Thank you very much for your time and help.

[Mayibongwe]

Hello there, welcome to the forum.

I think you are asking for the impossible here.
If you decide to move files outside of MusicBee's scope, how do you propose it figures out where you've moved them and all associated artwork to?

But...all hope's not lost yet, because MusicBee:

- has a built-in file organizer in order to prevent issues like this.
https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/File_Organization#

- has relinking capabilities to help deal with the aftermath.
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=41628.0

- has a rescan feature specific to artwork only.
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=14006.0

[MotleyG]

My issue is that everytime my files move for whatever reason in file explorer, some of my album artworks get lost. Last time, I changed drive letter of my external disk with all my music and the artworks got unlinked again. This usually means a large amount of manual labor which I'm frankly quite sick and tired of at this point.

If this is being done outside of any music manager software, expect you will need to update afterwards. There is just no way for the two to stay connected.

I usually link the artwork to the original file which I keep in the same folder as an album. I do this instead of embedding to preserve some space on my disk (quite helpful for large albums). But is it possible to prevent "artwork unlinking" - to preserve album artworks without just straight up embedding them in the files?

Storage space is relatively inexpensive now compared to the early days of digital music. If your files are lossless, or even using lower compression levels, the audio should usually be much bigger than most artwork required for this reference. Certainly embedded artwork is the best option to ensure it remains intact wherever you move any or all of your music files.

Only you can decide which way to go is best for your collection. I switch to embedded artwork long ago specifically to get away from disconnected covers. Storage space for me has not been a concern since. And that is with a mostly lossless library of 28k tracks that still takes up less than 1TB, including the embedded covers.

[J_Overcraft]

Hi Mayibongwe, thanks for having me.

The issue is that some functions cannot be done inside MusicBee. As I wrote in my post, the last time this happened to me was because I had to change drive letter because it was causing all sorts of problems when interacting with other drives (thankfully this should be only for this one time, so I probably don't have to worry about it ever again). Unfortunately, the relink files and rescan for artwork options didn't get back the artworks either. But thanks for your help, it is very appreciated.

MotleyG, I suppose you're right. Rethinking this whole thing, maybe embedded artworks really are the way forward. I have a lot of storage space left still, but considering how big lossless files can get, I want to preserve it as much as possible. Also, the issue is that some of the artworks can get rather big (I have some extreme examples of them getting up to 28MB in size). But, I suppose some compression can't hurt... Thank you for your input.

[psychoadept]

Maybe there's a detail I've missed here. As long as your settings for the Album Artwork Retrieval Filter in Tags (1) match your artwork organization, MusicBee shouln't have any trouble relinking external artwork. The retrieval filter can even be set to *.*, meaning any image file in the same folder as the audio file will be picked up (including subfolders, but you have to turn that option on).

[J_Overcraft]

Ah, I see, psychoadept! You're right, I haven't fiddled with those options, but now that I've turned them on, it managed to get a lot of them back, although it has picked up some completely random ones (I suppose from the internet) as well, which is very wierd. But it did save me a lot of time, so thank you!

[sveakul]

although it has picked up some completely random ones (I suppose from the internet) as well, which is very wierd.

Prefs/Tags (2)/auto-tagging/lyrics/UN-CHECK "Auto-retrieve missing artwork for the playing track."  All these settings do things, and all of them are optional.

[MotleyG]

Rethinking this whole thing, maybe embedded artworks really are the way forward. I have a lot of storage space left still, but considering how big lossless files can get, I want to preserve it as much as possible. Also, the issue is that some of the artworks can get rather big (I have some extreme examples of them getting up to 28MB in size). But, I suppose some compression can't hurt... Thank you for your input.

Most very high resolution artwork is1500x1500 and even the most complex covers at this size are well under 4MB. Ideally this fits comfortably within the header when embedded. More importantly, it is far less impactful on the overall album folder size compared to the actual audio when using lossless formats. These will,always stay with your audio files no matter how you move them.

[J_Overcraft]

Prefs/Tags (2)/auto-tagging/lyrics/UN-CHECK "Auto-retrieve missing artwork for the playing track."  All these settings do things, and all of them are optional.

Weird, I have that option turned off in the settings, but I still received some random artworks on my albums. Now, I've also disabled all of the artwork retrieval sites. I hope that this will help.

[J_Overcraft]

Most very high resolution artwork is1500x1500 and even the most complex covers at this size are well under 4MB. Ideally this fits comfortably within the header when embedded. More importantly, it is far less impactful on the overall album folder size compared to the actual audio when using lossless formats. These will,always stay with your audio files no matter how you move them.

I have some 4000x4000 album covers that reach well into double digits. But these are few and far between - it is more of a case of them piling up together and taking a big hit on my disk size. But as I said, I have already come to the resolve to embed them into music files themselves, so it's no problem.

[sveakul]

Weird, I have that option turned off in the settings, but I still received some random artworks on my albums. Now, I've also disabled all of the artwork retrieval sites. I hope that this will help.

For the "weird" cases either your album artwork retrieval filter is finding wildcard matches you didn't realize were there, or you have Windows Media Player installed and it's doing its "trying to be helpful" thing downloading album art in the background as hidden files.

[J_Overcraft]

For the "weird" cases either your album artwork retrieval filter is finding wildcard matches you didn't realize were there, or you have Windows Media Player installed and it's doing its "trying to be helpful" thing downloading album art in the background as hidden files.

Hmm, I have never seen these covers in my life, so they must be from the net. That leaves WMP doing something in the background.

But don't worry, it's fine - I don't think I will need to rescan my artwork for some time now. Thanks for help.