iTunes 12 has changed the Info window; the one you see when you select one or more tracks and press Command-I to edit metadata.
This window is especially different from the previous Info window when you select multiple items as it has an Artwork tab. You can add album art to multiple tracks by clicking that tab, then dragging the artwork onto the window.
But there’s a quicker, easier way to do this. Just add the album art to the square at the top-left of the window, where the musical notes are. When you do this, the album art will display, and the background of the top section of the window will change to reflect the colors of the album art.
Click OK to save the album art. Note that if you redisplay the Info window for the same tracks again, it will look as there there is no album art; iTunes, for some reason, doesn’t display album art for multiple selections. (This was the case in iTunes 11, but since the window was different – there was just an album art well – it may have made sense.) So, after you add album art to some tracks, and see the second window, if you view the same tracks again in the Info window, you’ll see the first window above.
You can use the same technique to add album art to individual tracks; the difference is that iTunes does display the artwork in this case, both at the top of the window and on the Artwork tab.
I’ve been adding hundreds of CDs to iTunes, and in the middle of this process, the inew iTunes arrived. First I wasn’t happy with having to open the other window to do the artwork, but discovered that one didn’t have to, if one moved the art to that upper left square. I like most of the new iTunes, though Kirk had to tell me how to get back to the full library after doing a search; it’s not intuitive. Now, after so much copying, I find the ‘processing’ of the information slower – maybe 3 or 4 times slower – than before – that is, after one adds the art, maybe changes the composer, etc. And I did wonder why the player played where I put it, then jumped to Karajan’s Brahms: all to do with the check marks. I’ll just get this right, when they’ll come up with a new version. Such a restless world we live in.
It’s even easier than that. As long as the artwork tab is visible, you can paste with Cmd-V. I tend to copy images I find online.
Thanks, it wasn’t obvious that that would work, it was driving me nuts.
You can also use Cmd-2 to bring up the artwork tab.
Select track(s)
Cmd-I
Cmd-2
Cmd-V
I’ve been adding hundreds of CDs to iTunes, and in the middle of this process, the inew iTunes arrived. First I wasn’t happy with having to open the other window to do the artwork, but discovered that one didn’t have to, if one moved the art to that upper left square. I like most of the new iTunes, though Kirk had to tell me how to get back to the full library after doing a search; it’s not intuitive. Now, after so much copying, I find the ‘processing’ of the information slower – maybe 3 or 4 times slower – than before – that is, after one adds the art, maybe changes the composer, etc. And I did wonder why the player played where I put it, then jumped to Karajan’s Brahms: all to do with the check marks. I’ll just get this right, when they’ll come up with a new version. Such a restless world we live in.
It’s even easier than that. As long as the artwork tab is visible, you can paste with Cmd-V. I tend to copy images I find online.
Thanks, it wasn’t obvious that that would work, it was driving me nuts.
You can also use Cmd-2 to bring up the artwork tab.
Select track(s)
Cmd-I
Cmd-2
Cmd-V
Or one could use an excellent tag editor like Metadatics. I’ve used this application for years. It has some very slick features like the ability to change the artwork resolution within the application. As well as export the album art as a completely separate file. It can even do batch text editing of meta tags. The developer is easy to work with, and open to suggestions.
Now, that’s useful to change resolution. I like Kirk’s suggestion too, about using Doug’s Apple scripts to search and replace. Must do that some rainy day. For now, I will keep complaining about how little album art is found for me via iTunes; even when I KNOW the album is for sale there, it will not find the art for my own CD copy. I think about 95% of the art I had to find online. But I guess it’s because of my interest in classical music; Spotify, too, is not geared to it – it’s impossible to get much album information before one plays the selection. I have to get that online, as well.
Or one could use an excellent tag editor like Metadatics. I’ve used this application for years. It has some very slick features like the ability to change the artwork resolution within the application. As well as export the album art as a completely separate file. It can even do batch text editing of meta tags. The developer is easy to work with, and open to suggestions.
Now, that’s useful to change resolution. I like Kirk’s suggestion too, about using Doug’s Apple scripts to search and replace. Must do that some rainy day. For now, I will keep complaining about how little album art is found for me via iTunes; even when I KNOW the album is for sale there, it will not find the art for my own CD copy. I think about 95% of the art I had to find online. But I guess it’s because of my interest in classical music; Spotify, too, is not geared to it – it’s impossible to get much album information before one plays the selection. I have to get that online, as well.
When using Kirk’s method, how do you remove the artwork?
When using Kirk’s method, how do you remove the artwork?
Kirk should be incredibly grateful to Apple for making each new version of iTunes much less intuitive and much harder to use.
It makes his iTunes expert guidance more and more valuable.
Kirk should be incredibly grateful to Apple for making each new version of iTunes much less intuitive and much harder to use.
It makes his iTunes expert guidance more and more valuable.
ITunes 12: I dragged the album art (which I downloaded with the album) to that box in the upper left of the info window and saw “link” plus the image. Clicked OK and the art did not stay with the album nor was it there when I again clicked “Get info.” I tried “Add artwork” from the Artwork tab and navigated to the album art. I saw the art pictured within the dialog with a green checkmark, again clicked OK, and same nonresult.
1. Copy artwork to the clipboard.
2. Select all tracks in album.
3. Open Get Info with Cmd-I.
4. Navigate to Artwork tab with Cmd-2.
5. Paste artwork with Cmd-V.
ITunes 12: I dragged the album art (which I downloaded with the album) to that box in the upper left of the info window and saw “link” plus the image. Clicked OK and the art did not stay with the album nor was it there when I again clicked “Get info.” I tried “Add artwork” from the Artwork tab and navigated to the album art. I saw the art pictured within the dialog with a green checkmark, again clicked OK, and same nonresult.
1. Copy artwork to the clipboard.
2. Select all tracks in album.
3. Open Get Info with Cmd-I.
4. Navigate to Artwork tab with Cmd-2.
5. Paste artwork with Cmd-V.
I’ve been adding to my master iTunes Library for 8 years now. I have over 2 TB of music, but I have not been able to solve one big problem. Artwork! I’m using Windows 10 64 Bit for those that think it matters. Some artwork gets fully embedded in the metadata within the songs file, but some reside in the album art folder (or whatever it’s now called!) So if I take a saved copy of that drive ( Music Folder only!) and try to import it into another computer’s library, or even do a fresh import on my home tower unit, I end up not keeping some artwork that I added when I imported the disc initially and did my editing on the “info” tab for my own cataloguing. Is it because I may have imported a file that exceeded some preset max size parameter for keeping the artwork embedded in metadata such as all the other info that gets saved properly on the “info” tab ?There has to be an accurate answer! I’m so tired of loosing so much of my time doing this artwork pairing to music that won’t either download the correct cover or not any artwork at all. HELP!!! Thanks, David.
I’ve been adding to my master iTunes Library for 8 years now. I have over 2 TB of music, but I have not been able to solve one big problem. Artwork! I’m using Windows 10 64 Bit for those that think it matters. Some artwork gets fully embedded in the metadata within the songs file, but some reside in the album art folder (or whatever it’s now called!) So if I take a saved copy of that drive ( Music Folder only!) and try to import it into another computer’s library, or even do a fresh import on my home tower unit, I end up not keeping some artwork that I added when I imported the disc initially and did my editing on the “info” tab for my own cataloguing. Is it because I may have imported a file that exceeded some preset max size parameter for keeping the artwork embedded in metadata such as all the other info that gets saved properly on the “info” tab ?There has to be an accurate answer! I’m so tired of loosing so much of my time doing this artwork pairing to music that won’t either download the correct cover or not any artwork at all. HELP!!! Thanks, David.