Album artwork retrieval problems

Article

Album artwork retrieval problems

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length.

View the complete Ask iLounge archives...

Q: I just loaded the new iTunes, and selected “Get Album Artwork” from the “Advanced” menu. However, the feature left a large number of albums blank, and many of these albums are pretty common. How can I get iTunes to recognize my albums and fetch my art? Can I tell it to use a different database?

- Dave

A: Many users are reporting less than perfect results with iTunes’ new Album Artwork retrieval service. However, this isn’t terribly surprising. Even if the iTunes Store sells the album you’re trying to receive artwork for, it might not work, depending on several factors. In order for the album artwork feature to automatically recognize the album as mapping to one in the iTunes Store’s library, the tags, track lengths, and/or track numbering (or whatever other data iTunes may use to correlate the songs to the Store) must be very close to those in iTunes. In the short term, we’d recommend either trying to clean, correct, or reformat the tags for the tracks in your local library to better match them to known iTunes tracks, or simply manually updating album artwork for those failing to match.

In the long term, we expect the logic behind this feature will evolve in future releases of the software, becoming able to more accurately identify an individual’s imported CD tracks with the appropriate iTunes Store copies.

The most asked question at iLounge.com:

How do I copy content from my iPod/iPhone onto my computer?

Converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and more:

The Complete Guide to iPod, Apple TV and iPhone Video Formats

Converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and more:

The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Mac)

Converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and more:

The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Win)

Best Speakers?

Best Headphones?

Best Case?

Best In-Car Solution?

Best Battery Extender?

Find more answers in the latest publications in our Library. Free downloads developed by the editors of iLounge!

Ask iLounge Archives:

6-7-13: Inline Remote + Mic adapters for iPhone

6-6-13: Filtering content by iTunes Store account

6-5-13: Deleting backups made under another iCloud ID

6-4-13: Blocking data access on an iPhone

6-3-13: Changing iPhone number for iMessage

View the complete Ask iLounge archives...

« Enhanced iPod 5G, iPod nano 2G and iPod shuffle 2G: The iPod Economy Reacts

Enhanced podcasts menu »

Comments

If you have a comment, news tip, advertising inquiry, or coverage request, a question about iPods/iPhones/iPad or accessories, or if you sell or market iPod/iPhone/iPad products or services, read iLounge's Comments + Questions policies before posting, and fully identify yourself if you do. We will delete comments containing advertising, astroturfing, trolling, personal attacks, offensive language, or other objectionable content, then ban and/or publicly identify violators.

Recent Reviews

New Deals

Shop for Accessories: Cases, speakers, chargers, etc.

iLounge

Article