Troubleshooting Album Art Issues in Windows XP

[Mudvaynelethaldosage]

I have a question about album art in windows xp. A lot of my music was taken from backup disks and didn't come with album art, they were burnt under windows me. I've went ahead and searched a P2P network for album art and retrieved most of what I need. The problem I am having is that quite a few albums won't show in the main music folder on their artist' folder. I've tried manipulating the files to figure it out, but it beats me. Here's a couple sample lists of files for an album

-AlbumArt_{3FEEF976-6DCD-4EA4-B0FF-FB93AFB786DE}_Large
-AlbumArt_{3FEEF976-6DCD-4EA4-B0FF-FB93AFB786DE}_Small
-AlbumArtSmall
-Folder
C:\Documents and Settings\Griffin\My Documents\My Music\Godsmack\The Other Side

-albumart_{e7736d12-7f90-465f-94e9-97191b9d61dd}_large
-albumart_{e7736d12-7f90-465f-94e9-97191b9d61dd}_small
-Folder
C:\Documents and Settings\Griffin\My Documents\My Music\Godsmack\Godsmack (Clean)

-albumart_{8bfc05f2-45c7-420c-9c7c-6037750ee988}_large
-albumart_{8bfc05f2-45c7-420c-9c7c-6037750ee988}_small
-albumartsmall
-folder
C:\Documents and Settings\Griffin\My Documents\My Music\Godsmack\Awake

Here's what puzzles me. of these three albums, they all work like they should except for the fact that The Other Sides art doesn't show on Godsmack's artist folder. I figure I need one large and one small, meaning the other side and Awake both have one extra jpeg. Then again, the extra one may be for in a media player.
I have this same problem with other artists too. I've thought maybe it was the lack of two possible files. Desktop.ini and Thumbs.?, a database file.

here's the contents of a desktop.ini file
[.ShellClassInfo]
FolderType=MusicAlbum
MusicBuyUrl=http://windowsmedia.com/redir/buynow9.asp?providerName=Muze&albumID=F3DEEFDD-B415-40EE-A943-A932FCAA44A6&a_id=%20&album=The%20Chainheart%20Machine%20[UK]&artistID=18F4E1D7-16AF-47F2-A6C7-4504999F365D&p_id=%20&artist=Soilwork&locale=416&geoid=20&version=10.0.0.3646&userlocale=416

anyone have any helpful information? I could shell out a lot more examples, but there's already quite a bit of info on the plate. Thanks

 

[vacuum]

!
Thank you for sharing your issue with album art in Windows XP. I can offer some insights and suggestions to help you troubleshoot this problem.

Firstly, it is important to understand that album art is not an essential component of music files. It is simply an added visual element, usually in the form of a JPEG or PNG file, that is linked to the music file. This means that the absence of album art does not affect the playback or quality of the music itself.

Now, going back to your issue, it seems that you have successfully downloaded album art for most of your music files, but some albums still do not display the art in the main music folder. There could be a few reasons for this:

1. Incomplete/incorrect file names: It is possible that the album art files you downloaded have incorrect or incomplete names, which may prevent them from being recognized by the music folder. Make sure that the file names match exactly with the music file names, including capitalization and special characters.

2. File location: The album art files should be placed in the same folder as the music files. If they are in a different location, the music folder may not be able to display them.

3. File format: Some music players may only recognize certain file formats for album art, such as JPEG or PNG. Make sure that the album art files are in a compatible format.

4. Folder settings: It is possible that the music folder is set to only display certain types of files, which may exclude album art files. You can check the folder settings by right-clicking on the folder and selecting "Properties". Then, go to the "Customize" tab and make sure that "Pictures and Videos" is selected under "Optimize this folder for:"

As for the desktop.ini and Thumbs.db files, they are not essential for album art display. They are system files that are used for folder customization and thumbnail generation, respectively.

I hope these suggestions help you in resolving your issue with album art. If the problem persists, you can try using a different music player or contacting the technical support for your current player. Additionally, you can also try reaching out to the P2P network where you downloaded the album art from for further assistance.

Best of luck!

 

[ravenprp]

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out with your question about album art issues in Windows XP. It sounds like you have already tried a few troubleshooting steps, but I will provide some additional suggestions that may help resolve the issue.

First, make sure that the album art images you have downloaded from a P2P network are in the correct format and size. Windows XP typically supports JPEG and PNG image formats for album art. The images should also be at least 200x200 pixels in size for them to show up properly. If the images are not the correct format or size, they may not show up in the main music folder.

Next, try clearing the thumbnail cache in Windows XP. This can be done by going to the Control Panel, then Appearance and Themes, and clicking on Folder Options. Under the View tab, find the option to "Show hidden files and folders" and make sure it is checked. Then, go to the folder where your music is stored and look for a file called "Thumbs.db." Delete this file and any other files with "thumbs" in the name. This will clear the thumbnail cache and may help resolve any issues with album art not showing up.

You mentioned the possibility of missing files such as desktop.ini and Thumbs.db. These files are not necessary for album art to show up, but they can help with organization and display in Windows XP. If you are missing these files, try creating them manually in the artist's folder and see if that helps.

Finally, if none of these suggestions work, you may want to consider using a third-party media player such as iTunes or Winamp to manage your music collection. These programs often have better support for album art and may be able to display it properly.

I hope this information helps and that you are able to resolve the issue with album art not showing up in your main music folder. If you continue to have trouble, I recommend seeking assistance from a computer technician or reaching out to the Windows XP support team for further assistance. Best of luck!