WD MyBookLive/iTunes - Unable to see artwork on iPad

Posted by: minnow on 24 January 2013

Hello,

 

I have looked at as many posts as possible trying to find the answer to my issue, but to no avail, hence my post.

 

I have a UnitiQute (32/192 version), all my music is stored lossless on a Western Digital MyBookLive NAS, in an iTunes library.  The version of iTunes I have is 10.6.3 (25).  Before I transferred my music files to the NAS I ensured all the artwork was up-to-date - most downloaded from the iTunes library, some via the web - everything was present and correct.  I control/access my music via my iPad via the N-stream app.

 

Streaming is happening fine - music sounds great.  

 

Problem is, with the exception of a couple of albums and podcasts, the artwork is not appearing on the iPad.  I have checked the file structure of those that show and those that don't and they are identical.

 

I have read the posts and seen some say that the Twonkey server used on the WD MyBookLive could be the problem.

 

I want to hear from people who are running my set up and able to see artwork, and want to know what what NAS drive your using, or if you had this problem what you did? Should I be using a different NAS? eg, Synology 212? Lacie 2 Big or 2d Network?

 

Really appreciate your feedback.  Love streaming, would love it even more if I could see the artwork on my iPad.

 

cheers

M

 

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by Guido Fawkes

ITunes is a bit of red herring here ... I think what you are doing is using twonky with upnp to stream to a naim streamer ... nStream is is not able to see the artwork because twonky s not enabling it to do so. 

 

ITunes stores artwork in a way that works really well with ITunes. It is different from Naim. Naim expects the artwork to be in a file called folder.jpg in the folder containing the music. It you google Doug's applescripts then you will find one you can run on your Mac to extract artwork from your music files and create the folder.jpg files in your iTunes library. 

 

This way both Naim and ITunes should be able to see the artwork ... Sorry, if you are not using a Mac then I don't know how to do the equivalent on a PC. 

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by minnow
Hello and thank you for replying.  I am using a mac to rip music etc.
 
I did go to the site you suggested and have tried to download the script but found it somewhat confusing. Will give it another go.
 
I would be interested in hearing from others who use different NASs too.
 
cheers
M
 
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:

ITunes is a bit of red herring here ... I think what you are doing is using twonky with upnp to stream to a naim streamer ... nStream is is not able to see the artwork because twonky s not enabling it to do so. 

 

ITunes stores artwork in a way that works really well with ITunes. It is different from Naim. Naim expects the artwork to be in a file called folder.jpg in the folder containing the music. It you google Doug's applescripts then you will find one you can run on your Mac to extract artwork from your music files and create the folder.jpg files in your iTunes library. 

 

This way both Naim and ITunes should be able to see the artwork ... Sorry, if you are not using a Mac then I don't know how to do the equivalent on a PC. 

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by garyi

You need to stick a jpg of the album cover called 'folder' in each album folder in the itunes folder

 

An alternative is BLISS which will do this for you provided you are careful with the settings

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by minnow

Thanks. I did an experiment with one album last night - created one artwork folder and dragged an image jpeg file in there - but no luck. What should the folder be called? Should it be sitting inside the music folder or outside it?

 

And oddly as I was mucking round in the NAS I noticed some artwork randomly begin to appear on a couple of albums in place of the file icons.  Didn't appear when I selected on the iPad tho.

 

Me so confused.

 

Are there any big-dummy step by step  guides to run this script?

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by Guido Fawkes

The file must be called folder.jpg and the artwork should be no more than 300 x 300 

 

These are the scripts you need  (just click on them and it'll take you there)

 

Save Album Art as folder.jpg v2.4 and Re-Apply Downsized Artwork v2.2

 

You need to copy the scripts in to the folder

/Users/<your name on your mac>/Library/iTunes/Scripts

 

When you next launch iTunes then you'll see a little music note on the menu bar between Window and Help .. click that and it will list the scripts .. if you highlight an album in iTunes and click the Re-Apply one it will go through that album changing the embedded artwork to 300 x 300 (you type 300 in the box). Then if you run the other script highlight one song in the album, it will create the folder.jpg

 

When you've got the hang of it and if it works for you then you can highlight lots of albums and just let it work through. 

 

You may find the 300 x 300 is unnecessary, but it used to be a feature of Naim streaming ... I find 300 x 300 fine for my album artwork. 


Good luck, Guy 

 

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by Poggy

Hi there

I think the problem you are experiencing is that iTunes doesn't automatically embed artwork in to the metadata of your music.

Try looking at the following link and running the suggested script - it worked for me. It takes a while but worked for nearly all albums.

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app...l/a_id/688/related/1

If it still misses some, (and it probably wil miss more obscure albums) try looking at using MP3tag which requires more manual intervention. There are some guides on the internet about how to use it if you get stuck.

Good luck

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by garyi

one other thing is to tell nstream to do a rescan it will then update art work.

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by minnow

Thanks guy I will try it over the weekend.

Posted on: 24 January 2013 by minnow
Cheers for the tip, will also check it out
 
Originally Posted by Poggy:

Hi there

I think the problem you are experiencing is that iTunes doesn't automatically embed artwork in to the metadata of your music.

Try looking at the following link and running the suggested script - it worked for me. It takes a while but worked for nearly all albums.

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app...l/a_id/688/related/1

If it still misses some, (and it probably wil miss more obscure albums) try looking at using MP3tag which requires more manual intervention. There are some guides on the internet about how to use it if you get stuck.

Good luck

Posted on: 30 January 2013 by minnow

Hi there - I seem to have downloaded the scripts, inserted them into my iTunes programme and run a couple of albums through it.  This created a .jpeg file in the folder with the music files, but I can still not see the artwork on iPad/iPhone via the n-steam app.  So I then created a folder called 'folder' and dragged the artwork jpeg into it.  So far still no luck.

 

Any thoughts?

 

I have not tried to resize anything - not sure how to do this, not sure if I have to.

Posted on: 30 January 2013 by Bart
Originally Posted by minnow:

So I then created a folder called 'folder' and dragged the artwork jpeg into it.  So far still no luck.

Stop -- you're not setting the files up right.  Very simple.  In the folder that has the album, name the album art file as folder.jpg   Do not create a separate folder for artwork.

 

So if the folder is called Crime of the Century, and in the folder is a bunch of music files called School.flac, Bloody Well Right.flac, etc. you should have the cover art IN that folder and named folder.jpg

 

I hope that this is clear for you

Posted on: 30 January 2013 by minnow
thank you - crystal clear - I shall try now.
 
Originally Posted by Bart:
Originally Posted by minnow:

So I then created a folder called 'folder' and dragged the artwork jpeg into it.  So far still no luck.

Stop -- you're not setting the files up right.  Very simple.  In the folder that has the album, name the album art file as folder.jpg   Do not create a separate folder for artwork.

 

So if the folder is called Crime of the Century, and in the folder is a bunch of music files called School.flac, Bloody Well Right.flac, etc. you should have the cover art IN that folder and named folder.jpg

 

I hope that this is clear for you

Posted on: 30 January 2013 by garyi

As mentioned in the nstream app is a settings buttonand then clear image cahce. This will then pick up changes.

 

also its .jpg not .jpeg

Posted on: 31 January 2013 by minnow

Thanks will try this too

Posted on: 19 April 2013 by Hone
Hi minnow,
 
I know its very long since you posted this question, but I was having a similar problem and it really really irritated me, which is why im replying... hope you read it if your problem hasnt been solved...
 
The problem IS iTunes... The songs purchased from the store have the metadata with the artwork embedded in them individually, not so with the othersIf you have CD rips or other sources, the song does not always store the artwork. AND YES, there is NO pattern whatsoever, some will appear, some won't. In fact, if you browse some of the files in your iTunes root folder on your mac, you'll find some of them will be missing an artwork too!
 
I used Pro audio converter, to JUST WRITE the metadata, by dragging the artwork from iTunes. Im afraid its a long process. But this is what finally rectified my issue.
 
hope this helps!
 
 
Originally Posted by minnow:

Hello,

 

I have looked at as many posts as possible trying to find the answer to my issue, but to no avail, hence my post.

 

I have a UnitiQute (32/192 version), all my music is stored lossless on a Western Digital MyBookLive NAS, in an iTunes library.  The version of iTunes I have is 10.6.3 (25).  Before I transferred my music files to the NAS I ensured all the artwork was up-to-date - most downloaded from the iTunes library, some via the web - everything was present and correct.  I control/access my music via my iPad via the N-stream app.

 

Streaming is happening fine - music sounds great.  

 

Problem is, with the exception of a couple of albums and podcasts, the artwork is not appearing on the iPad.  I have checked the file structure of those that show and those that don't and they are identical.

 

I have read the posts and seen some say that the Twonkey server used on the WD MyBookLive could be the problem.

 

I want to hear from people who are running my set up and able to see artwork, and want to know what what NAS drive your using, or if you had this problem what you did? Should I be using a different NAS? eg, Synology 212? Lacie 2 Big or 2d Network?

 

Really appreciate your feedback.  Love streaming, would love it even more if I could see the artwork on my iPad.

 

cheers

M