Embedded mp3 album artwork

Sonic_Paint

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May 18, 2006, 4:21:01 PM5/18/06

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Hello -

An iTunes user here, looking to make WMP11 my new media jukebox, but running
into the following problems:

- all my mp3s are tagged with artwork (embedded in their ID3v2 tags), but
WMP11 only detects art for about half them. Why is this? Is WMP11 sensitive
to the size (in KB) or dimensions of the tagged artwork? I know that some of
the embedded artwork is up to 150kb in size. I don't store any artwork in
external files (such as folder.jpg), and I turned off the "find information
from the internet" option, so WMP11 should only be relying on the data in my
actual mp3 files. All artwork shows up fine in iTunes.

- I know there are codecs out there that will allow WMP11 to play
unprotected AAC files (from iTunes), but how can I get it to read the tag
information too? I don't want to have to use an external program to
transcode the files. If Microsoft really wants people to switch from iTunes
to WMP, they need to address this issue. After all, the default CD rip
setting in iTunes is to rip to AAC. Therefore, I suspect many iTunes users
have large libraries of unprotected (no DRM) AAC files that WMP can't handle.
Even Sony recently added AAC support to its products.

- In WMP11's "genre" view, I first see the CD "stack" icons showing how many
albums I have in each genre. Great, I like this. But, when I select a
particular genre from this icon list, I am only given the option of seeing
either the "full details view", which shows detailed song-by-song
information, or the "details with icon view", which shows album covers along
with abbreviated song data. How can I get it to just display the album
covers within that genre (without the song-by-song details)? I know that
"Album" view can be sorted by genre, but that view is too crowded, as it
shows *all* the genres at once.

- Can iTunes playlists be imported into WMP11?

- Can WMP11 upload songs to my iPod (I'm fairly certain the answer is "no",
but I thought I'd ask)

Thank you. Any other tips anyone can offer to a user migrating from iTunes
to WMP11 would be most welcome!

Sonic_Paint

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May 18, 2006, 4:21:02 PM5/18/06

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Ted [MSFT]

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May 18, 2006, 4:42:02 PM5/18/06

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Re: Album art - The beta build did have a size limitation of 64K. This has
been addressed in newer builds.

Re: iPod - your guess is correct.

All postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights.

Cory

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May 18, 2006, 5:04:10 PM5/18/06

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I have the exact same problem. I imported my library of about 70 gigs into
WMP 11 and it only found art for about half the files even though I have all
the art in itunes. Is there any way for me to check how big the art file is
in the embedded .mp3? (I doubt it)

The library also seemed very slow to me once I had all my music loaded in.
Do you think this was because fo the large size of the artwork? I would like
to try out WMP11 but if the performance is this slow and I dont get artwork,
I dont think I can use it.

Is it possible to just have it redownload all the album art automaticly? I
supposed this would add a ton of space to my library though since I already
have the art embedded...(but at least it would work with WMP 11)

Cory

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May 18, 2006, 5:05:01 PM5/18/06

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Mishad7

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May 18, 2006, 5:17:02 PM5/18/06

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I am also an iTunes user wanting to switch to WMP11, and I also have an iPod.
There is a program called XPlay by Mediafour that enables WMP to recognioze
iPod as any MP3 player. You should try the trial version.

Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]

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May 18, 2006, 6:52:53 PM5/18/06

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On Thu, 18 May 2006 13:21:01 -0700, Sonic_Paint
<Sonic...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Hello -
>
>An iTunes user here, looking to make WMP11 my new media jukebox, but running
>into the following problems:

Replied to identical message posted 15 minutes before.

Cheers - Neil
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2006
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs