[pkscout]

Hi @pkscout 

Many thanks for your work in this addon, I've been using it for years now without any problem... however, recently I've noticed that similar artists images wasn't showing properly, in fact they all return this:



I looked in the AS addon data folder and saw that lastfmartistsimilar.nfo for each artist was pointing to that online image, as you can see:

SNIP

I guess there must be a problem with lastfm, isn't it?

Thanks!

Yea, that's last.fm.  They just keep getting more and more stingy with their images.  AS dropped support for using last.fm for artist images a few years back because last.fm stopped providing them via the API.  I just did some checking, and it looks like during a "clean up" of their APIs they disabled the rest of the images because using images is a violation of their API usage guidelines.  I'll update the code when AS 3.0 comes out to remove the similar artist image (and any other images I get back from them), so the only thing last.fm is any good for anymore is some text stuff like bios and lists of albums and similar artists.  Which really makes me wonder if I should just drop it all together.  It kind of doesn't make sense for an addon that is designed to show images of artists to support a service that doesn't let you use images.

[manfeed]

It’s a pity I make extensive use of similar artists images in my skin, so I was wondering whether it would be possible to use as a source the names and images of other artists in your local library that share the same genre, instead of lastfm... would that be feasible?

Thanks!

[pkscout]

It’s a pity I make extensive use of similar artists images in my skin, so I was wondering whether it would be possible to use as a source the names and images of other artists in your local library that share the same genre, instead of lastfm... would that be feasible?

Thanks!

There are three potential paths I can take to try and restore this functionality.  None of them look particularly easy, so it'll probably be quite awhile (if ever) before I get to it.  Note that it isn't just artist thumbnails but also album covers for last.fm stuff that has to be dealt with.

1- Use the artist or album image that Kodi already has stored for local artists and albums.  That's fine if you happen to have the artist or album last.fm is returning, but you'd still have no images for anything else.  I don't like that inconsistency, but at least it looks like I might be able to do it using the Kodi JSON API.

2- Drop last.fm support and try and rebuild similar artists and album list using only local Kodi db information.  Obviously it would be a crippled version of those, as it would include only artists or albums you already have.  You'd loose the discoverability last.fm provides because last.fm shows you stuff you might not have.

3- Use the other image sources (i.e. fanart.tv and theaudodb.com) to download artist and album images.  This would require a substantive rewrite of AS to support artist thumbnails and album covers, and I really don't like the idea of putting more of a burden on these other services just because the folks at last.fm are hostile to the developer community.  It's basically shifting the costs from last.fm to the other services.

I'll add this to the list for the next major version (3.x) and see what I can do.  I suspect I'll ponder them in the order I listed, but I almost certainly won't do #3.

[manfeed]

I understand, whatever you choose to do will be ok for me 

I have thought about something, but it could be a nonsense or just impossible, or maybe both since I don't now a word about addons ... since lastfm still returns artists' names, could be that name used to perform a search in internet and return the very first image found? 

Thanks for your work!

[pkscout]

I understand, whatever you choose to do will be ok for me 

I have thought about something, but it could be a nonsense or just impossible, or maybe both since I don't now a word about addons ... since lastfm still returns artists' names, could be that name used to perform a search in internet and return the very first image found? 

Thanks for your work!

That's technically possible but would probably insert an unacceptable amount of unpredictability into things.  I'd rather have no image than the wrong image (or a crappy right one).

[pkscout]

Just a note to let folks know I have a working version of AS that is compatible with both Python2 and Python3.  In my limited testing it works fine in the Kodi 19 Alphas.  If you want to be way out on the edge, you can download a zip of it from my Github repo at:

https://github.com/pkscout/script.artist...ew-version

There's also a little (and I mean a tiny amount) of work in there to support the new music artist fanart schema introduced in Kodi 18.  I mention this only because there's an advanced setting to enable it, but literally all I've done so far is have AS get the path to the Kodi 18 music artwork directory.  So, in essence, that setting does NOTHING right now.

[sualfred]

@ronie @pkscout 
Maybe moving this thread to https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=300 ?

[pkscout]

@ronie @pkscout 
Maybe moving this thread to https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=300 ?

AS has, to me, always been an odd thing to categorize.  It relates to music, but it isn't a music add-on.  It requires skin support, but isn't really a skin helper.  It's always lived in the programs area because of the structure of the code which defines it as a program add-on.  If there was a way to soft link threads into other parts of the forum I'd argue for it to be in all three areas, but with only one place it can be I think here is the best bet (if for no other reason than a decade plus of history).  If it got moved to the skin helper area I think only skinners would really ever find it, and I see many more questions here from people using the add-on than skinners adding support (although I suspect it's partially because the skin support is pretty self-explanatory - and well documented - and partially the fact that the thread is here rather than the skin helper area).

[hurricane51]

Artist Slideshow Features

• displays slideshow as background for music visualization (must use a compatible skin or update skin using the instructions below)
  
• option to have artist images downloaded and/or use a local directory of artist images
  
• option for a fallback slideshow if no local or remote images are found
  
• option to have a single slideshow displayed regardless of artist playing
  
• downloads artwork from fanart.tv, theaudiodb.com, and htbackdrops.org to display as background for music visualization
  
• options to download artist bio and other additional information from the audiodb.com with fallback to last.fm (skin must support display of this information)
  
• option to limit size of download cache
  
• support for internet streams that put the artist name in the XBMC title field
  
• support for other addons using Artist Slideshow to provide the background
  

For a complete list of options as well as instructions for skin and addon integration, please see the Artist Slideshow Addon wiki page. 

I'm defeated in my attempts to search thread

[hurricane51]

I'm defeated in my attempts to search this thread. Can I copy my artwork from a working installation of KODI to a new installation. (I also have problems posting and editing messages in this forum, obviously.)

[Karellen]

@hurricane51

Editing a post seems to catch a lot of members out as the Edit options are very discrete and easily missed. See image...

[pkscout]

I'm defeated in my attempts to search this thread. Can I copy my artwork from a working installation of KODI to a new installation. (I also have problems posting and editing messages in this forum, obviously.)

Yes, you can copy art from one install to another.

If you didn't set a specific location for the art, it's in your User Data directory:

https://kodi.wiki/view/Userdata

Specifically it's in: addon_data/script.artistslideshow.  If you want to copy just the artwork, you need the ArtistSlideshow directory.  If you want the art and all the data downloaded from the various image services, grab the ArtistInformation directory as well.  Just put them in the same place on the new installation and you should be set. 

If you did specify a custom location for your artwork in the settings, you can grab that directory and put it wherever you want.

[hurricane51]

I'm defeated in my attempts to search this thread. Can I copy my artwork from a working installation of KODI to a new installation. (I also have problems posting and editing messages in this forum, obviously.)

Yes, you can copy art from one install to another.

If you didn't set a specific location for the art, it's in your User Data directory:

https://kodi.wiki/view/Userdata

Specifically it's in: addon_data/script.artistslideshow.  If you want to copy just the artwork, you need the ArtistSlideshow directory.  If you want the art and all the data downloaded from the various image services, grab the ArtistInformation directory as well.  Just put them in the same place on the new installation and you should be set. 

If you did specify a custom location for your artwork in the settings, you can grab that directory and put it wherever you want. 

Thanks, that's the answer I needed.

[Karellen]

Hello @pkscout

I haven't listened to music in Kodi for a while, but had occasion to last night. I am using v18.4 with AeonNox Silvo v7.0.8 by @mikeSiLVO and Artist Slideshow v2.1.4

I noticed that for every artist we listened to, Artist Slideshow would (attempt to) download artwork and create new folders titled "extrafanart" and "information". Most of these folders were empty. My queries...
1. It seems to be ignoring local artwork
2. It duplicates already available local artwork
3. It does not use the new method of saving extrafanart eg fanart1, fanart2 etc

Any idea why this is happening. Do I have a wrong setting enabled/disabled somewhere? I then disabled all references to external sites in the settings page for the addon, but it continues to create these empty folders. I have since disabled the add-on. Needless to say there was a bit of cleaning up to do.

Here is the log. Line 2547... https://paste.kodi.tv/upopigecab.kodi

Example of created folders...


Judging by the log, it is searching for the \extrafanart\ folder which I don't use, so it does not find any of my extrafanart.

Another issue I noticed, and probably more of a Kodi issue, is after I Disabled the add-on, it merrily continued to download artwork. Disabling required a restart of Kodi.

Let me know if you need anything else.

[MB1968]

Hello @pkscout

I haven't listened to music in Kodi for a while, but had occasion to last night. I am using v18.4 with AeonNox Silvo v7.0.8 by @mikeSiLVO and Artist Slideshow v2.1.4

I noticed that for every artist we listened to, Artist Slideshow would (attempt to) download artwork and create new folders titled "extrafanart" and "information". Most of these folders were empty. My queries...
1. It seems to be ignoring local artwork
2. It duplicates already available local artwork
3. It does not use the new method of saving extrafanart eg fanart1, fanart2 etc

Any idea why this is happening. Do I have a wrong setting enabled/disabled somewhere? I then disabled all references to external sites in the settings page for the addon, but it continues to create these empty folders. I have since disabled the add-on. Needless to say there was a bit of cleaning up to do.

Here is the log. Line 2547... https://paste.kodi.tv/upopigecab.kodi

Example of created folders...


Judging by the log, it is searching for the \extrafanart\ folder which I don't use, so it does not find any of my extrafanart.

Another issue I noticed, and probably more of a Kodi issue, is after I Disabled the add-on, it merrily continued to download artwork. Disabling required a restart of Kodi.

Let me know if you need anything else.

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?pid...pid2787088