2010-09-12, 01:37
My Setup
iTunes 10 on Windows 7 with music folder located on network share and "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" enabled
XBMC 9.11 on Linux using same music folder as iTunes
iTSfv 5.61 BETA on Windows 7
Goal
Display high quality album art from iTunes music library in XBMC by using Folder.jpg and without embedding art in every file.
How To
1. Start iTunes.
2. Start iTSfv.
3. In iTSfv, select the Validate tab.
4. ...then disable every option in the Checks, Tracks, and Library sub tabs.
5. In the File System tab, enable only the Export Artwork to Album folder as Folder.jpg. Steps 4 and 5 ensure that iTSfv will do nothing to your library and files except create the album art files.
Perform a Test Run
1. In iTunes, select a song that has album art.
2. ...then right click on it and select "Show in Windows Explorer"
3. Verify that no Folder.jpg exists.
4. In iTSfv, click the "Validate Selected Tracks" button.
5. Go back to Windows explorer and validate that Folder.jpg now exists.
6. Also notice that the date/time of the selected audio file changed to the current time. I'm not sure what iTSfv did to the file before updating it, but I did a test and verified that the file's size is the same before and after the operation meaning that no new artwork was embeded in the file.
Perform a Run on Your Entire Music Library
1. In iTSfv, select Jobs > Validate iTunes Music Library.
2. In XBMC, update your music library and enjoy the new artwork!
I will be playing around with iTSfv some more as it appears it can do lots of cool things. However, my primary goal was to access my music in XBMC with the album art and this has accomplished that.
iTunes 10 on Windows 7 with music folder located on network share and "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" enabled
XBMC 9.11 on Linux using same music folder as iTunes
iTSfv 5.61 BETA on Windows 7
Goal
Display high quality album art from iTunes music library in XBMC by using Folder.jpg and without embedding art in every file.
How To
1. Start iTunes.
2. Start iTSfv.
3. In iTSfv, select the Validate tab.
4. ...then disable every option in the Checks, Tracks, and Library sub tabs.
5. In the File System tab, enable only the Export Artwork to Album folder as Folder.jpg. Steps 4 and 5 ensure that iTSfv will do nothing to your library and files except create the album art files.
Perform a Test Run
1. In iTunes, select a song that has album art.
2. ...then right click on it and select "Show in Windows Explorer"
3. Verify that no Folder.jpg exists.
4. In iTSfv, click the "Validate Selected Tracks" button.
5. Go back to Windows explorer and validate that Folder.jpg now exists.
6. Also notice that the date/time of the selected audio file changed to the current time. I'm not sure what iTSfv did to the file before updating it, but I did a test and verified that the file's size is the same before and after the operation meaning that no new artwork was embeded in the file.
Perform a Run on Your Entire Music Library
1. In iTSfv, select Jobs > Validate iTunes Music Library.
2. In XBMC, update your music library and enjoy the new artwork!
I will be playing around with iTSfv some more as it appears it can do lots of cool things. However, my primary goal was to access my music in XBMC with the album art and this has accomplished that.
