Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

[kuntakinte]

Hi all,

as the title says... and where can I change this path ?

Thanks very much.

[Spoon]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

It stores in the audio files themselves and as a folder.jpg

The path is the same as where the audio tracks are written.

[kuntakinte]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Erm, sorry but they aren't there ... no 'folder.jpg' on the whole PC ...

[Spoon]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

When you rip a CD a folder is created just for that album, there should be the music tracks + album art (folder.jpg)

[kuntakinte]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Nope. I just set the standard 'Music' path and it did create me a folder with the music files in it, but no pic file anywhere. None. But there definitely is a pic visible when I play the music file in VLC.

[garym]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Nope. I just set the standard 'Music' path and it did create me a folder with the music files in it, but no pic file anywhere. None. But there definitely is a pic visible when I play the music file in VLC.

This means that in your settings you've set dbpa to embed the album art in the file itself rather than create a folder.jpg or cover.jpg stored in the album folder. In ripper click on OPTIONS, then options button next to "metadata and ID tags". At the top you see the settings for writing art to file. I write to cover.jpg. Also, on this same page, scroll down and you see "write ID TAGS" and I suspect you have "ALBUM ART" checked. This is where dbpa is told to embed the art. One can do both of these things, one or the other, or neither.

[kuntakinte]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

This means that in your settings you've set dbpa to embed the album art in the file itself rather than create a folder.jpg or cover.jpg stored in the album folder. In ripper click on OPTIONS, then options button next to "metadata and ID tags". At the top you see the settings for writing art to file. I write to cover.jpg. Also, on this same page, scroll down and you see "write ID TAGS" and I suspect you have "ALBUM ART" checked. This is where dbpa is told to embed the art. One can do both of these things, one or the other, or neither.

Oh, fantastic Gary! These are actually very important settings, and I could disable all the rubbish I didn't need. Thanks!

[RMJFlack]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Just wanted to clarify a couple of details around this.
I presume that when the album art is set to be stored with each track, that means the full image file as opposed to some pointer or file name? So there's a space cost to doing that? (tho not huge, but on some cases space can be tight, even today).
If art is in both the track metadata and in the folder as a jpg, which is actually displayed (thinking iTunes and Squeezebox here)?
Is storing in both places best practice?

[garym]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Just wanted to clarify a couple of details around this.
I presume that when the album art is set to be stored with each track, that means the full image file as opposed to some pointer or file name? So there's a space cost to doing that? (tho not huge, but on some cases space can be tight, even today).
If art is in both the track metadata and in the folder as a jpg, which is actually displayed (thinking iTunes and Squeezebox here)?
Is storing in both places best practice?

I do not embed in my flac files. Thus only have the single cover.jpg file. I do embed in my mp3 copies, but use dbpa settings to reduce the size. squeezebox will unfortunately automatically use the embedded art even if a larger folder file exists. I'm fairly sure that iTunes will only see the embedded art. Not a problem for me because I only use my mp3 mirror library with embedded art in iTunes (for loading up iThings).

I'd say typical practice is to NOT embed for things like flac. Most programs, LMS, foobar2000, etc. handle a single art file within the album subdirectory.

[RMJFlack]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

So the flac > mp3 conversion notices the folder.jpg but can then embed (compressed I think you said) into the track data?
Space is not an issue for me on Squeezebox or iPod but is for iPad & iPhone, so trying to work out my best strategy.

[garym]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

So the flac > mp3 conversion notices the folder.jpg but can then embed (compressed I think you said) into the track data?
Space is not an issue for me on Squeezebox or iPod but is for iPad & iPhone, so trying to work out my best strategy.

Yes, dbpa will embed when you convert to mp3 and at a smaller art size. You have to turn this on in settings. I recall you select ID TAG UPDATE DSP (or similar name???) in your mp3 conversion and then one of the options deals with embedding art.

[Goes To 11]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

I do not embed in my flac files. Thus only have the single cover.jpg file. I do embed in my mp3 copies, but use dbpa settings to reduce the size. squeezebox will unfortunately automatically use the embedded art even if a larger folder file exists. I'm fairly sure that iTunes will only see the embedded art. Not a problem for me because I only use my mp3 mirror library with embedded art in iTunes (for loading up iThings).

I'd say typical practice is to NOT embed for things like flac. Most programs, LMS, foobar2000, etc. handle a single art file within the album subdirectory.

Hello Gary-

A few follow-up questions here. 1) a) As I understand it, if I do NOT embed the album art in a FLAC file, Logitech SBT will still display the art for every track, using the art from the album folder? b) Assuming I'm right, is there any downside to this way versus embedded? 2) What size/resolution is best for viewing on SBT and on a 7" HD tablet screen? and 3) If I already have art embedded in the files, is there a way to strip it out using something like MP3Tag, or do I have to re-rip every CD (oh, God, please no)?

Thanks

Greg

[garym]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Hello Gary-

A few follow-up questions here. 1) a) As I understand it, if I do NOT embed the album art in a FLAC file, Logitech SBT will still display the art for every track, using the art from the album folder? b) Assuming I'm right, is there any downside to this way versus embedded? 2) What size/resolution is best for viewing on SBT and on a 7" HD tablet screen? and 3) If I already have art embedded in the files, is there a way to strip it out using something like MP3Tag, or do I have to re-rip every CD (oh, God, please no)?
Thanks

Greg

1. Yes, SBT will still display the art for every track (using the single art file in the album folder). No downside at all to this. In fact, the upside is you are not storing the same image N times (i.e., inside every track).
2. In terms of size, I try to use 1000x1000 artwork when I find it. It looks fantastic on my iPad (using ipeng for ipad or squeezepad) and works well on SBT, etc. Obviously, if I can't find 1000x1000, I use whatever I can find. It all works, but anything smaller than 300x300 or so will not look great on the tablet.
3. You will not have to rerip. You can use dbpa (ID tag processing) or mp3tag to remove the art out of the embedded files and automatically save to "folder.jpg" or "cover.jpg" in the album subfolder. Steps (assuming you have your music organized as something like ARTIST/ALBUM/tracks (that is every album is in its own subdirectory):

1. run dbpa "batch converter"
2. select your top level folder where all your music is stored, and make sure that all the artist/album subdirectories are checked
3. select CONVERT on upper left menu
4. On the popup, select convert to: ID TAG UPDATE
5. Click on the "manipulation" tab below
6. select "export album art to: cover.jpg", enter maximum size (I use 1000x1000), and tick box for force art to jpeg.
7. select "deletions" tab. Toward right select single tag. In dropdown menu select the last item [Album Artwork]
8. Then hit "convert" at bottom of the popup. (note this is not reripping or transcoding....the audio is not touched, only the tags).

At this point all the album directories should have a "cover.jpg" file within the subdirectory and you no longer have embedded artwork.

You can open these files within mptag and confirm all this. In mp3tag, click on column headings and select "customize". Then create a new column with name "Embedded Art" and value equal to:
$if(%_covers%,Yes,No)

All this said, there is nothing wrong with having embedded art. SBT will read either embedded or a file in the folder. If it has both, it will default to the embedded art.

NOTE: TRY ALL THE ABOVE USING ONLY ONE ALBUM SUBDIRECTORY BEFORE TRYING IT ON YOUR COMPLETE COLLECTION. JUST TO GET COMFORTABLE WITH HOW IT IS WORKING. Also, if you haven't installed the DSP "ID TAG UPDATE" from codec central, install it first from here under utility codecs:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm

[Goes To 11]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Gary--

Thanks for taking the time to draft this detailed, comprehensive and helpful reply! After I give it a go, I'll edit this to let you know I didn't botch it. Don't see how I could with these good instructions. Might be a couple of days, because I typically only have time to do these things on weekends.

Thanks again!

[Goes To 11]

Re: Where does dbPoweramp store the picture files (album art) ?

Ran into a snag removing he embedded art. When the pop-up opened after convert, I don't see ID TAG UPDATE as one of the "convert to" options. I see a list containing Multi-encoder, Aiff, Apple Lossless, FLAC, MP3 (Lame), Test Conversion, Wave, then 3 grayed out options--Nero (AA), Ogg Vobis, Windows Media Audio 10.