matrix browser not displaying cover art

[wrathchild]

Well I got my J3 in today and have been learning how to use it. The only problem I seem to be having is no cover art shows while in matrix browser mode. The first thing I did when I got it out of the box was to update the firmware to the latest 2.21 (after fully charging it). Then I transferred some of my mp3's over using Windows Media Player 11. When I select a album the cover art shows, but when I tilt the player and go to matrix browser I get no cover art at all. I can tap on any one of them and get the album art and the tracks to show up, but not on the browser itself. I tried drag and dropping the files directly into the music folder from the pc but that made no difference. I even place the album arts as "cover.jpg" into the music folders too but still nothing. I don't no what the problem is and it's pissing me off. Could it be a bug in the new firmware? Please help.

[mrapoc]

i too have irregularities in album art, some will show, some won't

it all displays perfectly on my pc (all tagged to track using mediamonkey)

whats the deal

[macneil]

Same here. I guessed I figured it out though. If the Song has art in its tag it shows up while playing but will not show up in Album view. I configured Mediamonkey while synching to add the album art as cover.jpg in each album folder and the art appears fine now.
I think for the matrix to display correctly it needs to have a jpg image in the folder.

[wrathchild]

Originally Posted by macneil

Same here. I guessed I figured it out though. If the Song has art in its tag it shows up while playing but will not show up in Album view. I configured Mediamonkey while synching to add the album art as cover.jpg in each album folder and the art appears fine now.
I think for the matrix to display correctly it needs to have a jpg image in the folder.

I tried that. I put a picture inside and named it cover.jpg but it still doesn't show the picture in matrix browser. I just transferred my entire library and not one dam album shows up in the matrix browser. Now I have to use the browser icon in order to see my library which is bullshit. This was one of the features that convinced me to buy this stupid thing. Yes the audio and video quality is freakin' awesome but that doesn't change the fact that I can't do something they claimed I could do with this. I see it work just fine in all the youtube videos so what the hell is wrong with it?

[DSperber]

I'm still on 2.10, but with my J3 at boot time all folders are scanned on both primary and external storage for album art, music/video files, etc. Each of my 1000 or so album folders has a COVER.JPG fle in it. Every one appears on the player screen when I play an album, and changes correctly as the next Favorites track pops up. So obviously the proper linkage between a Favorite track and the album folder in which it lives and the COVER.JPG file in that album folder is all working properly.

I also have no problem using Matrix Browser, seeing the currently playing album in tile (2,3) with the remaining 9 tiles properly presented in alphabetical order surrounding the current (2,3) album.

I have NO MP3 files that have imbedded album art in APIC frames of the ID3 tag. All my cover art is present as COVER.JPG files within each album folder.

At boot time it appears all album art files are examined, and resized from whatever they are (in my case, high-quality 500x500 mostly) down to 95x95 size (2k-5k in size) for use in the Player screen, or on the left side of the landscape-mode presentation when you tap a tile in Matrix Browser.

These resized JPGs are stored in \System\MusicDB folder on the J3's primary storage, as files named AB_nnnn.jpg. Seems these resized JPGs are further reduced on demand so that they can populate the 10 tiles of Matrix Browser when needed.

Anyway, do you have the contents of \System\MusicDB? Do you have more than 10 of them? Do you have COVER.JPG in all of your album folders?

Works fine for me, even when playing Favorites (when each new track causes the appropriate new album cover to appear in the player. Since this album art came from the original COVER.JPG file in the original album folder from which the Favorite was added, it's obviously all working as it appears they intended.

Again, I have no imbedded album art in APIC frames in ID3 tag of any MP3 file. Everything is COVER.JPG, and I'm still on 2.10.

[wrathchild]

All I have in my \System\MusicDB is a DB File called ALBUMINF. All my songs are mp3 and have cover art imbedded in them that I got from itunes because I use it as my media player. I only have a couple of music folders with cover.jpg but they only show up when I'm viewing pictures and not in the matrix browser. Do the cover.jpg need to be in capitol letters perhaps? And I never had firmware 210 because I skipped from original straight to the latest 2.21

[DSperber]

Originally Posted by wrathchild

All I have in my \System\MusicDB is a DB File called ALBUMINF.

Well, this could easily be the "giant clue". I believe it is the AB_nnnn.jpg files here which would have been displayed as the album art where appropriate.

I'm guessing that the boot-time scan process picks up the album art JPG files from wherever they are found (searching for them in the priority order which has been previously described), resizing if necessary, and filing them in the MusicDB folder with the AB_nnnn.names.

I know that when I experimented with one MP3 file, to imbed the album art JPG inside the ID3 tag, it displayed just fine. I create my own MP3 files (i.e. I do NOT download buy them from iTunes) and used MP3TAG to imbed the album art in the ID3 tag. It ended up in the APIC frame of the ID3v2 tag.

I don't know where the album art is installed in the iTunes-acquired MP3 files, but you should investigate this. If it's not in the APIC frame of the ID3v2 tag, that's an obvious candidate for why you're having a problem.

If you play these files using Winamp on the PC, can you see the album art in the Album Art window? If you RMB on the track in the playlist window and then select "file info", can you see the album art? Where is the art stored?

I only have a couple of music folders with cover.jpg but they only show up when I'm viewing pictures and not in the matrix browser. Do the cover.jpg need to be in capitol letters perhaps?

Capital letters do not matter.

I suspect the album art is being looked for by the J3 in the APIC frame of the ID3v2 tag. You're not getting any AB_nnnn.jpg files in the MusicDB folder, so it appears the J3 is not finding the art in the MP3 files you're getting from iTunes, suggesting the art is not in the APIC frame. You need to investigate this further.

How about playing with an MP3 file, using MP3TAG to install an album art JPG. It WILL go into the APIC frame, because that's where this tagger program puts it. Copy the MP3 file to the J3 and reboot. Presumably this imbedded album art should be discovered and you should see something like AB_1.jpg in MusicDB. Then see if the album art JPG you just installed displays on the J3.

[Xul]

I had problems too. I experimented and found the solution. I was running firmware 221. I DOWNGRADED to firmware 210, and without adding any additional .jpg files the J3 shows ALL my embedded album art in matrix view. For info, all my music is tagged and maintained by MP3tag. Still cannot get the clock to work, seems to be keeping time in a parallel universe. I can live with that. I just reloaded firmware 221 back on to the J3 and the Matrix art is still there. Alas there appears to be a bug in 221, although the art remains, The J3 doesn't recognize new albums. Switched back to 210 and all is fine. I hope they fix this in newer firmwares.

[Xul]

There is a file called ALBUMINF.DB which lives in root/system/MusicDB on the J3. It controls the Matrix cover art. In this directory you will find mini jpegs copies of all the art contained in your MP3s. Deleting ALBUMINF.DB and rebooting will force a re-creation of this file and cover art should work properly after that.

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by Xul

There is a file called ALBUMINF.DB which lives in root/system/MusicDB on the J3. It controls the Matrix cover art. In this directory you will find mini jpegs copies of all the art contained in your MP3s. Deleting ALBUMINF.DB and rebooting will force a re-creation of this file and cover art should work properly after that.

Originally Posted by Xul

I had problems too. I experimented and found the solution. I was running firmware 221. I DOWNGRADED to firmware 210, and without adding any additional .jpg files the J3 shows ALL my embedded album art in matrix view. For info, all my music is tagged and maintained by MP3tag. Still cannot get the clock to work, seems to be keeping time in a parallel universe. I can live with that. I just reloaded firmware 221 back on to the J3 and the Matrix art is still there. Alas there appears to be a bug in 221, although the art remains, The J3 doesn't recognize new albums. Switched back to 210 and all is fine. I hope they fix this in newer firmwares.

Much more positive in tone and constructively helpful Xul. Welcome and I hope you enjoy your J3 and your stay with us.

[wrathchild]

Originally Posted by Xul

There is a file called ALBUMINF.DB which lives in root/system/MusicDB on the J3. It controls the Matrix cover art. In this directory you will find mini jpegs copies of all the art contained in your MP3s. Deleting ALBUMINF.DB and rebooting will force a re-creation of this file and cover art should work properly after that.

It didn't for me. Just did some editing today and when I turned it back on some of my cover art had disappeared. Deleted the ALBUMINF.DB and rebooted but all my album art disappeared completely. Tried using the updatedb in system settings but that didn't bring them back either. Had to downgrade back to 2.10 again and everything came back. I think I'll stick to 2.10 from now on.

[Xul]

I think there is a bug in 221. It will see existing art but will not recognize new entries. I too have gone back to 210 and all is fine. Perhaps someone with a working J3 running 221 could put a new album on the unit to see if the art work is picked up?