The weirdest problem...Playlists Not Appearing Properly after Formatting a J3

[DSperber]

Originally Posted by BusterK

No, actually there is a problem. After I created playlists, I made some changes to some albums on the computer using MP3tag. I deleted the albums off the Cowon and reloaded them while in MTP mode. The album covers didn't follow the album. That was true for entire albums as well as just a couple of tracks that I made changes to. The individual track didn't have the cover even though the rest of the album did.

I am not sure where the image lives. When I open the folder I don't see anything like a jpeg.

You have run into yet another problem with MTP mode, long-since observed but apparently still not fixed by Cowon even in the latest firmware.

As this other thread discusses (from back in September 2010), there is simply a problem where music files transferred from PC to the J3 while using MTP mode will NOT see their IMBEDDED ALBUM ART picked up by the J3 at next boot.

Only files transferred while in MSC mode will have their IMBEDDED ALBUM ART picked up by the J3. This is, of course, not a usable solution if you use PLA playlists since they will be destroyed by the PC connection while in MSC mode. Unfortunate, but true.

There is no solution if you want to continue to use MTP mode other than one: DO NOT USE IMBEDDED ALBUM ART IN TAGS. Instead, USE THE EXTERNAL "COVER.JPG" method for album art.

[CrowdAds]

[BusterK]

Okay, I give up. What are external cover.jpg and will they show up for each track and not just the album?

Now how about M3U? Is that a text way of creating playlists? I once saw instructions but then came across the easier but ultimately messier MTP way. Can you link me to the instructions?

I was happy till I added albums and created a mess.

[DSperber]

Originally Posted by BusterK

Okay, I give up. What are external cover.jpg and will they show up for each track and not just the album?

First, do all the work on your PC music collection, and delete all album folders and files from your J3. Then when you're done, just drag/drop (COPY) the \artist\album folders from PC to J3.

(1) Use MP3Tag to remove all imbedded album art from the tags inside of each music file. Since the same imbedded JPG is almost certainly in each music file from that album, use just one of those music files to extract the imbedded JPG and save it into the album folder you're working with, in which all these music tracks from that album have been collected.

You simply save that one single extracted album art JPG with an external file name of "cover.jpg".

That's it: (a) extract the imbedded JPG from one tag and save it into that folder named "cover.jpg", and (b) delete all imbedded album art JPGs from all of the music files in that folder.

Now, when you play any music file from that folder, the J3 will use the single common external "cover.jpg" image as the album art presented... for all of these music files in that one folder. One album folder, one "cover.jpg", it's used as the album art for every music file in that same folder which does not have its own imbedded album art in its own tag.

So, for example, here's a sample from my J3 (connected in MSC mode, so you can see the Windows drive letters). My music collection is folder-organized by \Music\Artist\Album, and then the individual music files for each of these albums is stored in that lowest-level album folder. And in the same lowest-level album folder there is one "cover.jpg" album art image. NONE of my music files has imbedded album art JPG's inside of them.

Now how about M3U? Is that a text way of creating playlists? I once saw instructions but then came across the easier but ultimately messier MTP way. Can you link me to the instructions?

There's nothing seriously wrong with your use of MTP (which you claimed you were satisfied with), and it supports PLA playlists that can reference music files on both internal and external storage of the J3... if that is important to you.

You only have some very definite and very significant limitations and restrictions, including this one we're discussing now where you CANNOT USE IMBEDDED ALBUM ART IN TAGS WHEN YOU USE MTP. That's unfortunate, and really a shame that Cowon has not fixed this problem since they've known about it for 1 1/2 years (I myself opened a ticket about this on their support site back in September 2010 when I first encountered it during my experimenting with MTP, but it's obviously still not fixed).

But imbedded album art in tags IS A SILLY WAY TO DO THIS... if your music collection is organized \Music\Artist\Album. Why do you need to have the same duplicated JPG in every one of the music files in that lowest-level album folder, when you can have just one single external "cover.jpg" in the folder and NO album art imbedded in any of the music files. You will only have ONE "cover.jpg" for that ONE album, stored in the same ONE album folder in which all the one or more music files for that album have been placed (along with the one "cover.jpg"). Why wouldn't you just use this most-efficient-possible approach?


NOTE: when playing music on your PC with a decent media player (e.g. Winamp), the very same "cover.jpg" in the album folders will be detected and used, and presented in the "Album Art" window when you play any of the music files in that same album folder... exactly the way the J3 will also do it.

So you're killing many birds with one stone when you take the "cover.jpg" approach, (a) obtaining 100% working album art display for both PC and J3, (b) it works no matter whether you are in MTP mode or MSC mode on the J3, (c) and you have maximum efficiency of storage so that the one album art "cover.jpg" corresponds to one album no matter how many music files you have from that album rather than duplicating the identical JPG into each tag of each music file for that album.