ITunes got smarter about album art, why not the iPod Classic?

I'm a long time iTunes fan and noticed that iTunes USED to be "stupid" about album art where the user had to paste the art in multiple times (into every track) or it didn't display in cover flow properly. And, once you did this, then a synched iPod would also display the correct album art on every track instead of SOME of the tracks, which I saw it do...
But the latest versions of iTunes have noticed got "smarter" and I have seen it now where you only need to paste in one image, and iTunes displays it as needed AUTOMATICALLY on all other tracks on the same album.
This is obviously a step forward, especially if you have 5,000 tracks on your iPod!!
I just got a new iPod Classic and I have concluded after a lot of technical research and experimentation that it is still "dumb", and seems to need the album art pasted into every track STILL. It's annoying to me as a computer scientist that the same feature or benefit isn't there on both platforms.
I know this is a pretty advanced question compared to the normal iTunes user, but I was hoping that someone could point me to a better solution than having to paste up to 5,000 album arts into my iPod?
Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate any comments.
D.

As a computer scientist I love your handle! Are you real? <jk>
I go way way way back with iTunes, I was using it to rip CD's, and as my primary music player on my desktops and laptops beginning in the 90s when it was Mac-only! Long before the iTunes Store even appeared, in fact. I don't actually have even one purchased iTunes store track, just have 5,000 ripped files from my own purchases. I also have edited the files I've imported, so my collection has only stuff I have pre-listened to and like personally, so I found Shuffle play to be a "100% win" and I use it exclusively on both my laptop and my iPod. It's a "100% win" because I stack the deck, to use an american expression.
I had a large CD collection of 500+ CDs so you can see I am a major music enthusiast. Unfortunately, I don't possess the CDs any more but I do have the electronic copies...
I loved how ITunes was time-optimized algorithmically to high efficiency in the ripping process (no doubt Steve Jobs guidance) and automatically looked up track names and artists on the Internet, and automatically managed the MP3s files too. It's competition (Winamp and WMP) still required you to manually manage everything. I also used the burn mp3 cd's function which made single-button burning of up to 12 hours of playlisted content a LOT.
So, that's why I do recall the early days when it was not as "smart" as it is now.
I visited your scripts page, a lot of very cool things there, but, if I understand correctly, Visual Basic doesn't work on OS X? That ***** MICROSOFT. Reminds me of when MS didn't support Apple clients on Exchange!
Any further suggestions?
D.

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Why this new version of iTunes doesn't have Album Art or It didn't show up?

Why this new version of iTunes doesn't have Album Art or It didn't show up?
Also, in my iPod Touch 4th, it erase all album art from my iPod, then i tried to put again a new Album Art, ...download again from the image sites and still ...it didn't show up.? What a waste!
I waste all my time to set all album art on my iPod, then it just gone. kindly pls fix this issue. hate this new version of iTunes, so complicated.
The first thing i saw after i install new version of iTunes, it showed only music files. I don't know where to look for the old version of Sidebar. I keep on trying to look for it where I can see or any sign off button just to show up this stupid SideBar. Also, why i couldn't find? The "Menu Bar" is also hide!
Until i found out in "View" tab. Then i saw the Show Sidebar. Question? why do you need to hide that Side Bar? For what?. it is so so so complicated specially to those people who can't relate for this. (Also the button (from previous iTunes) to show the Album Art, now it's gone. I check every Tab, but there's no way to see the Album Art.)
Another comment. I download also some of my songs to my iPod, I wasted my time to collect all of my favorite music files. Also some are came from CD's and friends. I had all that favorite music in my iPod. Then the version iOS 5.+ came then I updated my iPod, another options to save files (iCloud) but I think there are something that I MISS about updating my iPod. Then suddenly I checked my iPod... all music (with Album Arts) are gone. All Apps are Gone. Videos as well.
If you don't know how to use that iCloud (with only 5GB storage), you'll gonna miss/lost everything.
Then I start all over again, i still have my BACK UP, good to have that. Now it's all set until I update the latest iOS 6. And another version of iTunes.
Then I realized my computer getting slow. I uninstalled it. My laptop started to work fast again. Then I download again the iTunes. So now I know, it has the ability to slow my computer. Everytime I turn on my iTunes, it hang. (Not Responding). Solution... CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Then every second time to open the iTunes, and it works. (it means, to open iTunes, need twice)
Then suddenly my laptop is not working. All my files has been corrupted. My Hard drive doesn't work properly. Now I don't have any stupid BACK UPs. My music files usage is 18 GB, only contacts, documents, notes, or some other files that can only fit to your "iCloud" not my 18GB music files and other photos. Your solution is to BUY more storage. Another COST! Another wasting time to set everything then need to pay more?
If you let your unit (iPod,iPhone,iPad) to export music to PC, or any mini SDcard to use as storage, it won't happen.
There is another....
It has Bluetooth, right?
Use less! Doesn't work. There's no way to use it.
All I need is to install an application to use your bluetooth. (for same unit or Apple unit only). And pictures only can send via Bluetooth if you an application.
Even if you go to "Photos" check if there's a way to send pictures? there is no way to send via Bluetooth, even Photos, Songs.etc. It can't even share some other friends (even they have own iPad, iPod, iPhone or same products) who has a unit with Bluetooth.
And the last.. only one port. there's no way to watch videos through HDMI. No HDMI port, no SD or any card slot. Must to buy their products.
Very costly!
I know (like iPod) it's very friendly to use it, but you must spend more money first before it can use.

Yes, the old album art view is gone, bu you can see the album art for a song that's playing by clicking on the art image and it will open a bigger view.
Everything else in your post is a waste. I'm not going to spend time reading it. If - and I repeat if, you have a question on how to get the best out of the new look iTunes, post it. But don't spend your time in long rambling negative rants.

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Cool - yeah I grabbed that script as well. Going to go through my library and run that one as well. Seems to only be able to handle X amount of tracks at a time so will have to do it step by step. I have about 21000 tracks in my library and it didn't like doing all at one time
Its fine if it compresses the images a bit - not a big deal. Its only on my phone so its fine. I'm probably a bit anal about things but I hate having tracks on my phone with no images - if there are images available.
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Thanks, Mimico Kid! Your suggestion was extremely easy and worked like a charm!
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Welcome to the Apple Community.
Try the following steps, check whether things are working after each step where appropriate, before trying the next.
Check AirPlay is turned on on the Apple TV (turn it off and on if it already is)
Check that both devices are on the same network (Settings > Wifi, on the mobile device and Settings > General > Network, on the Apple TV).
Restart the Apple TV (Settings > General > Restart).
Restart the Apple TV by removing ALL the cables for 30 seconds.
Restart your router.
Restart your mobile device.

New issue about Album Art

I sent this e-mail to Apple and was sent back a "follow-up" e-mail a day later that completely disregarded everything I said and didn't answer anything I asked. I figured if I post on this board I could actually get some help since the phone and e-mail already failed. My questions and all of the information are below:
I recently downloaded iTunes 7 and was excited about the new cover art feature. However, I have a problem while using it. I purchased the explicit version of the CD "Fly or Die" by N.E.R.D. at a store and had ripped it to my iTunes library. I wanted to get the proper cover art for the album so I created an iTunes account and then used the "Get Album Artwork" feature for a song on the CD. However, the cover art given to me was not the artwork with the "parental advisory" sign on it. I know this seems like a minor detail, but what bothers me most is that iTunes offers both cover art for the explicit version and the clean version of the CD and even though I have the explicit version I am stuck with the clean version's artwork. What puzzled me even more was the cover art's hue given to me from iTunes looked different from the version that can be seen in the iTunes store. You can notice this if you look at both covers from the iTunes store and then use the "Get Album Work" yourself. I don't know if this is a glitch within the system but I was wondering how I can get the explicit version's cover art now that iTunes offers ALL of their cover art and I had created an iTunes account based on this feature.
I have also noticed difficulty getting the explicit version of an album's cover art for many other CDs I have in my iTunes library. Is there a way to access them because I keep recieving the clean versions even though both should be available. My tracks are even named exactly like the explicit versions in the iTunes store. I hope something can be done about this and would appreciate a response whenever information about these subjects have been figured out.

Allistair Hart: I appreciate your investigation but I don't quite understand your results. Are you saying that you were able to access the "Fly or Die" explicit album art by using the "Get Album Art" feature or were you only talking about viewing it from the iTunes store? The iTunes store by the way DOES have both the explicit and clean versions of the album.
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For some reason some of my album art does not fill up or resize when I resize the album art panel (the lower left hand side of itunes). This happens only with some, not all, of my art. Some additional background:
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I still don't understand why it would scale in the other views (cover flow and list view)
Who knows? The artwork preview panel pre-dates Cover Flow, so when Cover Flow was intoduced and made to scale art up as well as down, perhaps nobody considered revisiting the code for the artwork panel to make it work the same way. However, I find the existing behaviour quite handy for spotting when I have images that are too small, since these generally don't scale well. I have my artwork panel set to fit my minimum acceptable size of 200x200 pixels so if I ever notice a white border I know to try and find better quality art.
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Itunes 10.5 lost album art work

When I turn on Itunes after updating to 10.5, I've lost 20% of my Album Art work, and when I tell I tunes to find it, it dosn't. Anyone else having that issue?

I wanted to post this to try to help other people out there who are frustrated with the Album Art and other iTunes issues. This information builds on things I learned in past iTunes versions, but this is mostly about iTunes 10.5.1, and iOS 5.0.1. I ran in to all these problems after I updated iTunes and the iPod, and a BIG mistake I made is I have not been keeping up with backing up iTunes. I had three problems, I was missing songs, I was missing album art, and I had a problem with one of my apps I just updated. I had to find a way to find an earlier version of that app, Snaplink Mobile, and then revert to back to it. But that's another issue that doesn't affect most people, so back to the music issues. I'm not saying this will fix everyone's situations, but this will probably work for most of us. I read all the posts from people who lost all their album art. I had to do the below and 2-3 syncs before I saw most of my art back.
First, I had to find a way to get ALL the music off of both iTunes and the iPod. I can't emphasize enough what a mistake it is to reset the iPod or iTunes to factory settings before you try everything else! There were 3 videos I brought that only existed on the iPod after I reset iTunes, and if I had reset both the iPod and iTunes before thinking, I would have lost them.
So, what happened was, it is not that clear in iTunes 10.5, you have to go to the iPod tab, then the music tab, and uncheck the box that says "sync music", then at the bottom hit apply. This does not erase your music, it just removes it from iTunes. Then on the iPod, version 5.0.1, I had to go to Settings, then General, then Usage, then Music, and then there's a hidden delete button for the music. Under "all music," sweep your finger across the right side of the all music bar, and the hidden delete button will appear.
Then, it took 2-3 sync's to finally get both the iPod and the iTunes with no music. Then, I re-checked "sync music" on iTunes and on sync, all my music was back on the iPod. Then on iTunes, I clicked "consolidate library" and it copies (it does not move) all your music in to the iTunes music folder in one place. Now all my music was back, but still a lot of art issues, so on to that.
If you use Google Images, you can find a LOT of missing album art, a lot of it is on Amazon, and other sources. You want images that are square, and somewhere between 300 x 300 and 500 x 500, ideally. Then, I use Microsoft Paint sometimes to edit the album covers if I want to change something small about the way they appear. Then put all the art in a folder in the same place. Of course, you can also run "find artwork" in iTunes to find most of your stuff.
Now, a key thing to know is in the iPod, the album cover you see is pulled from track 1 of that music! If the album art you see in iTunes is being pulled from a different track in the album, it will NOT appear in the iPod in your album list. Databases are funny things, you have to know exactly what you're doing to work on them! So, what you need to do is figure out where the album art you want for an album is at. Use "get info", and find the album art you want for an album, and then right click and "copy" it. Or, bring it up in Microsoft Paint, hit select all, and hit "copy." Once you have that image, you want to make sure it is loaded for ALL tracks in that album in iTUnes. As many have said, doing one track at a time, using "get info" is maddening and time consuming! Fortunately, there are some shortcuts!
Once you have the album cover copied, there are several methods that work to get it on the entire album, all tracks. One is, to type in the search bar on iTunes until only the album you want to work on is showing on the screen. Then you can use "select all" to highlight all the tracks in the album at the same time. I had a few instances where this method alone would not bring up just the one album, so select all will not help in that case. But fortunately, you can go through all the tracks on the album you want to work on, holding the "control" button down on the keyboard while you click multiple tracks. This allows you to select manually more than one track. Now, right click on all the highlighted tracks and hit "get info." In the box that comes up, go to where the album cover is and right click and select "paste." NOTE: You will see the check box next to the album cover come on with a check, but you will NOT see the album cover you just pasted until after you apply this. When you hit apply, you will get a message that says "do you want to edit multiple items at once?" Say yes. It will then load the right album cover for all the tracks in the album, and fix a LOT of problems you're having.
Another thing you may have to do for some or all of your albums is on the same right click menu that "get info" is in, there's another one "view in windows explorer." You may have to select all the tracks using select all, hit properties, and make sure the files are NOT set to "read only." That causes a lot of problems too. It's also possible to right click on your music folder, and make sure all files and folders are not set to read only, but all at the same time.
So, it would be SO great if Apple would be better at getting this type of information out in a clear an complete fashion, but that does not seem to happen.
And, always back up your iTunes!
Lee

Album art is not all synched on Nano?

Is there a reason why some of the album art is not synched to my Nano and how can the problem be resolved? I have ensured that all the songs in the album contain the same art. Any ideas?

For individual albums not showing artwork on the iPod, I usually do the following:
My iTunes is set up to sync only checked items to my iPod. So I plug in the iPod, I select the album in iTunes and uncheck the whole album. I sync the iPod and that album is removed from the iPod completely. I then recheck all the tracks from that album and then resync the iPod forcing the album to be reuploaded onto the iPod. This normally fixes the issue.
This is a good way to do it for those onesy-twosey albums rather than turning the artwork off/on for the whole library.
Patrick

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About 50% of the album art does not match the artist titles on the iPod. In iTunes they are fine. I've reset and resynced. Any ideas?
thanks

If your iPod is set to update automatically then try this:
iTunes 6
1. Connect your iPod
2. Disable "Show Album art" in iTunes>Edit>Preferences>iPod.
3. Syncronise the iPod with iTunes. (Disconnecting and then reconnecting your iPod will do the trick)
4. Re-enable "Show Album Art" in iTunes>Edit>Preferences>iPod.
5. Syncronise the iPod again.
iTunes 7
1. Connect your iPod
2. Disable "Display album artwork" in iPod>Music tab and click Apply.
3. Syncronise the iPod with iTunes.
4. Re-enable "Display album artwork" in iPod>Music tab and click Apply.
5. Syncronise the iPod again.

ITunes got smarter about album art, why not the iPod Classic?

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