Nokia N95 8GB Album Art and Album Folders Issue

Question

I have been hunting for for a resolution for two issues with the N95 8GB Media Player all over the web.
1. Adding artwork (CD Covers) to audio tracks (or albums) seems to be at best hit and miss. Most of the time it just does not work.
2. Deleting an album delete all the tracks but deleting the album folder seems almost impossible.
Well this weekend I decided to try to solve this and I think I may have hit upon a solution.
Since so may people have the same problem I thought it worth repeating. I would stress this has not been exhaustively tested but it does work reliably so far.
I am using Nokia Music Manager 2.0. The fix is simply to convert the files to AAC rather than to M4A (which is the default). After this simple change everythig worked find for me. I can add and delete albums from Nokia Music Manager 2.0 (don't forget to refresh on the phone afterwards) AND reliably add Album Artwork.
So here is how I have been working.
1. Set the conversion format to AAC. I have been using 'Ultra high' quality setting. Options Menu >> Setting >> Conversion Tab.
2. Next put in a CD, select all the tracks and choose copy to my collection.
3. While this is going on I find the artwork on the Web. A simple Google Image search with the album title and artists last name / band name seems pretty 100% to get the on the first page. Download image to My Documents / My Pictures.
4. Once the CD Rip is complete they will all appear in My Collection. I select all the tracks in my collection for the album in question, and then right click on one of them and select Edit.
5. I then attach the Album Artwork by clicking on the blue folder and choosing it from my, MY Pictures folder.
6. Finally select Copy to Phone from the File Menu.
This has worked for me so far 100% and I have done 20 or so albums.
NOTES:
To get Nokia Music Manager 2.0 I uninstalled the version of Nokia Phone Suite that came with my phone and went to
http://europe.nokia.com/A4144905I (or seach Google for "nokia phone suite"
I chose the N95 8GB downloaded and installed. At some point shortly after install Phone Suite informed me that there were updates available and Nokia Music Manager 2.0 was one of these.
I was originaly using this and suffered all the problems you guys have. After searching the web and finding no solution I decided to do some experimenting.
Hope all this helps.
PS If you need to delete all your legacy album folders, this is the fix I found on this same site. You can do this at any time.
1. Enable the option to be able to see Hidden Files and Folders in your Windows Explorer.
2. Connect your n95 8gb to your computer and choose data transfer mode.
3. Go to My COmputer >> Nokia Phone Browser >> Nokia N95 8GB >> Memory Card E:
3. If you have selected Show Hidden Files and Folders (see 1) you should see a folder called Private.
4. In the Private folder you need to delete the contednts of three folders
\private\101FFC31 (mpxv1.mpd and pcv5.mpd)
\private\101f8857\Cache
\private\101ffca9
In all the 3 folders delete all the files Not the FOLDER
Next time you restart the music player it will rebuild the indexes without the deleted albums folders.
Hope this helps someone. It restored my sanity.

Answer 1

Album Art
Basically there are two methods
Method 1.
You do it on the phone. Load the album art pictures to the memory card. (Must be JPEG NOT BMP)
Load also the music files.
Open Music application in the phone. Open an album then select Options->Album art then Options-> Add, browse for the picture and select Ok.
Repeat for each ALBUM
Method 2.
You do it on the PC.
Get a Tag editing software like Tag&Rename, WINAMP, etc.
Edit the files Metadata to include Album Art picutres (again they should be jpeg and also they should be set as Cover Front).
Transfer the files that have Album Art using File transfer (usb mass storage) don't use MTP or PC Suite as these methods may convert the files and Album Art will be lost.
Or you can continue using your Method
Message Edited by el_loco on 04-Feb-2008 10:44 PM
640K Should be enough for everybody
El_Loco Nokia Video Blog