Art Fixer allows you to scan all your albums (that reside in the Windows Media ibrary) for errors and empty (or generic) album art (cd cover).
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Latest version: 3.0 NOTE: Images below do not match version's 3 user interface, however, this document will give you some pointer on how to use Art Fixer. |
What to do first?
- Make sure that you run the latest version of Windows Media Player
- Run WMP at least once and wait for all your music to appear in the library
- Close WMP before using Album Art Fixer
- See the forum for more information or questions.
How does it work?
1. Start the application (Start / All Programs / Album Art Fixer)
Art Fixer will now read all your albums from the library and it will show the first album in the startup screen. You can browse your albums by using the Album box at the left top (or using the left and right buttons to the right of that box).
2. Click the "Check Albums" button and now Art Fixer will check all albums for the following conditions:
- Does the album have album art?
- Does the album have generic album art (the musical note picture)?
- Does the album have an album artist?
- Are all tracks from that album residing in the same folder?
If any of these conditions are met, Art Fixer will show you that album and will allow you to fix that situation:
In this case, Art Fixer found that this album contains generic album art. Art Fixer will allow you to fix this, by clicking the "Fix" button.
3. Fixing things:
When you clicked the "Fix" button, the fix window opens up. You can see several checkboxes (only the checkboxes that represent the problems for the current album are turned on by default). In this case the album art is generic. At the bottom of this window, you will notice that Google was searched for this album. You can navigate to the right image (preferably 200 by 200 pixels) and then you right-click that image. In the context menu you should choose "Save Picture As..." and save the picture to your desktop or my pictures folder. Art fixer monitors these folders for newly created .jpg images. If Art Fixer finds a new file, it will automatically use that picture. However, you can also use the "Browse" button (or the "Same Art" button which will use the same album art as you chose before).
In the next picture the image was picked up by Art Fixer:
If you click OK the album will receive it's picture (technically spoken two files are created: a folder.jpg file and a AlbumArt_{123012-1212-12-12-21-12--211212}_Large.jpg (the GUID of the album) file. If all goes well, Art Fixer shows that this album is now OK.
You can now click "Next Album" again, to check for the next "problem album".
What are the problems and what is done to solve it?
Problem 1: No Album Artist
Albums without album artists will not show up in MCE right or will not be detected probably by WMP. WMP relies on the fact that all albums have an album artist. Compilation albums also have an album artist: Various Artists. Although all tracks can have their separate track artists, the album artist is a must have. The Album Artist is also essential for the location of the tracks.
Problem 2: No Album Art
If an album doesn't have album art it will show generic pictures when it is played in WMP or MCE. Especially in MCE this doesn't do good to the interface, where the picture of an album says more than words.
Problem 3: Tracks have different locations
WMP uses a scheme where album art is stored in a folder as folder.jpg. This works well for albums that are stored in one folder (1 album = 1 folder). However, if tracks are stored in different folders, WMP doesn't always use the right album art picture. Art Fixer will move your tracks to one folder
Problem 4: No Various Artists for albums with tracks by several artists
This is not a big problem, but may indicate that the Album Artist is set to one of the track artists. It is up to you to decide if you want to fix this
Problem 5: The tracks of an album do not seem to exist / Moving Files / Fix Locations
Changing tags of media items (and moving items) are not always written back instantly to the library. Sometimes an album shows up of which the tracks no longer exist. If this happens, just open up WMP and find the album. Try to play the tracks using WMP and these tracks will magically return.
NOTE: This program does NOT delete any files. It will only move files (per user request) and if files seem to be lost, then it is only move to another location. Tracks are moved following these rules:
The base directory is retrieved from the user (at first run of Art Fixer it will use the My Music folder setting, but you can change that base folder). See the screenshot below:
If an album has the following properties: Album Artist is "Various Artists", Album Title is "Motown Christmas" and the user has checked the "Fix Locations" button, the tracks are moved to this folder:
H:\Music\Various Artists\Motown Christmas\
If your music files were not found somewhere in the H:\Music folder, a warning will appear that the move operation may take more time. You can cancel if you want.
You may need to change this base folder address once. If your files are all on the D: drive for instance in a folder called my music, you should set it to "d:\my music"
NOTE: You should always move your files if you change the album artist or album title!
Problem 6: album track numbers are not correct
If track numbers contain nothing or 0, or do not nicely add up (e.g. first track is track 1, second track is track 4, etc.), a warning will show. Before you click Fix in this case, you may want to alter the track order in the tracklist. Dragging a track will allow you to change it's order. If you click fix and fix the track order, all track numbers are newly created conform the order of the tracklist.
Prerequisites
- .Net Framework 1.1
- Windows Media Player 9 or higher
Feedback!
All issues with an album are shown and you can choose to fix it or leave it as it is. I have thoroughly tested this application myself on more than 2,000 albums with no problems found. However problems may occur. Always check the album in WMP itself and/or open up the folder where the tracks reside to find out what is wrong. Any feedback is always highly appreciated! Send your feedback to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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