iTunes: Can't seem to add artwork to uncompressed audio?

[ppc_michael]

For uncompressed music on my iPod, I drag the AIFF files from the CD to my desktop, then from my desktop to my iPod in iTunes.

From there I am able to use Get Info to edit the artist, album, genre, track info, etc., and that all works fine. But I am unable to associate album art with the uncompressed files.

I copy and past the artwork into the Artwork box and click okay, then nothing happens, it's as simple as that.

I tried selecting a couple uncompressed tracks AND MP3 tracks at the same time and "mass editing" the artwork, and only the MP3 files are changed, not the uncompressed files.

The weird thing is I used to be able to do this just fine, I have plenty of uncompressed albums with artwork. But something along the way changed and I can not longer do it. An iTunes update didn't trigger the change or anything like that.

I was hoping iTunes 8 would solve the problem but it does not, so do you have any suggestions?

 

[DaftUnion]

You can't add artwork to AIFF or WAV files. End of story. Something to do with meta tags in mp3 and aac files (which is where this information goes--I think) and these don't exist on the uncompressed formats.

 

[chedda]

really ?

You can't add artwork to AIFF or WAV files. End of story. Something to do with meta tags in mp3 and aac files (which is where this information goes--I think) and these don't exist on the uncompressed formats.

I have been adding artwork to aiff files okay i don't quite know how it has worked. I believe the OP's problem may lie in the dragging part of his workflow. Why don't you import through itunes ? Am i missing something is it you do not have space ? Previously i had the artwork problem when bringing in aiff files from CD spin doctor (roxio). However i managed to solve this by converting them again inside itunes to aiff they ended up ever so slightly smaller and i could add artwork. By the way i don't copy and paste i drag from iphoto i expect this difference is immaterial but worth trying. I hope this convoluted answer kinda helps.

 

[whooleytoo]

I just noticed something weird in iTunes (is this new in 8?).

If you want to add artwork to an album by dragging an image into the artwork box, you have to first double click a song to start playing it, then select it and all the other songs in the album and THEN drag/paste the artwork in.

I don't know if this is related to your problem..

 

[ppc_michael]

Why don't you import through itunes ? Am i missing something is it you do not have space ?

I don't have the hard drive space, although that's not the reason. Even when my iTunes import options match CD audio exactly (Stereo 44kHz 16-bit PCM etc), iTunes still processes each song upon import. I know AIFF is uncompressed and technically lossless, but I just don't want iTunes re-encoding my music that I'm trying to keep clean, you know?

If you want to add artwork to an album by dragging an image into the artwork box, you have to first double click a song to start playing it, then select it and all the other songs in the album and THEN drag/paste the artwork in.

Whoa, you're right I get the same thing! I couldn't apply artwork to whole albums, but if I went down the list one-by-one, double-clicking to play, then dragging the artwork over to the box, the album art would stick! I went through and did that for a couple albums. BUT. The next time I synced my iPod Touch (data stuff, I manage my music manually), I LOST THE ARTWORK.

Oooh the frustrations! I feel like this must be a bug!

 

[bretdago]

Time consuming but a solution none the less

I to experienced the lack of album artwork control on Lossless formats. The fix I did come up with was to import the album in an mp3 format, add artwork auto or manual as usually done and then re-import, replacing audio files with lossless formats. This does work even after sync.

This is definitely a current version bug or purposeful perhaps? As I have always used a lossless format of some type. I discovered it by replacing my Apple Lossless with WAV files, lost the artwork and started to get aggravated.

Hopefully it will be repaired in the next update.

B

 

[bretdago]

Time consuming but a solution none the less (part 2)

This only works if Itunes downlaods and installs images, otherwise adding images manually will not hold the artwork on re-sync.

B

I to experienced the lack of album artwork control on Lossless formats. The fix I did come up with was to import the album in an mp3 format, add artwork auto or manual as usually done and then re-import, replacing audio files with lossless formats. This does work even after sync.

This is definitely a current version bug or purposeful perhaps? As I have always used a lossless format of some type. I discovered it by replacing my Apple Lossless with WAV files, lost the artwork and started to get aggravated.

Hopefully it will be repaired in the next update.

B

 

[Julien]

For uncompressed music on my iPod, I drag the AIFF files from the CD to my desktop, then from my desktop to my iPod in iTunes....

Why not use Apple Lossless? You can save about 1/2 the space while maintaining 100% lossless and full CD quality. It will also solve any tagging problems you're having.

 

[Cromulent]

Use Apple Lossless and save some disk space. It is 100% lossless meaning it matches the music on the CD perfectly. AIFF and WAV are pretty pointless codecs nowadays for general listening unless you need to use the music in FCP or Logic or something.

 

[vandlism]

Third on the Apple Lossless. It has support for metadata and tagging, as well as artwork. You'll benefit by gaining back hard-drive space (as Apple Lossless files are smaller than AIFF) but you do not lose any of your sound quality. It is compressed (in much the same way you can archive/zip a file) but you don't lose any quality on the audio file. Smaller files, same audio quality, ability to tag with artwork. Sounds like a winner solution.

 

[windowsboy]

Can't seem to add album artwork to .aiff files also

I'm having a similar problem as well. I actually am running iTunes 9.2.1.4 on a Windows 7 machines, and am unable to import artwork to song files formatted in .aiff.

Did anybody come up with a reason/solution to this as of yet?

Read the prior comments about Apple Lossless...my question here being, is there a way to convert .aiff files to Lossless when the .aiff files have already been imported to iTunes?

Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[ReggaeFire]

my question here being, is there a way to convert .aiff files to Lossless when the .aiff files have already been imported to iTunes?

Go to Import Settings in Preferences and select Apple Lossless. Then Highlight the .aiff tracks you want to convert and go to the Advanced menu and select "Create Apple Lossless Version". This will convert the files to a format in which you can embed metadata.