iPod Not the usual "blank artwork" problem

[Kirkman]

I used iTunes' get album artwork function and I'm having trouble with a bunch of albums from the same artist.

The problem is for some albums, there IS artwork. But it's just a blank, white image. The words "Drag album artwork here" don't appear in in the lower left of the main window. It's just a white box. When I do "Get Info," it is clear there is album artwork... But that artwork is a totally white image, surrounded by the little selection halo.

When i try to correct this by dragging a new JPEG image to the artwork window, it appears to work at first. But if I select a different song and then re-select the original song, my new artwork is gone and it has reverted to the blank white image.

I tried doing Get Info and deleting the blank white square and then adding new artwork. This produces the same results... It *seems* to work at first, but when I de-select and re-select the song, it has reverted to the white blank box.

I have also tried the solution of selecting multiple items, doing get info, and checking the box next to "artwork" in order to clear the artwork. This doesn't work either.

I am VERY frustrated. Anyone have any clue what's up?

(P.S. I am able to add artwork perfectly fine to any songs that don't actually have artwork. but these few albums with phantom white artwork are impossible!!)

 

[Kirkman]

I forgot to mention that I also tried the right-click "Clear Downloaded Artwork" function several times, to no avail.

 

[mdickson]

Try using Clutter

 

[balamw]

Or try right clicking on the offending files and select "Clear Donwloaded Artwork". For reasons I don't quite get, iTunes stores downloaded artwork in a separate database and not in the files where the get info artwork box keeps it.

B

 

[Kirkman]

Or try right clicking on the offending files and select "Clear Donwloaded Artwork". For reasons I don't quite get, iTunes stores downloaded artwork in a separate database and not in the files where the get info artwork box keeps it.

Yeah, as I said above, I did try this multiple times, but it doesn't do anything to these files.

--Josh

 

[balamw]

Yeah, as I said above, I did try this multiple times, but it doesn't do anything to these files.

I missed your second post.

How about taking the files out of your library and then importing them again? Or try tagging them with a third party app like Clutter suggested above.

B

 

[Kirkman]

How about taking the files out of your library and then importing them again? Or try tagging them with a third party app like Clutter suggested above.

Okay, now this is really weird. When I open Clutter and play any of the MP3s in question, the correct cover appears in the Clutter window immediately. But the "selected item" window in iTunes (as well as the get info window) still show only a blank white box. This is very strange.

For the heck of it, I tried Clutter's "copy cover to iTunes," but I get the following error: "Couldn't copy artwork to iTunes. ... iTunes got an error: End of File [-39]"

--Josh

 

[Kirkman]

Another update: If I change my view to the "cover browser" mode, the artwork appears correctly in the main window! But still, in the lower left corner and in the Get Info box, the artwork is just a blank white box.

--Josh

 

[J-Low]

I'm not sure if this is it, but it sounds as though you have saved the artwork to only one (or at least not all) of the songs in an album.

Get info for all songs in the album and hit yes for "are you sure you want to edit etc...."

Let me know if this works out for you.

I think that iTunes is primarily based around songs rather than albums so artwork is attached to songs not to albums.

 

[Kirkman]

No, that wasn't it. But thanks for the reply.

Ultimately, I ended up using MP3 Rage to remove the artwork manually from all the affected albums. Then I replaced the artwork within iTunes.

Everything seems to be okay now, but I still don't understand what caused the problem in the first place.

--Josh