WMA Album Cover Images & Explorer Folder Images

[Rick]

1A:When one Copies from a CD into WMP Series 9 with the
assistance of the Album Info service WMP aquires the CD
album cover if it's available. Where is this image stored
exactly? When I go into the Advanced Tag Editor and click
on Pictures, the album cover aquired by WMP does not show
up, but the cover art is somehow still associated with the
file, how?

1B: Inversely, if the album cover is not avalible online I
can scan it and then with the Advanced Tag Editor add it
under pictures. This image is also associated somehow, but
how? I checked the WMA file size before and after I added
the image and the file size appears to be the same.
What's going on here?

1C: If I move already copied music to another PC via, a
CDRW, Network, ZIP disk, USB drive or other media, what
will happen when I import those files into the Media
Player on that computer?

2A: When a CD is copied with WMP, WMP automatically
creates folders with the album cover art on each folder.
This is great, but once again how is the image associated
with the folder? What happens when I move this folder to
another PC, will it retain the folder image?

2B: If the CD does not have album cover art supplied by
the online Album Info service the folder adopts a generic
music image. Later after I scan the album art and apply it
to the WMA files in the folder via the Advanced Tag Editor
the folder does not adopt the new image. However, I can
alter the folder image via the folder properties. When I
move the source image the folder still retains the image.
This is cool, but how does it retain the image? If I load
the folder on a CDRW and pop it into another XP PC will
the image still be there?

WHERE IS THE DATA?

 

[Galley]

1A:When one Copies from a CD into WMP Series 9 with the
assistance of the Album Info service WMP aquires the CD
album cover if it's available. Where is this image stored
exactly? When I go into the Advanced Tag Editor and click
on Pictures, the album cover aquired by WMP does not show
up, but the cover art is somehow still associated with the
file, how?

The image is named "Folder.jpg" and is hidden by default.

1B: Inversely, if the album cover is not avalible online I
can scan it and then with the Advanced Tag Editor add it
under pictures. This image is also associated somehow, but
how? I checked the WMA file size before and after I added
the image and the file size appears to be the same.
What's going on here?

I'm not sure if WMP9 stores the image inside the file.

1C: If I move already copied music to another PC via, a
CDRW, Network, ZIP disk, USB drive or other media, what
will happen when I import those files into the Media
Player on that computer?

If you backup the files as a data disc, then the images should be backed up as
well. That has always worked for me.

2A: When a CD is copied with WMP, WMP automatically
creates folders with the album cover art on each folder.
This is great, but once again how is the image associated
with the folder? What happens when I move this folder to
another PC, will it retain the folder image?

The album folder contains a hidden image, "Folder.jpg", which is usually 200 x
200 in size. If you scan a convert that you can't find online, then save it as
"Folder.jpg", at 200 x 200 or greater. The artist folder contains another
hidden image, "AlbumArtSmall,jpg" which is 75 x 75. Windows XP will create
these automatically.

2B: If the CD does not have album cover art supplied by
the online Album Info service the folder adopts a generic
music image. Later after I scan the album art and apply it
to the WMA files in the folder via the Advanced Tag Editor
the folder does not adopt the new image. However, I can
alter the folder image via the folder properties. When I
move the source image the folder still retains the image.
This is cool, but how does it retain the image? If I load
the folder on a CDRW and pop it into another XP PC will
the image still be there?

WHERE IS THE DATA?

Yes, if the hidden image is copied, or backed up, then the image will be
retained. You can imbed the images in the actual file itself using mp3Tag.
http://www.maniactools.com/soft/mp3tag/index.shtml