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Topic: Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP (Read 11264 times) previous topic - next topic
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Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Hi folks,

I have an MP3 that it has a Special Album Art (Folder.jpg) it was made by a DJ ... here is my problem once I played that MP3 in Windows Media Player 11 (WMP 11) ... every time that I play "ANY" Other MP3 or music that same annoying Album Art pops up even when the song is NOT associated with it.

Q1: How can I remove that Album Art?  I know it has lodged itself somewhere in my laptop?

Q2: How can I avoid this annoying ploy by some people not to happen again?  It seems people like Forcing their Picture on WMP ... as an Advertising.

BTW, my OS is Vista Home Prem., 64-Bit.

Thanks,

G!

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #1 –
Windows Media Player has an annoying habit of automatically updating metadata and album art by default. I encountered this problem when WMP replaced my meticulously collected album covers (saved as folder.jpg) with low quality, pixelated versions.

Here's how to fix it:

1) Disconnect from the internet before launching WMP.
2) Go to Tools>Options>Library, and de-select "retrieve additional information from the internet"
3) As an additional precaution, if you don't use Windows Media Player because you've discovered a superior alternative such as foobar2000 or Winamp, you can prevent WMP from monitoring your library, which is probably the safest option.
4) To do this, go to the player tab and deselect "add media files to library when played"
5) Click on "Monitor Folders", and tell WMP to ignore folders as you see fit. If you store your music in *username*\Music, then you'll need to go to the Rip tab and select a different default rip location if you don't want WMP to monitor your Music folder.
6) To delete Windows Media Player's current database, go to C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player, and delete CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb and wmpfolders.wmdb. It is safe to delete anything else in the folder as well.

This should completely prevent WMP from automatically replacing folder.jpgs and retagging music.

To replace WMP's album art with your own, go to the folder in which the music track is stored, and save your folder.jpg over the (hidden) one that windows replaced yours with.

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #2 –
Quote from: helium on
Windows Media Player has an annoying habit of automatically updating metadata and album art by default. ...


Hi Helium,

THANKS a Bunch for your detailed answer.

Helium, I think I could have avoided this mess if I had used MP3Tag and removed the annoying Album Cover and all other TAGs from the MP3 in question.

Helium ... I don't think this problem of mine was initiated by WMP downloading the Album Art ... but I think some MP3s that DJs make ... it does this automatically ... somehow it lodges itself somewhere in the PC ... and anytime no matter what MP3 I play that ONE picture is always popping up ... that advertises that DJs music site.

Q1: So, is there that I can locate that one (1) file and delete it?

Q2: If I had to choose between WinAmp or Foobar2000 ... which would you recommend?  Which one has more useful tools & easier to learn and work with?

THANKS,

G!

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #3 –
Foobar has tons of tools, but requires a lot of time and codec searching and is a bit too complicated for my level of knowledge. I use Winamp and have nothing negative to say about it. Media Monkey is another alternative to WMP, and is comparable to mp3Tag in its tagging abilities.

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #4 –
Quote from: gonwk on
Q1: So, is there that I can locate that one (1) file and delete it?



WMP puts a hidden folder picture, so by showing hidden files and operating system files, you should be able to see it in your folder.

If it's not there, then it's likely to be somewhere in My Documents\My Music. Can't remember the exact location though, been a long time since I used WMP for playing music.

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #5 –
Hi folks,

@ TexasFlood ... Thanks for your suggestion ... I think that is why a long time ago I installed and then uninstalled Foobar2000 ... it looked too intimidating to me ... I am more of "Click & Go" type of a person!

@ Boiled Beans ... Thanks for the "Location" suggestions ... I am going to check it out ... I hope I can resolve this ... it is driving me "Crazy"!!!

Here is the funny & crazy part ... how is it that ONLY the MP3s that are made by DJ's A-Holes have this Stealth Mode tendency of lodging themselves as the Default Album Art.  I have a feeling that they do it ON Purpose!

Thanks guys!

G!

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #6 –
Quote from: helium on
Windows Media Player has an annoying habit of automatically updating metadata and album art by default. I encountered this problem when WMP replaced my meticulously collected album covers (saved as folder.jpg) with low quality, pixelated versions.

At least you probably didn't get Windows Media Slayer taking a weed whacker to the first 2-3 seconds of EVERY MP3 in your library as it tried to "update the tags", as part of the Windows 7 beta experience. Yay for backups! 

Among the more minor Inexplicable Windows Crap®, the shell doesn't support id3v2 2.4 tags even though they've been finalized since 2000. You have to use 2.3  Most Windows 7 victims customers won't notice it just because they happen to have an id3v1 tag too.

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #7 –
Hi folks,

From various people giving me pointers on here and my readings on the net ... I have finally Solved my annoying problem.

So I decided to post back my Solution here ... just in case somebody else runs into this annoying problem.

In order to get rid of a Specific "Persistent" Album Art attaching itself to every single Song (MP3, or WMA) that you have on Windows Media Player ...

Most people recommended that I go to either to Temp Folders, or Music Folder, or "Hidden Folders" ... well the Temp Folder and Music Folder did not do the Trick ... and even going to Hidden Folders ... but that might be the case for some lower level annoying Album Art ... so

To go to Hidden Folders: in Explorer go to Tools> Folder Options> View> and choose Show Hidden Files and Folders.

But if you have the Trouble file that I had ... well this pesky "folder.jpg" is NOT located under "Hidden Files" ... it hides itself somewhere else ... this where you need to go to delete it

In Explorer go to Tools> Folder Options> View> and Un-Check[/b] "Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended)" ... Then locate "Folder.jpg" or the nasty JPG and "DELETE" it ... I also went one step forward and deleted the "desktop.ini" ... of course afterI opened it with Notepad and looked thru the command to make sure it is "Safe" to delete that .ini file.

By the way DON'T forget to CHECK the Hide command back again after you are done purging the pesky trouble-making jpg.

In order to avoid these kinds of headaches I am now in the Habit of Removing ALL Tags associated with any MP3 that is generated by wanna-be DJ's.

Appreciate the Help & Pointers that everyone shared with me.

G!
 

Annoying Album Art Taking Over WMP

Reply #8 –
Quote from: gonwk on
In order to avoid these kinds of headaches I am now in the Habit of Removing ALL Tags associated with any MP3 that is generated by wanna-be DJ's.

Appreciate the Help & Pointers that everyone shared with me.

G!


The problem with tags is that no two MP3 players support the same id3 tag versions or at least in the same way, you have to fall back to id3v1 in order to get Windows Media Player, iTunes, and various MP3 players to read all of them.

Then there's the fact that a lot of ripping software tags with id3v2 2.4 which Windows doesn't understand, so it tags them with id3v2 2.3, and then id3v1 as well.

That's always fun when Windows takes the liberty of doing that and then my portable doesn't understand what has happened and just says "bad file".