WMP12: Album Art GONE!

Mervil · 13 Jun 2011

So, I've spent hours, nay, even days, trying to get the album art for my gigs of music that I've acquired over the last 10 years. I was pleased with my finalized collection, now complete with album art and metadata. Today, in WMP 12, i clicked the menu option under Tools -> Advanced -> Restore Media Library, and... POOF... just like that, all the album art is gone. If I show hidden and protected system files in windows explorer, I can see that the actual album art files are NOT gone, yet there is now no association between the mp3 file and the album art file.
So my questions are:
1) What the heck just happened?
2) How do I fix it without spending another few days getting the album art back on?

Oh, please, oh please, help me!

Hopalong X · 13 Jun 2011

If you come up with no better solutions.

You can do a System Restore.
Before they disappeared but well after you had things where you had things perfected.
Maybe yesterday or day before or the latest point available.
System Restore

If you do this put a check mark in the "Show more restore point" box. Gives you more selections if needed

On the other hand someone may have an easier way to directly fix things. So wait and see what other responses you may get.

Consider this if no other options avail themselves because if it happens again knowing how to fix the problem directly would be better.

Hopefully someone will have a more direct cure to your ailment.

I'll also post for more help might get you a solution sooner.
Mike

Mervil · 13 Jun 2011

I went ahead with the system restore anyway. It didn't work

.

Perhaps somebody can explain to me how WMP 12 handles album art. Some mp3 software puts the album art into the ID3 tag. I know wmp doesn't do that. I guess it puts jpg files in the same directory as the music files, but then where does the file association come from? Why does the file association disappear when the mp3s are moved to a different folder (EVEN if the album art files are moved along with it)? Why does the thumbnail of the music file change from a music note to the album cover on some mp3s but not others? Why do some mp3s have an INCORRECT album cover as the thumbnail? WMP 12 has really torqued me off this time.

Hopalong X · 13 Jun 2011

I posted for more help.
If no answers today check back tomorow.
Sometimes the person with the knowledge is living on the opposite side of the world and asleep now.

I thought the Restore would put things back in order. Sorry.

I don't use WMP so I am no help otherwise.

Good luck.
Mike

Britton30 · 13 Jun 2011

Hi Mervil, yes the album art should be in the same folder the media files are stored in. In WMP12, delete the music from the WMP library, playlists, etc., but NOT your system. Add the files back and see if that will fix things for you.

kado897 · 14 Jun 2011

You could also try rebuilding the library using this tutorial

Windows Media Player - Rebuild Corrupted Libraries

Gornot · 14 Jun 2011

+1
Most problems in WMP can be fixed with that tutorial, it is, I fear say it, a common "maintenance" thing when using WMP xD

kado897 · 14 Jun 2011

That's true. I have recently been rearranging my videos folder structure and I needed to use it for every change. It works flawlessly.

Gornot · 14 Jun 2011

You don't actually have to use it all the time.
If you're rearranging files and folders that are included in WMP's libraries, all you need to do is delete them in WMP, close it before it indexes these folders again. Do your stuff and when you finish, open WMP again and let it index the folders.

It does happen sometimes that WMP doubles entries, in which case, yeah, the tutorial steps again xD

kado897 · 14 Jun 2011

True but the WMP12 library seems to get its knickers in a twist very easily and it doesn't take long to rebuild the library.