Good luck with solving the “issue that appears to be a non issue caused by choices” 😉 Please have the mods change the thread title as the issue also has nothing to do with a “music download problem”.
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jean-paul is correct, this is not a music download problem, it's a music library management / cover art problem.
Debatable as the Melco has a music library management/cover art system probably working just fine but staying unused by choice 🙂 As indicated by OP in post #6 he could take his MacBook to the library and use their Internet access. When he also puts the Melco + hub and a few ethernet cables in the same box he could update stuff with SongKong. Solved.
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jean-paul, linuxfan, as I said in my first post, this forum offers a lot of knowledge, and that has proven to be the case. In the past few days it has become clear that my problem is a “music library management / cover art problem” and not a computer download problem. Thank you for getting me pointed in the right direction.
Yes, part of the difficulty MAY BE that I do not have my Melco connected to the Internet, and yes that is a choice. But a few days ago it appeared that I might be able to solve my problem without that connection, which is my preferred strategy. Since up until now I have not had a need to use SongKong, it will take a bit of time for me to get up to speed.
linuxfan, I am not sure what AirPlay is, I have never used it. If Mp3tag does not work out I will definitely look into MusicBrainz Picard.
Cheers,
ceulrich
Yes, part of the difficulty MAY BE that I do not have my Melco connected to the Internet, and yes that is a choice. But a few days ago it appeared that I might be able to solve my problem without that connection, which is my preferred strategy. Since up until now I have not had a need to use SongKong, it will take a bit of time for me to get up to speed.
linuxfan, I am not sure what AirPlay is, I have never used it. If Mp3tag does not work out I will definitely look into MusicBrainz Picard.
Cheers,
ceulrich
There's a bigger issue at stake here - how commercial music server systems (like Melco) attempt to automate the process of adding new music files. This is good and bad. Good, in that it makes it easy for the end user, but bad, in that the end user does not see (and may not understand) the underlying principles of tag information including cover art. Such automated systems are unnecessary for the advanced user, who can simply copy over any new music files into the correct music library folder, then on the controller app, press "Update library" or "Rescan library" or whatever this function is called.
ceulrich, once you have a working tag editor, you will be able to take full manual control of your music management, and this is certainly a positive step, albeit with an associated learning curve and potential to make mistakes along the way.
ceulrich, once you have a working tag editor, you will be able to take full manual control of your music management, and this is certainly a positive step, albeit with an associated learning curve and potential to make mistakes along the way.
I just realised that I have a few albums which I purchased from HDtracks - I can say that they tag their FLAC files with embedded cover art. The pdf file is for people (like me) who prefer to create separate "folder.jpg" files.
But if you do nothing to your HDtracks FLAC's, then your music server will certainly be reading the cover art which is embedded in the tags.
Once you have a working tag editor you can look at your HDtracks files and I'm sure you will see the embedded art.
Keep us updated. I'm sure you will sort out your Presto Music albums.
linuxfan, thanks for the encouragement. Is there a difference between “tagging” the cover art and “embedding?”
The end is in sight. I fired-up SongKong on the Melco. This is a lite version, so functionality seems quite limited, but it does produce a very large Excel spreadsheet showing all metadata. I now have a better idea of some of the things linuxfan has been talking about. There is also a function to tag cover art. So, I tried it on the album under discussion. But it got hung-up about half way thru. SongKong does not have (or at least I have not found it yet) the option to select cover art from an existing file, so I suspect it went looking for the Internet, and could not find it.
Mr. Heidenreich got back to me, and his analysis is that the tagging went fine, but the apparent failure was due to the Mac OS not displaying cover art for FLAC files. If you want the art work displayed you have to convert to ALAC files. The Mac software seems to be part of my problem.
So, I went back to the file I created, a few days ago, using Mp3tag software on my friend’s machine (Post # 14). I transferred that file to the Melco, and lo-and-behold, both the folder and the individual songs displayed the cover art, which confirms Mr. Heidenreich’s analysis.
My goal now is to find a tagging program that will run on OS10.13. I am going to check out MusicBrainz Picard.
Cheers,
ceulrich
The end is in sight. I fired-up SongKong on the Melco. This is a lite version, so functionality seems quite limited, but it does produce a very large Excel spreadsheet showing all metadata. I now have a better idea of some of the things linuxfan has been talking about. There is also a function to tag cover art. So, I tried it on the album under discussion. But it got hung-up about half way thru. SongKong does not have (or at least I have not found it yet) the option to select cover art from an existing file, so I suspect it went looking for the Internet, and could not find it.
Mr. Heidenreich got back to me, and his analysis is that the tagging went fine, but the apparent failure was due to the Mac OS not displaying cover art for FLAC files. If you want the art work displayed you have to convert to ALAC files. The Mac software seems to be part of my problem.
So, I went back to the file I created, a few days ago, using Mp3tag software on my friend’s machine (Post # 14). I transferred that file to the Melco, and lo-and-behold, both the folder and the individual songs displayed the cover art, which confirms Mr. Heidenreich’s analysis.
My goal now is to find a tagging program that will run on OS10.13. I am going to check out MusicBrainz Picard.
Cheers,
ceulrich
No difference. Embedded cover art is part of the tag metadata.
Tag metadata specifications vary between different audio file types - ID3 for MP3, Vorbis comment for FLAC, Mp4v2 (I think) for for AAC and ALAC - but I only mention this in passing, you don't need to know this because tag editor applications deal with these differences. All you need to know is that the standard tag options will be the same for all audio file types.
Yeah, I've seen that before. Another case of software trying to automate the process in a way that disempowers the user.
Yes, until Mr. Heidenreich fixes Mp3tag's Mac compatibility, I think that's your best option.
Be aware that most tag editors allow embedded cover art in either jpeg or png format, with no theoretical limit on resolution ... but 500x500 or 770x770 seem to be standard (and sensible) resolutions.
Hello All,
For a number of years, I have followed various threads on this Forum, and am always disappointed when progress on the issue under discussion just evaporates with no obvious conclusion. Therefore, I thought I would put a conclusion to this thread with a summary of what I have learned.
1. The problem started with the way Apple handles FLAC files (arrogant – nasty in my opinion). I was unaware that the OS just does not display any metadata from FLAC files it handles – the data can be there, you just don’t see it. It appeared that different versions of the OS was handling those files differently, but that was not the case. On the iMac I was looking at the files on the machine’s hard drive, while with the MacBook Pro I was looking at the files stored on the Melco hard drive.
2. The whole idea of tagging metadata, particularly the cover art, then became the issue. With the help of linuxfan, I spent a bit of time learning about tagging which turned out, in the final analysis, to be unnecessary. However, it may prove invaluable if I move on to more than cover art.
3. The Melco music server offers two options for interfacing with the stored music files, Twonkey and MinimSever. Twonkey presents a view of the music database just as I had organized it (a folder for classical vocal music, a folder for popular vocal music, a folder for piano music, etc.). MinimServer presented a view with many, many more options (by composer, by date, by artist, etc., etc, etc.). Since Twonkey presented me with just what I wanted to see, I decided to use it. Unfortunatly, Twonkey is not good at reliably and consistently presenting the correct cover artwork, at least in my hands. With MinimServer, the very last option for viewing the music database is “By File”, OK, now I am back to the way I want to see my music collection. If I drop a jpg of cover art into the appropriate folder, change it’s name to “folder.pg”, MinimServer will reliably and consistently display that cover art. Maybe jean-paul was spot on?
Cheers,
ceulrich
For a number of years, I have followed various threads on this Forum, and am always disappointed when progress on the issue under discussion just evaporates with no obvious conclusion. Therefore, I thought I would put a conclusion to this thread with a summary of what I have learned.
1. The problem started with the way Apple handles FLAC files (arrogant – nasty in my opinion). I was unaware that the OS just does not display any metadata from FLAC files it handles – the data can be there, you just don’t see it. It appeared that different versions of the OS was handling those files differently, but that was not the case. On the iMac I was looking at the files on the machine’s hard drive, while with the MacBook Pro I was looking at the files stored on the Melco hard drive.
2. The whole idea of tagging metadata, particularly the cover art, then became the issue. With the help of linuxfan, I spent a bit of time learning about tagging which turned out, in the final analysis, to be unnecessary. However, it may prove invaluable if I move on to more than cover art.
3. The Melco music server offers two options for interfacing with the stored music files, Twonkey and MinimSever. Twonkey presents a view of the music database just as I had organized it (a folder for classical vocal music, a folder for popular vocal music, a folder for piano music, etc.). MinimServer presented a view with many, many more options (by composer, by date, by artist, etc., etc, etc.). Since Twonkey presented me with just what I wanted to see, I decided to use it. Unfortunatly, Twonkey is not good at reliably and consistently presenting the correct cover artwork, at least in my hands. With MinimServer, the very last option for viewing the music database is “By File”, OK, now I am back to the way I want to see my music collection. If I drop a jpg of cover art into the appropriate folder, change it’s name to “folder.pg”, MinimServer will reliably and consistently display that cover art. Maybe jean-paul was spot on?
Cheers,
ceulrich