WMP12 win7 7100, Stop WMP12 from touching folder.jpg files

[Doli]

If you get rid of the reserved system file 'albumartsmall.jpg' for whatever reason, then at any later point when small thumbnails are shown (shell, Media Center, Windows Media Player) you may trigger the album art extractor which will refresh the folder.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg pair.

There's no reason to just make a "folder.jpg" file unless you are deliberately trying to cause this. :)

How can I try to trigger the extractor? I been playing around in WMP and MCE and myFolder.jpg files are ok and have not been resized.

[mbg]

Honestly, I am really tired of this problem.

Why can't someone just add a "Don't screw with my album art under any circumstance whatsoever because I have a larger brain than you, dear computer" checkbox, or make it a registry change if you don't want to expose it to the masses...

[nytiger73]

So if I am understanding this correctly, the way to prevent this from happening is to remove or in most cases, not create the folder.jpg files and make sure the high-res art work is embedded in the music files. I really HATE WMP12. Version 11 was good, but this problem with album artwork has to change. This isn't 2001 with 15" monitors. Even iTunes downloads it's artwork in 600X600 resolution.

I am thinking of removing WMP and going to Media Monkey for ripping and organization and WMC for playing music files. MS has dumbed down WMP way to much for my liking.

[Preppy Veteran]

Yes, you should probably consider "folder.jpg" and "albumartsmall.jpg" reserved file names that would be a horrible plan to touch. Inserting the art into the files would be the correct plan.

This should generally have been consistent since day one... more people are enjoying album art these days so it's more noticeable.

[Subject Delta]

Do yourself a favor and remove WMP and install Winamp 552 Pro. It is far superior than WMP, just about anything is. :rolleyes:

Do yourself a favour, and don't troll threads where it isn't warranted, this is about WMP within the Windows 7 Beta, not a debate about the relative merits of WMP and Winamp.

As for the topic, someone needs to pop into the WMP design team, and tell them that 800x600 went out of fashion 10 years ago. Low res album art looks awful on high resolution displays, and why Microsoft feel that there is some need for it to fiddle with your album art anyway, lord only knows.

[sccs]

Any news here? Just did a new scan with MP11 on VISTA and MP replaced many folder.jpgs. Then after that started my xbox360, opend MediaCenter and after selecting the folder where all my mp3s are MediaCenter did even a better job nearly all .jpgs are now replaced...

I hope this will be not the case in the Windows 7 final...

Christian

[Billy Gun]

zachdms, thank you very much for the 800x800 tip.

I realy prefer WMP11, I am soo sorry... Too bad that there are no better music player than wmp.

[sccs]

The problem is, if you use Windows Mediacenter you need this Windows internal stuff. I really don't know how Mediacenter and Mediaplayer work together... Also more confusing with an extender.

Is btw somewhere a docomentation about that?

Christian

[RodneyJerkins]

Yes, you should probably consider "folder.jpg" and "albumartsmall.jpg" reserved file names that would be a horrible plan to touch. Inserting the art into the files would be the correct plan.

This should generally have been consistent since day one... more people are enjoying album art these days so it's more noticeable.

This topic is insane. How hard is it to understand that it's a horrible policy to allow WMP12 to degrade a user's pre-existing album art?!? I don't mind WMP12 filling in the gaps for me where I don't already have album art but ruining all of your high resolution art just by running the program is ridiculous!

And Zach, I have to say, you've been rather unhelpful in this thread. The OP has stated how this happens, other people have confirmed it, and still more complain about the problem on a simple Google search. There's nothing to debate here, WMP is doing something it shouldn't be doing and this needs to be changed.

Microsoft wants people to use WMP, right? WMP is consistently hated by a lot of people, right? Well maybe MS should just shut up and listen to people who want to use it but can't because it does something wrong.

[Cldmani]

This topic is insane. How hard is it to understand that it's a horrible policy to allow WMP12 to degrade a user's pre-existing album art?!? I don't mind WMP12 filling in the gaps for me where I don't already have album art but ruining all of your high resolution art just by running the program is ridiculous!.

You know there is an option in WMP to fill in missing gaps only, right?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I have no idea why WMP 12 still does this, it's annoying as hell.

[Preppy Veteran]

This topic is insane. How hard is it to understand that it's a horrible policy to allow WMP12 to degrade a user's pre-existing album art?!? I don't mind WMP12 filling in the gaps for me where I don't already have album art but ruining all of your high resolution art just by running the program is ridiculous!

The biggest culprit should generally be folder.jpg without a matching albumartsmall.jpg .

And Zach, I have to say, you've been rather unhelpful in this thread. The OP has stated how this happens, other people have confirmed it, and still more complain about the problem on a simple Google search. There's nothing to debate here, WMP is doing something it shouldn't be doing and this needs to be changed.

I apologize for any misperceptions. I believe my earlier comments about folder.jpg evidently being a reserved file name is probably the most interesting point to note.

I apologize if my attempts to help people understand this concern a little more clearly are in any fashion misconstrued. folder.jpg is a reserved file name according to everything you and I are seeing here. My comments might be illuminative or might not be, but it seems like you should:

* only update the art within the file directly

* not count on folder.jpg being 'your' file

[RodneyJerkins]

The biggest culprit should generally be folder.jpg without a matching albumartsmall.jpg .

I apologize for any misperceptions. I believe my earlier comments about folder.jpg evidently being a reserved file name is probably the most interesting point to note.

I apologize if my attempts to help people understand this concern a little more clearly are in any fashion misconstrued. folder.jpg is a reserved file name according to everything you and I are seeing here. My comments might be illuminative or might not be, but it seems like you should:

* only update the art within the file directly

* not count on folder.jpg being 'your' file

I understand that's what people should do to avoid this problem, and it's good to know that and have it documented so thank you, but at the end of the day this is still a problem.

And, yes, there is supposedly an option to only fill in the gaps but others are reporting it's not working so I'm not even going to let WMP access the internet or touch my files.

[Preppy Veteran]

The settings in question do not affect the reserved file name 'folder.jpg', hence my comments.

Your comments are interesting and important, but that's not the way the player works and there is pretty much no mechanism to do so. It's a good suggestion... but it doesn't work that way. :( This is why my two points:

* only update the art within the file directly

* not count on folder.jpg being 'your' file

are probably highly relevant.

Plus if you update the art within the file, it's more portable. :)

[koawmfot]

A simple Process Monitor review of the player shows

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences]

"LargeAlbumArtSize"=dword:00000320

"SmallAlbumArtSize"=dword:00000190

might be interesting. They will not affect everything. They max out at 800(x800). Use at your own risk.

i need to bump this thread as i have run into the folder.jpg issue in this thread and think i may have a solution.

if you add the below values it appears that WMP will NOT generate new folder.jpg OR AlbumArtSmall.jpg files. IF folder.jpg (or AlbumArtSmall) already exist(s), it does not resize it but mearly sets the HIDDEN and SYSTEM attributes. so if you have a folder.jpg and/or an albumartsmall.jpg file at 1500x1500, it will leave them alone (except for hiding them...).

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences]

"LargeAlbumArtSize"=dword:ffffffff

"SmallAlbumArtSize"=dword:ffffffff

can anyone out there verify this? i tired with a brand new database and a few albums. a quick outside verification would be great. thanks.

[jakobkraft]

i need to bump this thread as i have run into the folder.jpg issue in this thread and think i may have a solution.

if you add the below values it appears that WMP will NOT generate new folder.jpg OR AlbumArtSmall.jpg files. IF folder.jpg (or AlbumArtSmall) already exist(s), it does not resize it but mearly sets the HIDDEN and SYSTEM attributes. so if you have a folder.jpg and/or an albumartsmall.jpg file at 1500x1500, it will leave them alone (except for hiding them...).

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences]

"LargeAlbumArtSize"=dword:ffffffff

"SmallAlbumArtSize"=dword:ffffffff

can anyone out there verify this? i tired with a brand new database and a few albums. a quick outside verification would be great. thanks.

I know this thread is old but I just had to say that this registry setting works!! I've been looking for years for a way to correct the whole shrinking album art issue and for anyone who cares, this is it!! Thanks!!