Album Art

[Pommyboi]

The user manual tells me that album artwork can be shown when tracks are played from an iPod but none of my art work is showing on screen, do I need a new cable or to do something in the settings? I have the standard radio unit on the GT

Thanks

[Neil Ramsay]

Hi, I've been pulling my hair out with this for about 2 weeks, here is what I've found so far.

My iTunes library is Apple Lossless which is converted to AAC when syncing via iTunes

Didn't seem to matter whither it was AAC or MP3, with a folder.jpg or without, no album art via iPod.

After reading similar stories on a VW UP forum I tried an SD Card in slot 2.
As I couldn't use iTunes to sync to SD I used DB Poweramp to copy and convert to AAC.
No album art and Mp3tag didn't seem able to embed artwork back into the AAC files.
Next step was to try converting to MP3 rather than AAC
Album Art now showing on PC but not in car.

Album Art can't be larger than 500 x 500 pixels.

Resize album art, success at last.

After all this I now have an SD card full of MP3 files showing album art.

I've also had success with AAC files ripped via iTunes as long as it's 500 x 500 pixels.

Next step if I can summon the energy is to try the iPod again with resized album art.

Hope this cuts out some of the trial and error for you.
Let us know how you get on.

Neil.

[Pommyboi]

Hi, I've been pulling my hair out with this for about 2 weeks, here is what I've found so far.

I've also had success with AAC files ripped via iTunes as long as it's 500 x 500 pixels.

Next step if I can summon the energy is to try the iPod again with resized album art.

Hope this cuts out some of the trial and error for you.
Let us know how you get on.

Neil.

Thanks for the information. I'll have a play around but with 18,000 songs I'm not sure how practical it is to resize the art work!

p.s. this might be a solution https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4557887?start=0&tstart=0

[Pommyboi]

I have played around with iTunes and reduced the size of the artwork following the instructions here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0 (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4557887?start=0&tstart=0) However it doesn't show the size it has reduced to, I assumed the smallest size was 300 x 300 so I have it set to the 2nd mark on the album art size scale. As nothing was showing after my first attempt I reset the iPod and re-synched everything, still no artwork showing.

The other thing I am not sure about is whether the artwork needs importing in the correct size or can actually be resized within iTunes after it is attached to the music.

[Neil Ramsay]

Hi, had a look at that thread and played about in iTunes. It doesn't actually resize the artwork, it only changes the display size within iTunes for the benefit of seeing more albums at a time or less albums and bigger covers.

I also tried my iPod again with some tracks I know have 500x500 and work on the SD Card. Still no album art, I think the iPod is a bust for album art :zx11:

Just seen this http://assets.carbuzz.co.uk/large/Volkswagen/Golf-Mk-7/Mk7-VW-Golf-DNS-PRO.jpg

Can't do that in my car :( must be a feature of the Pro Sat Nav.

[Pommyboi]

I have tried the iPod again but with no luck, I did however find a useful program which might help someone updating artwork to 500x500 for an SD card.

http://www.blisshq.com/bulk-resize-itunes-art.html

TriniTech: Batch Album Art Resizing (http://tnt-tech.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/batch-album-art-resizing.html)

I've used Bliss to resize a lot of art work, it doesn't get to 500x500 in every case but 499x500 or 495x500 but it's easier than changing artwork manually as it scans your iTunes library. The guy who wrote the program also responded quickly to my questions.

I've put a call in to St Albans VW about showing artwork on an iPod but I won't hold my breath for a useful answer. With iPods etc being so popular I'm surprised it doesn't show artwork or why the user manual isn't clearer on how to do it.

Next I might try getting the DAB radio station artwork onto my stored stations, hopefully that will be a bit easier.

[Boost]

I have read on another forum that VW are aware of an issue with ipod album art and are discussing a solution with Apple so I guess it is not going to work for the time being :(