Grrr Media Player Grrr

[Sailor Steve]

I've already left a message at MS's forums, so all I'm really doing here is venting my frustration.

I have a rather large music collection, all on Windows Media Player, and I love fooling around and organizing it. Tonight it suddenly changed, and without any warning.

One of the features is of course that it displays Album Info, including the cover of the album. I keep a copy of the picture in the folder for each album, as in the past I had problems with it changing the artwork on me. All irrelevant, as that's not why I'm so frustrated.

Tonight, out of the blue, all the Album Art in the individual sections just up and disappeared! If I'm on the main Album page all the thumbnails are there. If I'm on the main Artist page all the thumbnails are there. But if I go into the Artist section to look at all the albums by that artist - no pictures! If I click on an individual album - no picture!

It happened just as I was settling in and getting ready for some more work on it, so I assume I clicked something, but for the life of me I can't think what it might have been. I've been all through the help sections and can't anything relating to this problem. As I said, I've asked on the MS forums for WMP, and expect an answer sometime.

I posted here mainly to rant, and maybe to see if anyone has seen this before and has a quick answer.

[Gerald]

You would need other alternatives to Windows media player, here is one that you sure know where it is,
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

and there is no cost

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I've already left a message at MS's forums, so all I'm really doing here is venting my frustration.

I have a rather large music collection, all on Windows Media Player, and I love fooling around and organizing it. Tonight it suddenly changed, and without any warning.

One of the features is of course that it displays Album Info, including the cover of the album. I keep a copy of the picture in the folder for each album, as in the past I had problems with it changing the artwork on me. All irrelevant, as that's not why I'm so frustrated.

Tonight, out of the blue, all the Album Art in the individual sections just up and disappeared! If I'm on the main Album page all the thumbnails are there. If I'm on the main Artist page all the thumbnails are there. But if I go into the Artist section to look at all the albums by that artist - no pictures! If I click on an individual album - no picture!

It happened just as I was settling in and getting ready for some more work on it, so I assume I clicked something, but for the life of me I can't think what it might have been. I've been all through the help sections and can't anything relating to this problem. As I said, I've asked on the MS forums for WMP, and expect an answer sometime.

I posted here mainly to rant, and maybe to see if anyone has seen this before and has a quick answer.

Did you find any solution for the Media Player? And the problem in general?

[kiwi_2005]

In the right hand corner of media player (11) there is a search option, click on the arrow next to it for the menu and choose 'Expanded Tiles' - album art should reappear. If it doesn't then its something more serious.

[Gerald]

Eleven, I uses twelve!

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Eleven, I uses twelve!

I dont even use it I use KM Player, but I loaded up MP 11 and went to the view options and played around with it. 'Expanded tiles' if that's unchecked the album art will not appear.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

I dont even use it I use KM Player, but I loaded up MP 11 and went to the view options and played around with it. 'Expanded tiles' if that's unchecked the album art will not appear.

To be honest I do not use either WMP, but 12 is too W7, which I did not think of first,

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Did you find any solution for the Media Player? And the problem in general?

Yes I did. I was just coming back to report that it is fixed.

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

In the right hand corner of media player (11) there is a search option, click on the arrow next to it for the menu and choose 'Expanded Tiles' - album art should reappear. If it doesn't then its something more serious.

And that's exactly the advice I got on the WMP forums. And it worked. And I replied there with a thank you and my favorite quote I made up myself - "Some people are born stupid. I've had to work hard my whole life to get this way. And I'm proud of the job I've done."

Originally Posted by Vendor

Eleven, I uses twelve!

To be honest I do not use either WMP, but 12 is too W7, which I did not think of first,

Exactly. I have a five-year-old computer (almost six now) with XP Home. I won't upgrade to 7 until I get a new PC.

I tried a couple of others while I was waiting, but I still like the way WMP organizes and looks. Probably just because I'm used to it, but there it is.

[Gargamel]

As mentioned, VLC is a wonderful player, but it doesnt do organization as well as WMP does. BUt I keep VLC around to play video, as there is no format it can't handle easily.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I have a rather large music collection, all on Windows Media Player, and I love fooling around and organizing it.

OMG I'm so glad I'm not the only person who wastes, I mean, spends quality time doing this!

My big thing is that when I rip music from, say, a greatest hits or some other type of CD, I like to edit the file properties to reflect the original release (album, year, etc.) of each song. And then I spend a bit of time googling around looking for the original album cover and pasting it into the album art. And I also usually save a copy of the pic just in case it reverts to something else so I can "fix" it again.

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Yes I did. I was just coming back to report that it is fixed.

That's a good tip to know, I haven't even begun checking through my collection since I installed Win7. At first glance it looks okay but I'm sure I'll have to edit a few things.

I tried a couple of others while I was waiting, but I still like the way WMP organizes and looks. Probably just because I'm used to it, but there it is.

Same here. Way back when I had Win98/ME I had some third party freeware that I used to play and organize music, but during one upgrade or another I wanted to hear something before I'd reinstalled it and starting tinkering around in WMP. Once I got accustomed to it I liked it fine, and WTH, it's free and I know how it works.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

OMG I'm so glad I'm not the only person who wastes, I mean, spends quality time doing this!

My big thing is that when I rip music from, say, a greatest hits or some other type of CD, I like to edit the file properties to reflect the original release (album, year, etc.) of each song. And then I spend a bit of time googling around looking for the original album cover and pasting it into the album art. And I also usually save a copy of the pic just in case it reverts to something else so I can "fix" it again.

I found a site that gives me unlimited download privileges for a small monthly fee.

I organize my stuff by date, with the date preceding the title, so everything from classical to today's music appears in the correct order.

An example is my Beatles collection. I recently downloaded the complete 2009 remaster series and also managed to find the rare United Artists US release of A Hard Day's Night. Since the singles never appeared on the British versions of the albums, I have each single release in it's own folder, so Please Please Me and Ask Me Why are in a folder labeled "1963/1/11 - Single" and the album folder reads "1963/3/22 - Please Please Me (UK)". Each folder has its own copy of the album art, so I don't have to go looking for it again if anything goes wrong.

All the singles are mono, with the albums in stereo. I'm doing something similar for The Stones, The Who and The Animals. Most of my American favorites have the singles on the albums, so I'm not quite so meticulous, but the formula is still the same.

I admit it - where my music is concerned I'm just a bit insane.

[frau kaleun]

I only put years in for dates, so I'm not quite so obsessive, lol.

But I've done the same thing with songs that were only released as singles and not on any "original" album (meaning, not a greatest hits or other collection).