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Hi I'm Ben · Sep 15, 2006, 10:31 PM

So Apple bought CoverFlow, which was nice of them but I really feel like they did a crappy job implimenting it.

The old version was quite a bit smarter in my opinion of displaying album covers and offered a lot more options.

Such as:
"Ignore Albums with blank titles"
I think that feature alone is essential to this actually looking nice. iTunes Coverflow also sometimes breaks down albums into like 10 pictures for no reason.

I'm a little miffed that Apple took a good product and produced an ugly bastard child of what was turning out to be great.

No more full screen support? Blah.

slpdLoad · Sep 15, 2006, 10:46 PM

I concur.

Actually the reason I don't use the iTunes version of it is that it's way to slow to load the album art! Does it really have to load in each album into the little frame every time i move around in it? CoverFlow never had this problem. Hopefully it'll be improved soon.

Hi I'm Ben · Sep 15, 2006, 10:49 PM

Originally Posted by slpdLoad

I concur.

Actually the reason I don't use the iTunes version of it is that it's way to slow to load the album art! Does it really have to load in each album into the little frame every time i move around in it? CoverFlow never had this problem. Hopefully it'll be improved soon.

Yes the original felt much more fluid and loaded the art better. I also am not fond of iTunes' new method of applying artwork to my mp3s. It no longer tags it to the mp3 but to a sub folder. Maybe this is for Coverflow purposes? But then why does coverflow load so slow?

porieux · 01:56 AM

...

Dakar · Sep 16, 2006, 12:06 AM

Yeah, I don't like how iTunes uses an album for each blank album field an artist has.

alphamatrix · Sep 16, 2006, 01:34 AM

I'm with you on this, the iTunes 7 implementation of CoverFlow is a step backwards from the standalone implementation. I wish they would have bothered to build a full screen controller version similar to the app or have it as a visualizer option but maybe that would be seen as redundant with Front Row as a product. I also miss the mouse response the covers had in CoverFlow.

dru · Sep 16, 2006, 04:41 AM

Sometimes itunes is grabbing the wrong album art. The Forrest Gump Soundtrack pulled down Elvis #1's for example. It doesn't update when you remove downloaded art.

I'm thinking the coverflow feature was added late to iTunes 7.

Mastrap · Sep 16, 2006, 08:42 AM

That's what I think. It does feel clunky and just thrown together.

Jens Peter · Sep 16, 2006, 08:46 AM

Yes, I also still keep the original CoverFlow app in my dock - much better implemenation.
But prehaps the engineers at Apple used all their time to make it work in the window-version of iTunes...

chabig · Sep 16, 2006, 09:43 AM

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

SpaceMonkey · Sep 16, 2006, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by dru

It doesn't update when you remove downloaded art.

What are you referring to? I removed some incorrect downloaded art and it no longer appears in CoverFlow. Seems to work fine.

JLL · Sep 16, 2006, 10:28 AM

It needs some CoreAnimation love, but that won't happen soon because of Windows.

Perhaps the cross platform issue is why CoverFlow is slower than before.

Hi I'm Ben · Sep 16, 2006, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by JLL

It needs some CoreAnimation love, but that won't happen soon because of Windows.

Perhaps the cross platform issue is why CoverFlow is slower than before.

It's not because of Windows, it's because it's a Leopard option. I don't think it "CoreAnimation" will ever be in the windows version. As long as it has the same functions on both Apple can make it run as good or bad on either operating system as they desire. If Macs have a better implimentation method than so be it.

mitchell_pgh · Sep 16, 2006, 11:28 AM

Apple generally takes a few rounds to get back to where the program was when they purchased it. I remember when iTunes 1 was released, it didn't have a number of things the Sound Jams had. After a few versions, it was much better than Sound Jams, it just took time.

- - e r i k - - · Sep 16, 2006, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by Hi I'm Ben

iTunes Coverflow also sometimes breaks down albums into like 10 pictures for no reason.

No it usually has a very good reason. Check that it's got the proper compilation tag if it's a compilation or that you have an Album Artist if you have tags like "Artist featuring other artist".

JLL · Sep 18, 2006, 04:54 AM

Originally Posted by Hi I'm Ben

It's not because of Windows, it's because it's a Leopard option.

I know - my two sentences were separate.

What I meant was that CoverFlow perhaps used frameworks that Apple can't use now because of the Windows version.

jeffreyfrabutt · Sep 18, 2006, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

No it usually has a very good reason. Check that it's got the proper compilation tag if it's a compilation or that you have an Album Artist if you have tags like "Artist featuring other artist".

I have albums that are tagged as in a compilation. I also have the preference checked that says "Group compilations when browsing". That said, at least half of my compilation albums appear as seperate covers in Cover Flow (embedded version). Standalone Cover Flow shows them just fine. Cover Flow completely ignores the Artist when the 'Part of compilation" tag is checked on the tracks. iTunes seems to randomly ignore it. I also have some albums that all of a sudden refuse to sort by track number. I know they're are plenty of you out there that aren't having any trouble with iTunes 7, but I'm getting frustrated... I feel like I'm fighting the software to get it to behave.

JLL · Sep 18, 2006, 08:26 AM

Have you looked at this:

Why aren't songs with the same album art grouped together?

jeffreyfrabutt · Sep 18, 2006, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by JLL

Have you looked at this:

Why aren't songs with the same album art grouped together?

I most certainly have. I have verified that the "part of compilation is checked" and that the album name is the same for all tracks by selecting the group of tracks and going to the Info screen. Standalone Cover Flow is working perfectly... but iTunes Cover Flow is giving me headaches.

SpaceMonkey · Sep 18, 2006, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by jeffreyfrabutt

I most certainly have. I have verified that the "part of compilation is checked" and that the album name is the same for all tracks by selecting the group of tracks and going to the Info screen. Standalone Cover Flow is working perfectly... but iTunes Cover Flow is giving me headaches.

Did you read the last bullet point in the help document?

* The album names of the songs may differ slightly
* The songs from the same album may have different artists
* Not all songs in the album have the same "Album Artist" assigned to it
(emphasis added)

Making sure that all compilation album tracks had "Various Artists" (or something similar) for the Album Artist field fixed this problem for me.

jeffreyfrabutt · Sep 18, 2006, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

Did you read the last bullet point in the help document?

* The album names of the songs may differ slightly
* The songs from the same album may have different artists
* Not all songs in the album have the same "Album Artist" assigned to it
(emphasis added)

Making sure that all compilation album tracks had "Various Artists" (or something similar) for the Album Artist field fixed this problem for me.

SpaceMonkey, if you read the full text you will see that the tracks don't have to have the same Artist:

"Albums with various artists

Some albums include songs from multiple artists. Because of this iTunes may display them as separate album as shown below:

<image removed>

You can mark these songs as a compilation in iTunes. Do do this, select all the songs that you want to be included in the compilation and select Get Info from the file menu and select Yes in the Compilation menu as shown below. After clicking OK iTunes group all the selected songs together."

In my experience, iTunes doesn't group all the selected songs together.

Also, it doesn't make much sense changing the Artist to "Various Artist". That defeats the purpose of the Artist field. There are times when I would like to sort my music library by Artist so I can see all of the Albums that artist appears on.

The "Compilation" tag is not working correctly... plain and simple. I've gone back to the standalone Cover Flow... for now it's better than the integrated version.

Hi I'm Ben · Sep 18, 2006, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by jeffreyfrabutt

The "Compilation" tag is not working correctly... plain and simple. I've gone back to the standalone Cover Flow... for now it's better than the integrated version.

I agree, the Compilation button works sometimes, othertimes, not so much. I also had albums that after I listed them as a compilation and hit "Save" the box was unchecked once I looked at the info again.

I know it may be hard to believe Apple didn't release something that works perfectly especially in its first iteration but it happens.

SpaceMonkey · Sep 18, 2006, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by jeffreyfrabutt

SpaceMonkey, if you read the full text you will see that the tracks don't have to have the same Artist:

"Albums with various artists

Some albums include songs from multiple artists. Because of this iTunes may display them as separate album as shown below:

<image removed>

You can mark these songs as a compilation in iTunes. Do do this, select all the songs that you want to be included in the compilation and select Get Info from the file menu and select Yes in the Compilation menu as shown below. After clicking OK iTunes group all the selected songs together."

In my experience, iTunes doesn't group all the selected songs together.

Also, it doesn't make much sense changing the Artist to "Various Artist". That defeats the purpose of the Artist field. There are times when I would like to sort my music library by Artist so I can see all of the Albums that artist appears on.

The "Compilation" tag is not working correctly... plain and simple. I've gone back to the standalone Cover Flow... for now it's better than the integrated version.

We're talking past each other. I didn't say to change the Artist field to "Various Artists." I said to change the Album Artist field to "Various Artists." Album Artist is a new field in iTunes 7, and is probably causing the majority of your problems, even if you have the compilation tag checked. Having both the compilation tag checked, and making sure that your compilation tracks all have "Various Artists," or some similar description, listed in the Album Artist field, will probably group the tracks together like you want.

jeffreyfrabutt · Sep 18, 2006, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

We're talking past each other. I didn't say to change the Artist field to "Various Artists." I said to change the Album Artist field to "Various Artists." Album Artist is a new field in iTunes 7, and is probably causing the majority of your problems, even if you have the compilation tag checked. Having both the compilation tag checked, and making sure that your compilation tracks all have "Various Artists," or some similar description, listed in the Album Artist field, will probably group the tracks together like you want.

SpaceMonkey... Thanks for your response! The help said you can leave the Album Artist blank if it's the same for all tracks... but when I leave it blank.. it behaves funky. Once I put "Various Artists" in the Album Artist field, it worked as advertised