Album Art and ID3 Tags

[skyblu5_9]

i just got the new creative zen. i hav my album art embedded in the id3 tag using mp3 tag tools software. but when i play the song, the player can't display/recognize the album art. on my sandisk mp3 player, album art works fine. any idea what's going on and how can i fix the problem? many thanks to all that helped =)

[CrowdAds]

[TylerTx]

So Ive gotten my player and already loaded it up. I am having one issue though. Some songs, and im not sure why, are not showing up. The artist is displayed in the artist list, but I click and there are no albums, and no songs. Could this happen because the song may not have an album in the id3 tag? Its the only thing I can think of why it may be happening.

[iamtheworld]

i dont know how recovery mode on the new ZEN works, but i'd try a disk cleanup (or some equivalent, thats what its called on a ZMP).

[HipHopScribe]

I'm not quite sure how the Zen operates, but there should be a way to call up an option menu while you're browing in a certain artists catalogue, and switch to view songs rather than albums. You could also edit the tags of all the songs without albums with a certain album name, I use "Misc." as the album for songs like that.

[TylerTx]

Ah thanks so much for the quick replies and the heads up on track viewing. When viewing an artist with the problem I was able to get the tracks to show by pressing the 'options' button and pressing 'view tracks'. This a solution, however its not very conveniant and I wasnt able to locate an option to display tracks instead of albums when bringing up the artist browser. Do any Zen owners have some insight to if this is a possibility?

[EnzoTen]

It doesnt seem to read the ID3 album art everytime... But it all works fine if i use Windows Media Player to load the palyer... =\

[windwing77]

I used windows media player 11 to rip my album's but used creatives software to load my albums onto the player. All the album art works fine for me so far using this method. Guess that isn't a fix for your method ... just an alternative.

[DeStRuCtEd]

Can the Zen find the album art if I use the folder.jpg method, and place it in the same folder as the song?

[klumsy bot]

No, It must be embedded.

[palm9999]

I3c or Iec or something, I have been reading about on several forums. How do I convert or label my music with these? I am interested in doing just that....Before Xmas when I get my 4gb Zen...Please help, thanks.

[Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander]

ID3 tags? These are the tags attached to all MP3 files and this information is what the Zen will use to browse your music. You can view some of the tag properties, by right-clicking on any MP3 file, selecting properties, then opening the 'Summary' tab, and clicking 'Advanced >>' if it is shown beneath the other information.

Most music management software, such as Windows Media Player, MediaMonkey, and Winamp will display this information for you and allow you to edit it. There are also programs like MP3Tag which specialise in editing the the tag information of your music files.

[palm9999]

Okay, thanks a lot! I checked and most of my music is already tagged correctly. New Question: When I get my Zen do I have to use WMP or iTunes or does it have built in software to do it, etc? Because I use neither, I actually use my p2p to play my music, and I don't particularly want to stop...So can I just direct it's software (that comes bundled) to my P2P folder and ask it to get all the Music there or should I go ahead and put everything on WMP or iTunes?

[foundation]

Originally Posted by palm9999

So can I just direct it's software (that comes bundled) to my P2P folder and ask it to get all the Music there

You certainly can. You'll get software called Zen Media Explorer that integrates into your Windows Explorer. It looks something like this:


All very easy to use. Add Media brings up the Import Wizard (the window on the right-hand side, add what you want and hit the transfer button.

If I can give you a hint while you're waiting, DO make sure ALL your tags are in order. Also, make sure you have album art for all your tracks - I reckon adding art to track tags is easiest. Then your new Zen will look shiny. And you can browse by album art too, if you so desire.

[palm9999]

Okay, thats done. How do I add the Album Art?

[foundation]

Using a tag editor. I like mp3tag:

http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

[hosenose]

can anyone explain album art on the zen....i had a zen v and you pressed a button to enlarge album art to full screen...how does it work on zen.....do you press a botton or can you get full screen album art all the time?????thanks

[Almoxil]

I'm not sure the album art enlargement feature of the Zen V works on the Zen. That feature is on the Zen V / V Plus due to the tiny screen, I guess.

[iamtheworld]

well, it kinda is. when u press the center button, the screen will switch from the now playing screen to a screen that lets u rate the song, then to a screen that shows... a bigger version of the album art. its not full screen like the v and v plus, but it is indeed bigger.

[Almoxil]

Great to know, iamtheworld.

[massey]

Ok, haven't read about this anywhere yet, so here looked like the best place to ask for advice.

My new zen 8gb has about 6gb of music on it, but in the artist list some tracks don't appear. Basically any tracks where the tag info doesn't have an album listed, can't be browsed through the artist>album>track method, and i have to go a round-about way to find them if i want them on a playlist.

Anyone else got a problem like this? I used mediamonkey to sync the tracks, and update any tags i could with album art/info etc. and the only other problem i have is that album art is messed up where i have a couple of 'greatest hits' albums, they've all got the same album art, and are recognised as the same album. any help appreciated, thanks.