How to Attach Artwork to MP3 Music Tracks

Identify all the music tracks on your mp3 player or cell phone that DO NOT have artwork displayed., Make a new folder on your desktop. , Plug your cell phone or mp3 player into the computer and find the songs that you wish to attach album artwork...

15 Steps 3 min read Advanced

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Step 1: Identify all the music tracks on your mp3 player or cell phone that DO NOT have artwork displayed.

    You'll find that sometimes a song will have the artwork already attached and sometimes not and this depends mostly on it's original source or format.
  2. Step 2: Make a new folder on your desktop.

    , Usually upon plugging your mp3 into the computer a window will pop up asking what you would like to do.

    If this happens then click "open folder to view files." If this does not happen then you will have to open "my computer" and look for your device under "devices with removable storage"

    (this creates a copy of the music file onto the computer) , (A new playlist is created by selecting "File" then "New Playlist") ,, With this list of music on the iTunes playlist, you are now ready to attach your album artwork.

    This must be done one song, or one album at a time.

    Select the song you wish to work with and right-click it.

    Select "Get info" then click the tab that says "Artwork." If the song already has an artwork attached you will see it there.

    If not, then press "Add" and you can then browse your entire computer to attach any image you like.

    Remember that if you do not have the album artwork on file in your computer (which is almost always the case) then you will need to go and find it first and the best way to do this through the internet. , , One such place to find them is www.amazonmp3.com or the search engine Google images are very useful.

    Once you find the picture you wish to attach, right click the image and select "save picture as." then save the picture in the new folder you have created which is under "my pictures; my album artwork" once the song's image is saved in that file you may then go back to iTunes and by clicking "add" you can look for and browse through your "my album artwork" folder to select that picture and it will then be added to the mp3 file as an attachment. , This means that the songs you initially copied onto the new folder on the desktop in the beginning are also changed.

    Once you make all the album artwork modifications to each song you want then you simply take those files from that new folder on your desktop and re-copy them to your mp3 player.

    A window will pop up telling you that your device already contains a file with the same name and when that happens, click "replace." This means that the old music files on your mp3 player that don't have artwork attachments will be replaced with the new files that you have just modified to contain album artwork. , Don't be surprised if it takes a moment or two for your mp3 player to recognize the new album artwork changes.

    This is especially common with cell phones and it has to do with the processor.
  3. Step 3: Plug your cell phone or mp3 player into the computer and find the songs that you wish to attach album artwork to.

  4. Step 4: Highlight each song that doesn't have artwork attached and move it to the new folder you have created on your desktop.

  5. Step 5: Once all the desired songs are copied to the new folder onto your computer

  6. Step 6: open iTunes and create a "new playlist."

  7. Step 7: Now select all of the songs in your new folder and drag them to this new playlist on iTunes.

  8. Step 8: Start attaching artwork.

  9. Step 9: Before doing this you will first need to go into "my computer" then the file "my pictures" then right click and select "new folder" Name this folder

  10. Step 10: "my album artwork."

  11. Step 11: Once you have this folder created and ready for use

  12. Step 12: browse the internet to find the album artwork or your specific song.

  13. Step 13: Notice that by making these changes in iTunes

  14. Step 14: the original mp3 files are also changed.

  15. Step 15: You are now finished!

Detailed Guide

You'll find that sometimes a song will have the artwork already attached and sometimes not and this depends mostly on it's original source or format.

, Usually upon plugging your mp3 into the computer a window will pop up asking what you would like to do.

If this happens then click "open folder to view files." If this does not happen then you will have to open "my computer" and look for your device under "devices with removable storage"

(this creates a copy of the music file onto the computer) , (A new playlist is created by selecting "File" then "New Playlist") ,, With this list of music on the iTunes playlist, you are now ready to attach your album artwork.

This must be done one song, or one album at a time.

Select the song you wish to work with and right-click it.

Select "Get info" then click the tab that says "Artwork." If the song already has an artwork attached you will see it there.

If not, then press "Add" and you can then browse your entire computer to attach any image you like.

Remember that if you do not have the album artwork on file in your computer (which is almost always the case) then you will need to go and find it first and the best way to do this through the internet. , , One such place to find them is www.amazonmp3.com or the search engine Google images are very useful.

Once you find the picture you wish to attach, right click the image and select "save picture as." then save the picture in the new folder you have created which is under "my pictures; my album artwork" once the song's image is saved in that file you may then go back to iTunes and by clicking "add" you can look for and browse through your "my album artwork" folder to select that picture and it will then be added to the mp3 file as an attachment. , This means that the songs you initially copied onto the new folder on the desktop in the beginning are also changed.

Once you make all the album artwork modifications to each song you want then you simply take those files from that new folder on your desktop and re-copy them to your mp3 player.

A window will pop up telling you that your device already contains a file with the same name and when that happens, click "replace." This means that the old music files on your mp3 player that don't have artwork attachments will be replaced with the new files that you have just modified to contain album artwork. , Don't be surprised if it takes a moment or two for your mp3 player to recognize the new album artwork changes.

This is especially common with cell phones and it has to do with the processor.

About the Author

S

Stephen Carter

Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow creative arts tutorials.

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