We have 3 Kde4 tools that all provide the same sub-function of retrieving album covers but each one has a completely different method and Amarok's is the least usable in my opinion. Audex provides all possibe covers in the same window allowing the user to select one instead of like Amarok where one has to click forward multiple times untill the correct one is shown and Kid3 basically opens a browser window on your choice of sources (Amazon,Google images, cdbaby, Musicbrainz, Discogs, etc....).

Why isn't this functionality a Kde4 lib available to any application? Or a plugin?

thanks,

google01103 wrote:We have 3 Kde4 tools that all provide the same sub-function of retrieving album covers but each one has a completely different method and Amarok's is the least usable in my opinion. Audex provides all possibe covers in the same window allowing the user to select one instead of like Amarok where one has to click forward multiple times untill the correct one is shown and Kid3 basically opens a browser window on your choice of sources (Amazon,Google images, cdbaby, Musicbrainz, Discogs, etc....).

I had a look at the cover fetching functions of both Kid3 and Audex and I liked the Audex's interface. It is definitely easier to interact with when dealing with many covers. Kid3's on the other hand, although convenient and with lots of options, doesn't integrate with the app itself much. One could just as easily search using a web browser manually.

Adding a web search option (within Amarok) is a good idea, for finding cover images for albums Last.fm does not provide. However that will probably be restricted to manual fetching only, since there is much room for incorrect results. At the moment Yahoo! image search seems very easy to use. I'll have a look at other ones soon.

google01103 wrote:Why isn't this functionality a Kde4 lib available to any application? Or a plugin?

I don't know

@stuffcorpse - If you're a developer of this could consider adding the artist name in the "enter custon search" box with a clear button for cover fetches by default?

That's a good idea. But for compilations the album name makes more sense. I'll look at this soon.

granted, but what is the ratio of single artist to compilations? and there would/should be a clear text button for those instances

ratio of single artist to compilations?

and there already is a clear text button, it only appears when you start typing things in the line edit.

would be nice to have and would defiantly work towards the whole fully integrated thing that kde is going for.

stuffcorpse.

Let me add something.
Would it be possible to search using the "composer" tag as well? If you have a collection where you have defined clearly the composer and the interpreters (artist) cover search almost always fails.
For example in my collection I have Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" OST, with these tags:
Composer: Prokofiev, Sergei
Album: Alexander Nevsky (OST)
Artist: S. Petersburg Ph. Orch. - Y. Temirkanov

If Amarok could search "Prokofiev, Sergei" and "Alexander Nevsky" it would be much more probable to find a correct cover than searching "S. Petersburg Ph. Orch. - Y. Temirkanov", wich, comprensibly, always fails.

Obviously this is also valid for the Wikipedia or the lyrics search, which in cases like the former example are absolutely inutile.


Regards.

This is an update on the cover fetching work I've completed so far. It is mostly UI improvements and additional sources to get images from. For those who doesn't follow Amarok development, here is a screenshot:

http://imagebin.ca/view/gsyAXSX.html

It shows a new "cover found dialog" (which might be a misleading name that I'm thinking of changing") with some results and a menu of sources to choose from. Any ideas or suggestions is appreciated. Note the tabular stuff to the bottom left is not done yet and will be improved.

@Manolete: I see what you're saying, but the a cover is associated with an album plus one or more artists. It doesn't have anything to do with the composer (unless he or she is the same as the "artist"). Prokofiev has many works and each would be played by many different orchestras. Same goes with other composers. This is why Last.fm and others don't let you specify the composer in searches, at least not without artist; otherwise it would not make any sense.

Having said that, you can still search manually, using the "enter custom search" feature. And with the new stuff I've added you can search e.g. Google and use whatever image you want as album cover. This should provide a lot more images for you to find.

Another way that may help getting covers successfully is using the right tags. Picard/MusicBrainz works well, and there's a better chance of Last.fm having the album cover for one that has MusicBrainz tags. In any case, Google image search is a good fallback.

@stuffcorpse looks like a big improvement in functionality and ease of use

any chance of having the search field filled in and a clear button added for it? at least a config option for those who'd like it?

@stuffcorpse looks like a big improvement in functionality and ease of use

any chance of having the search field filled in and a clear button added for it? at least a config option for those who'd like it?

google01103 wrote:@stuffcorpse looks like a big improvement in functionality and ease of use

any chance of having the search field filled in and a clear button added for it? at least a config option for those who'd like it?

You can click on the artist/album name near the top and the text will be added to the search field. And the field is a standard widget for text input used all over KDE; the clear button appears on the right when there is some text in it. Try it e.g. in Dolphin's url bar.

@stuffcorpse - I've opened a new thread regarding the new cover retrieval functionality in git

viewtopic.php?f=116&t=87165

big improvement