Cover Art and List Sources

Started by clarity82, August 13, 2021, 09:20:11 AM

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clarity82

I use Spotify and Apple Music for the vast majority of my listening, and both have a great feature to change the artwork for a playlist. I love tracking down a particular cover for an album, even (and sometimes especially) if it's not the same one used in the service's library itself. For example, Spotify doesn't have the DG Originals cover art for Kubelik's recording of Dvorak's 8th and 9th symphonies, and Apple only has the newer SACD release cover art. So, I just create a playlist, download the DG Originals cover art that I remember from my CD-buying days, and voila: Visual happiness.

Two questions that I imagine you all can help me out with:
1. Are there any particularly good sources for finding high quality cover art from albums?
2. Are there any lists that you know of where, say, all the DG Originals releases can be found? I'm wondering the same thing for the RCA Living Stereo SACD releases, etc.

*Side note: Has anyone else noticed just how awful DG's website has become? I can't find anything there anymore. Seems like an utter mess to me.

DavidW

When I ripped my collection a million years ago I used dBpoweramp which has multiple services it can draw from.  I've also used google images if I don't like what db finds.

Mirror Image

Here are some possible sources for you to consider:

https://play.primephonic.com/search

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/shop

https://www.discogs.com

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical

Of course, Amazon is a good source as long as the image isn't watermarked with their logo, which they've been doing more and more of lately.

T. D.

I mainly use discogs, but suspect that source won't meet your "high quality cover art" stip.

Mirror Image

Quote from: T. D. on August 13, 2021, 08:16:10 PM
I mainly use discogs, but suspect that source won't meet your "high quality cover art" stip.

This really depends on who did the uploading of the cover or rather where the uploader got the image. Sometimes the covers look fantastic and other times you need a microscope in order to see what the cover actually is. :)

Biffo

Quote from: clarity82 on August 13, 2021, 09:20:11 AM
I use Spotify and Apple Music for the vast majority of my listening, and both have a great feature to change the artwork for a playlist. I love tracking down a particular cover for an album, even (and sometimes especially) if it's not the same one used in the service's library itself. For example, Spotify doesn't have the DG Originals cover art for Kubelik's recording of Dvorak's 8th and 9th symphonies, and Apple only has the newer SACD release cover art. So, I just create a playlist, download the DG Originals cover art that I remember from my CD-buying days, and voila: Visual happiness.

Two questions that I imagine you all can help me out with:
1. Are there any particularly good sources for finding high quality cover art from albums?
2. Are there any lists that you know of where, say, all the DG Originals releases can be found? I'm wondering the same thing for the RCA Living Stereo SACD releases, etc.

*Side note: Has anyone else noticed just how awful DG's website has become? I can't find anything there anymore. Seems like an utter mess to me.
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I haven't looked at the DG website for quite a while so I checked. It does seem a bit of a mess. Does DG record artists over the age of 35 any more?

Daverz

I turn on image search in google and search for artwork by adding these strings:

amazon
discogs
allmusic
presto
albumartexchange

For allmusic, you have to use the Developer Tools to access the artwork URLs, but they often have images of the tray info.

Apple music often has decent sized cover images, but they are in webp format, so you have to convert.

Chandos has artwork and PDF notes for many things.  And there's https://booklets.deccaclassics.com/ for some Decca stuff.

Or you can use a scanner or just your phone and an image editor.


Mirror Image

Quote from: Daverz on August 14, 2021, 03:05:16 AM
I turn on image search in google and search for artwork by adding these strings:

amazon
discogs
allmusic
presto
albumartexchange

For allmusic, you have to use the Developer Tools to access the artwork URLs, but they often have images of the tray info.

Apple music often has decent sized cover images, but they are in webp format, so you have to convert.

Chandos has artwork and PDF notes for many things.  And there's https://booklets.deccaclassics.com/ for some Decca stuff.

Or you can use a scanner or just your phone and an image editor.

Actually, thanks to this guy's diligent work, the Apple Music/iTunes covers should be easy access now and no conversion needed:

https://bendodson.com/projects/itunes-artwork-finder/

Daverz

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 13, 2021, 08:21:32 PM
This really depends on who did the uploading of the cover or rather where the uploader got the image. Sometimes the covers look fantastic and other times you need a microscope in order to see what the cover actually is. :)

I've never seen a scan of LP notes on discogs that was readable.  I think it might have to do with the allowed resolution.

On the other hand, you sometimes get scans of the whole or much of the CD booklet or at least the tray insert.

Mirror Image

#9
Quote from: Daverz on August 14, 2021, 09:08:01 AM
I've never seen a scan of LP notes on discogs that was readable.  I think it might have to do with the allowed resolution.

On the other hand, you sometimes get scans of the whole or much of the CD booklet or at least the tray insert.

I'm not worried about the notes. Only the covers. ;) I can read the liner notes from the recordings I own.

clarity82

This is all really helpful. Thanks to everyone who has contributed!

I'm finding generally that Apple Music is pretty good at having solid cover art. And the lossless audio quality is a nice feature, too.