Thread: How Does T2 control Album Covers?

I'm wondering how album covers are controlled?

I connect a mains powered external hdd via usb to my T2.

I use BubbleUPnP to control playback.

For example, I have an album in a folder, I don't embed the album cover into each track, I just have a single .jpg which each track then shows.
Is this how Lumin designed it to work or is it BubbleUPnP that is doing this?

Concerning the quality of the album cover: I'm currently sorting out the metadata for all my albums (yes, it's going to take some time to do) and I have been adding a good quality album cover, usually 1500x1500 (no higher).

My thinking is that if I do change my streamer in the future, one that has a big screen to show album covers, I want the best quality on view.

Am I wasting my time using a high quality album cover? How big would the screen have to be to notice the difference between a 1500x1500 or 600x600 size?

If you use MinimServer, the simplest thing is to have a folder.jpg

If you use a different UPnP server, you'll need to check its documentation.

Lumin app has a full screen album art mode. The largest (or highest dpi) iOS devices have a long edge of nearly 2800 pixels. You can even use a Mac M1 / M2 to connect to a 4K TV or monitor.

Originally Posted by wklie

If you use MinimServer, the simplest thing is to have a folder.jpg

If you use a different UPnP server, you'll need to check its documentation.

Lumin app has a full screen album art mode. The largest (or highest dpi) iOS devices have a long edge of nearly 2800 pixels. You can even use a Mac M1 / M2 to connect to a 4K TV or monitor.

No, I don't use MinimServer.

I play tracks directly off my external hdd.

I have a playlist of close to 2000 tracks.
BubbleUPnP downsizes the quality of the cover, if it didn't memory would be completely full and cause playback issues.
How does the Lumin app control a large number of tracks with large dpi covers?

Don't know if this helps - LUMIN USB Storage

"For convenience, LUMIN includes an internal USB Music Server to allow playback of music directly from attached USB storage.

This is mainly intended for easily playing music from friends, or in demonstration environments.

Due to extra reliability, browsing flexibility and proven compatibility, our recommended Music Server setup is LUMIN L1, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) running MinimServer or a computer running MinimServer, but many users have successfully used USB as their primary storage."

"Browsing of USB storage is limited to simple Folder Browsing where you can navigate through your folder structure on the drive. All folders are visible (even if they don't contain music) and artwork thumbnails for folders will be the first embedded artwork found directly in the folder."

That's why Lumin recommends Minimserver

Originally Posted by Phil A

Don't know if this helps - LUMIN USB Storage

"For convenience, LUMIN includes an internal USB Music Server to allow playback of music directly from attached USB storage.

This is mainly intended for easily playing music from friends, or in demonstration environments.

Due to extra reliability, browsing flexibility and proven compatibility, our recommended Music Server setup is LUMIN L1, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) running MinimServer or a computer running MinimServer, but many users have successfully used USB as their primary storage."

"Browsing of USB storage is limited to simple Folder Browsing where you can navigate through your folder structure on the drive. All folders are visible (even if they don't contain music) and artwork thumbnails for folders will be the first embedded artwork found directly in the folder."

That's why Lumin recommends Minimserver

Thanks for the info.
I'm happy using USB, I was just wondering how covers were handled.

For USB drive album art, it's also best to have a folder.jpg

Originally Posted by wklie

For USB drive album art, it's also best to have a folder.jpg

One other question: Does it matter if I use just the single folder.jpg for an album or emebed each track with the album cover?
I'm thinking about what is better for memory and speed etc., is one better than the other or doesn't it matter?

Originally Posted by Showroom Dummies

One other question: Does it matter if I use just the single folder.jpg for an album or emebed each track with the album cover?
I'm thinking about what is better for memory and speediness etc., is one better than the other or doesn't it matter?

Download MP3 Tag which is free software and you can easily tag each song in a folder with the cover art.

Originally Posted by Showroom Dummies

One other question: Does it matter if I use just the single folder.jpg for an album or emebed each track with the album cover?
I'm thinking about what is better for memory and speediness etc., is one better than the other or doesn't it matter?

Use one folder.jpg in one folder instead of embedded album art. If you have 10 tracks with embedded album art, the album art is duplicated 10 times.

Originally Posted by Phil A

Download MP3 Tag which is free software and you can easily tag each song in a folder with the cover art.

I already use mp3tag. I was just wondering what was better, embedded covers or a single folder.jpg.
@wlkie answered my question.