iTunes doesn't embed its albumart into the MP3 files which means that non-Applic products don't get nice coverart which is really annoying.
Teridon wrote a script to embed them. John Jones edited this script and helpfully answered a few questions, while others on the forum kept adding more information to make it more helpful.
Here it is, with iTunes 11 support, with some step-by-step instructions, so you don't need to read all these forum posts or edit text files.
Download the vbs script (call it itunes.vbs).
Save it to c:\ drive (i.e. c:\itunes.vbs).
Start up iTunes.
Run command prompt (Start > Run > cmd).
Type the following command %systemroot%\system32\cscript.exe c:\itunes.vbs
Follow the on-screen instructions.
DO NOT just double-click the vbs file. Yeah I tried that. didn't work very well!
http://www.sheerboredom.net/2010/10/11/embed-album-artwork-from-itunes-into-mp3-files/
' ###############################################################################
' #
' # itunes_insert_artwork.vbs
' #
' # This script will tag your files using artwork downloaded using iTunes 10
' #
' # written by: Robert Jacobson (http://teridon.googlepages.com/itunesscripts)
' # Last Updated: 30 Jan 2012
' # Version 1.1
' #
' # This script is GPL v2. see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
' #
' # Use option "-k" to keep the artwork files extracted
' # (in the same location as the song file)
' # (the default is to remove the files)
' #
' # Special Thanks to http://www.facebook.com/jrsousa2 for the error checking fix!
' #
' ###############################################################################
Option Explicit
Dim iTunesApp ' iTunes.Application object used to access the iTunes application.
Dim tracks ' The tracks collection object of the Library object.
Dim TrackPath ' The path to the track
Dim ArtPath ' The path to the artwork
Dim i ' A counter variable.
Dim Msg ' A string for a message.
Dim f ' A file object.
Dim sources
Dim source
Dim playlists
Dim playlist
Dim playlistName
Dim j
Dim m
Dim c
Dim songName
Dim artist
Dim result
Dim listarray
Dim num
Dim k
Dim track
Dim numtracks
Dim FormatArray(4)
Dim ExtArray(4)
Dim Artobj
Dim Art
Dim ArtDir
Dim Format
Dim BasePath
Dim fso
Dim NumFiles
Dim KeepFiles
Dim args
Dim arg
Dim IsDownlArtw_value
Dim erro_no
Dim erro_desc
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
FormatArray(0) = "Unknown"
FormatArray(1) = "JPEG"
FormatArray(2) = "PNG"
FormatArray(3) = "BMP"
ExtArray(0) = "unk"
ExtArray(1) = "jpg"
ExtArray(2) = "png"
ExtArray(3) = "bmp"
Set iTunesApp = CreateObject("iTunes.Application.1")
Set sources = iTunesApp.Sources
Dim vers
vers = iTunesApp.Version
Dim Reg1
Set Reg1 = new RegExp
Reg1.Pattern = "^11"
if Reg1.Test(vers) Then
' yay
Else
Wscript.Echo "This script requires iTunes 10"
Wscript.Quit
End If
KeepFiles = False
Set args = WScript.Arguments
' Scan command line arguments
For Each arg in args
' Is it a flag.
If Instr(1, arg, "-", 1) = 1 or Instr(1, arg, "/", 1) = 1 Then
' Check for list flag
If UCase(arg) = "-K" or UCase(arg) = "/K" then
KeepFiles = True
End If
End If
Next
For i = 1 to sources.Count
Set source = sources.Item(i)
IF source.Kind = 1 Then
Set playlists = source.Playlists
Wscript.Echo "Select from the following playlists" & chr(13) & chr(10)
Wscript.Echo "Number of playlists: " & playlists.Count
For j = 1 to playlists.Count
Set playlist = playlists.Item(j)
playlistName = playlist.Name
Wscript.Echo j & ": " & playlistName
Next
Wscript.Echo ""
Wscript.StdOut.Write "Enter comma-separated lists to process: "
result = WScript.StdIn.ReadLine
listarray = split(result, ",")
For k = 0 to UBound(listarray)
num = listarray(k)
Set playlist = playlists.Item(num)
playlistName = playlist.Name
Wscript.Echo ""
Wscript.Echo chr(9) & "Processing playlist " & num & ": " & playlistName
Set tracks = playlist.Tracks
numtracks = tracks.Count
Wscript.Echo chr(9) & "tracks: " & numtracks
NumFiles = 0
For m = 1 to numtracks
If m > tracks.Count Then Exit For
Set track = tracks.Item(m)
'Wscript.Echo "num: " & numtracks & " Count: " & tracks.Count & " m: " & m
If track.Kind = 1 Then
songName = track.Name
artist = track.Artist
TrackPath = track.Location
Set Artobj = track.Artwork
For c = 1 to Artobj.Count
Set Art = Artobj.Item(c)
On Error Resume Next
if Art.IsDownloadedArtwork Then
'On Error Resume Next
IsDownlArtw_value = Art.IsDownloadedArtwork
erro_no = Err.Number
'Err.Clear
erro_desc = Err.Description
If Err.number <> 0 Then
IsDownlArtw_value = False
End If
if IsDownlArtw_value Then
Format = Art.Format
End If
'Wscript.Echo "Format is " & FormatArray(Format)
ArtDir = fso.GetParentFolderName(TrackPath)
'Wscript.Echo "Artdir is " & ArtDir
'ArtDir = fso.GetBaseName(ArtDir)
Dim RegX
Set RegX = new RegExp
RegX.Pattern = "[/:\\\*\?""""<>]"
RegX.Global = True
songName = RegX.Replace(songName, "-")
'songName = Replace(songName, "/", "-")
ArtPath = fso.BuildPath(ArtDir, songName & "." & ExtArray(Format))
Wscript.Echo "artpath is " & ArtPath
' save to file
Art.SaveArtworkToFile(ArtPath)
' insert from file into track tag
Art.SetArtworkFromFile(ArtPath)
if (KeepFiles) Then
' nothing
Else
fso.DeleteFile(ArtPath)
End If
NumFiles = NumFiles + 1
End If
Next
End If
Next
Wscript.Echo NumFiles & " files processed in playlist " & playlistName
Next
'End If
End If
Next