Corrupted images when added into mp3

[dinkypumpkin]

On 07/11/2013 16:55, Derek Moss wrote:
> I checked one of these files in MediaMonkey and the image looks fine
> there, so maybe there's just something non-standard about the way GI
> is adding the images that causes problems for Explorer.

Windows is the culprit.  By default, the MP3::Tag Perl module saves ID3 
tags in "unsynchronised" form, which is basically a means to make tagged 
files work with old MP3 players.  This is part of the ID3v2.3 
specification, but it hasn't been implemented by Microsoft.  As a 
result, the embedded images aren't decoded properly in Windows Explorer 
or WMP 12.  Every other media manager and player I can think of works 
fine with tags in get_iplayer MP3 downloads.  Somewhat ironically, the 
advanced tag editor in WMP 11 also could decode them OK.

It now seems obvious that Microsoft isn't going to join the 21st century 
and complete their ID3 support for Windows, so I guess the question is 
whether or not to kneel before MS-Zod and change the default behaviour 
of get_iplayer.  I think I will do so for the next release, withan 
option to switch back to the current behaviour.  In the years since the 
get_iplayer code was written, backwards compatibility probably has 
become less of an issue, and people with old MP3 players can always use 
--no-tag or --no-artwork to avoid the issue altogether.

For the time being, the simplest workaround is to load your media files 
into the (free) mp3tag application and then re-save the tags.  mp3tag 
will re-save the tags in "synchronized" form.  ITunes will do the same 
thing via: Right-Click->Convert ID3 Tags, then select v2.3.  I don't 
know if other applications can do this - they may preserve the form used 
by the original file rather than change to synchronized.  BTW, this is 
completely unrelated to the Media Monkey "Synchronize Tags" command.