Germansuplex
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I have a few genres that iTunes does not supply the neat little graphics for. Instead, it uses album art from the albums of that genre. It annoyed me, so I took it upon myself to find a solution. Now, I'm sure someone will come along here in a minute or two and tell me "Dude, just right-click on this and select that and you're done", but I can't figure out how to do that. Note that I was able to get the custom art by assigning it to a track in an album, but once I removed the art it removed it from the genre thumbnail too, so that didn't work. Anyways...
It was easier than I thought. This is a Windows solution.
1. Create your thumbnail art. I used the same as the iTunes graphics, located in C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources. The dimensions are 256x256 pixels jpeg for the square files for Albums, TV Shows and Audiobooks, and 171x256 pixels for the rectangular DVD genre art.
2. Save your art as "genre-*.jpg" without the quotes, and substitute the genre name for the star. If you are making the rectangular DVD art, then save the genre as "genre-*M.jpg", without the quotes and substitute the star with the genre.
3. Make sure you are closed out of iTunes.
4. Drag your .jpg art into the C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources folder.
5. Make a copy of the genres.plist file (located in C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources) on your desktop in case you mess it up and need to restore it. Right-click on it, select "copy", go to your desktop, right-click and select "paste".
6. Open up a blank notepad.
7. Drag the "genres.plist" file into the open notepad.
8. You will see what may be a bit daunting if you are a dunce like me. To make viewing a bit simple, maximize the notepad window and go to "Format" - "Wordwrap". This fits the text into the open window. However, what you need to pay attention to are lines like these two:
<key>matchString</key><string>comedy</string>
<key>resourceFile</key><string>genre-comedyM.jpg</string>
<key>kind</key><string>movie</string>
</dict>
<dict>
&
<key>matchString</key><string>instrumental</string>
<key>resourceFile</key><string>genre-instrumental.jpg</string>
</dict>
<dict>
Please note that there are little squares at the end of these that will not show up here in this post and I have no idea on how to get them to.
The first string is for movies, and the second is for Music, TV Shows and Audiobooks.
Basically, you will insert the genre name where "comedy" and "instrumental" appear in the lines above, and the name of the album art where "genre-comedyM.jpg" and "genre-instrumental.jpg" appear above. You will need to take care in placing your commands AFTER one string and BEFORE another. It's like a sandwich, and this is the meat. You want it in the middle of the bread, not overlapping.
*Note: Do NOT copy and paste the above lines to use in your notepad: get them from within the genres.plist file you open! As I mentioned, I am missing the little rectangles you will see in the notepad file.
9. Save the notepad as "genre.plist" in the same folder (you should just be able to go to "File-Save").
10. Fire up iTunes and test it out.
If it didn't work, delete the "genre.plist" file and replace it with the one from the desktop and try it again.
*Take note to make sure the genre you want isn't already listed in the genre.plist file. I had a crap of a time getting my "Dance Hall" genre to show the correct art, only to realize that it is already in the plist file: it just redirects the genre to the Reggae artwork. In this case, simply use the "Find" feature of notepad to seek out your genre and if it's already there, change the artwork path to your customized art.
It sounds like a lot, but after figuring out how to do it, I can do this in a matter of a minute or two after making the art. Good luck.
Share your creations in a flicker photo group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/itunesgenres/
It was easier than I thought. This is a Windows solution.
1. Create your thumbnail art. I used the same as the iTunes graphics, located in C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources. The dimensions are 256x256 pixels jpeg for the square files for Albums, TV Shows and Audiobooks, and 171x256 pixels for the rectangular DVD genre art.
2. Save your art as "genre-*.jpg" without the quotes, and substitute the genre name for the star. If you are making the rectangular DVD art, then save the genre as "genre-*M.jpg", without the quotes and substitute the star with the genre.
3. Make sure you are closed out of iTunes.
4. Drag your .jpg art into the C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources folder.
5. Make a copy of the genres.plist file (located in C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.Resources) on your desktop in case you mess it up and need to restore it. Right-click on it, select "copy", go to your desktop, right-click and select "paste".
6. Open up a blank notepad.
7. Drag the "genres.plist" file into the open notepad.
8. You will see what may be a bit daunting if you are a dunce like me. To make viewing a bit simple, maximize the notepad window and go to "Format" - "Wordwrap". This fits the text into the open window. However, what you need to pay attention to are lines like these two:
<key>matchString</key><string>comedy</string>
<key>resourceFile</key><string>genre-comedyM.jpg</string>
<key>kind</key><string>movie</string>
</dict>
<dict>
&
<key>matchString</key><string>instrumental</string>
<key>resourceFile</key><string>genre-instrumental.jpg</string>
</dict>
<dict>
Please note that there are little squares at the end of these that will not show up here in this post and I have no idea on how to get them to.
The first string is for movies, and the second is for Music, TV Shows and Audiobooks.
Basically, you will insert the genre name where "comedy" and "instrumental" appear in the lines above, and the name of the album art where "genre-comedyM.jpg" and "genre-instrumental.jpg" appear above. You will need to take care in placing your commands AFTER one string and BEFORE another. It's like a sandwich, and this is the meat. You want it in the middle of the bread, not overlapping.
*Note: Do NOT copy and paste the above lines to use in your notepad: get them from within the genres.plist file you open! As I mentioned, I am missing the little rectangles you will see in the notepad file.
9. Save the notepad as "genre.plist" in the same folder (you should just be able to go to "File-Save").
10. Fire up iTunes and test it out.
If it didn't work, delete the "genre.plist" file and replace it with the one from the desktop and try it again.
*Take note to make sure the genre you want isn't already listed in the genre.plist file. I had a crap of a time getting my "Dance Hall" genre to show the correct art, only to realize that it is already in the plist file: it just redirects the genre to the Reggae artwork. In this case, simply use the "Find" feature of notepad to seek out your genre and if it's already there, change the artwork path to your customized art.
It sounds like a lot, but after figuring out how to do it, I can do this in a matter of a minute or two after making the art. Good luck.
Share your creations in a flicker photo group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/itunesgenres/
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