AlbumArtSearch is a third party plug in for Rhythmbox that will search for and download the cover art for the currently playing track. Unfortunately, it doesn't run in the background automatically, though the fact that you can refine searches makes sure you get the covers that you are actually looking for.
First install the two dependencies:
sudo apt-get install python-webkit python-mako
Next download the plugin. You can get it at the link above or run:
wget http://albumartsearch.googlecode.com/files/albumartsearch_0.2.tar.gz
Finally you need to extract it in the folder ~/.gnome2/rhythmbox/plugins This can be done with Nautilus or by running these commands:
mkdir -p ~/.gnome2/rhythmbox/plugins
tar -xvf albumartsearch_0.2.tar.gz -C ~/.gnome2/rhythmbox/plugins
12.04 and later
Browse your coverart albums in Rhythmbox v2.96 and later
first the disclaimer - I am the co-author to this plugin!
How it works:
- Click the new CoverArt source button (left hand side of screen)
- Albums are displayed as clickable buttons containing their album cover
- Right click menu option to play, queue & search for cover art for an album.
- to search for missing covers
- locale support is also available to display text in your native language - more details on how to help with the translation is on GitHub.
For full instructions see the projects Wiki:
For instructions on how to download great coverart:
how to install
The installation instructions cover the installation of each individual plugin. If you prefer a PPA method skip to the bottom:
for rhythmbox 2.96 to 2.99.1:
sudo apt-get install git gettext python-mako python-lxml
for rhythmbox 3.0 or compiled from git:
sudo apt-get install git gettext python3-mako python3-lxml
Then install the coverart browser plugin for rhythmbox version 2.96 to 2.99.1:
rm -rf ~/.local/share/rhythmbox/plugins/coverart_browser
git clone https://github.com/fossfreedom/coverart-browser.git
cd coverart-browser
./install.sh
To install the coverart browser plugin for rhythmbox version 3.0 and later:
rm -rf ~/.local/share/rhythmbox/plugins/coverart_browser
git clone https://github.com/fossfreedom/coverart-browser.git
cd coverart-browser
./install.sh --rb3
To install the coverart search-providers plugin for rhythmbox 2.96 - 2.99:
sudo apt-get install git gettext python-mako python-mutagen python-requests
for rhythmbox 3.0 or compiled from git:
sudo apt-get install git gettext python3-mako python3-requests
Then install the coverart search-providers plugin:
rm -rf ~/.local/share/rhythmbox/plugins/coverart_search_providers
git clone https://github.com/fossfreedom/coverart-search-providers.git
cd coverart-search-providers
For rhythmbox 2.96 to 2.99:
./install.sh
For rhythmbox 3.0 or compiled from git:
./install.sh --rb3
Alternative installation - I've added this to my Rhythmbox PPA:
Best Answer
As far as I know, the Plugin isn't working at all because the Site where the Covers can be found has decided to disable Rhythmbox-Users completly because of too high traffic.
What you can do is searching your Covers manually via images.google.com, save them as folder.jpg in the album-folders and (if you want) inject the Artwork into your .mp3-files with a Tag-Editor like Mp3Tag (works fine with Wine).