I had a similar problem, and found a workaround. All I did was completely remove the three folders in ~/.thumbnails: fail, large and normal. Nautilus then re-reads the metadata and assigns new icons to all the files on the computer. I hope this helps.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to totem in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/914313 Title: Pictures in tags of audio files, which act as thumbnails, are NOT shown for ALL files in same directory Status in “totem” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Pictures embeded in tags of audio files (e.g. ID3v2 for MP3), which act as thumbnails, are NOT shown for ALL audio files in the same directory. Although all audio files have the same picture in their tags, only some random files show their thumbnails (See attached screenshots). ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10 Package: nautilus 1:3.2.1-0ubuntu3.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-14.23-generic 3.0.9 Uname: Linux 3.0.0-14-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4 Architecture: amd64 Date: Tue Jan 10 16:34:08 2012 ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/nautilus InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111011) ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: nautilus UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) --- ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu12 Architecture: amd64 DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425) Package: libgstreamer0.10-0 0.10.36-1ubuntu1 PackageArchitecture: amd64 ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-29.46-generic 3.2.24 Tags: precise running-unity Uname: Linux 3.2.0-29-generic x86_64 UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo vboxusers To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/totem/+bug/914313/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp