Tips for a newbie plus UI refresh, cover art and power off questions

[RichM]

The Brennan concept has always appealed but about I've never plunged (until now) because I play a lot of classical music and wasn't sure it would work. I've got until the end of January to decide if it works for me, so I thought I'd see if I could get a few tips to help me get the most out of my B2.

Naively, I had thought it would just be a case of ripping CD after CD, but soon realised that renaming is a key part of the process, particularly for multi-disc sets and works where I have several recordings. Do any classical music fans have any tips on how to structure this, or am I just likely to over-complicate things?

I did update the software. How will I know when new versions are available?

A couple of technical issues have arisen that do get mentioned on this forum but don't seem to be resolved.

1. The web UI and app (Android) don't always keep in step with the B2, so I need to close them down and relaunch them.
2. Cover art seems to work about 1 in 10 times. It's a nice-to-have, not a must, but any advice on how to improve this would be welcome.
3. I've only powered off once so far, but it didn't reconnect to WiFi when powered up again.

Thanks for any help

[Mark Fishman]

Also a classical music fan.

The entire world of "ripped" CDs is oriented toward pop music, so I've had to pervert it a little to make do. This is not the fault of the Brennan, it's a fundamental problem of viewing music as a bunch of "songs".

What *is* the fault of the Brennan is the insistence on organizing things by artist, then album. You can, of course, lie, and organize by composer, but you're still limited to a three-level hierarchy: "artist" -> "album" -> "song".

The Brennan does not use metadata tags, so while tagging would be the real time-killer in organizing a classical collection, you don't have the flexibility that it would offer.

All that said, here's what I've taken to doing:

 - I've given up the notion that the way a physical CD is packaged should have anything to do with the way I identify or organize my music. SO for me, an "album" is not the original CD with all it's various composers or tracks: I make one classical work == one "album". In other words, if I have a CD with a symphony and a concerto, it becomes two "albums": the symphony is one, the concerto is the other.

 - I've also taken to putting the composer's last name (or initials if necessary to distinguish, say, CPE Bach from JS Bach) in parentheses as part of the "album" title, e.g., (Brahms) Symphony 3, and then I don't have to put the name of the work in the track titles because, after all, that's the only work in that "album". Now I can search albums for composer names.

 - The "artist" field I do use for the performer, even though for classical music it isn't necessarily of primary concern. I try to use a performer order that puts the most important performer first, so if I Think the soloist in a concerto is most important, that's who gets listed before the conductor or orchestra. Example: all my Heifetz recordings would put Heifetz first, so e.g., Heifetz, Munch, Boston Symphony or Heifetz, Reiner, Chicago Symphony; but works where the conductor is most important would have that before any soloists (for example, operas).

As to the ripping itself: I find that GD3 is the best (most complete, with the most accurate cover art) database out there for classical, so I rip on my Windows computer using Exact Audio Copy -- I paid the US$7.99 for a lifetime license for GD3 -- and upload the resulting FLAC and cover art files to my B2. This is faster and more reliable than ripping directly on the B2, and it gives me an instant "backup" because I have the files on my PC (or external drive, if I prefer). EAC also puts metadata tags in the files, so if I want to use the files on another device -- say, a portable player, or a Sonos system -- the tags are there.

I hope this is helpful. It's not the ripping, it's the tagging that will kill you. Unless, of course, you don't care about accuracy or consistency. :^)

[Daniel Taylor]

Great information from Mark.  I imagine you won't have to look any further.

My personal preference for classical is to have the Artist = Composer, and put the orchestra, conductor, etc wherever it makes the most sense to me for any particular album.  This is the kind of thing that is wide open to personal choice.

[RichM]

Thanks for the responses so far. A further thought - following Mark's approach for naming will significantly increase the number of "albums". Is the B2 album limit (1000 in my case) actually an assumption based on an average compressed album size, or is the software written to come to a halt when the numerical limit is reached? One assumes the former, but we all know how dangerous assumptions can be.

[Mark Fishman]

It will increase the number of "albums" but not necessarily all that much -- if, for example, you have multi-CD works that become one "album" (Rossini's "Barber of Seville" takes 3 CDs, but is one "album"; Mahler's 8th symphony takes two CDs but is one "album").

According to Brennan (https://www.thebrennan.com/itemcontent.php/content/Miscellaneous) 

Why do all models have 10,000 Album Limit?

The hard disk on 1TB and 2TB B2s can hold more than 10,000 albums in MP3 format but there is a software limit of 10,000 CDs because thats as far as it has been tested.
There are some "test pilot" owners with special software with a 14,000 CD limit. 

So there is a software limit, and the 1000 album limit you mention is as you suspect, an estimate based on size.

-- m.

[RichM]

I agree about moving away from the album concept to one based around the work. I assume that Exact Audio Copy (which I have downloaded) facilitates this kind of restructuring as I can't see an easy way to do it on the B2. Yes, I can rip a CD, rename it, delete some tracks and then re-rip and delete the tracks I kept the first time but that seems tedious, and I haven't found a way to "stitch" albums together for longer symphonies, operas etc. Unfortunately my PC's disc drive has packed up, so I may have to buy a stand-alone one.

[Rik]

I've never bothered but someone on this forum has definitely described a method of ‘stitching' albums together.

[Mark Fishman]

stitching CDs together on the B2 is simply a matter of renumbering the tracks so they're continuous and then renaming the second CD so it has the same name as the first. Example:

two discs, the first has ten tracks, the second has another ten. When you rip the first one, it gets names that start with 01 , 02 , etc.  You can rename these so they start with the disc number, e.g., 101 , 102, etc. Then rip the second one, and eventually rename those tracks to 201 , 201, etc.

  OR:

rip the first one as "disc one", rip the second one as "disc two", renumber the second set of tracks to start with 11 (the first disc had 1-10), then change the "album" names of both to the same thing and all the tracks will merge into one list.

Exact Audio Copy allows you to rip all or only a selection of tracks; if there are multiple works on adisc, rip each work separately and change the "album" name before rippingthe next set of tracks. If a work spans multiple discs, use the same album name and click the box that says to start numbering from the last track on the previous CD.

[RichM]

Mark, I don't want you to become my personal B2 guru, but I had already tried stitching as you suggested and have now tried it again, to utter confusion. For example: ripped Damnation of Faust tracks 1 - 14 as CD1, then ripped CD2 and renumbered tracks to 15 to 30 (a bit of a pain) then renamed as CD1, ensuring album and artist names are identical for good measure. However, now I have 3 entries for CD1, one of which is Boccherini. Sound of hair (I still have some) being torn out.

[Daniel Taylor]

I'm unclear about renaming a folder to have the same name as another folder, expecting them to merge into one.  I have very little experience with Linux, but I wouldn't expect that to work.  What exactly would happen, I don't know.

[Mark Fishman]

Here's where the terminology is both subtle and crucial:

  You cannot rename a FOLDER (i.e, directory) to have the same name as another folder if they are both within the same folder already. Put another way, you cannot have two subdirectories in one directory if they both have the same name.

  On a Brennan, you can rename an ALBUM (using Brennan's own software) so that all of its tracks get assigned to a different album, and if that other album already exists the tracks will move into it.

Yes, the album is a folder, but the Linux operation that corresponds to Brennan's renaming an album is NOT renaming the directory, but is renaming the tracks "into" a different directory (the mv command). I trust I make myself obscure, as Sir Thomas More said (in "A Man for All Seasons").

Linux is case-sensitive. That means that "The Beatles" is not the same as "the beatles" -- you could have one of each. I'm not at all sure what Brennan's software does about that, although since things in the web UI look the way I typed them I'm working on the theory that it does nothing at all.

So, RichM:

in order to help figure out what's happened, we need to know EXACTLY what the artist, album, and tracks names are, what they're supposed to be, and how (where?) you changed them. Also did you do a Scan Disk and a Saving after the changes.

Thanks -- m.

[Daniel Taylor]

Mark,

Thanks for the clarification.  I think I understand - mostly.  But I think for the average user to try that procedure is playing with fire.  Better to address the disk as NAS, where you can clearly see the before and after.

Another question:  When the ALBUM is renamed causing its tracks to go into the other folder, what becomes of the tracks in the previous folder?  I assume the tracks are MOVED rather than COPIED. (?)  And that the previously named folder is deleted. (?)

[PMB]

Hi Rich M,

To check for software updates have a look at our latest Software page on the web site.

To combine a multi CD set into one Album I usually use NAS mode where I can view and edit the files on the B2's HDD using my computer. I find it more convenient to use the larger screen, keyboard and mouse to do the editing - you can create new folders, files can be cut and paste, drag and dropped, etc as for any files on a computer.

So rip the CDs as they are > using NAS mode open the first CD (lets say a 3 CD set) on your computer and renumber the tracks 01 through 10 (for example) > open the 2nd CD and renumber the tracks 11 through 23 (or as Mark suggests so you know which CD in the set they came from) > cut and paste tracks 11 through 23 and paste them into the CD1 folder > repeat for CD3.

Once you have moved the tracks from CD2 and CD3 into CD1, delete the empty CD2 and CD3 folders. You can rename CD1 to add 'complete works' or similar.

After any editing using NAS mode you must run Scan Disk (Settings menu on the B2 unit or click the COG icon at the top of the web UI page and select Scan Disk) to update the B2's HDD, otherwise changes will be lost.

1. Sometimes the web UI can get out of sync with the B2 so refresh the browser page to update.

This may also indicate a poor WiFi signal so check the signal strength at the B2 - see our How To's pages on the website for further info and tips.

2. If you are referring to 'Get Album Art' - if MusicBrainz or Amazon cannot find an artwork you can search the internet for an artwork, save it to your computer and add it to an Album using NAS mode or use the Upload function on the web UI.

3. Again this may indicate a poor WiFi signal level - see our How To's pages as above.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[RichM]

Paul,

Thanks for the detailed response. Wi-Fi is -43dBm - not really sure what that means but looking at the website should be OK. I've avoided NAS so far. It seems to crop up too often here but I'll try it as it seems like it will help.

HNY

[PMB]

Hi RichM,

-43dBm is a good WiFi signal.

If reconnecting to WiFi after powering on continues to be a problem try - Settings > Maintenance > Reset WiFi and then run Setup WiFi again.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[RichM]

Paul,  Thanks, wifi seems to connect OK now after a couple of seconds. Maybe I was just too impatient!

[RichM]

Mark, I've tried all sorts, including copying and pasting the album and artist texts to ensure they are identical. Also ensuring I scan then save, but still can't stitch the two albums together and have got bored with trying (no sticking power). I've decided to try using the NAS route as suggested by Paul. At the end, of the day it is only a nice to have and actually, if I play the first album it will run onto the second anyway.

And hopefully I can get an optical disc drive sorted and start using EAC.

Thanks for your help,

Rich

[Mark Fishman]

You were doing this through the web UI? Hmm. Should have worked "as advertised".

Ah, well. If you move stuff around through NAS, remember that the Brennan won't find it until you scan disk...

Sorry it didn't work properly.