Copying Playlists From B2 To Memory Stick Use In Car & Digital Radio

[Alistair Newton]

I was hoping to be able to export playlists from the B2 onto a memory stick for use elsewhere. 

Sure enough under USB Functions there is a “Playlist to C” which I had assumed would do just that. But when I use it all that seems to be transferred is a very small but none of the music tracks get transferred. 

Am I missing out a step somewhere?

Alistair Newton

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Alistair,

The option that will do this is 'Playlist Menu' --> 'Export Mp3s'.  This will ask you to select the playlist that you wish to use and will copy the mp3 track files to the USB stick.

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi Alistair,

What you did initially was to copy the List part of the Playlist.  What Peter describes is how you get the music that the playlist points to.

[Alistair Newton]

Thanks, I will try that tomorrow.  Why on earth Brennan don’t provide comprehensive instructions on all of these common procedures I will never understand!

Alistair

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Just one point. I THINK that  'Playlist Menu' --> 'Export Mp3s'  function Exports the hidden MP3 files to USB. 

And you will then ask what are the hidden MP3 files ! Well i THINK they are produced when using the "Settings>Compression>Select FLAC, FLAC+MP3, MP3-128k, MP3-256k or none (WAV)" is selected.

(this work on your whole HDD music collection and can take hours to work (there may also be bugs!)) 

To export the music for a playlist I THINK the correct option is "Playlist Menu> Export Playlist
This function writes all the music in a playlist to the drive in USB C. It can take a long time if the playlist is big. Originally intended for transferring smallish collections that you can listen to in the car for example. 
HOWEVER, My music is all FLAC compression and my car can not understand this!! BUT if you set your main compression on load or ripping CD to an MP3 option (MP3-128k, MP3-256k) you would be OK.

Hope this helps

Fred.

[Alistair Newton]

Well both my car and digital radio can handle FLAC so there is no problem there.  But will I need to translate to MP3 before I can import into iTunes and thence onto my iPhone?

[Alistair Newton]

My other question is that since, I have only just started building different playlists too suit my and my wif’s tastes, is the PLAYLISTS> EXPORT PLAYLIST  facility incremental, so I don’t have to erase and start again each time I make additions.

[Peter Lowham]

Fred,

Regarding your reference to the 'Export mp3s' function, it will find mp3s that are in the 'normal' collection as well as finding the mp3s that are in the 'hidden' mirror folders.  I tested this last summer and put the results in a post on this forum at the time.

Also the 'flac+mp3' option ran at 12 tracks per hour on the 'B2' software or 16 tracks per hour on the 'B2B' software at that time.  I need to rerun those timings because I think that Martin improved on the performance later on last year.  But it is a slow process.  It took about 20 days on my collection to complete.

I use the 'mirror' folders structure, but use 'dBpoweramp' to generate the 'mirror mp3' files.  This is more or less a one-click operation (now that I have set it up) and dBpoweramp will convert my whole collection in about 18 hours, so this is much more efficient for bulk conversions.

Regards,

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

You can translate from FLAC to MP£ using your PC once you have the playlist contents off the B2 - there are plenty of utilities for this.

Regarding --- are "Export Playlists" incremental?  - I don't know. The Forum's export Guru is Peter

I suggest you ask this question as a NEW thread.

Fred

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Thanks for that Info Peter, I remember trying the FLAC+MP3 but for some reason Paul indicated it was best to stop for now. 

Either way the "wording/information" about the 2 playlist "Export" functions in the Menu Overview needs to be rehashed in light of what you say.

I do have a full copy of dBpoweramp and a copy of my "music" on my PC - what was the "one click" operation you set up please :))?

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Fred,

I've just found the thread regarding the mp3 and mirror files.  It is on the link below.

With regards to the 'dBpoweramp' it was all about setting the desination file parameter correctly. Once that was done, I just selected the whole music collection and clicked on 'Convert' and dBpoweramp did the rest!  I'll take some screenshots a bit later on and post them here so that you can see what I did.

https://groups.google.com/g/brennanb2/c/6gZUyD_mWLE/m/fpaCXL-RAwAJ

Regards,

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

HMM!! my memory!! I was part of that thread 

Thanks Peter.

Fred

[PMB]

Hi Alistair,

The 'Export Playlist' command should send the selected Playlist, with music files, to a USB device plugged into USB C. It isn't very fast and others have noticed that the B2 reports it has finished before the process of transferring files has. So it is necessary to leave the USB stick plugged in and leave the B2 alone for a few minutes longer to get all files transferred it's been reported as a bug.

Try a Playlist with just a few songs to check it works for you.

As far as I know it overwrites the previous file each time you run it.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Fred,

I have just posted instructions in 'PDF' format for setting up 'dBpoweramp' to generate the 'mirror' files.

If you 'Search' for 'PL-How_to' you should find it or here is the link.  (I'm going to prefix 'PL-How_to' into the post title of any article that might be useful to other users).

https://groups.google.com/g/brennanb2/c/C_9kiWuJUUU/m/taKgaZv0AAAJ

Regards,

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Peter

I have tried out your instructions (on a copy of my B2 music which is on my PC disk) and it seems to be converting my original FLAC files too.

Original situation

After Conversion (Paused)

and going into the first of the above

What have I done wrong? 

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Fred,

I think that my instructions must have an error in them.  I'll check them ASAP, but I'm out most of today, so I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Regards,

Peter.

[Mark Fishman]

Peter, your instructions appear to use the "source filename" as a FOLDER name, under which to put a file called .mirror -- I'm not familiar with dbPoweramp syntax but that doesn't seem right.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

Yes, you're correct; I've screwed up somewhere here.  I'm back at home again now, so I'll have a look to see where I've gone wrong and will issue a corrected version of the notes.

Thanks and regards,

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Correction to my last post, it is NOT converting my original FLAC files they are still there (the example was never a FLAC) but a folder for each track seems wrong.

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the clarification; I'm looking at this now, so should be back again soon with correction(s).

Regards,

Peter.