Best time to “rename” cds

[Thomas Mangano]

I have made an initial pass with my cds, and have ripped/loaded 350 of my more favorite cds.  I now have about 75 that the B2 rip process was not able to find in the title DB.  To error on the side of caution, to minimize corrupting my B2 cd database, WHEN is the best advised time to rename cd titles?  I only want to enter cd titles, not tracks.  Time of ripping?  Before compressing?  Before backing up? Makes no difference?  Thank you.

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

I can only give you my experience (and what I did and why)

It us likely that CDs that are not found in the database will be assigned to 'Artist' "Unknown" and given a numeric 'Album' number. So if you carry on ripping and let these accumulate, you are likely to forget which CD was called what number. 

In light of this I decided to rename these CDs as this happened. So after the rip I would immediately edit the Artist and Album to what they should be. This works while there are not too many Unknowns. If there are, ripping to a PC then transferring to the B2 is a better way forward, as PC rippers are better at finding CD names.

Fred

[Jon Degenhardt]

I also follow Fred's process. One more detail - renaming before compression is useful because the metadata tags are added to the track files at time of compression. This includes album and artist info. I don't know if brennan uses these metadata tags, but Sonos and presumably other systems do.

--Jon

[Thomas Mangano]

Thank you….I did complete the  unknown cd renaming task.  I  have now renamed all of them as recommended and have observed no DB problems.

Just for documentation I could NOT completing the rename task using the UI on my iPad via WiFi using Chrome, the cd rename would not update. I tried the task repeatedly and the name change just would not update after it was submitted. ( I was using the correct submit box on left which I think is a little unorthodox for us Americans).   Using my Windows PC via WiFi also using Chrome it worked perfectly.  The only difference was naturally the device and the operating system.  Just my experience.that I am documenting in case others see the problem.

[Daniel Taylor]

We've read other reports of things not updating when using an iPad.  It may have something to do with the way that uses the cache.  Sounds like an Apple problem to me.

[Rik]

I wobpnder if it’s the browser rather than the iPad which is causing the renaming difficulty. I rename on my iPad using Safari and I’ve never had a problem.

[Daniel Taylor]

I thought Safari was the default browser on Apple products.  What browser do you use, mangano?

[David Kemp]

He said in his email "Chrome'

[Suki Azami]

I have found that iTunes (used with my 512gb iPod classic) has no difficulty finding the correct Artist and Track info on my CD's. but the B2 cannot seem to find this same info.

What I am doing is ripping the CD into Itunes using Apple Lossless format.

Then, as long as the option "Keep iTunes Media Folder organized" is checked in the Advanced Preferences tab of iTunes, I can look for my CD in the media folder and copy it to a USB stick. I then "Import from USB" into the B2.

Under the Advanced Preferences Tab in iTunes is displayed where the music is stored.

Saves from doing it manually.

[Ray Dion]

I have in the past 3 weeks added more than 800 CDs to the B2. My idea of 'good enough' is that the artist, title and track names are correct. I decided that if I find a jpg file for the coverart even if different from my copy, is good enough. I did not want to leave any blank. I think this is because I have been using two Sony 400 disk jukeboxes so my CD cases have been in boxes for years! If you want them perfect, you may be able to modify my approach but  it will take you more time.

I rip each CD on an external drive on the B2. I verify track list and coverart. If those are found, away I go. In many cases I would find the coverart to be missing. In these cases, while the ripping is on going I would google the album. I would eventually always search for a Discogs entry (musicbrainz never showed up) and select that. I would look at the options available and click on the picture. When the picture popup in a viewer I could right click on it and download it. I would place all jpg files in a directory called CDS. At some convenient point I would click on the album on the right side and then on the part above the track list and use the tab on the left called "Upload", select the correct file and send it to the Brennan. I now have coverart for all of my flac files.

My wife handed me her collection, what a mess. She refused help or advice. Now I have CDs with no cases, homemade CDs, and probably a bunch of mp3's. I learned by accident what was mentioned already, some rippers on the PC do better identifying the CD so I will have to transfer back to the B2 when I get those done. I'll follow the same kind of rule set.

So the short answer is I name them immediately after I rip them. 

My answers may not be directly correct. I have yet to determined how to separate out Christmas and the wife's collection so my mp3s will be easier to sort out. I preceeded the album name with "Xmas - " and "wifename - ".  I am adding those categories to play lists as well.

[Thomas Mangano]

Update….I tried using the Safari browser on my IPad and was able to update names without the problem I noted in my original post.  So the problem of updating names I was experiencing on the IPad was likely related to the Chrome browser on the IPad not the IOS. This is why this forum is so helpful, some one pointed out to me I should of tried another browser when I ran into the problem.  Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[Philip Davies]

perhaps only for the brave, but I have an alternative workflow that has worked every since I had the B2.    I rip in batches on my B2 and any that are not named ( usually about 20% ) get a little number label with the brennan Album  number on it   I then have a pile of CDs numbered and a set of files on the B2 - If I remember I turn off compression before I start. If Not then I wait until it has finished compressing.   Then I make a strong cup of tea and  I log into the B2 using the cmd interface - the same process could be done with the NAS file share on windows explorer. I slect each track and folder and rename all the files and folders that need naming. I copy album art into the folder with the right name  and then rescan the disk.  Its not completely clean as a process but I figure that if one or two  CD goes wrong its still way quicker with a full size screen and keyboard than it would be with the twiddly knob on the brennan.   Then at the end I remember to turn compression back on.  I have no idea if this is supported, but it works for me :-) 

[Mark Fishman]

Suki:

iTunes uses a commmercial database from Gracenote (the original "CDDB") because Apple has paid them for a license for every copy of iTunes. Gracenote gets information about CDs from the CD manufacturers, unlike the non-commercial databases that have to rely on users to upload the information. Because Gracenote requires a license fee for each device that accesses its software, small manufacturers like Brennan cannot afford nor manage the licensing process for each B2 or BB1. Apple can afford the fee for a blanket license.

All the other databases online -- MusicBrainz, Discogs, gnudb (successor to freedb, which was created when the origial CDDB was purchased by Gracenote and became a commercial product) -- have to wait for users to upload information about their CDs.

That is probably why iTunes can find information that your B2 cannot find.

[Suki Azami]

Mark,

Thank you for the information!

After learning about how iTunes does it compared to the other methods, all the more so I am convinced that using iTunes to gather the information is the fastest route. I let iTunes do the work, then import the folders containing the data to my B2.