Cover art Issue

[Paul S]

Hello all,

     I ripped a CD which picked up the wrong cover art so I hooked my B2 up to my Win 10 PC via NAS, went into the folder for the relevant CD folder, deleted the old 'coverart.jpg' file and replaced it with the correct one baring exactly the same file name.

I then went and performed 'scan disc'

So in the PC browser page, on the lower right where it lists the tracks it is showing the correct picture but on the upper left where you have the play pause controls it is still showing the old picture (although I completely deleted the old pic)

All the tracks in the album are FLAC's on the B2's HDD

? ? ? ?

Any Idea's anyone

Cheers 

Paul

 

[Daniel Taylor]

My first thought was that it might be an issue with your browser's cache.  Sometimes they don't update like you'd expect.  Close the tab, clear the cache.  Then open a new browser tab, enter the B2's IP address manually, and see if that takes care of it.

The other possibility I hate to bring up.  It is generally known that he B2 does not do tags.  However, I've read here in the forum that sometimes it seems to read the cover art from the tags. If you've ripped all your albums directly on the B2, I don't know how the coverart could have gotten into the track files.  This is a situation I'm not clear on.  So let's hope the cache clearing solves your problem.  Please post back here about your progress and others will pitch in if needed.

[JFBUK]

Hi Paul & Daniel,

I posted this a while back when I noticed something similar

1. I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to rip CDs  to FLAC files and then use the Upload function to move them to my B2. 

What I hadn't realised is that EAC is tagging album art to my FLAC files and that on occasions the databases it uses are not necessarily 100% accurately using the album art relevant to the CD version being ripped.

2. When I have uploaded an album I add the album art using the B2 UI (pasting into the album title details bottom right). I still use the original Web UI .

The B2 creates a file COVERART.PNG in the tracks folder for the album on the B2 HDD and this is what it retrieves for that album when you view the track listing in the bottom right box.

3. When a track is played the B2 retrieves any tagged album art from the track's FLAC file  metadata if its there, if not it uses the COVERART.PNG file for the album. This is what is displayed in the track playing box top left.

4. I used MP3TAG to manually change the cover art tag on one track of an album and this confirmed the above as the art changed for that one track when played after another track from the same album.

John

[Peter Lowham]

Hi All,

This is an interesting one!  I've looked into it this morning and have found the following.

1.  The 'Album' window (bottom right) will only display 'coverart.jpg' images, i.e. a '.jpg' file that is present in the 'Album' folder.  It will not display embedded tag images.

2.  The 'currently playing' (top left) will only display an image if the 'coverart.jpg' image is present in the 'Album' folder.  So if there is no '.jpg' image in the folder, both displays will be blank.

2.  The 'currently playing' window (top left) will preferentially display an embedded image that is held inside the tagged compressed track if it is present.  If this image is not present in the track tag data, then the the 'coverart.jpg' file will be displayed here.

So, in Paul's case, replacing the 'coverart.jpg' file has corrected the lower right window.  However the music tracks have the incorrect image embedded in the tag data, so the incorrect image is being displayed.

I think that easiest way to fix this would be to use a product such as mp3Tag (free download) which has the capability of enabling you to change the embedded images either track by track or the the complete album.

Regards,

Peter.

[Rik]

So, Peter, if I’ve understand what you've found, how does it explain one of my albums which displays in the bottom right window the cover art that is present in the Album folder but which has in the top left, currently playing, different art, picturing one of the two performers on the album  and of course a completely different work?

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Rik,

If I have understood your question correctly, the bottom right is displaying the 'coverart.jpg' image file from the Album folder, and the top left currently playing window is displaying the track's embedded tag image which is different.  That suggests to me that the album was tagged with the wrong data (or at the very least the image data was wrong), which is a common problem.  There are many errors in the CDDB databases out there.

You can view the tagged images track by track in an album through using 'mp3Tag' .  You can also delete and insert images (again track by track or an entire album) using mp3Tag.

Regards,

Peter.

[JFBUK]

Hi,

per my previous post on this thread Peter's analysis matches mine other than the B2 will also accept a .png image file not just .jpg , in the relevant album folder.

The name of the file is irrelevant as long its .png or .jpg i.e. it does not have to be coverart.png or coverart.jpg .

e.g. 'Sheryl Crow - The Very Best of Sheryl Crow.jpg' works just fine

John

[Paul S]

Thanks so much everyone for trying to help me out here.......

Tried a few things but to no avail but I did find a solution (Thanks Peter) using mp3Tag, bit long winded but it worked, described as follows in the hope that someone

else can benefit at some point:

1. Install mp3Tag

2. Get your B2 hooked up to the PC using NAS (that was a bit of a challenge   LOLOL)

3. Get the album folder up in Windows Explorer, delete the incorrect cover art image and replace with the correct one in the folder

4. Fire up mp3Tag and open the album folder within it.

Tried a few ways here but didn't work so I googled how to do it, which works - You have to create a new custom action as follows:

5. Actions menu -> Actions

6. Click 'New'

7. Give your custom action a name like 'Replace Cover Art' for example

8. A new empty box will appear - Click 'New' again

9. Select 'Import Cover from File' from the dropdown box - OK

10. Select the new Cover Art file in the upper box - Select 'Front Cover' in lower dropdown box and ensure 'Delete existing Cover Art' checkbox is checked - OK

11. Click OK one more time and your custom Action will now be visible

12. Click 'Close' and click 'Yes' to save the changes

Custom Action ready to go:-

13. With your album loaded, Edit Menu  ->  Select all Files (if you dont select all files mp3Tag will only rewrite cover art for songs that are directly selected)

14. Actions Menu  ->  Actions

15. Click the checkbox next to your custom Action to select it and ensure all other checkboxes are off

16. Hit Apply  :-D

It took about 10 mins to rewrite the cover art for 20 tracks directly to the B2's HDD, not quick but it works.

So, what have I learned from this:-

When ripping a CD, if you somehow get the wrong Cover Art you need to find the correct one by google images etc, get the incorrect one replaced on the B2's HDD using NAS

while the album is still in the 'WAV' format before performing the 'Compress Now' feature which converts the tracks to FLAC and embeds the incorrect image into the tracks. 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but also very painful   LOLOL

Thanks everyone for taking the time to help me out here - We succeeded did we not  :-D  :-D

Many Regards from a very grateful 

Paul

[Rik]

Thanks for reply. Yes I’m sure you’re  right that the image data is wrong. I’m not up to tags and so I’ll put up with it but it’s nice to know there’s a reason.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Rik,

In the 'olden days' a record or album cassette only contained the raw music data, which was played on the relevant device with no additional information available except the record sleeve or cassette insert.  However in this 'brave new technological world' of '.flac' (and 'mp3'), a 'flac' file is not just the music data.  It is, in reality, a container which holds multiple data sets, one of which is the music data to be played, as well as another separate non- music data set, called 'tag' data.  In effect, musch of the data is the equivalent of the record sleeve  information. This data is often what you will see displayed on displays on flac/ mp3 players or on car music systems for example.  

If a music player does not use the non-music data it just skips over it and reads the music data to be played.

The tag data consists of values of artist name, album name, track name, track number, track length and many other values for the given track.  This tag data also can contain the 'jpg' or .png' image for that track.  So it can be completely different from the '.jpg' that is stored in the 'Album' folder.

A product such as 'mp3Tag' will read and display all of the tag data, including the embedded tag 'jpg' image.  And mp3Tag enables you to delete the image out of the file or replace it.  So it is just a tag data editor.

Most of the time, the Brennan does not use tag data, but in the case of the WebUI it does use the tag image in the 'currently playing' window if the tag image is available.

Regards,

Peter.

[Rik]

Thanks, Peter, that’s very interesting info. I might well have a go at mp3Tag. 

I've another question,  though I’m not at all worried if you are too busy to answer.  Whenever I’ve been on my laptop looking at B2 as NAS,  after I have finished one album turns up in the currently playing window (top left) on the WebUI. It is an album by Alain Bashung. I often inadvertently begin to play an album not realising that I haven’t dismissed the Bashung. It begins with the loudest chord ever played and it frightens the life out of us. 

Probably nothing can be done but I wonder why it pops up every time I alter anything on my PC. It wasn’t by any means the first album to be ripped, nor is it alphabetically the first. 

[osro...@yahoo.com]

If I were having this problem I would delete the album from the B2, then reinsert the CD and burn it onto the B2 as an unknown album, then at that point you can just put in all of the information yourself, but that's just me.

[PMB]

Hi Peter,

Great replies as always, thanks.

Would I be correct in thinking this is only an issue with 'imported' albums and it should never occur with CDs ripped directly on the B2?

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Rik]

Paul, I’m not quite sure if your query pertains to my post or previous ones but my album was ripped on the B2. I can’t remember if I added the cover art myself, probably from a photo, but it’s in the album folder.

[Rik]

Ha, I think that would be me as well. Unfortunately this particularly album has 14 tracks with long titles, including a description in French and I don’t fancy typing all that out.

On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 11:04:10 PM UTC+1 osro...@yahoo.com wrote:

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Paul,

I reckon that the 'coverart error' issue is sourced in the CDDB data that is downloaded from MusicBrainz/ Freedb/ other source at the time of tagging.  Some of this data is uploaded by the public and can contain errors.  So the issue can potentially exist with both imported albums and also with albums that are being ripped on the B2.

Regards,

Peter.

[JFBUK]

Hi All,

Peter is correct.

Its "errors" in the uploads to the databases that are the cause.

Sometimes the 'errors' are because different covers for the same album were used in different jurisdictions/countries.

The B2 does write a cover art tag to a track's metadata when it finds art on the databases it searches so its not immune when it rips.

@Rik

You may well want to give MusicBrainz Picard software a look.

It can search for a match at track level once you have ripped an album to disc .

I have successfully used it to match track details for compilation albums that were not in the CD database.

Saved a lot of time not typing in individual track names :)

https://picard.musicbrainz.org/

John

[Rik]

Thank you very much, John. I’ve made a note of it.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Rik,

With reference to your query as to why your Brennan always defaults to the album by Alain Bashung, I have been poking around my music collection.  

I think the the Brennan just selects the first track of the first album of the first artist that was originally loaded; i.e. the first physical track in the 'music' folder.  I know that you have stated that this album was not the first one to be loaded, but there could be other factors that would have changed the physical order of the music files.

You can see if this is the case on your B2 by running the following.

1.  On the B2, plug a USB stick (a small capacity one will be fine) into USB C port.

2.  From the front panel, select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> ''b2db to USB C'.  (this will copy the 'b2db' database file to the USB stick).

3.  Plug the USB stick into your PC/Mac.

4.  Open up the 'b2db' file with a text editor (I use Notepad++, but any text editor will work).

5.  You will see a list of data lines like the listing below.  This is my version, and my default track is 'Van Morrison', 'Keep Me Singing', '13 - Caledonia Swing'.

Version 3

1496 Albums 6847 mirror

Van Morrison/Keep Me Singing

13 tracks

13 - Caledonia Swing.flac

03 - Keep Me Singing.flac

02 - Everytime I See A River.flac

05 - Memory Lane.flac

07 - Holy Guardian Angel.flac

09 - In Tiburon.flac

10 - Look Behind The Hill.flac

12 - Too Late.flac

01 - Let It Rhyme.flac

04 - Out In The Cold Again.flac

11 - Going Down To Bangor.flac

08 - Share Your Love With Me.flac

06 - The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword.flac

Getting to your question of how to change this, I have just run a test to change the first artist/ album in the b2db file.  This has worked for me.

1.  Plug a USB stick (with no other music files on it) into USB C

2.  Place the Alain Bashung album into a playlist (any playlist will be OK)

3.  From the front panel, select 'Playlist Menu' --> 'Export Playlist' --> 'Select Playlist' --> 'OK' . (this will copy the album to the USB C stick).

4.  From the front panel, select 'Browse Albums' --> 'Delete Album' --> 'OK' (to delete the album).

5.  From the front panel, select 'USB Menu' --> "Import from C'  (to reload the album).

6.  When this has completed, open up your WebUI (if it was already open, then close it first)

7.  Your default track should now be what was previously the second album in the 'b2db' list above.

Regards,

Peter.

[Rik]

Hi, Peter. You are so kind to go to this trouble. I shall have a go at that this week. 

Many thanks, Rik

[osro...@yahoo.com]

You could also go to a website like discogs.com and copy and paste all your song titles from there.

[Rik]

Thanks. That’s a good idea. I've just looked at discogs and it actually has rather better track description than the ones that came up  on the B2, with  the musical expressions as well.