Really basic question

[John Page]

which I'm almost embarrassed even to ask, so apologies in advance!  I'm on the point of buying B2 finally, but just wanted to double-check that if I download music as MP{3 onto to computer I will be able to store it on B2.   What about audiobooks?  Thanks.

[Daniel Taylor]

You should be good.  The B2 will play WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC, (and ALAC, I think) files.

When you Import the music onto the B2, it must be arranged with a folder structure having the Artist name folders at one level, each containing folders for each album by that artist, and then each album folder containing the album's tracks:  music\Artist\Album\tracks.

If you want the tracks to play in the order they appear on the album, make the track number a prefix of the name.  

For example:  07 Can't Buy Me Love

or 01 The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

You can have the artist's name in the track name, or not, as you prefer.

Also, the USB disk you use for the Import must be formatted as FAT32.  The B2 can do that for you.  When you get your B2 and you're ready to move the music onto it, check back here if you need help.

[Jim Jacobus]

Yes and Yes

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

If your music (MP3s) are purchased from Apple, then Apple adds DRM to it which makes it very difficult to play the music on anything but an Apple device.

There are discussions relating to this (and i believe solutions - but I am not an Apple person) to be found in this Forum.

Fred

[Mark Fishman]

Apple didn't sell MP3s. They chose AAC as their codec because they could add DRM to it, which wasn't possible with MP3 (at the time there were patents, held by Fraunhofer, that controlled the MP3 format).

Their original music sales were 128kbps M4A files with DRM, which they gave the M4P extension. Eventually they convinced the recording companies that CDs were unprotected so Apple should be allowed to sell unprotected digital files, and upgraded their files to 256kbps M4A without DRM. No more M4P on those.

Audible uses their own DRM on audiobooks, so AAX files are (also) AAC files with (different) DRM.

Any files that have DRM will NOT play on a B2 or BB1, because there's no way to get the license information and the decryption code into the device. MP3 files don't have DRM.

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

Ok thanks Mark,

Now I know MP3s are always playable on a Brennan, no matter what the source.

Fred

[CF Randall]

FWIW, Apple stopped adding DRM to tracks purchased from iTunes more than a decade ago. Note that Apple Music, the subscription service, still uses DRM, but that's not the purchased content.

[John Page]

Thanks to all of you who have replied with some really helpful advice etc. I ordered my B2 yesterday and now look forward to its arrival and playing with it!   No doubt I will be back here with more dumb questions soon!   John