No Complaints

[happymedium27]

So I know this forum is primarily for people to write in to share problems and ask questions — and I have done that myself once or twice. But now, after owning my B2 for about two months I feel compelled to write in and express some positive thoughts....

First off… I had absolutely no trouble setting it up. Other than being surprised by the different optical output that I've used in the past, the whole set-up was pretty much plug-n' play straight out of the box. The B2 found my home network with no problem at all, and all my Apple devices had no problem finding the B2. Unfortunately an older iPad I was hoping to dedicate to the B2, can't run the app, but my iPhone, iMac and AirBook work just great.

I have a 2TB Seagate USB drive that I back the B2 up to, and when I plug it into my iMac to double check that everything is where it's supposed to be, I see an organized set of folders and flac files as promised. In the first few days I had the B2 I accidentally erased an album — but I had already done an initial back-up of those first few CD's so there it was on the USB drive and I was able to add it right back to the B2.

I have the B2 connected to my Cambridge Audio Doc Magic 100 via an optical cable and that, in turn, is connected to my Outlaw RR2150 receiver. Two Totem Acoustic speakers and an Outlaw subwoofer seal the deal and I must say the files I've ripped sound great!

Per Fred's advice, I have an external USB drive that I bounce back and forth between for my ripping source — just to give the B2 a day off here and there. Since he assured me there's no difference in the quality of the file based on whether you use the B2's CD drive or an external USB drive, I figured I'd mix it up just to take some of the wear-and-tear off the B2.

I will say that I do all my "editing" on the iMac: changing Warren Zevon to Zevon, Warren — adding the name of the band after the songs on any compilation CD's that are grouped under the label of "Various Artists" — search for and add album covers either through the Amazon or MusicBrainz interface or for the more obscure stuff, finding the image, saving it as a jpeg and just dragging it into the Brennan interface to add it — 

I've been ripping CD's on a regular basis and have yet to experience a hiccup. I'm not bragging — I'm just saying it really has been as easy as advertised! The B2 didn't like one disc that was kind of scuffed up — but the external USB drive was less particular so I was able to rip the disc that way.

So all-in-all, I say well done, Mr. Brennan, and knock on wood hoping that everything continues to go as smoothly. Thanks to everyone who posts on this forum too. I read it daily and always learn something new. It's great to have a like-minded community at one's fingertips to share ideas and concerns with — and get such a quick response!

So… do I wish a few things were different? Sure. Like, couldn't the remote feel less cheap and look as cool as the device it's operating? Yep. Or, how hard would it be for someone to design a more iTunes/Apple Music-like interface that incorporated album art in a similar way? Check. Or playlists that offered easy filtering so none of my Christmas music pops up in the middle of June? Yesss. 

But I also understand that the B2 is not a computer per se and there are limitations to its 

functionality. I'm still not entirely certain that it's a better solution than my AirBook that used to sit on top of my stereo stand and was connected to my Outlaw receiver via USB… but I'm willing to experiment and explore and find out. And in the meantime, my CD collection gets smaller and smaller — and that was the whole point.

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

Glad its going well for you. :-))

If you are indeed divesting yourself of CDs , PLEASE make sure you have more than one copy of your B2's music. With one preferably stored in a location outside your house (with a relative/friend) so that if there is a fire or flood you do not lose everything. In IT industry we call this an "off site" backup.

Also remember that if you have enough disk space on your PC or Mac - a copy of the B2's music there allows you to take your music with you - I do recommend turning on and using the B2's NAS as well.

Fred 

[happymedium27]

Thanks Fred! I'm a video editor so when it comes to back-ups of back-ups, I know of which you speak! 

What I don't entirely understand however, is the whole NAS thing… Are you referring to this? Because if you are, even though the B2 pops right up in my network… when I click on the "Connect As…" button, the connection fails. What am I doing wrong? Where and how do I "turn on the B2's NAS?"

[Peter Lowham]

Hi happym..

When you click on 'Connect As', you will be asked for a 'User' and a 'Password'.

The user name is:  root

and the password is:  brennan

The B2's 'music' folder and contents should now appear in Finder.

Regards,

Peter.

[happymedium27]

Hmmmm... no luck. I get this when I try to connect to the B2 this way:

[Peter Lowham]

Hi there,

I don't know what is causing this, so I'll need to think about this one!

Regards,

Peter.

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

Hi happym..

That does not look like a Windows message, you must be using a Mac ?  Don't worry the B2's NAS works with Macs (and many other devices!).

But first lets make sure it is on.

From the B2's front panel, using the round knob go to 

"Settings  > Maintenance > Start NAS"

Then press and hold in the B2's "Play/Stop" button until "Saving" appears on the display, wait for the clock to come back then power the B2 off and then On again and then wait 10 mins.

OK - (I do not own or use a Mac) go ahead and try to connect again as peter said.   If it works your away!.

Fred

On Tuesday, 18 May 2021 at 02:05:31 UTC+1 happym...@mac.com wrote:

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

If you are using a Mac then looking at this forum thread may also be valuable

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/brennanb2/BpBXGU2H1_E/NhQRu-LGBAAJ
Fred

[happymedium27]

Hmmmm... no luck. NAS is on... It shows up in the Network… but it never offers me the opportunity to enter a user name or password. I get the same error message. Even rebooted just for kicks...

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

Just for my piece of mind, which are you using a PC or a Mac?

Fred

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

Looking on google (and probably teaching you how to suck eggs - if so sorry) have you tried

1. In the OS X top navigation select 'go'
2. Then 'connect to server'
3. When the connect to server window opens, enter the system IP address and NAS share name and push 'connect'
4. You'll then be prompted to enter a username and password to connect to the server.

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

user name will be 

root

password will be

brennan

Fred

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

The IP number will be the one from the front of the B2 and the NAS share name will be (I believe) BRENNANB2

Fred

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

I think the capitals for BRENNANB2 matter

[happymedium27]

Sorry Fred, I still can't connect. Including screen shots in case I've entered the info wrong or something....

I'm sorry Fred. I appreciate your help, but no luck. 

[happymedium27]

I also tried the all caps version...

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

Ok

Remember I am not a Mac person

instead of smb://192.168.1.229 BRENNANB2

trysmb://192.168.1.229 music

or

smb://192.168.1.229/music

or

smb://192.168.1.229/BRENNANB2

on a windows PC that / is needed

Fred

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

here is the equivalent windows boxes

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

I found this that seems to agree

You see what is served from the B" is its "music" folder

So "smb://192.168.1.229/BRENNANB2/music"

may be correct??

Fred

[happymedium27]

OK! We're almost there. This all looks right and it's now asking for a user name and password... but it doesn't like "root" and "brennan" ARGHHH!

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

Well

Brennan site says

Try again, it could be a "pinkware" issue - and if you don't know what "pinkware" is look at your finger ends :-))

Fred

[Fred Waltman]

I'm also coming up on my two month "Brennanversary" and also a happy camper. I am also a mac user and have had no problem connecting my iMac and MacBook to the B2 via NAS.

When I reboot either, in the Finder I choose Go -> Connect to Server and in the box that comes up enter smb://192.168.1.xxx

The first time it asked for the user and password (root / brennan as stated) but checking the "Remember this password in the keychain" box means I don't have to enter it when reconnecting. It does take a while to connect and show you the top level (Artist) directories. This is even true when using an ethernet cable instead of WiFi. I did have some issues one time where it wouldn't connect to the B2 but I also had issues connecting my iMac to my MacBook and a reboot of the iMac solved that.

Like HappyM I have a USB CD Drive on my Mac. Anything not classical was ripped by the B2. All my classical CDs I've done on the Mac because I want the filenames and metadata to be a certain way. I use dbPowerAmp to rip and A Better Finder Rename to tweak file names and Mp3Tag and PerfectTunes (which is mostly designed for iTunes/Music but works great for downloading Album covers) to cleanup the metadata. These are all paid apps on the Mac, though. The reason for the concern with filenames and metadata is I run the ripped tracks thru a preprocessor that I wrote that concatenates all the movements of a piece into a single file, so when I play at random I don't get the 3rd movement of some symphony followed by the 1st movement of some random string quartet. Why I've never liked any of the streaming services I've tried.

Originally I was transferring via a USB stick but I have found the NAS option to be more convenient though it can be slow.

I back up to a WD portable (spinning) HD. I use a USB extender to connect so I don't have to fumble around the back of the B2 to plug and unplug the backup drive. I maintain a copy of the backup on my Mac (using rsync for the techies) and will push a copy up to a cloud backup service at some point. And also make a copy on an SSD that I'll send to by brother (for "offsite backup")

The one thing I did like about iTunes/Music was the "smart playlists." Since the B2 doesn't have anything like that and I am a software guy, I parsed the b2db database into my own, track database and construct the playlists on my Mac and push them to the B2. For the techies, since the playlist folder isn't visible thru the NAS, I use scp (secure copy -- sort of like ssh + cp) to push the playlists. I also use scp to get the b2db database. I'd be happy to share my software but it is written in a fairly obscure platform (called QM) which just happens to be written by a smart Englishman named Martin -- just not *that* one :)

My "wishlist" for the B2 would be some sort of "last played" field or absent that, some sort of log of tracks played that I could access.

The Newbie Fred

[happymedium27]

So thanks very much everyone who participated in this conversation and patiently provided suggestions and solutions. I did, finally, connect to my B2 via NAS this morning. The trick was simply to put ONLY the server address for the B2 in the "Connect to Server" window. Then fill out this info as instructed:

Name: root

Password: Brennan

And if you check "remember this password," like Newbie Fred suggested, you don't have to worry about that detail again!

So thanks again everyone! Problem solved!

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

There you go!!   You did it

Now do you like what the NAS gives you?  or have we wasted your time by recommending it ?

Fred

[Mark Fishman]

Disclaimer: I am neither a Brennan employee nor a lawyer. I am a music lover who wants performers and composers to continue making a living from their creativity. Allow me a few lines to play "Debbie Downer":

As a video editor, you should have some familiarity with the concept of intellectual property. At least in the USA, and I believe in the UK, purchase of the physical CD does not transfer ownership of the music it contains: it gives you a license to play the CD and listen to the music. The Fair Use doctrine seems to be interpreted by the courts as allowing you to rip the contents of the CD in order to have a portable copy of the music.

What is NOT allowed is to give away or re-sell the physical CD while retaining a copy of the music it contained. The physical CD is the license; if you transfer the CD to someone else, or to the county landfill, you are no longer entitled to have the music it contained.

Brennan, like other manufacturers of similar equipment, do not condone copyright violations or piracy. That is why they are allowed to sell equipment that makes ripping CDs such a convenience. Please do not get rid of CDs that you have ripped.

By all means, pack them up, throw away the jewel cases, make them as compact and hard to access as you like -- but you should keep them in order to be legally entitled to the music they contain.

OK, I've put away the soapbox -- apologies for reminding everyone of this sort of thing. 

-- m.

On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 8:14:34 PM UTC-4 happym...@mac.com wrote:

Thanks Fred! I'm a video editor so when it comes to back-ups of back-ups, I know of which you speak! 

On Monday, May 17, 2021 at 8:01:50 PM UTC-4 fred.w....@gmail.com wrote:

Glad its going well for you. :-))

If you are indeed divesting yourself of CDs , PLEASE make sure you have more than one copy of your B2's music. With one preferably stored in a location outside your house (with a relative/friend) so that if there is a fire or flood you do not lose everything. In IT industry we call this an "off site" backup.