First questions - general

[Hugh Noble]

Another newbie, but no second thoughts. I ordered my B2 and then discovered the Forum, so I signed up. A deluge of emails followed, and I then wondered what had I done? The box arrived and with trembling fingers (essential tremor plus) I set up the system. This is one situation where “intuitive” is not sufficient, and you do have to read the instructions and reread when you have got it wrong. It’s all there but you have to search.

 

There seem to be two sets of users: those whose needs are satisfied by the basic offerings of a brilliant piece of kit and the other, a group of enthusiasts whose semi-private conversations are available to all and who welcome others with knowledge and experience to join in. There are also the newbies such as me, with an appetite for guidance.

 

After a couple of days, I have 105 albums saved and am beginning to formulate a number of questions:

 

I would like to create concert programs for a U3A study group and would use “play lists” , but need to be able to stop the sound at the end of each track – either automatically or manually – and then continue. Is there a pause button or could one be simulated?

When I have ripped a series of albums, B2 starts to compress the tracks to FLAC but seems to be starting from the beginning and not from where it left off. Is this a setting up error?

 

I would like to create an index which I could edit in Excel, order by different characteristics and update periodically.

 

I have no plans to change to Sonos or similar system. Do I have any need to contemplate NAS?

 

What is the function of the micro SD card? What are the benefits of replacing the original by a larger or self-written version? Last time I was involved in programming was in the days of DOS 5 and windows 6.1. Have I got to start again?

 

Apologies for the long email. I hope future requests for help will be shorter.

 

With best wishes to all for a healthy and harmonious New Year.

 

Hugh Noble

 

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi Hugh,

I will attempt to address your questions in order.

The Play/Stop button provides the Pause function.  When playing, press that button to stop, but it really only pauses.  When you press it again, it picks up where it left off.

When converting to FLAC (or MP3), the B2 starts where it thinks it should.  Where it starts is not something that is under our control.

There is a member of the forum who has creadted a spreadsheet program that can do several things.  Search for Excel, or spreadsheet, and hopefully you will find some of his posts.  He offers his program for anyone to use, and I'm sure he will be glad to assist.  Whether it can do exactly what you want, I don't know.

NAS is a very convenient thing to have working.  But, no, you don't absolutely need to have it.  As time goes by, you may find a situation where it will be greatly handy.

The micro SD card is where the operating system software resides.  The music is stored on the HDD (or SSD).  On the B2, there is no benefit to replacing the SD card with a larger one.  On the BB1 unit, both the OS and music are stored on the same card, so on that unit, replacing with a larger capacity card allows the storage of more music.

[PMB]

Hi Hugh,

The Play/Stop button toggles between 'pause' and 'play' so will provide the function you require.

Each time compression starts the display will show something like 'Compressing 1 of 12' if there are 12 tracks to compress. It's starting at track 1 of 12 not at the very first track.

Jasper has produced a spreadsheet for automatically generating playlists - see this post - and AndyC has written a sorting program - see this post - which may be useful to you.

NAS mode allows you view and edit the contents of the B2's HDD using your computer - which the large screen, keyboard and mouse can make more convenient.

As Daniel says, the SD Card holds the B2's operating software, which you will not normally have to access.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Hugh Noble]

Many thanks for most helpful replies.

The practical advice was great. I have created my first playlist and presentation much more convenient than continuous loading of CDs and struggling to read the player screen. Fingers crossed, it will go well on the day.

Jasper seems to have nailed the organisation problem and I will take my time to apply his method. My collection is multidimensional in terms of genre and I need to think how best to categorise. Beginning to appreciate the benefits of NAS. My learning curve has just got longer. 

25% of the collection loaded. Only one set displayed the performance data but did not save it to disc when I ripped.

Brilliant device!

Have a good new year

Hugh

[Hugh Noble]

After two weeks, progress has been good but has shown so much more to learn. I tend to anticipate the problems I am going to have by reviewing all of the queries to FORUM and responses offered, as they arrive. it's almost like work!. I do not understand much of the detail but it is adding background..

I was able to create a playlist of musical examples for a U3A presentation using stop/play to make appropriate pauses. First half worked as planned. We paused half way for a tea-break of about 20 Minutes. B2 got bored and reverted to reviewing my folder and compressing files it had already compressed to Flac. ( I have mentioned this before.) To resume, I had to revert to the beginning of the playlist and quietly progress this by repeated stop/play to the required location. Is there a better way or do I have to use an iPod/iPad for easier control

After much thought I have concluded that my most suitable structure for files is the physical one I have been using for many years - I have change album names to show the composer when only one is represented. Where there is more than one, I group by approximate number of players - solo, duet, trio, quartet etc. This allows performers to stay together. 

I note the vast array of technical terms, abbreviations etc., and wonder if anyone has concocted a glossary of such for the new enthusiast. I do wonder about "randon" whether this is a typo or whether it is a particular condition of random. There has been recent correspondence about randomised sequences showing some items repeatedly. To be random, each item selected is returned to the population and continues to have the same chance of being chosen the next time. The observations quoted may be expected. To make a truly random selection is mathematically difficult but could be subject of further discussion on a different occasion.

For some users it could be useful to retain details of track length. Presumably these are scanned as part of the ripping process and are discarded when the album code has been computed. I note that for each album there are three numbers for each track and an additional line at the bottom of the array. Can these be converted to enable track length to be included in an eventual library list.

Otherwise, all is behaving well, but the water is getting deeper.

With best regards

Hugh N

[Daniel Taylor]

Here are a few thoughts.

"Randon" is almost certainly a typo of random.

If you have to restart a playlist, make sure the random feature is off, in the WebUI find the point where you left off and press play on the next track you want.  It should proceed in order from that point.

I don't know what's going on with your B2 apparently trying to re-compress files that have already been compressed.  I would inspect the effected folders via NAS and fix things manually.  Remember to run the Scan Disk command after making any changes via NAS.

[PMB]

Hi Hugh,

The B2 will only compress WAV files, not those already converted to FLAC or MP3. so not sure what you are observing.

As I said before the display will show compressing progress starting at 1/12 for example. This isn't track number 1 but the first of the 12.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Hugh Noble]

Paul and Daniel

Many thanks for your quick response. I immediately applied SCAN DISK and my problem resolved. I have since had an opportunity to rip a few more albums and apply SCAN DISK before applying compression to flac. B2 showed the correct number of tracks and progressed to a normal completion. All well for the moment until the next questions arise.

Best regards 

Hugh Noble 

[PMB]

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for letting us know.

Paul

Brennan Support.