Use of dBpoweramp to maintain mp3 files

[Ray Dion]

I am new to the B2. It has been time consuming (retired so that is OK) but I have about 850 CDs (over 11,000 tracks) on the unit. I chose FLAC only to begin with not fully understanding. In fact I did not even understand that and had to wait a few days for the files to get updated to flac. 

Now I am working on the mp3 side of things. I don't want to wait the time periods I am reading about so I downloaded dBpoweramp to improve the quality of the mp3s and adding that tag information. 

dBpoweramp does not handle the period before the mirror name at all. That means that once I run scan on the B2 all of the mirror files will become <dot>mirror and dBpoweramp can't see them. I intended at first to do this over the NAS connection. 

So my solution is as follows. Please throw darts at it and suggest improvements.

1.  Do a complete export to a USB device. Updates will be incremental so my additional 100 CDs could be added at leisure. First one has taken 24 plus hours.

2. Using the desktop machine run dBpoweramp to create mp3 on a separate USB device using the same file structure as the B2. The flac files will not be there. The intent here is that I will call the folder mirror and if the track already exists I can have dBpoweramp skip the conversion. It seems to work on a few reference folders I have on the computer.

3. Use the B2 menu to "Delete Mirror".

4. Using NAS issue a copy command for the mp3 directory structure. If I did it right it will place a mirror directory in all albums.

5. Run scan on the B2. Read in the forum this will rename mirror to <dot>mirror.

Step 4 I think will take a while. I can do a handful manually to save time but the above approach should work. If anyone knows tricks in Windows to script the copy perhaps based on the <dot>mirror file that would be cool.

Step 2 gives me a USB that I can use to transfer to other mp3 players.

Perhaps an annual zero base repeat will weed out the orphans from the renames and deletes. More often to keep my sieve of a brain remembering what to do.

I need to test this now before my 21 day trial ends before I make a the purchase.

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

Hi Ray,

Just so I understand what you are trying to achieve.

1 you have you music on the B2 as FLAC 

2 you do not want to use the FLAC+MP3 compression on the B2 to create an MP3 mirror of this music because it will take too long.

3 you appreciate that most of the B2's functions can not even see the mirror directory, all it can do is create it and copy it to a USB.

4 i dont think that the B2 NAS can expose the mirror (not certain about this), it exposes the " music" folder .

5 you intend making an "Export" of your B2 music and to use dBpoweramp to make a MP3 mirror on a PC of this export. 

6 dont understand why you need to run the B2 "Delete Mirror" unless you have used the B2 to create one?

7 are you intending to copy your new mirror back to the B2 if so why?

Fred

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

By the way somewhere on the forum there is a how to to make a mirror with dBpoweramp.

Fred

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

here you go Ray,

read through this Thread

https://groups.google.com/g/brennanb2/c/raIeIYdZYP4/m/9CmLBvjNAQAJ

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Ray,

I use the 'Export MP3' function to generate my 'mp3 only' collection.  This is simple and does not require any manipulation of the '.mirror' files.

1.  From the B2 WebUI, in lower left window click on 'Playlists'.

2.  Click on the '...' button on the right side of this window.

3.  From the dropdown box, select 'Create new playlist'.

4.  Name it 'All_MP3_Music' or something similar.

5.  Select the 'Playlist' dropdown box and click on 'All_MP3_Music'

6.  With 'All_MP3_Music' selected, go to the '...' box on the right side of this window.

7.  In this dropdown box, select 'Combine playlists'.

8.  A window 'Combine Playlists' will open in the middle of the  screen.

9.  The first box should be set to 'Append' if not already set.

10.  In the second box select 'All Music'.   (this will select all of the music collection which is fine)

11.  In the third box, select 'All_MP3_Music'.

12.  Click on 'OK'.

You now have a playlist with all of the music collection included. Now for the clever part!

13.  Select your USB device of a suitable size for your mp3 tracks.

14.  If not done already, format the USB device to FAT32 ('Main'  --> 'Settings' -- 'Maintenance' --> 'Format USB C'.

15.  Select  'Main' --> 'Playlist Menu' --> 'Export MP3s'

16.  When asked for the playlist, select ''All_MP3_Music' and confirm this.

The B2 will run through the entire music collection (main collection 'flac', 'mp3', 'wav', 'aac' and '.mirror' folders and will write all the mp3s to the USB device.

It looks a bit long winded, but the instructions took longer to document than it takes to run the procedure.

Regards,

Peter.

On Monday, 7 February 2022 at 14:25:20 UTC fred.w....@gmail.com wrote:

[Ray Dion]

I'll cut and paste from the different replies.

From Fred:

Just so I understand what you are trying to achieve.

1 you have your music on the B2 as FLAC - Yes After 24+ hours I also have it on a USB stick.

2 you do not want to use the FLAC+MP3 compression on the B2 to create an MP3 mirror of this music because it will take too long. - Yes, also wanted a higher bitrate in the mp3s.

3 you appreciate that most of the B2's functions can not even see the mirror directory, all it can do is create it and copy it to a USB. - Yes having been an IT person I understand the .file in linux. I understand the B2 will play/manage what is in the album directory and ignore the .mirror directory. I probably did not appreciate the answer to questions 6 and 7. I am/was fixated on having all of it on the B2. 

4 i dont think that the B2 NAS can expose the mirror (not certain about this), it exposes the " music" folder .  I have not even looked at this yet. Windows can see .files in Windows so I assume in I would be able to see it on the B2 NAS. The problem is the processing done by dBpoweramp cannot see this. So if I tell it to skip all existing files in the .mirror directory it won't work, it will recreate a music directory. I will guess after I copy in a new mirror file the B2 will either overwrite or add the new copy on the next scan. Not tested yet because the machine is still working on new rips (wav >> flac). I have to do another incremental :-)

5 you intend making an "Export" of your B2 music and to use dBpoweramp to make a MP3 mirror on a PC of this export. - Yes with higher bit rates than the B2

6 dont understand why you need to run the B2 "Delete Mirror" unless you have used the B2 to create one? See answer to number 4. I read in the forum that mirror directories would become .mirror directories upon doing a scan.

7 are you intending to copy your new mirror back to the B2 if so why? - I guess that is an interesting question. I could just manage my mp3 library outside of the B2. I do like the idea of all of it in one place. The flac primary store is on the B2 and backup on the computer. The MP3 store is the other direction. Of course I could just use a second USB device. Currently my harddrive on the computer is too full of games. A new computer is in the future. I have not played with playlists yet. I could see where managing playlists on the B2 only could be efficient. If I have a straightforward way to manage on the computer and export to the B2, that would be acceptable as well. I did read on the forum that someone uses Notepad+ to manage their playlists. That is a future step.

Fred also asked if I saw the instructions for dBpoweramp to create the mirror. I did. I investigated the program because of the instructions. Used the final notes in the document to understand that I could skip existing mp3. Found those instructions on the dBpoweramp website. You all sold me!

From Peter

I understand the instructions how to export the mp3s. I was again sort of focused on speed. I guess mp3 are smaller so it should take less than a day even after I finish adding what I own currently. 

Yes, I need to do more testing of my setup and ideas. The driver for me is time. I want to play the thing but that means the functions I need to run don't work. Not picking on things, the Pi has it limits and that is OK. Patience is not always my long suit. 

Thanks for the forum. I stared two things. The dBpoweramp instructions and the "blacklist" play list. That should be advertised more! When I am happy and done with my original setup I will post comments to the forum unless you want them a different way.

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

Hi Ray

Lets go through my bit of your answers

1 you have your music on the B2 as FLAC - Yes After 24+ hours I also have it on a USB stick. GREAT KEEP THAT SAFE

2 you do not want to use the FLAC+MP3 compression on the B2 to create an MP3 mirror of this music because it will take too long. - Yes, also wanted a higher bitrate in the mp3s. UNDERSTOOD

3 you appreciate that most of the B2's functions can not even see the mirror directory, all it can do is create it and copy it to a USB. - Yes having been an IT person I understand the .file in linux. I understand the B2 will play/manage what is in the album directory and ignore the .mirror directory. I probably did not appreciate the answer to questions 6 and 7. I am/was fixated on having all of it on the B2. 

The B2's NAS loads/exposes at/from the MUSIC directory/Folder

The B2's MIRROR folder is at the same directory level as MUSIC and is therefor not accessible with the B2's NAS (as I understand it). 

4 i dont think that the B2 NAS can expose the mirror (not certain about this), it exposes the " music" folder .  I have not even looked at this yet. Windows can see .files in Windows so I assume in I would be able to see it on the B2 NAS. The problem is the processing done by dBpoweramp cannot see this. So if I tell it to skip all existing files in the .mirror directory it won't work, it will recreate a music directory. I will guess after I copy in a new mirror file the B2 will either overwrite or add the new copy on the next scan. Not tested yet because the machine is still working on new rips (wav >> flac). I have to do another incremental :-)

If the B2's MIRROR folder is not exposed by the NAS then dBpoweramp would not be able to see it, to work on it. However dBpoweramp CAN see the B2 Music folder and work on whatever is in this as its source (I would expect you to place the OUTPUT from dBpoweramp to a location on the PC running dBpoweramp).

5 you intend making an "Export" of your B2 music and to use dBpoweramp to make a MP3 mirror on a PC of this export. - Yes with higher bit rates than the B2

What I suggest above in 4 would do this.

6 dont understand why you need to run the B2 "Delete Mirror" unless you have used the B2 to create one? See answer to number 4. I read in the forum that mirror directories would become .mirror directories upon doing a scan.

The B2 "Scan Disk" DOES NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE B2's MUSIC HOLDINGS ON the B2 HDD. It creates a "Brennan" database of the Music (I believe this is a text file) and it uses this to provide its user functions). Scan Disk is a "read only" operation until the database file itself is written to storage.

7 are you intending to copy your new mirror back to the B2 if so why? - I guess that is an interesting question. I could just manage my mp3 library outside of the B2. I do like the idea of all of it in one place. The flac primary store is on the B2 and backup on the computer. The MP3 store is the other direction. Of course I could just use a second USB device. Currently my harddrive on the computer is too full of games. A new computer is in the future. I have not played with playlists yet. I could see where managing playlists on the B2 only could be efficient. If I have a straightforward way to manage on the computer and export to the B2, that would be acceptable as well. I did read on the forum that someone uses Notepad+ to manage their playlists. That is a future step.

As the B2 Cannot use the MIRROR directory and because it would not like two files of the same name in its music directory (even with unique file extensions). I would suggest this is not something you should be doing.

Fred also asked if I saw the instructions for dBpoweramp to create the mirror. I did. I investigated the program because of the instructions. Used the final notes in the document to understand that I could skip existing mp3. Found those instructions on the dBpoweramp website. You all sold me!

Good I am glad you are going to use dBpoweramp - please document your project for us, it will be useful for others.

NOW of cause I could be all wrong about the above (I am only a B2 user) - if I am wrong someone please step in and correct me - I am all for WiKi progress.

Fred

[Ray Dion]

I'll shorten the quotes with enough information to identify the thread. I think I have summarized everything and don't need responses unless you want to discuss or suggest options. It has been useful to me. You brought out some great points.

1. The B2 is for flac files and I did let it backup to USB C for 24+ hours. Now I know why the forum has called some USB sticks fake. The results were horrible with entire directories missing. Not happy, not B2's fault. Off I will go and keep my eye open for a USB portable disk. The SAN memory sticks at the local retail only went to 256G. My back up is a shade under 300G. My current USB disks have too much on them and not FAT32 formatted. There are some windows' tricks I could use with NAS. I may do that.

2. closed - We understand it is my desire to put higher bit rates mp3 into my collection. I desire all on the B2 but maybe I need to consider that again. As I get into play lists things might change, have to see what tools are on Windows to manage mp3 libraries. I have tried Windows Media but that has me confused.

3. Where is the mp3 library on the B2? I read the dBpoweramp instruction document and what it says to do is to read the music folder and anywhere you find a .flac file you should create a folder called mirror in the same location as the flac file (album folders in this case). Inside the mirror folder place the converted mp3 files. When that is done you should run scan disk. In the last section of the instructions it states that scan will change the mirror folder to a .mirror folder.

Ok so what I did was to use dBpoweramp to create mp3 for one album. I did this on the PC only since the connection to the B2 is slow. I successfully created a mirror folder with eight mp3 files in it. I then took this mirror folder and copied it directly into the original album folder on the B2. I could see the folder with no issues. Next I ran scan. When it was complete the mirror folder was gone. I then went to the URL in the windows file manager and appended "\.mirror" (without the quotes). The file manager changed to the .mirror folder and showed me the list of mp3 files! 

<techie>

So there is a separate folder for each mp3 album. It is not located on a separate linux partition that is not shared. If familiar (and my memory is good, it has been a while since I played in linux). A partition is something you create under linux and is called /dev/namepartition. So inside the Pi there is something called /dev/music. If the mp3 were not mounted then they would be stored in something you might call /dev/mp3mirror. 

When using linux (unix in general) if you precede a filename or folder name by a period then that file is hidden. It will not show up on a normal 'ls' command (dir in windows powershell/DOS). You can however add parameters to the ls comment and see all of the hidden files. .login and .logout are two files in almost every users home directory that instructs linux to run a script at those times. Sort of like autoexec.bat in DOS. If that does not age me nothing will.

</techie>

4. Closed. Most of this is answered in #3. Since dBpoweramp will not work with folder names preceded by a period (.mirror) and the NAS mount does not actually show the folder. I have to use the desktop computer to keep the folder called mirror on the PC or a USB drive attached to it. This is why I was suggesting copying after the conversion was done. It is also why the dBpoweramp instructions say that if interrupted the conversion will start all over again. On my local copy I can say if the file already exists, skip it. If I want to rerun the conversion, I just delete the old mp3 file(s) and run the batch job.

5. Closed - Yes I need a copy of the flac files on the PC to process into mp3's. As in number 1, I need a USB harddrive formated as FAT32. I have an external powered USB hub.

6 I think this is closed with the modification that it is not purely a read only function in that it changes mirror folders to .mirror. Then it writes the necessary index files and lists so it can operate correctly. No music files are changed. I ran an experiment and dropped a copy of the mirror folder again into the album directory and ran a synch. In this case the mirror folder never changed, it just sat there. That appears to mean that any updates I want to do I must clear the .mirror folders. This is why I suggested that I had to delete MP3 store before an update. The question why do I want to manage mp3 on the B2 still sits in my head. Maybe I do it on the PC only. So many options. My testing was not exhaustive here. The final answer maybe what my wife wants to do, she does more with mp3 players but expects her slave labour to set it up for her. (Do you like that English spelling?)

7. Closed. As in the instruction for dBpoweramp and my experiment above mp3 are stored on the music partition, just can't be seen using ordinary tools. I tried to ssh into the B2 but probably did not have the correct format for my tool set to let me into the Linux OS. From there I could verify partitions and hidden files directly. A dangerous stunt, I know. I am a computer nerd that likes to listen to his old 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's music. 

I think I have a .doc copy of the dBpoweramp document (I noticed both .doc and .pdf) were published so I may update that a bit. I'll also describe how I eventually setup my whole process as a reference. Not sure when, I am supposed to be downsizing and getting ready to move to another state. That is a big deal when one starts in Hawaii.

I think for now I am set. with most of the above, just have to make some decisions. Comments and suggestions are welcome. I'll search for mp3 file management separately.

BTW, hardwired ethernet is definitely better. I took the plunge today after I noticed that I could use a round cable with my model. I took a hint from the forum and shaved off the strain relief so the cable fits easily. User's manual originally says only flat wire and I could not buy that locally, tried. Only hiccup that I expected is that it is a different MAC address so I had to reserve a different IP address and update all my links and map the NAS drive again.

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

Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed reply. I think I now understand what you are doing and why.

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Ray,

My 'Estimator' spreadsheet suggests that your 'flac' collection will be about 280GB for 11,000 tracks.  Then it gives the 'mp3 mirror' collection (256Kb/sec compression) at about 75GB

If you use the 'Export mp3' function then that would take just under 3 hours to write to a USB device.

The B2's music collection is stored in '/media/hdd1/music'.  The '.mirror' folders are stored in each equivalent album folder as a subfolder.

To ssh into the B2 from another Linux machine, I have provided screenshots of running ssh from another Ras-Pi into a B2.

pi@raspberrypi:~ $
pi@raspberrypi:~ $
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ssh ro...@192.168.1.50
The authenticity of host '192.168.1.50 (192.168.1.50)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:zAEmNsuIfLlwIaQUFdw/Zpf50u7acBfLS9b8FJYH+54.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? y
Please type 'yes', 'no' or the fingerprint: yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.1.50' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
ro...@192.168.1.50's password:        (type in 'Brennan' without the quotes)
#
# pwd
/root
# uname -a
Linux brennanb2 4.19.23 #1 Thu Sep 19 12:41:02 BST 2019 armv6l GNU/Linux
#

Then you can navigate to the 'music' folder where you will see the music content listed by artist, in the case 'Adele' (and my apologies for this choice; I'm not an Adele fan!!)

# cd /media/hdd1/music
# pwd
/media/hdd1/music
# cd Adele
# ls -la
total 256
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root         65536 Jul 27  2021 .
drwxr-xr-x  622 root     root         65536 Jan 25 09:41 ..
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         65536 Jan  5 20:51 Adele - 19
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         65536 Jan  5 20:51 Adele - 21
# cd "Adele - 19"                  (I have put the album name inside double quotes because there are <space> characters in the name)
# pwd
/media/hdd1/music/Adele/Adele - 19
# ls -la                                    (The 'a' option in 'ls -la' causes the '.mirror' files to be listed)
total 261312
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         65536 Jan  5 20:51 .
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root         65536 Jul 27  2021 ..
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         65536 Oct 22 01:38 .mirror
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      19811423 Jul 20  2021 01 - Daydreamer.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      24324267 Jul 20  2021 02 - Best For Last.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      24466273 Jul 20  2021 03 - Chasing Pavements.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      23690888 Jul 20  2021 04 - Cold Shoulder.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      17405634 Jul 20  2021 05 - Crazy For You.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      22555479 Jul 20  2021 06 - Melt My Heart To Stone.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      16734557 Jul 20  2021 07 - First Love.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      22077073 Jul 20  2021 08 - Right As Rain.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      18347265 Aug  7  2021 09 - Make You Feel My Love.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      21752790 Aug  7  2021 10 - My Same.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      30028424 Jul 20  2021 11 - Tired.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      25647835 Jul 20  2021 12 - Hometown Glory.flac
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         33176 Jul 20  2021 coverart.jpg
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          9758 Jul 20  2021 xcoverart.jpg
# 

# pwd
/media/hdd1/music/Adele/Adele - 19
# cd .mirror
# pwd
/media/hdd1/music/Adele/Adele - 19/.mirror
# ls -la
total 82304
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         65536 Oct 22 01:38 .
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         65536 Jan  5 20:51 ..
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       7059674 Oct 22 01:37 01 - Daydreamer.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       8275106 Oct 22 01:37 02 - Best for Last.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6739532 Oct 22 01:37 03 - Chasing Pavements.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6142678 Oct 22 01:38 04 - Cold Shoulder.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6660947 Oct 22 01:38 05 - Crazy for You.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6528054 Oct 22 01:38 06 - Melt My Heart To Stone.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6092517 Oct 22 01:38 07 - First Love.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6318221 Oct 22 01:38 08 - Right As Rain.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6788859 Oct 22 01:38 09 - Make You Feel My Love.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       6263874 Oct 22 01:38 10 - My Same.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       8286793 Oct 22 01:39 11 - Tired.mp3
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       8682200 Oct 22 01:39 12 - Hometown Glory.mp3
# 

Regards,

Peter.

[Ray Dion]

Yup. Consistent with what I saw from Windows. I don't have access to another linux machine so I could not confirm it myself. But all of your commands (ls & cd) are familiar and so are the outputs (permissions included (root/group/user)). I think I am just formatting something wrong while in the command shell.

Since you so clearly pointed out the locations I also found a way to see the .mirror files in Windows. If you go to Windows File Explorer. Click on view and chose the options button. Then open the 'View" tab on that options popup and you can check "Show hidden files". After a refresh of file explorer you will see the folders directly. People shold be very careful messing with hidden files. They are hidden for a reason if the OS cares.

Your estimator is pretty good!  I am still debating what to do with MP3s and managing music on mp3 players. I am leaning on using the B2 almost as a backup and use windows software (not sure which) as the primary. The wife wants it but she insists on using her old player (10 years) that has a bad battery. Valentine's Day is next week...

I would be curious why everything is root. It certainly helps make it a sandbox for developers but security wise it would be easy to mess up. Some of my projects really abused running as root that caused problems latter in the development process. I would not see a big issue here as you don't network the password file so access is access. Just aesthetics.  I keep thinking what if I could add a program to the Linux base that could do desirable things like more tagging of files. I probably only need artist/track/title kind of stuff but I am a techie even in retirement. After I move off this island...

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Ray,

I have a wired connection from my main B2 to the router and use Windows 'robocopy' (stands for 'Robust Copy' apparently) function to backup my B2 to a Windows server.  Robocopy is very configurable and flexible so is relatively easy to set up and it backs up all of the music including the '.mirror' folders..  It can be set up as a batch job to run automatically. 

I also use 'Export' fairly frequently as this is the quickest way to do a bulk transfer, but this function does not back up the '.mirror' folders, so I have to work around that issue.

Regards,

Peter.

[Ray Dion]

You guys are making me learn!! Appreciate it. I read through robocopy command and googled suggestions. I am thinking this as the command line.

robocopy M:\music\ R:\brennon\ /MIR  /W:0 /R:1 /REG > C:\brennanbackup.log

/MIR - create a mirror backup. Interesting here is that it will delete files on my USB drive if they were deleted on the B2.

/W:0 Wait time between retries is zero seconds (default is 30 sec)

/R:1  Retries is set to 1 (default is one million) pretty funny defaults 500,000 minutes!

/REG  changes the defaults in the windows registry for this command (/W and /R). Not really needed in a script.

The results suggested ignoring hidden files but I deleted that parameter.

I mounted the B2 as M. Minor mistake of mounting the / level instead of /music. I will use a USB drive on R:

I see how to setup a repeating job on Windows so after testing the script I'll set that up.

I did get ssh to work. My format for host and username was incorrect.  I tried ssh IP username. It wanted ssh username@IP.