Export Playlist to USB Question

[Richard Brook]

Firstly let me say that I currently do not have an up to date PC or Mac, as I pretty much only use my iPad or iPhone for everything nowadays, and that was my main reason for buying the B2 in the first place. I have a question regarding exporting a playlist to a USB flash drive. Does the B2 only export the file in the format it is compressed in on the HDD? I’m assuming that must be the case. The problem I have is that I am compressing all of my tracks as FLAC, but I think I need content on a USB as MP3. I tried to export one album, and I can see it stored in the USB tab on the B2, but it will not work in my car (which to be fair is almost ten years old) I suspect that is because the car does not recognise and is unable to read the file type. Does that make sense guys, and is there any easy way around this? It’s not a big deal if not, but as I have a lot of old CDs that I have rediscovered since transferring to them to the B2 I was hoping that I could use some of this music in my car after creating a playlist.

Thank You and Best Regards

Richard 

[JFBUK]

Hi Richard,

I think this might help, its a step by step process to get MP3 copies of your FLAC files.

https://thebrennan.com/blogs/how-to-guides/creating-and-using-mp3-mirror-files

The B2 can create  "mirror" MP3 copies of your FLAC files which you can then export to a USB drive.

Its not something I have done and the B2 website does warn that its very slow so others may have feedback on the time it takes.

There is no option to select individual albums just your whole collection of FLAC files on the B2

John

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Richard,

You goal to generate 'mp3' equivalent music tracks is achievable, but it will take some time up front to set up.  

How many albums/ tracks to you have in your collection?  My reason for asking is that the B2 has a 'flac+mp3' compression option which, when selected, caused the B2 to generate both 'flac' and 'mp3' files for each track.  However, the process is very slow to run although it needs only to be run once.  It works by creating a 'shadow' folder named '.mirror' as a subfolder in each album folder where it holds the 'mp3' version of the 'flac' version.

To activate this option, you need to go into the front panel display and select 'Settings' --> 'Compression' --> 'flac+mp3' and click on this.

This will cause two events to take place.

1.  When you are ripping a new CD, the rip and compression will create the 'mp3' version of the CD as well as the 'flac' version automatically.  Each CD will take about 1 hour to be fully processed.

2.  If you already have already got 'flac' files on the B2, these will be found by the B2 and 'mp3' files will be created automatically while the B2 is in 'standy' mode (i.e. if the B2 is powered up but you are not playing music on it or using the internet radio).  The conversion rate is about 15 tracks per hour.  If you leave your B2 powered up overnight in standby mode it will complete the job eventually.  Also, you cannot select specific albums or files, the B2 just starts at the beginning of the collection and works its way through to the end.

You can then create playlists in the normal way on the B2.

You then use the front panel function 'USB Functions' --> 'Export MP3s' and select the playlist from above and the B2 will copy the 'mp3' versions to the USB stick.

I use it quite a lot and it is very quick and easy to use once the B2 has completed the conversion.

There is another much faster way of generating 'mp3' files, using a product called 'dBpoweramp' but that requires a PC/Mac and the purchase of a 'dBpoweramp' licence (about £30).

Regards,

Peter.

[Richard Brook]

Hi John and Peter

Thank you both very much for your prompt responses to my question. That is exactly what I was looking for. 

Just playing around at the moment really. I usually hook up my iPhone in my car, but since I’ve got the B2 and loaded music on to it, I’ve discovered loads of old stuff that I don’t have stored on my iPhone or iPad, hence my original question. I don’t really want to buy a PC or Mac just to solve this issue. To answer your question Peter, currently just under 8,000 tracks, just over 500 albums, and I still have several more CDs to rip. 

This forum is so helpful and informative. 

Thanks again and Best Regards

Richard 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Richard,

The B2 seems to be converting 'flac' to 'mp3' at about 20 tracks per hour currently (up from 15 per hour that I stated above).  I estimate that your collection will take about 17 - 18 days if run continuously but this is an early estimate.

I would be inclined to go into 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Screensaver' and set the value here to '16'.  This will cause the front panel display to autoblank after 5 mins of closing the WebUI, and will preserve the life span of your display while operating in standby mode.

Regards,

Peter.

[Richard Brook]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the information. That’s very helpful. I’ll continue ripping and compressing as before, for now, and once I have everything on the B2 stored as FLAC files, I’ll start the mirroring process. One final question though if you don’t mind. Will the MP3 files show up in the Web UI when I look in the cogwheel in the top left hand side of the screen? Ultimately I’m assuming the numbers for FLAC and MP3 should match?

Thank You and Best Regards

Richard 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Richard,

The 'mirror mp3' files will not show up in the WebUI, they are hidden from the mainstream Brennan application except for the 'Export MP3s' function.  And yes you are correct in assuming that the numbers for 'flac' and 'mp3' should match.

One further question from me is in regard to doing an 'Export' backup; have you done one yet?  I would have this at the top of a priority list!

Regards,

Peter.

[Richard Brook]

Hi Peter

Fear not. After some reading on here about back ups etc I bought a 1TB Seagate Portable Drive a few days ago with that exact intention in mind. I’m hoping it will be up to the job. A relative bargain at £39.99 from Currys/PC World. I am assuming I will firstly need to format it via the B2 as FAT32 as I did with the USB stick? With regards to the “mirroring” process, if I can’t see the number of files, how do I know the B2 has completed the task and copied all of the FLAC files? Is it just a case of monitoring what happens when the B2 goes in to Standby? So, when it’s done them all, it will no longer compress/red light won’t flicker, after it goes in to Standby? 

Thanks again and Best Regards

Richard 

[Daniel Taylor]

You are correct in each of your questions.  Yes, format the disk in the B2.  Yes, you will know the B2 has finished compression when the red light won't flicker after going into standby.  Remember that the WebUI being still open in a browser window will prevent the unit from going into standby.

[PMB]

Hi Richard,

You can use the remote control to display the number of mirrored files on the B2's display - two presses on INFO gets you to the Software version, WiFi MAC, YouTube and Mirrored page.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Richard Brook]

Hi Daniel and Paul

Once again, thank you very much for your prompt replies and solid advice. I think I may actually be out of questions for now. I’ll carry on ripping and compressing as FLAC, export a back up of everything, and after that’s all done I’ll change the compression settings to allow the B2 to start mirroring. That should keep me busy for a while. 

Thanks again guys

Best Regards

Richard 

[Richard Brook]

I wonder if anyone can offer some advice to a problem that has recently arisen please. My B2 has been powered off for three weeks and I powered it up today. I’m still in the process of mirroring all the FLAC files to MP3, and  there are currently 114 (of 9045) left to do. The number of tracks stored on the B2 and the number of mirrored files differ by that exact amount (8931 of 9045). For some reason, when the B2 enters standby, it starts to compress/mirror 1 of 114, (red light flickering) and after a couple of minutes it freezes completely. If I press “Compress Now” I have the same problem. I’ve tried everything I can think off. I’ve scanned the disk and saved it several times, but it keeps doing the same thing over and over. Could there be a problem specifically with this first file? I’m really stuck and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and Best Regards. Richard. 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Richard,

When the B2 is powered up and idle (not ripping CDs for example) after 5 minutes it checks to see if there are any music files to be compressed and, if it finds any, it will start compressing, so that is normal.

In your case, there seems to be a problem music track which is blocking the compression progress.  Three situations come to mind for me which are:

1.  If your B2 software is earlier than 'B2(B) January 2021' then there were various issues with certain characters in the music title that have subsequently been fixed.  A web upgrade should help here.

2.  The music track title contains a 'reserved special' character such as ? / \ { } | < > reverse apostrophe.  This is not a full list, but look for a character outside of the standard alpha numeric range and edit the title to remove the character(s).

3.  The music track is corrupted.  Delete the track (or the complete album) and re-rip it.

To find out which track (or album) is causing the problem, 

1.  Open up the WebUI.

2.  Open up the 'Settings & Status' (by clicking on the little 'Cog Wheel' icon in left side window)

3.  In 'Settings & Status' near the bottom of the window, click on the 'Spanner' (Wrench) icon.

4.  A Debug' window will open.

5.  Click on the 'Clear' icon (this clears the gobbledegook from th 'Debug' window.

6.  From the front panel knob select 'Settings' --> 'Compress now'.

7.  Amongst the data that shows in the 'Debug' window, you should see a long string of characters which include the title of the music track that the B2 is currently trying to compress.

8.  Delete that music track and see if the B2 contiues with the compression.

Regards,

Peter.

[Richard Brook]

Hi Peter

Thank you very much for your prompt and detailed reply. I think the problem is number 2. I updated the software yesterday so that’s not the issue. I did take a look at the debug screen before posting and couldn’t see anything obvious. But after that I exported a small play list to a USB stick, and it is now showing me more information…….it looks like The Beatles are to blame…….possibly the aptly titled track “Help!” I just need to find it now. Thanks for your assistance again. Best Regards. Richard. 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Richard,

No problem, I hope you are sorted.

Regards,

Peter.

[Richard Brook]

Hi again Peter

After some playing around this afternoon I’m starting to think that the remaining files may be corrupted somehow. Removing characters hasn’t cured the problem, and the B2 is not actually going in to automatic standby mode now. If I “Compress Now” the red light flickers for a minute or two and then the process stops. So I plan to delete the tracks as they are shown in the debug menu, but as it’s only compressing for a short time, I can only see a few at a time in that list. It seems to be working, as the number or files left to be mirrored still matches the difference between the total number of FLAC files, and the total number already mirrored. If I don’t re-rip them I will ultimately lose 114 tracks, but it doesn’t really matter. I just want to get the FLAC and mirrored file numbers to match. As an aside, the USB stick now works in my car, (and sounds rather good too) and that was my ultimate aim from this process. So it’s not all bad news. 

Speak soon and Best Regards

Richard 

[Daniel Taylor]

If you can get the name of one of the tracks from the debug window, try playing it all the way through.  If it plays okay, then I think that rules out the file being corrupted, in which case it might be a different problem.

[Richard Brook]

Hi Daniel

Thanks for your reply. I’ve tried to do what you suggested and the first track on the debug list played all the way through as normal. However, the compression/mirroring problem is still apparent. It is now moving in to standby automatically as I would expect it to, but whichever way it starts to compress, it is only doing so for a minute or two. I am really struggling to think of what else I can do, apart from just deleting the FLAC files which have not yet mirrored. It really is rather bizarre!

Thanks again and Best Regards

Richard 

[Mark Fishman]

You could try turning off the mirroring process (set compression to FLAC instead of both). Then just find the tracks that don't have mirrored mp3s yet. NAS would help with that.

[Daniel Taylor]

If a track will play all the way through on the B2, I just don't see how it could be the track itself that is causing the hangup with compressing from FLAC to MP3. 

We've see the operating software become corrupted in ways that have very strange symptoms. The first thing I'd try is just a Web Upgrade - that can sometimes take care of it.  But if it doesn't, I'd try re-flashing the SD card.  It's possible that that still might not fix it as sometimes the actual SD card itself becomes corrupted and needs to be replaced.  I keep a spare around for cases such as these.

[JFBUK]

Hi Richard,

Rather than just deleting tracks that you think may be causing the problem it may be worthwhile exporting them to a USB drive via a playlist before deleting.

This way you will still have the ripped FLAC file and can then diagnose and rip to MP3 on a computer if you have that capability.

John

[Richard Brook]

Thanks Mark, Daniel and John

I don’t use a PC at the moment, everything is through my iPad or iPhone but thanks very much for all of your suggestions. The B2 is not exhibiting any of the previously known issues with a SD card problem, but it’s certainly something to bear in mind. As I understand it, the mirroring process compresses the tracks in the order they were ripped, so the remaining files should be the last tracks I loaded on to the B2? I’ll make a new playlist just for those and export it to a USB stick, and then probably delete them. Perhaps ripping a new CD may help? Will keep you all posted. 

Thanks again and Best Regards

Richard

[Richard Brook]

It’s been painstaking work, but I have deleted all of the non compressed/mirrored files and the number of FLAC files now matches exactly with the number or mirrored files too. There must have been some form of corruption during the ripping process as most of the problem tracks were from the same seven or eight albums. I did actually delete a couple of whole albums to speed up the process, as the debug menu only showed the compression queue until it stoped, so I could only see a few at a time. As a result in total I have lost 138 tracks rather than the 114 that were waiting to mirror, but that’s no big deal. I guess the next step is to see how the B2 handles a new CD to be ripped, and how it deals with the subsequent progression. Will keep you posted, but for now it seems to be operating as I would expect, and I’m fairly sure that the SD card seems to be working correctly too. Thanks again for all the useful and very helpful (as always) advice on here. 

Best Regards

Richard 

[Richard Brook]

My final post on this topic for now I think. I tried to re-rip one of the troublesome CDs. It contained 21 tracks, and the CD ejected before the end of track 18………Rip Incomplete. The 18th track was one of the files that was causing me problems, so I guess there must have been several more in there that weren’t ripped completely. I’ve been doing it since late May, so it’s not surprising that some have slipped through. So, probably not a fault with the B2 itself, but more of an issue with the source material I guess. Many of the CDs I have been ripping on to it are many many years old and perhaps may have deteriorated over time.

Best Regards

Richard

[JFBUK]

Hi Richard ,

Try ripping in DbPoweramp in can be more tolerant

John

[Mark Fishman]

... except that would require a computer. Richard has already said he uses his iPad or iPhone for everything at the moment...

[JFBUK]

Apologies.

Yes I had another thread in my head when I posted that reply