Compressing FLAC to MP3, as B2 saves to USB?

[Max Rankin]

Hi: I've finished ripping my CD collection. I have nearly 15,000 CD tracks from 981 albums (per my B2) on my B2 in FLAC format. That's great, but... I'd like to leave those on the B2 as FLAC in case I get really a  good playback capability. However, I also want to be able to put all this in USB sticks to use in cars etc., where space is at a premium and FLAC quality is probably wasted.  I might get the lot on a 64Gb memory stick in MP3 format - as FLAC they're nearly 300Gb. Also, I'd get a lot more on my phone as MP3s.

So, I'd ideally like to be able to Export or 'Save Playlist to USB' and simultaneously convert FLAC to MP3 as I do it:

Q1) Is that possible?

Q2) If not (as I'm expecting...)- it looks like the folder structure the B2 'saves to USB' in may prevent free FLAC to MP3 conversion apps from finding the FLAC files to batch convert. It saves in the structure as Artist Name folder / Album Name  folder / File name. I don't think most batch conversion apps/progs can 'look inside' these folders to find the FLAC files in Batch Conversion mode. So I'd have to manually drag and drop the contents of every one of '00s of albums into the batch file converter, then stuff the resultant MP3 back into Artist and Album folders on my PC before saving the lot on USB. Life's not long enough for that, so:

Any ideas how I can get round this problem please without spending the rest of my life manually dragging and dropping tracks on a PC screen?  My B2 has a 2TB HDD, with 300Gb used so far. So, if say there was a way to compress the lot to into something like an 'MP3' folder alongside the existing FLAC folder structure, then Export Playlist to USB, that might work. Or...???

By the way, for those wondering about the 'Save Playl;ist to USB' capability of the B2, today I transferred 136Gb of FLACs with cover graphics to a USB stick in about 5-6 hours, and it appears to have worked seamlessly.

Thanks, Max

[Daniel Taylor]

The latest B2 software has an option to convert FLAC to MP3 as a background task.  When all the tracks for a playlist have been converted, I think there is a command to copy those MP3 tracks to a USB disk.  I see that the Menu page on the Brennan website has not been updated to include that.  So I looked on the Latest Software page.  The command to copy the MP3 files is Export MP3s.  It's in the Playlist menu, so I hope it means you can get the MP3s as associated with a Playlist.  It will take some experimentation unless somebody who already knows will post here.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Max,

If you use '.mp3' @ 128kb/sec, the approximate volume for you collection in 'mp3' format will be somewhere around 60 GBytes.

As Daniel has stated, the latest B2 software version has a new option for compression, called 'flac+mp3' which causes the B2 to work its way through your music collection and creates '.mp3' versions of each '.flac' file. The '.mp3' compression rate is 128 kb/sec when using this option.

This new process creates a new subfolder in each Album folder called 'mirror'.  This 'mirror' folder contains the 'mp3' equivalents of its parent folder.

There is a new function in the B2 called 'Export mp3s' which works by you adding artists, albums or tracks to a playlist and then using 'Export mp3' to export the relevant playlist content to a USB device.  I've used it and it is really superb!

Now for the down side.  The ' flac+mp3' option takes a long time to run when it is run for the first time.  My initial estimate is that that your music collection will take about 40 days of elapsed time to complete. I'm still working on timings for this feature so this is an approximate figure.

Regards,

Peter.

[Max Rankin]

Thanks Daniel and Peter. Do I understand correctly that you first Compress as 'mp3+FLAC', then export those mp3s by using the 'export mp3' item in the Playlist menu? Or, does 'export mp3s' just do what it says and export the tracks of the chosen playlist compressed to mp3, without first saving them to the HDD?

Thanks, Max

[nicbw...@gmail.com]

Hello, 

Sorry to jump in on this thread but creating a version of my Brennan library that I can use on my Mac / i-phone was next on my 'to do' list and If I have understood this thread my B2 will do this for me. I have already uploaded my music to my B2 and it has been converted to FLAC, I have now selected the FLAC + MP3 compression option, does this mean that my B2 will (slowly) create MP3 mirrors of my FLAC music? Since doing this my B2 appears to be in stand-by, is this a function that happens in the background while the B2 isn't doing anything else? Will my SONOS accessing my music on the B2 cause an issue?

I appreciate that this is a slow process, (I have roughly 1200 albums uploaded to be mirrored), how do I know when the process has been completed?

Sorry for all of the questions.

Regards, Nic.

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi Nic,

Questions is what this forum is for.

> "...selected the FLAC + MP3 compression option, does this mean that my B2 will (slowly) create MP3 mirrors of my FLAC music?"

Yes.

> "Since doing this my B2 appears to be in stand-by, is this a function that happens in the background while the B2 isn't doing anything else?"

Yes.

> "Will my SONOS accessing my music on the B2 cause an issue?"

Not necessarily.  I don't do Sonos (yet), but I think you have to tell it where to find the music.  When you do that, I think it should become apparent.  The mirrored MP3 files exist at the "mirror" folder which is within the Album folder where the tracks are.

[PMB]

Hi Max,

The 'Export MP3' function finds and copies all of the mirrored MP3 folders to a USB stick plugged into USB C. So the USB stick must have sufficient memory space for the complete export.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Max Rankin]

Thanks Paul - does the mp3 export maintain the Artist/Album/Tracks folder structure of a Backup, or does it simply copy all the mp3s onto the USB stick?

I've left my B2 running Compress in FLAC + mp3 mode, it will be interesting to see how many tracks it does in 24 hrs.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Max,

 Here are some pointers How to use the 'Export mp3s' option

The new 'Export mp3' option works through use of the 'Playlists' function. You use a playlist and add your desired artists, albums and tracks to that playlist and then use the 'Export to mp3' option to export that selection to a USB device on 'USB C'. Yon can select any number of these or all of them.

To create a full 'Export' of the '.mp3' files you can run the following process.

Using the B2 browser

1. Left hand window 'Playlists' option click on the '...' icon.

2. Select 'Create new playlist' option

3. Create a playlist (I used 'All_mp3_Music' for mine)

4. In 'Playlist' option, select the playlist that you have just created.

5. Using the '...' icon, select 'Combine playlists' option.

6. In the 'Combine Playlists' window, in top option box select 'Append' (this should already be selected.

7. In the second option box select the 'All Music' option (without the quotes)

8. In the third (bottom) option box select your newly created playlist name (in my case 'All_mp3_Music').

9. Click on 'OK' to confirm the above choices.

On the B2

10. Plug you USB device into the 'USB C' port (ensuring that the device has sufficient space for this task).

11. Select 'Playlist Menu'.

12. Select 'Export mp3s' option.

13. Select your newly created playlist (in my case 'All_mp3_Music') and press the front panel knob to confirm.

13. The Export will start to run. (On my later model B2, this is running at about 6000 tracks per hour)

That's it!. Upon completion, your 'mp3' tracks will be on the USB device in the usual B2 format of Artist/Album/Tracks.

Regards,

Peter.

[Andrew Wilson]

Hi Max

What you could do instead of waiting for ever for the B2 to convert flac to mp3 is to use a program like dBpoweramp, which will do it much quicker. Export your flac files to your PC/MAC via a USB stick or on your network, and run dBpoweramp on them. It does have a bit of a steep learning curve, but there's an excellent forum where, like this one, you can find lots of help.

I used it to convert my flacs to mp3 before the B2 had the facility built in. If you want the files tagged - good idea - you could use the B2's command, or something like Mp3tag, which would almost certainly be quicker.

Best wishes

Andrew

[Chris Jones]

Or you could use FlacSquisher its fee easy to use and works really well. 

[PMB]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for posting the detailed 'How to use the Export MP3s option instructions.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Max Rankin]

Yes, thanks all. Compressing flac + mp3 on my B2 (they all already had FLAC compression) appears to process about 300 CD tracks a day, with about 70pc of those rock jazz folk and 30pc classical.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Max,

Yes, my B2 is producing about 300 - 310 mp3 tracks per 24 hours.  My B2 has also got the '.flac' tracks already in place.

Regards,

Peter.