New guy question

[Jeff McKenna]

Hi, everyone..  New guy here.  Got my B2 and finished ripping small (~300) collection of Audio CDs.  

I have lots of MP3s on my Mac.  I tried building a FAT32 flash drive to bring them into the B2.

When I put the flash drive in (and restart, etc) I don't see. Any of the files.  I need some more detailed instructions I think.

I notices that I need file structures for music and playlists.  Can I get a bit of a better understanding of the structure.  

I have a Mac and have never attempted any kind of NAS connection.  Can it be done since many of you seem to be on Windows.

Lots of questions!

I would appreciate any help.

Jeff

[PMB]

Hi Jeff,

Firstly the USB stick needs to be FAT32 formatted and this is best done on the B2 - Format USB C (Maintenance menu).

The music to be transferred needs to be arranged like this -

Top level - a folder called 'music' (no ' ')

In this folder there should be folder/s called by  the Artists name - no other files

Inside these folder/s there should be folders name by the Album - no individual Tracks

Inside these folders are the Tracks (and Album Artworks if available)

So -

music

          Artist 1

                     Album 1

                                  Track 1, etc

         Various

                     Greatest Hits 2000

                                                     Track 1, etc

The 'various' example is for a compilation.

You can then use 'Import USB C' on the B2 and the music will display and play as expected.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, your Mac supports NAS connections.  When the B2 is powered up wait about 15-20 minutes, then go into Finder and look under the 'Shared' section.  You might find an entry named 'brennanb2' already there.  That is your NAS connection to the B2.  If it's not there, let us know here and we should be able to help you.  The NAS function is a really great way to manage your B2's music collection, so it is very much worthwhile to get this running.

To get your B2 to see the USB dvice, plug the device into B2's USB C port.  Then go to 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Format USB C' and click on this.  The B2 will ben be able to see the USB stick in normal operation.  Do NOT use 'Format HDD'  function if you happen to find it; this will delete all of the music that is held on the B2's hard disk.

Then put some artists, albums and track on the USB stick and see if you can 'Import' them from the stick.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi All,

Git this from Randy T via email -

Hey Jeff,

I'm a MAC user and new to Brennan also. I found an easier and quicker way to import files from my MAC or most any other source quickly and easily.  This also totally negates the use of moving a USB stick back and forth. 

The organization of the files must be as Paul stated. I've found that iTunes formats correctly but that my not be the case for you. Who knows. 

You also need to use the Web UI to do this. It's just much easier. Wire in via ethernet if at all possible and you miss any issues with Wifi. AND unplug the Wifi dongle if you do this!!

1. In the lower left panel of the Web UI there are 4(?) tabs. The one to the right says UPLOAD. Click on that and you can Browse your computer/system to your music files.

2. Organization = Artist folder > Album folder > Song   [Note that all songs must be preceded by 01, 02, 03, etc. This is how the organization works or else it's alphabetical] I'm sure you've discovered this already.

3. I also discovered it's best to do this one ALBUM at a time. You can load a bunch of them at once but it REALLY SLOWS THINGS DOWN!!!

4. This WILL NOT change the file type of the music unless you are transferring WAV files. My MAC files are AAC lossless (maybe mp4) and some MP3.
      Brennan will only convert WAV files to FLAC.

I hope this helps. It was a revelation to me.

Randy

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Rob Harriman]

Can I just get something clarified here please?

When Randy talks about MAC music files is this referring to Apple Music purchased files?

Reason I ask is that I purchased Tuneskit audio converter to handle the DRM issues associated with these purchased albums.

If this process means that the B2 can just handle these files without any conversion, then I certainly wish I'd known about it before.

Thanks,

Rob

[JFBUK]

Hi Rob,

 I don’t think you have wasted your time or money. My understanding is that the B2 will play AAC  or ALAC files that are not DRM protected but not protected files. As the Apple DRM is proprietary to Apple only I think only iTunes can play the protected files.

John

[Rob Harriman]

Hi John,

Thanks for this.

I was certainly under the impression that you can only play such unconverted files on itunes/apple music.

So I just wanted to be clear for any MAC users out there that these could not be played by the B2 without conversion.

You've put my mind at rest.

Cheers,

Rob  

[JFBUK]

Rob,

just to clarify Paul from Brennan support posted this on the forum last year

The B2 and BB1 will play ALAC files but not AIFF ones.

ALAC files are shown as AAC on the Brennan but are listed as M4A when viewed on Windows.

[Mark Fishman]

AAC is a codec.

M4A is a file type.

M4A can contain AAC-encoded streams, and it can also contain other types of audio streams. (Recent updates to the spec, I think.)

Cheers -- m.

[Jeff McKenna]

Thanks for the input.  I have. FAT32 thumb drive with the correct structure in USB C.  I have tried both the original UI and v3 Web UI.

I pick the USB topic and it shows /usbc at the top regardless of if I pick UP or USB A or USB C.  Empty is shown below. I was using USB C. 

Then I tried Importing to USB A.  It worked but without the Web UI since the Wifi dongle only seems to work on USB A.  Do I have to do something to activate USB C.

Thanks for your help.

Jeff

[PMB]

Hi Jeff,

It sounds like USB C is possibly faulty. With the B2 powered on try plugging the USB thumb drive into USB C - do you then see  Mass Storage Mounted: USBC or similar on the display? Repeat with USB A.

The WiFi and Bluetooth dongle should work in either port as will USB Thumb Drives.

Paul

Brennan Support.