WAV files

[john duncan]

Hi

   been reading on the Forum about WAV files, I have 35 WAV files and 2017 FLAC files on my B2 . Is it an issue to have FLAC  files or is it something to not worry about . Would appreciate any advice.

  Thanks Jock

[Davywhizz]

WAV files are as ripped from the CD. The same file compressed to FLAC will play back at the same quality, but takes up less disk space. So you can store more albums that way. Think of FLAC as like having a document in a zip file: just like the original when you open it up. Though there are different levels of FLAC, they are all "lossless" in terms of music quality; the differences are only in how long compression takes and the final file size. Whatever anyone may tell you.

I'm wondering why you have 35 WAV files. By default, the B2 is set to compress WAV to FLAC when it's been idle for a few minutes. You can tell it to leave rips as WAVs (I think it's by selecting no compression) plus there are other options in the menu. 

[PMB]

Hi Jock,

When the B2 rips a Cd it stores it in it's original format - WAV (waveform audio file - format and later, when in standby mode, compresses these to FLAC (or MP3 if this has been selected) to save disk space. The FLAC version is saved and the WAV version is then deleted.

You can force the B2 into compression mode by selecting 'Compress Now' from the Settings menu.

If you find the B2 will not compress those files, it may mean that one or more of them is corrupted (perhaps because of a bad rip). You would then need to delete them and re-rip those CDs. To identify the WAV tracks use the web UI -

Click on the Track symbol - see screenshot - and then type  .wav  into the 'Search B2' box. The centre panel will show a list of any Tracks with a .wav extension.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Stephen Want]

Hi Paul/Brennan Support,

I have had a B2 since mid-November and have been ripping through a 4,000 CD collection. The process was going fine, ripping a bunch of CDs during the day, and then letting the B2 compress from .wav to FLAC overnight. Just recently I noticed that the B2 was not automatically compressing .wav to FLAC in standby, even though the display was showing compression work to be done. When I selected Compress Now it would run a little bit and then stop after some compression activity leaving about 550 .wav files. I can't believe that that many files would be corrupted and unable to be compressed. When I search on .wav in Tracks it shows me the .wav files but weirdly it seems to be compressing the first one or two tracks ripped from a CD and leaving the rest in .wav. Do you have any advice/comments? Have I overtasked the machine with too much ripping?

Thanks,

Stephen Want

[JFBUK]

Hi Stephen,

what software version are you running ?

If you try a 'Compress Now' again does the compression make any progress , i.e. does it compress any more tracks before stopping ?

John

[PMB]

Hi Stephen,

The B2 will stop compressing when it encounters a bad (corrupted) track that it cannot handle and does not have mechanism to skip that track and move on the the rest. This probably means only one (or maybe 2) track is to blame and if that is cleared the B2 will compress the rest.

On the web UI, select the COG wheel followed by the 'spanner' and it will open the debug monitor.

On the B2 use the front control to go to Settings >> Compress Now - do not select it yet

On the web UI click on 'Clear' to empty the debug window

On the B2 press the front control to select Compress Now

The debug monitor should show what Track it is trying to compress before it stops. Make a note of it and delete that whole Album. Try 'Compress Now' again. You may have to delete other Albums.

You'll need to rip those deleted Albums again but I would do them singularly and check the B2 compresses them.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Stephen Want]

Hi John,

Thanks for your message. I have the latest software update, checked this morning, and it hasn't made any difference. When I initiate 'Compress Now' it starts to run and then stops after a few minutes, without compressing any of the remaining files. I am stuck on 574 .wav files remaining. One thing I did determine was that now if I rip a CD and then initiate 'Compress Now' after that single CD rip it will compress those CD files. This without having the B2 playing music at the time. So I am wondering if -- where I have seen elsewhere 'Do not multitask the B2' -- the files that won't compress were ripped while the B2 was playing and this has affected those particular files at the time. But it doesn't explain why one or two files from a CD were compressed, and then the rest not. And, it will take a hellishly long time to rip CDs if I have to do it this way.

Stephen

[Stephen Want]

Thanks, Paul. I followed your instructions and there was no Track or CD indicated in the debug monitor window, just:

########## flushSettings 

Posted writeDB complete

getNumberOfWavs tracks = 43669

compressionCode () started: filesToCompress 574

compressionCode () done

########## flushSettings

And then the compression stops.

Stephen

[JFBUK]

Hi Stephen,

I think that Paul's theory is correct in that you may have a corrupt WAV file which the B2 cannot get past.

Do you have a backup of your B2 hard drive ?

If not, the first thing is to make sure you have one.

Do you have access to a computer that could connect to the B2's HDD as NAS ?

John

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Stephen,

If you haven't run 'Scan Disk' then run that and then try 'Compress Now' again.

Can you post your B2's 'Settings & Status' function results here, so that we have the base information to start from.

Regards,

Peter.

[Stephen Want]

Thanks, Peter & John,

I ran Scan Disk and now have 0 .wav files. This is the scan report:

setBrightness (15)

Waiting for compression to finish

Trying killFfmpegEncode

getPids got -1 pids

Done

pic_thread (): K200

pic_thread (): K300

pic_thread (): K0

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): K200

pic_thread (): K300

pic_thread (): K0

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): U

pic_thread (): K200

pic_thread (): K300

pic_thread (): K0

refreshUI () called by doui alertTimer

webGuest url = guest&mode=0&playlist=1&time=1638806132719

setGuestModePlaylist 0

refreshUI () called by webGuest

webGuest url = guest&mode=0&playlist=1&time=1638806171805

setGuestModePlaylist 0

refreshUI () called by webGuest

webGuest url = guest&mode=0&playlist=1&time=1638806201818

setGuestModePlaylist 0

refreshUI () called by webGuest

4076 albums

43809 tracks

1818 artists

0 mirrored tracks

1030377211 Kbytes used

writeDB ()

New loadPlaylists ()

blacklist id = 0

blacklist id = 0

Sorting artists

refreshUI () called by scanLocal

webGuest url = guest&mode=0&playlist=1&time=1638807223431

setGuestModePlaylist 0

refreshUI () called by webGuest

pic_thread (): K200

pic_thread (): K300

pic_thread (): K0

pic_thread (): K200

pic_thread (): K300

pic_thread (): K0

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): D

pic_thread (): K200

pic_thread (): K300

pic_thread (): K0

setBrightness (0)

########## flushSettings 

Posted writeDB complete

getNumberOfWavs tracks = 43809

compressionCode () started: filesToCompress 0

compressionCode () done

########## flushSettings

Does this mean all of those .wav files previously remaining have been deleted? Or have they been magically compressed now?

Stephen

[JFBUK]

Hi Stephen,

If you know the artist or album that you think was "awaiting compression" search for them in the Web UI and see if they are there 

John

[Stephen Want]

This from Settings & Status:

• Settings & StatusX

Software Version B2B Oct 22 2021 12:29:15

43809 tracks in 4076 albums 1818 artists

0 WAV 16248 FLAC 5772 MP3 21789 AAC

Capacity 2000.00G Used 1030.38Gb

USB 0 tracks in 0 albums 0 artists

0 Youtubes

FLAC 

Compression Mode

Off 

Segue Mode
Scan Disk
Scan Disk
Forget
Clear Sonos Devices
Scan Sonos
Scan for Sonos Devices

Automatic Force Mobile Force Desktop

Guest Mode

Red 

Audio on HDMI (TV)

Enable Youtube Cache

Big Picture

Original Mobile New New Mobile

Background
Idle

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Stephen,

If the numbers of flac, mp3 and aac tracks look reasonable and if the last CD that you ripped is present in the music collection, then it is likely that the B2 got itself into a bit of a funk and 'Scan Disk' has sorted that out.

The only point to note is that the 'Disk Used' figure (1030 GB) is somewhat larger than I would have expected for this distribution and numbers of the file types, my estimate is somewhere around 650 - 700 GB.  If the 43809 tracks were all flac format then the 'Disk Used' would be neared the 1030 GB which is currently shown.

Can you try ripping another CD and then run a check on that to see if it has ripped and compressed correctly?

Would it be possible for you to run a full 'Export' to an external USB hard drive?  If you have a PC then we could look at some more stats regarding the Export and then do an assessment of the state of the music collection.

Regards,

Peter.

[Stephen Want]

Thanks, Peter. I tried ripping another couple of CDs. The first did not want to compress, but after ripping a second CD and then a 'Compress Now' command, both sets of files compressed. I will look to do an Export shortly to see if I can get some data for your review.

Best wishes,

Stephen

[PMB]

Hi Stephen,

Please send the debugs as attachments as it to saves a lot of scrolling.

Paul

Brennan Support.