Web UI & Cover Art

[Raymond Okonski]

Has anyone managed to get this to work successfully - by which I mean getting cover art BEFORE ripping a disc? When so attempt this, I get the spinning blobs for around 60 seconds, then a text message underneath that 'No reply from musicbrainz.org' and then the only option is to rip the disc.

Manually after the rip you can select which service to use for cover art but not prior to - indeed I fail to get any cover art in this way. Does it work for anyone else?

[Tony Wyer]

Despite having MusicBrainz open on my laptop with the artist and the page that contains the cover Art, pressing the get art from MusicBrainz I too get the 'no reply' message.

I have found getting it from Amazon option successful 95% of the time. Given that I buy all my cds through the god known as Amazon that is not surprising.

The 5% left is when the cd has not been indexed properly and the search 'parameters' then dont identify the cd fully.

[PMB]

Hi Raymond,

This may be an issue with the WiFi signal so please check the signal strength at the B2 – Settings > Maintenance > WiFi Strength. It needs to be at least -60dBm (-50dBm being better and -70dBm being worse) and should not fluctuate wildly for a reliable connection and streaming.

 

Try moving the WiFi dongle from USB A to USB C as some B2 owners have told us this improves WiFi connectivity and reliability for them. The Bluetooth dongle can go in USB A and the B2 should reconnect automatically without you having to change any settings.

 

If this doesn’t help try repositioning the B2 (or the Hub/Router) to improve the signal strength.

 

Alternatively try fitting the B2’s WiFi dongle onto a short USB 2.0 extension cable and reposition the dongle for a better signal.

 

In some cases it may be necessary to replace the dongle with an RT5370 type (this refers to the chip-set used inside the dongle) with a built-in antenna.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Raymond Okonski]

Hi Paul,

I don't think WiFi is the problem, as the b2 and router are barely 3 metres apart (and when viewing the Web UI on the iPad I can see it instantly show the revised disc title from CCDB and can rip immediately. asking it to get cover art is where spinning blobs take over and it all grinds to a halt. I also use Fring to monitor my connections I can set alerts to advise me when an asset drops off the network, but this has never happened to the b2 unless I turn it off at the mains!

[Tony Johnston]

This us an odd one for me too. My B2 is hard wired to my router. When selecting cover art before ripping it seems to be hit and miss with musicbrainz. The CD chunters away as if trying to find the cover art on the CD, then often says not available from musicbrainz. Ripping the CD then using the musicbrainz option often comes up with the cover art.

[Mike Williams]

This feature usually works fine for me, although with some more obscure discs it doesn't. I can then almost always find art via Musicbrainz or Amazon, apart from a few - mostly compilations or Grateful Dead bootlegs!

[Nick Hickson]

When I ripped my small 250 Classical CDs a lot didn't come up with Artwork from Musicbrainz et.al so I tokk photos of many covers straight from my tablet and uploaded from there to the Web UI as viewed on the tablet. No problemo!

[Tony Johnston]

I know its a generalisation, but musicbrainz doesn't seem to have as comprehensive a database of classical music CDs as it does for other music genre.

[RaymondO]

I've updated to the 12th Feb firmware and tried once more - it now works (albeit slowly). It was a pleasure wondering why I wasn't getting the error message before spotting I was staring at the correct cover! 😎

[PMB]

Hi RaymondO,

Just checking but are you saying that Album Art lookup before ripping appears to work more reliably with Feb 12th software?

Paul

Brennan Support.

[RaymondO]

Aparrently so - I could not get pre-ripped covers with the UI on an iPhone or Mac and simply left it as a task to be done following ripping. Getting a new G3 iPad made me try again and it worked without getting the Musicbrainz error message - and the only thing that changed was the 12th firmware update (it was 5th Feb previously).