Renamed Tracks Will Not Play

[Alan Ewens]

Hi All

First post so be gentle if it has already been covered (I've searched but not found the same issue).

I have ripped hundreds of CDs and initially the tracks play after being ripped.

However, I have noticed that when some albums have a long track name and I rename it, the B2 refuses to play it. An example:

Old Name

01. Bob Smith_Loving_My_Life

Now while it plays fine, I don't need that cumbersome title. So after listening to old Bob to see if plays (all good) I then listen to something else but rename the album track to something like:

01 Loving My Life

I know it's Bob Smith so I get rid of that bit. Now that it looks better, I go to play it... and nothing. However, if there are other tracks on the album that I haven't renamed, then they play OK.

Is it simply a case that the name is perhaps embedded in the track and that when I go to play it with it's new name the B2 simply doesn't recognise it anymore?

I've got sooooo many tracks that I've edited the name of... :-)

Cheers

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Alan,

Try running 'Scan Disk'; I think that this should fix the problem.

You can run it from the WebUI, click on the little 'cog wheel' icon in the left side window and then click on the 'Scan Disk' button.  It will take a few minutes to run.

Regards,

Peter.

[Peter Lowham]

PM from Alan received today.

Thanks for that Peter. I've done that several times for other issues but didn't think of it for this one.

I did it from the WebUI and, lo, the album that prompted me to ask the question is where I ripped it but with all the tracks now back to their original names. Should I event tempt to rename them???

On the negative side, literally dozens of albums that I had ripped and had under "Various Artists"  - they also had tracks renamed that no longer played - have completely gone. 

Looks like I'll be ripping again and NOT changing any names!

Regards

A

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Alan,

What version of software is your B2 running on? 

You can check which version software your B2 is currently running by pressing INFO on the remote control twice or clicking the COG tab on the web UI. You'll see either B2B xxxx or B2 xxxx (where xxxx is the date).

Also, can you check you WiFi signal strength on the B2?  From the front panel, run 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'WiFi Strength'.  This should be -50dBm or better (where -40 dBm is better).

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

Sometimes music that seems to have disappeared is not actually gone, it's just that the B2's software has lost track of it, for various reasons.  If you can view the B2's disk as a NAS drive, you will get a more realistic picture of what is there.  Once you can see a particular album, it might shed light on why the B2 has lost track of it.  In other words, NAS can be a helpful tool.

[Alan Ewens]

Hi Peter - I'm using "Software Version B2 Mar 22 2021"

The Wi-Fi strength jumps between -29 and -31.

Cheers

Alan

PS Sorry for the earlier message being a private one - first timer mistakes :-)

[Alan Ewens]

Hi Daniel

Yes, I think that is the case but damned if I know where to find it!

I've looked under 'Unknown" for albums but still can't track them down. I also find that when I am doing a 'Bulk Upload' from my MacBook, there are times when the album just can't be found post upload.. I then reboot the B2, make the Bulk Upload again (same album) and there it is clear as day.

Very frustrating as this happens more often than not.

Cheers

Alan

[PMB]

Hi Alan,

The example you give - 

01. Bob Smith_Loving_My_Life

Is this from a ripped CD as it has a full stop after the Track number and the underscores, which are unusual?

I wonder if adding the " . " to your renamed Title would help i.e. 01. Loving My Life

Paul
Brennan Support.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Alan,

Your B2 is reasonably up to data and your wifi signal is good, so I don't see any potential problem there.

You should be able to rename artists, albums and tracks without any problem.  I don't use the WebUI for uploading as I use NAS instead.  However, I have just run 'Bulk Upload' as a test for this situation.  The artist is 'Nanci Griffith' and the album is 'The Best of Nanci Griffith'

I am running on 'B2B Aug 02 2021' software.

I got the following message just as the upload started, but the upload did run.

"Folders hidden by browser for security reasons - music uploaded to Artist/Album Unknown". I don't know at this time what the reason for this is.

I looked into the artist folder 'Unknown' using the WebUI and sure enough the album was there and it was correctly named 'The Best of Nanci Griffith'.

I used the WebUI to rename the artist from 'Unknown' to 'Nanci Griffith'.

The album then showed up in the WebUI in the already existing 'Nanci Griffith' artist folder.

I played some of the tracks and those are good.

So my WebUI upload and rename worked as expected.

At the moment I can only suggest that you run a 'Web Upgrade' to get to the latest version.  For the 'B2' version that you are running, I believe that will be 'B2 July 13 2021'.

Regards,

Peter.

[Alan Ewens]

Hi Paul

Yes I see quite a few with the "." - when I rename them I take away the period as I'm quite particular and like all my tracks to simply start with the number then a blank and then the name of the song.

The ones that do no play all have that format i.e. 01 Song Title

Maybe I need to add the point?

Cheers

Alan

[Alan Ewens]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Peter.

I thought everything was fine with the B2. I have also found albums in the "Unknown" section after reading that message but on many occasions they are not there. A reboot and they load perfectly - I guess that is something I just have to live with (and it's not a disaster).

The problem with many of the albums I rip is that after they are ripped, I usually play a track or two on the B2 to check they have ripped OK then put the CD away. It's only some time in the future that I have gone back to the ripped album and found it doesn't play at all.

FORTUNATELY I didn't go with my original plan of binning all the CDs! I just have to rake through boxes to find them again 

Cheers

Alan

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Alan,

What might be happening here could be as follows.

You are using a MacBook in this process.  When you rename a track using a MacBook, the MacBook creates an additional file for the renamed track, so that there will be two files for each renamed track.  The second file is hidden from Finder but will be uploaded in a 'Bulk Upload' process. This second file is a 'shadow' file and is of no use outside of the MacBook environment.

The  original track (while held on the MacBook) starts out as:

01. Bob Smith_Loving_My_Life

When you rename the track (still held on the MacBook) it becomes

01 Loving My Life

But there will be a hidden shadow file there called

._01 Loving My Life

This 'shadow' file that the MacBook creates is in case a situation arises where a time based roll back to the previous version mignt be required.  In the MacBook, any filename that starts with '._' (without the quotes) is not displayed in Finder so you won't see it.  This file is not a copy of the original; it contains other data.

When you then do a 'Bulk Upload' from the MacBook, these shadow files will be uploaded and will be catalogued in the B2's internal database, because the B2 doesn't know anything about shadow files.

These shadow files are not music files.

If this is part of the problem, then you can run 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Cleanup'. This will remove all of the files whose names begin with '._'

Then run 'Settings' --> 'Scan Disk'  .

Ccould this be what is happening?

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

So editing that removes an unnecessary '.' from a song title results in that song disappearing - is that right?

That is not right and sounds like a bug.  I see that you reported that you have Software Version B2 Mar 22 202.  Please run the Web Upgrade command (Settings menu).  Hopefully, current software will solve the problem.

I just read Peter's latest post.  When I reviewed your earlier posts, I don't see where you've mentioned how you are doing the renaming.  If you're doing it via NAS, then Peter may have found the problem.  However, if you're doing it through the WebUI, I don't see how the Mac idiosyncrasy would come into play.  Do run the Cleanup command to see if that takes care of it.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Daniel,

Yes, I am assuming tha Alan is renaming from the MacBook and then uploading.  Below is a statement from one of Alan's earlier post.

"I've looked under 'Unknown" for albums but still can't track them down. I also find that when I am doing a 'Bulk Upload' from my MacBook, there are times when the album just can't be found post upload.. I then reboot the B2, make the Bulk Upload again (same album) and there it is clear as day."

Regards,

Peter

[PMB]

Hi Alan,

Let us know if 'Cleanup' helps.

Paul

Brennan Support.