Can B2 read MP3s on a CD?

[Simon Redgrave]

Hi all! Just got my B2 after several happy months with a BB1. I have several CDs of MP3s lying around in the shed: backups from my old, pre-solid state days. Can the B2 read them and transfer the MP3s to its internal memory, or do I need to borrow a laptop and transfer them to a USB stick?

TIA!

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Simon,

It seems that the B2 cannot rip or copy mp3 CDs.  I've just tried a couple of these and have found that the B2 does attempt to start a rip but on accepting the suggested name of 'Album 1513' the CD is ejected.  The B2 does create an artist folder named 'Unknown' and an album folder is created called 'Album 1513' but the music files are not copied from the CD.

So it looks like you will require a laptop with a CD and copy the files to a USB stick.

Regards,

Peter.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi

I was a bit surprised by this reply.  I've ripped many MP3 cd's to my B2.  The only disadvantage is that the CDDB won't recognise them, so you have to rip as no XXXX and rename later.  Hope that helps

Best wishes

Rita 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Rita,

Thanks for the update; I don't want to spread bad information on the forum.

However, I have not yet managed to rip an mp3 CD on the B2.  Here is what I have tried so far.

1.  Insert mp3 CD into laptop to check that it is mp3 format.

2.  Insert the mp3 CD into the B2.

3.  Message 'Loading CD' is displayed.

4.  Message 'Lookup DB' is diplayed briefly.

5.  Message '1 Album 1513' is displayed.

6.  I select  '1' to select this album name.

7.  Within a few seconds the CD stops spinning and is ejected.

Looking into the 'music' folder, 'Album 1513' has been created in the 'Unknown' artist folder.

It contains two files, 'discid' and 'toc' but no music tracks.

I have tried formats of '/artist/album/mp3 tracks' then '/album/mp3 tracks' and then '/mp3 tracks' and none has worked for me so far.

I'm running this B2 on 'Software Version B2B Sep 30 2021' at the minute.

I'll work on at this when I get a chance.

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

Before we get too far into the debate on whether the B2 will read MP3 CDs, it might be wise to be clear on what we're calling an MP3 CD.

One can burn what would be considered a normal audio CD-R from files that are in the MP3 format.  Having burned the CD, it will have no knowledge that the files were originally in the MP3 format, even though the resolution will be no better than what was in those MP3 files.  That is not an MP3 disc.

Personally, I have very little experience with what are real MP3 discs.  I think they are data discs with MP3 files on them along with the MP3 index files to tell an appropriate player what is there.  Although there may be more to it than that, I hope that's reasonably close to factual.

[Daniel Taylor]

I just loaded my only known MP3 CD into the B2.  It seemed to recognize it, and presented me with five different possible titles, all of which were wrong.  When I pressed Play, it began to count up the seconds as if it were playing, but no music came out of the speakers.  And no waveform appeared in the WebUI's graph display.  Based on this, I think that the B2 does not know what to do with a real MP3 disc.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Peter

When the Album 1513 is displayed, press the big knob on the front of the B2 and it should start to rip the CD.  There is no point in looking up an album title as the CDDB doesn't work on MP3 recordings.  Once the album(s) have compressed, I go to the unknown section in the Web UI and rename and do the track names. (keep a list of the numbers if you are doing a lot of albums otherwise it can be confusing)

I had a couple of other thoughts.  I use an external cd player as it is more likely to accept cd's and the ripping process is much quicker. I don't know if this is making a difference. 

My MP3 cd's are normally downloaded from Amazon music, Band Camp or Artists websites.  I burn them using Windows Media Player  (I'm not very technical and I find this easier than using a flash drive).  

I also think that I have swivelled the big knob on the front of the B2 to check if a cd is recognised and, although I haven't found the title, the process works fine.  So maybe something isn't quite right with your machine.

I have no ideas about the 2 files 'discid' and 'toc'.  I guess the first one is disc id but the second ???  I've never seen anything like that on my Web UI..

My software version is slightly earlier than yours, I normally update about every  3 months, once it has been well tested

Good luck

Rita 

[Daniel Taylor]

Rita,

I think what you've burned is really a normal audio CD which had MP3 files to work with.  An MP3 CD is a data disc rather than an audio disc.

I will stop now, just in case I'm wrong.  If I am wrong, someone please post who knows more than I do.  Then I will delete my posts if they turn out to be misleading.

[Mark Fishman]

Daniel: you are correct. MP3 CDs are data CDs, just like CDs contaiing Microsoft Word documents, or Notepad text files, or any computer software. MP3 files are just that -- FILES.

Rita: from your description, you have been downloading MP3 files from BandCamp (I've done this too) or other sites, and then (as Daniel has suggested) using Windows Media Player to create ordinary audio CDs. The B2 will rip your audio CD-R exactly the same way it would rip a commercially made audio CD. The problem -- if there is one -- is that you mention waiting for the B2 to finish compressing: the B2 will compress the WAV files it makes from audio CDs, but once upon a time your files started out as MP3s, which means you are now compressing the same information for the second time. If you are compressing to FLAC, that's OK apart from you now have a file that still sounds like the original MP3 but is much larger. If you are compressing to MP3 then you've made the files sound worse than when they were downloaded.

   If you really had an MP3 CD -- i.e., a data CD containing MP3 files, not an audio CD made from MP3s -- the B2 wouldn't have to compress the files again because they'd already be compressed -- but the B2 can't read a data disc so the point is moot.

This is probably obscure enough so I'll stop. :)

-- m.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Mark

Thanks for explaining about the MP3 data discs - I haven't come across them.  I do know about the loss of audio quality with MP3 files, however I'm 70, wear two hearing aids and I can no longer tell the difference (getting old is a pain sometimes). 

Rita 

[Mark Fishman]

Rita,

I can't hear the difference between a CD and a good quality 1st-generation MP3 either -- but at some point, whether it's just by using too low a bit rate or by re-compressing and un-compressing too many times in series, there is a difference that I can hear. So, just speaking objectively, if you can avoid it that's probably better. I am emphatically NOT suggesting that you re-do anything you've already transferred!!

As to running across MP3 (data) CDs -- I've seen some audiobooks on CD that are available that way (in addition to, or instead of, a bunch of audio CDs), and the places that specialize in "old-time radio" shows usually sell them as MP3 files on CD in addition to offering downloads.

Cheers -- m.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Mark

Thanks very much for the information on flash drives etc.  I'll experiment next time I download another music file.

Best wishes

Rita 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Rita,

Thank you for your update in the above post.  Your suggested process is what I am doing; that is after 'DB Lookup' the B2 suggests 'Album 1513' and I press the front panel knob to select this.

After a few seconds, the CD is ejected.  When I look into the B2's 'music' folder, an folder 'Unknown' has been created, and inside this folder, a folder named 'Album 1513' has been created.  However there are no music files in 'Album 1513'

I believe that my B2 is working OK as I have not had any issues with it (or the other one) and it does everything else perfectly.  I did try another SD card with older software (March 2021) but that made no difference.

For myself, I don't use this function as I use NAS to copy everything around.  I was just testing the B2 for the OP of this thread, but I am curious as to what the right answer is.

Regards,

Peter.