Understanding Folders

[Barbs]

As a JB7 owner for ages, I now have a bit more time on my hands and will be buying a B2 shortly. However I need to do quite a bit of tidying up of my JB7 in order to change over painlessly. The thought of not having to fiddle with the remote for entries is heartening. I have read loads of conversations from helpful Brennan owners here and tried to educate myself on the Brennan web site, but would like to put my questions to the group, please.

I  listen to my JB7, mainly on random, through a Marantz Amp 1506 and QL speakers. This is the audio system I want to carry on with, swapping the JB7 out for a B2. In readiness I also have the dbPowerAmp software and a new Seagate 2tb hard drive.

I have approx. 500 out of 2500 CDs that were either, not recognised by the JB7 CDDB (independent & self-releases) or did not load fully. Over time I ripped these as Mp3s and loaded them via USB sticks. Thus far I have never done anything, other than back up my collection frequently to a 1tb WD hard disk.

Folders Question: I also have 2000+ downloaded MP3s, which I should like transferred to the B2. These are fairly basically sorted in folders, rather than Playlists e.g. Jazz, Postrock, 60s etc. On my JB7 this works very well, as I like the scrolling info. Many are in individual folders, such as 'The Beach Boys Surf's Up', with no forward slash / between the Artist and Album Title.  Is this going to be an issue? Do I need THREE spaces in between? I understand the B2 has an extra level folder, so do the B2 and JB7 storage systems stay separate?

If needed I can get busy and sort them into correct format folders BEFORE transferring them across, if that will work better. I would rather do any long-winded prep work now.

Thanks for your patience and I'm looking forward to your advice.

Cheers, Barbs.

[JFBUK]

Hi Barbs,

I typically load all my music onto the B2 by ripping CDs first to my PC and then using the Upload function in the Web UI.

You can choose whatever name you like for the album name and artist name so you would be able to use your existing folder names.

e.g. Album Name = JAZZ, Artist Name = MIXED

Your main issue may be if your track names do not have a number prefix as the B2 expects this to preserve the track sequence in a folder

e.g.

01 bravo track

02 alpha track 

There is a free bulk rename utility for Windows  available

https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

It looks a bit daunting when you first see it because it has so many options but adding numbers is straightforward and I can post a 'how to' if you need it

Others have a preference for importing to the B2 from a USB drive or copying via NAS direct to the B2 HDD Music folder so there are various ways to do it. 

John

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Barbs,

The JB7 stores your music collection in the form of a each artist and album stored in a single level folder which contains the music tracks for that particular artist or, in some of your your cases, genre.  Each folder in the your JB7 will be named in the format:

Situation1: Where you have used the artist name and album name in the conventional way: (ignore the <> characters throughout this post; I'm using them for clarity and separation of fields)

<Artistname   Albumname>  (3 spaces between Artistname and Albumname) e.g.

The Doors   L.A. Woman

The Eagles   Hotel California

or 

Situation 2: Where you have used a genre name (e.g. Rock, Pop, 60s, Jazz, etc.)

 <Genre   Artist Albumname>   (3 spaces between Genre and Artist and 1 space between Artist and Albumname) e.g.

60s   The Beatles White Album

Rock   Suzi Quattro Greatest Hits

depending on which choice you made at the time. 

There are always three spaces between the two field names; the JB7 does that automatically at the time of ripping and that is fine.

When transferred to the B2 using the B2's 'JB7 Restore function'

In Situation 1 above, the B2 will create a top level folder which will be the <Artistname> then inside the <Artistname> folder, a subfolder <Albumname> will be created, and this is where the music tracks are stored for that album.

So in Situation 1 the B2 will convert the structure to

     Folder        Subfolder       Music files

/The Doors/L.A. Woman/<Music tracks>.            (where the / represents a folder level)

/The Eagles/Hotel California/<Music tracks>

In Situation 2 above, the B2 will create a top level folder which will be the <Genre> then in the <Genre> folder, a subfolder <Artistname Albumname> will be created, and this is where the music tracks are stored for that album.

So in Situation 2 the B2 will convert the structure to

  Folder        Subfolder                   Music files

/60s/The Beatles White Album/<Music tracks>

/Rock/Suzi Quattro Greatest Hits/<Music tracks>

When you want to transfer your JB7 collection to your new B2, all you have to do is:

1.  Take a final full  'Backup music' on the JB7. (or use your existing 'Backup' if it is up to date)

2.  On the B2 front panel select  'Settings' --> 'Web Upgrade'  (this will update the B2 to the latest software set, currently Mar 22 2021).

2.  Then transfer the USB HDD to the B2 (I would use 'USB A' port as it can deliver more power than 'USB C').

3.  From the B2's front panel select 'USB Functions' --> 'JB7 Functions' '--> 'Restore USB A'

The B2 'Restore USB' will restore the folders and will convert them into folders in the form: /Artistname/Albumname/Musicfiles

or where you have used your alternative format the form will be:  /Genre/Artistname Albumname/Musicfiles.

In short, if I have understood your collection structure correctly, and if you are happy with that structure, then your collection should transfer over to the B2 as it is.

I have created a test set of music from my JB7 Backup and have renamed some of them into a 'genre' format that I think you are describing.  I have done a set of screenshots to help with the visualisation of the 'before and after' structures.

Screenshot-1 : An example of my JB7 collection backup shown in Windows Explorer.

Screenshot-2 : The test set of music on a USB stick, with '70s' and 'Rock' genres as well as 4 artist and album sets in a standard format, now ready for 'Restore' into B2.

Screenshot-3 : A view into the B2 after the 'Restore'. This is the B2 structure showing the 'Genres' as well as the 'standard' artist and albums.

Screenshot-4 : Drilling down into the '70s' folder, the two artists and albums are shown.

Screenshot-5 : Further drill down into 'The Beachboys Greatest Hits' showing the mp3 music tracks.

Screenshot-6 : A view of the 'Rock' folder showing three artist and album sets

Screenshot-7 : A view of a 'standard' format of the Artist name 'Simin & Garfunkel' and a subfolder 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters'

Screenshot-8 : Further drill down into  'Bridge Over Troubled Waters', showing mp3 tracks.

Screenshot-9 : This is what your collction will look like in the B2 WebUI from your PC/Mac/smartphone.

Screenshots 10 & 11 :  Screenshots of drilling down in the B2 WebUI.

If I have misunderstood your collection structure, please let me know and I'll amend this post.  Also, if you post here the JB7 data stats, I can give you some reasonable estimates for backup and restore times.

Regards,

Peter.

[JFBUK]

Hi Barbs,

I think I may have have misunderstood your question about your downloaded mp3s. 

I thought they were not on your JB7.but still on your pc ?

If they are already on your JB7 then Peter’ s comprehensive reply is the way to go for them as well.

John

[Barbs]

Hi Peter & JFBUK,

Thank you so much for the explanatory replies. This is really helpful. I can see where I should be headed with my folders and can now make a start. 

 Peter, my JB7 stats are: Albums 2446   Songs 27802

Cheers, Barbs

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Barbs,

For the JB7, my estimate is that your collection is approximately 183GB (assuming the use of 192kbit/s JB7 default rip rate) and this would take about 124 hours (5 days) for a full 'Backup music' to complete.

For the B2 'Restore USB A' function your collection would restore in 6.5 hours approximately.

Regards,

Peter.

[Barbs]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the stats and the earlier fantastically thorough information.

 

Currently I have only one 'space' between my Artist/Genre and Album Names, so before I move them across to B2, I must increase that gap to THREE spaces.  I did say, I had some spare time at the moment!

Thanks again.

Barbs
.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Barbs,

No problem, glad to be of some help to you!   Yes, for the JB7 to 'see' the split between the artist name (or genre) and the album name, there needs to be 3 spaces between the two elements.  It  is, in my view, a very clever way be able to maintain a single level folder and at the same time maintaining separation between the artist and album name without using a separation  character such as '/' or ':'  in the folder name, which would cause confusion to other  environments such as Windows or MacOS.

Below is a sample of my JB7 'List Albums' function.  Ignore the numeric fields and you can see the artist name, followed by 3 spaces then the album name.  So, if you run 'List Albums' onto a USB stick, then transfer the stick to your PC /Mac and open this up in a text viewer (I use Notepad++ becaause it has some very powerful capabilities) then you will be able to see what you need to modify.

If you plug your 'JB7 'Backup' HDD into your PC/Mac, that will also give you an accurate view of your music folders.

If you need to make title changes, you can run 'Export Names' on the JB7 to a USB stick, then make the changes on your PC/Mac and then transfer this text file back into the JB7 using 'Import Names'. 

Again, ignoring the numeric fields, the B2 'Restore' will pick up the next field (e.g. Cat Stevens) and this will the the 'Artist' (or top level) folder name.   Then it finds the 3 spaces and uses the remaining right side of the string (e.g. The Very Best Of Cat Stevens) for the 'Album' (or sub folder) name.

1 Cat Stevens   The Very Best Of Cat Stevens 24

2 Carpenters   Carpenters 10

3 W. A. Mozart - D. Barenboim   Concerto N. 20, Kv 466 - Concerto 7

4 The Traveling Wilburys   The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 12

5 Tracy Chapman   Tracy Chapman 11

6 Various   Jazz It Up For Lindy Hop 2 18

7 The Panpipes   The Magical Sound - Vol 4 18

8 Crystal Gayle   Classic Crystal 10

9 Agnetha Faltskog   A 10

10 Adele   21 17

11 Leonard Cohen   Old Ideas 20

12 Phil Coulter & James Galway   Winter's Crossing 14

13 10cc   Sheet Music 10

14 Abba   The Complete Singles Collection CD 2 10

15 Adam & the Ants   Best Of Adam & the Ants 22

16 Abba   Gold (Greatest Hits) 19

17 10,000 Maniacs   Our Time in Eden 13

18 10,000 Maniacs   Blind Man's Zoo 11

19 Adele   19 12

Regards,

Peter.