How do I rip to MP3?

[Andrew Denny]

I've already ripped most of my CDs to Flac. However, I wanted to rip one to MP3 so I could save it to a small USB stick.  I went to Settings/Compression, and chose MP3 256, which I thought would do it. However, when I ripped it, it ended up as .wav. 

I tried again, on 128k, and it still ended up as .wav. 

What do I have to do to rip it to mp3? 

Thanks 

[Jeff. M.]

Have you tried compress now in settings? All CDs are ripped as wav at first, and then compressed to the required format when in standby! 

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

OOO ERRR

When ripping a cd the cd is ripped as is (in WAV) format. Then if the B2's compression setting is set to "FLAC" the B2 will proceed to compress the WAV tracks to FLAC while the machine is powered on but otherwise idle.

I MAY BE WRONG, but I wonder if, when you have a HDD full of FLAC tracks and you then change the compression to MP3, will the B2 then begin recompressing the FLAC files to MP3 (destroying the FLAC versions as it goes)?

 - IF this is the case then I do not think you should do this (unless you want to).

IF I HAVE THIS wrong people please correct me.

HOWEVER there is a compression mode DESIGNED for the need you describe above and that is the FLAC+MP3  compression setting. This goes through all your existing FLAC files and creates a "hidden" (from the normal B2 operational software)  MP3 copy of them all. When you have this "hidden" copy of your music collection in MP3 format created (it can take a long time to complete) then you can create a playlist of the MP music you want on your small USB stick and there is a B2 menu command to copy the "hidden" MP3 versions stated in the playlist to the USB.

Fred

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

AS I said the FLAC+MP3 compression can take weeks to complete with a large collection.

And a member of this forum (Peter) has published a means of creating a MP3 version of the B2's music on a PC (using a B2 Export or the B2's NAS as a source), see here

Fred

[PMB]

Hi Granny B,

As Fred says, the B2 rips the CD as WAV and later compresses these to FLAC or MP3, according to which you have set. So for your CD yo want in MP3 format (and if it hasn't already been compressed to FLAC - you can check the Stats - press INFO on the remote and check for WAV files - these will be for the latest CD you ripped).

Providing the correct number of WAV files are showing and you have selected 'MP3' from the Compression menu, select 'Compress Now'. Will take a while - the display shows the progress and the red LED flashes. Remember to switch back to FLAC afterwards.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Daniel Taylor]

Once the tracks have been converted to FLAC, if you change the compression setting to MP3, it will not convert the FLAC files, just the new WAV files that are ripped after the setting was changed to MP3.  The only time FLAC files are converted to MP3 is when the compression setting is set to FLAC+MP3, and in that case the FLAC files are kept and not deleted.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Fred,

In answer to your question above about changing the compression from 'flac' to 'mp3', the Brennan will NOT recompress the existing 'flac' tacks to 'mp3'.  This is because the Brennan knows that the existing tracks have already been compressed so it will not compress them again.

@Granny B; you can copy the music from CD to USB stick by running the following.

1.  Set the B2 compression to 'mp3'.

2.  Rip the CD (will take a few minutes).

3.  From the front panel select 'Settings' --> 'Compress now' (will take a bit longer).

4.  From the WebUI select and place the 'mp3' files into a playlist (say 'Red' for example).

5.  Plug a USB stick into USB C.

6.  If necessary, format the USB stick; 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Format USB C'. (if you see 'Format HDD', DO NOT use this function).

7.  Select 'USB Functions' --> 'Export Playlist'.

8.  Select 'Red' (in this example).

9.  The 'mp3' music will be copied onto the USB stick.

10.  Set the B2 comression back to 'flac'.

Regards,

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for clearing that up for me - I now know that the B2 will not recompress any file that it has already compressed from WAV.

However can you confirm that if you have a FLAC collection then the FLAC+MP3 option would indeed build the "hidden" MP3's from the FLAC - ie you do not have to start with the WAVs for this option.?

Fred

[Daniel Taylor]

> "However can you confirm that if you have a FLAC collection then the FLAC+MP3 option would indeed build the "hidden" MP3's from the FLAC - ie you do not have to start with the WAVs for this option.?"

Yes, that is exactly what the FLAC+MP3 option does.  But you'll want to be aware that it won't start creating the MP3 files until all the WAV files have been converted to FLAC first.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Fred,

Yes, Daniel is correct.  Further to Daniel's note, when you enable 'flac+mp3' compression on your mature 'flac' based collection, the artist & album selection order cannot be controlled.  This works just like the 'Export' function; it starts a the physical start of the music directory (i.e. the first CD you ever ripped or loaded) and works its way through the directories and folders (in ripped and loaded order) until it hts the end of the music directory.  However you can see the order in which it is running if you take a copy of the 'b2db' file and open this in a text editor.  The compression order starts from line 3 of 'b2db' and will follow the order of this file until the end.  Note however that the compression function does not use the 'b2db' file for its order; it is just the case that 'b2db' is built in the same way where 'Scan Disk' also starts from the first physical folder in 'music' and reads the file through to its end.

Regards,

Peter.

[Andrew Denny]

Yes, this is just to say the files are now all in MP3. I didn't realise ripping meant "copy off the CD first, then convert to MP3 afterwards". 

Thanks to everyone. 

 

On Tuesday, 10 August 2021 at 10:59:39 UTC+1 PMB wrote:

[Andrew Denny]

Many thanks for that, I see now. 

On Tuesday, 10 August 2021 at 12:05:47 UTC+1 peter....@gmail.com wrote:

[Jim Ericson]

When I got my B2 I set it to Flac + MP3 hoping to make both formats for the uses described here. Since I started ripping, (I am now 7,000 tracks in), I see many wav files and many Flac files but zero MP3. I reset the compression to Flac briefly, and saw the Flac + MP3 has now disappeared from the drop down menu. So, all my files are wav or Flac. This was my initial goal but wondering what is happening and if I'll need to re-rip from disk to MP3 if I want the format for other players.

Thanks, Jim

[Jim Ericson]

To update, the flac + MP3 setting only disappeared from the web gui. I found it directly on the Brennan interface and turned it back on. So I suppose I am creating both file typess but can only see flac on the display until all files are compressed?

[Jeff. M.]

The mirror files ie the mp3s are not displayed, but, on the info, on 2nd press it does say how many mirrored, just looked at mine and have about a thousand more than my actual track number. So, press info on remote twice!

[PMB]

Hi 9app...,

The mirror MP3 files do not show on the web UI but are stored along with the Tracks in each of the Album folders. You can see them if you you view the contents of the B2's HDD/SSD using NAS mode on your computer.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Jim Ericson]

Great info, thanks!