Hard drive file management and itunes access

[muzzer]

Happy Christmas everyone

My CD player is in being fixed so I'm revisiting my streaming options and storage etc.

I have alot of music stored on an external drive which I access via a Musical Fidelity M1 Clic. It's a great streamer but the folder access is slow, sequential and in alot of the folders the music tracks appear in the wrong order. I fear this is because they were originally stored through itunes, which of course has its own ways of tagging and ordering etc.

I have two questions which I hope are simple:-

1. Are there other streamers which could make better sense of what I have stored on my external NAS drive?

2. What are the implications of simply pointing itunes to that external drive as its storage drive? (it currently uses a drive which mirrors the NAS but which is directly connected). I fear the update of the itunes library process might reveal all sorts of other anomalies.

My simple aim ideally is to be able to stream all my stored music through my main set up using itunes as the controlling interface, and not have to worry about the file structure etc.

Apologies if that sounds convoluted. I always make lists at Christmas - and this is top of the techie one...

Thank you

[johnb]

Although I don't use iTunes and don't know the MF M1 Clic I do stream all my music (using the Squeezebox system).

With the Squeezebox system, the file system browse mode is slower because the software has to scan the file system every time you browse, whereas the other access methods use a database which the device maintains. This might (or might not) be the explanation for your MF box.

It is possible that, when browsing the folders, the MF orders the tracks based on the trackname rather than the tags. Highly regarded ripping software such as EAC and dbpoweramp, by default, add a two digit track number at the start of the track name, e.g. 01 filename1 .... 99 filename99. This avoids the problem you experience.

The other possibility is that your files are poorly tagged. It is a sad truth that the tagging of purchased files is unreliable and almost always need to be edited as as to be 'sensible' for classical music.

The standard recommendation to edit tags is mp3tag. It offers very straight forward tag editing but also provides tools for more experienced users.

It is possible to use mp3tag to add the track number to the start of the filenames for the contents of a folder and its subfolders. Let me know if this would be helpful.

[Edit] I meant to say "Let me know if this would be helpful and I will explain how to do it without manually editing every filename".

[muzzer]

That's very helpful, thank you.

[PJPJ]

As johnb said, the CLiC is playing the tracks in alphabetical order, so Adagio comes before Allegro ma non troppo. The solution is to rename all the filename tags, or delete them all which is what I do, the player using the actual filename by default.

I've found mp3tag essential! As John said, purchased files are never tagged as one wants.

I've had the MF CLiC for some time now but use software to control the NAS. Of the ones I tried, this works best for me:

https://www.dbpoweramp.com/asset-upnp-dlna.htm

I select tracks by sorting by folder so needed to buy Asset Premium, as it seems to me the equivalent of picking a CD off the shelves......

The only possible downside of using Asset is the need for keeping the computer on.

Other software: Twonky, JRiver

Various reviews here:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/

Do ask if some or all of this is unclear.

[Dave2002]

Whether you like or use ITunes or not, I have found that it can be used quite effectively to edit mp3 tags. With a little familiarity and practice it's possible to operate at the "album" level so that most details are carried forward from one track to the next. I assume that once this has been done that there is no need to use iTunes to play the tracks if that's not desired.

Doing tracks individually can be really tedious.

Also, some people recommend not using tags from CD databases, but it can be easier to correct them rather than having to reenter all the data. It does depend on how far from ideal the tagging from the DB is.

[johnb]

As johnb said, the CLiC is playing the tracks in alphabetical order, so Adagio comes before Allegro ma non troppo. The solution is to rename all the filename tags, or delete them all which is what I do, the player using the actual filename by default.

I'm a little confused by this as, as far as I am aware, the filename isn't a tag so you can't delete it.

I would also strongly caution against deleting all the existing tags (e.g. Artist, Album, Track No, Title [i.e. track name], Genre, etc, etc) - it is very easy to delete them but it would take a tremendous amount of time to reinstate them later.

The first priority would seem to be to rename the filenames so that they begin with a two digit track number.

If you only have a few ripped/downloaded CDs to deal with it can be done manually within Windows Explorer. However, for larger collections it can be done much quicker using the powerful 'Convert' and 'Actions' tools within mp3tag. These can act on folders and subfolders, or on the complete library (if you are very sure of what you are doing). Having said that, you do need to know how to use the tools in order to get the result you desire.

As far as using iTunes to edit tags - you might as well get the right tool for the job, which by general consensus is mp3tag.

[PJPJ]

I'm a little confused by this as, as far as I am aware, the filename isn't a tag so you can't delete it.

I meant "track name" tags - my apologies. I find commercial purchases' tags almost always useless as they are, and discovered the player uses the file name to determine playing order if the track name is missing.

[muzzer]

This is all really helpful, thank you. How does mp3tag interface with itunes? My audio files have a whole variety of tags, depending on their origin, and itunes smooths much of this out but might get confused if mp3tag adds 2 digit file numbers to the front of every file. Also, is it possible to use itunes as a "jukebox" interface - i.e. press play in itunes and have the full quality audio track streamed from wherever it's stored...?

[Dave2002]

As far as using iTunes to edit tags - you might as well get the right tool for the job, which by general consensus is mp3tag.

Maybe - but this tool seems to be a Windows only tool. if our OP is using iTunes then possibly he is not a Windows user. I'm not knocking mp3tag - which may indeed be very good - but those of us who have moved firmly away from Windows might need to either use iTunes, or find a suitable replacement. I have no experience of this tool, and have little desire to boot up any machine running Windows to gain such.

Re getting "full quality audio track" sound from itunes, some would say no to this, but for many without golden ears a reasonable approximation can be had by taking either a USB or optical output to an external DAC and using iTunes. It is said that tools such as the Bit Perfect add on (Mac OS?) improve things, and real enthusiasts seem to like Audirvana. Using the standard audio ouput from one's computer will not give anything like the same audio quality - an external DAC is almost certainly the way to go. Some people even use a dedicated computer (perhaps a Mac Mini) for this, or a specially built computer for audio playback.

[jayne lee wilson]

I would just add that I've found JRiver by far the best for visuals (VERY attractive skin choices), album/file management and feature set. Almost every download appears there with cover art and correct file order, but if the tracks are jumbled for any reason, it soon sorts them out automatically... and things like file conversion or making playlists are so slick and easy... good audio analysis and data-readouts too... it takes a while to figure out where everything is but it's definitely worth it!

Audirvana (audiophile-nirvana, geddit) strips features back to a minimum, to aim at purest sound quality, and it is the sweetest out there, with Hog Mode and switchable System Optimisers to help (disabling other computer functions - I set mine to "extreme" ).
Shame it doesn't have a "latest albums" button (i.e. recent purchases - so useful on JRiver) but it's set up to make playback very easy, and with a nice large font choice for tracks/titles too...

I often find myself choosing the album in JRiver, then nipping across to audirvana to play it!

BTW - you can get either Audirvana or JRiver on a free trial for a few weeks, so... try it you might like it...

[Dave2002]

I've never tried JRiver, but it seems to have quite a following. Whether it's worth switching from other players - some of which are free, or adding it to one's softward collection I can't say. It is now available for Macs as well as PCs and other devices.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/JRiver_Media_Center