Can't play most eMusic MP3s
Posted by: Steve Cox on 16 January 2010
I mostly use eMusic.com for my downloads, and everything plays fine on my Sony MP3 player, and in Windows Media Player, and if I burn it to CD and play the disk in my Denon DVD player or in my car CD player.
However, only a few of the files play when streamed to my Uniti (purchased just a few weeks ago so presumably it has the latest firmware).
Looking for clues to the cause, I noticed that there are one or two albums in which some tracks will play, and some won't. Comparing the properties of the files (hover over them in Windows Explorer), the ones that won't play have in the Contains field:
ID Tag [ID3v2.3 (UTF16) & ID3v1.1]
whereas the ones that will play have
ID Tag [ID3v2.3 (ANSI) & ID3v1.1]
The UTF16/ANSI distinction seems to be the key. I think it has something to do with support for non-English alphabets (this from a quick scan of some Google hits).
If I play a playable MP3 and let it run on to the following unplayable one, the first second or so of the unplayable one is heard, as if the player doesn't realise that it doesn't understand the file until the whole of it is in its buffer - this is consistent with the ID tag being stored at the end of the file, which I believe is the case.
I tried using Twonky as my uPNP server, rather than Media Player, with the same result - I am guessing that all servers will behave the same, if all they do is send the contents of the file bit by bit to the Uniti.
My next test if I turn out to be an eMusic pioneer will be to see if I can edit the tags, or reformat the files, using MP3Tag.
Anyone else experiencing this problem? I have also posted it in the Uniti discussion thread on AVForums.com, but I guess I must be the only person there who uses eMusic. By the way, the album I mentioned is Chelonis R. Jones 'Dislocated Genius'.
Posted on: 16 January 2010 by Michael Chare
What happens if you put the files onto a memory stick and plug that into the Uniti?
In uPnP mode, the Uniti will display foreign characters as used in the names of German songs!
Getting these to display correctly depended more on correctly configuring my uPnP server
Posted on: 16 January 2010 by Steve Cox
Same thing with a USB stick. I sometimes get a one second burst, then the Uniti equivalent of the dreaded blue screen, viz. 'Please Wait - input initialising' (it never does).
Did Uniti play the music before you configured your server to display German characters? Were these MP3s or some other format? If MP3s, did they have UTF16 in the tag? If so, and they played, what server were you using? I'm convinced it's the UTF16 business that is the problem - iTunes AAC files play fine, as do MP3s that I rip using Nero. Internet radio is also generally OK (I assume stations are occasionally 'off air' and thus don't play for that reason), even from Germany, as are BBC podcasts, which are 'ANSI' MP3s.
Posted on: 17 January 2010 by Michael Chare
Yes, the music played OK even when the German characters were not displayed correctly.
Most of my music is in Flac format. All the music that I have in mp3 format has ANSI in the ID tag.
If the Uniti won't play an mp3 file stored on a memory stick with UTF16 in the ID tag then I would suggest that you take this issue up with Naim support, as that problem does not relate to any streaming arrangements that you might have. To circumvent the problem I would suggest converting the file to a different format. There is a free convertor which you can donwlad from the Naim website.
If there is a free way I can download an MP3 file with UTF16 in the ID tag, I don't mind trying myself, but I expect that I will come to the same conclusion as you!
Posted on: 17 January 2010 by js
I don't have experience with DRM as I rip and compress if needed but perhaps that's worth a look.
Posted on: 17 January 2010 by mrspoon
quote:
ID Tag [ID3v2.3 (UTF16) & ID3v1.1]
As you already have dBpoweramp installed (this popup is generated by dBpoweramp), install the Utility codec 'ID Tag Update', then open dBpoweramp Configuration >> Codecs >> Advanced and switch mp3 ID Tag creation to ANSI. Next right click on one of the offending files >> Convert To, choose ID Tag Update as the Encoder and just the ID Tags are updated (in this case removing the UTF16)
Posted on: 18 January 2010 by Michael Chare
quote:
Originally posted by mrspoon:
As you already have dBpoweramp installed...
That is an interesting post.
I changed one of my ANSI mp3 files to UTF16 as you described, and my Uniti plays it fine using uPnP or USB. Presumably there is another problem with the OPs music.
Posted on: 18 January 2010 by Steve Cox
Thanks to the previous posters.
I don't think it's a DRM problem, as I can play the ANSI tracks but not the UTF16 tracks even if they are from the same album and downloaded in the same session.
I hadn't appreciated that the popup was a dBpoweramp thing, but it's obvious now you mention it. I originally installed this app for the tag editing, but pursued other avenues when I found this feature was not enabled in the basic version. I'll go back to it.
Thanks for taking the trouble to perform your experiment, Michael. I wonder what converting the tag actually does to the file? Did its size change?
Once I've got this sorted, I will be experimenting with Spotify, which I see can be streamed to the Uniti if you know how, using vtuner. Anyone tried streaming Last.fm using the same technique?
Posted on: 18 January 2010 by Michael Chare
quote:
Originally posted by Steve Cox:
I wonder what converting the tag actually does to the file? Did its size change?
It probably changed size when I accidentally over compressed it the first time!
I would not expect that changing the TAG data character set between UTF and ANSI would make any difference to the file size.
Posted on: 30 January 2010 by Steve Cox
I think I have a fix, although I don't really understand why it works. As expected, it involves editing the tags to change the ID3v2 encoding type information from UTF16 to ANSI, but as the information itself isn't edited, I might still run into problems if this includes funny characters - watch this space.
I didn't use dbPoweramp for the conversion because the free version of it doesn't do tag editing. Instead I used Mp3tag, which you can download here:
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.htmlThis is what you do:
- Go to Tools->Options; highlight the Tags->Mpeg branch of the tree; in the right hand pane, leave the ID3v1 and ID3v2 boxes ticked, but select the radio button for ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1; click OK.
- Go to 'View->Customize columns' and tick the Tag box.
- Use 'File->Change directory' to select the music files with UTF-16 tags; you can select all of them at once.
- Select 'File->Save tag' (no, I haven't missed a step - that's all you need to do); the tag column will change to show ISO-8859-1 for the selected files (dbPoweramp shows them as ANSI).
So I can now listen to all the obscure German alternative stuff that I am discovering on Flux4 and Vox Noctem, and that is only available for download on eMusic.com, without having to burn it to CD first. Pity my poor neighbours...
