Track Listing

Hi Trevor,

Media servers sort on the metadata contained in the tracks, not on the physical file name. So if you don't include the track number in the metadata then it will sort on Artist or Album Artist then Title in alphabetical order. Use a tagging package such as Mp3tag to check that Track numbers are correct.

I've also noticed that it's best to label the Track as 1,2,3 etc. and not 1/10, 2/10, 3/10 etc. If I use the latter it reverts to alpha sorting.

Hope this helps.

Hi, thank you for your detailed reply. Sorry it took a while to respond I've been away.

I tagged the tracks which amount's too 10s of thousands using the software in DBPoweranp. They are all numbered My NAS drive recognises them in exactly the order they should be on the Album so this should have been perfect for the NAIM to pick up. Unfortunately the NAIM S-Serve software creates an alphabetical track list no matter how they are recorded by DBPoweramp and no matter how they are listed in their individual folders on the NAS. It's really frustrating because I don't want to go through each track again and renumber them 1/10, 2/10 etc...

However the software you describe seems like it's only for MP3s. Do you are anyone know of something that could automatically do this for Lossless Uncompressed FLACs? ...Or better still if there was an update to the software in S-Serve?

Regards,

Trevor...

Hi Trevor,

Mp3tag will tag FLAC files too. Suggest you just try to renumber 1 LP first and see if it works.  

Hi Trevor,

Use the convert the file name to tag command in mp3tag and type %title% in the dialog box and this will copy your numbered file name to the title.

Hi Trevor,

I have had the same problem with my Qnap for the last 6 months, only with my Naim streamers though, so yesterday I ordered a Synology NAS as I have a customer who uses a Synology with dBpoweramp with his NDX and it works perfectly, so fingers crossed.

I'll let you know how I get on, in the end I put it down to the Twonky server on the Qnap.

Set the UPnP compatibility option on the n-Serve app and the app will not re-sort the lists that come from the UPnP server...

Cheers

Phil

Hi Phil, unfortunately they are still sorting alphabetically no matter what I do?

I think I will give the MP3tag software a go that Gimpster & Sjbabbey discuss....P.S Thank you to all of you for your suggestions around this I really appreciate your thoughts and endeavour.

Kind regards Trevor...

If you browse the UPnP server from the front panel of your Uniti or ND product using the IR remote then do the tracks appear in alphabetical or track number order?

If they're alphabetic when browsing via the front panel / IR remote then it's your UPnP server that is ordering alphabetically and not the n-Stream app - if that is the case then you need to check your tagging or the settings on your UPnP server.

Are you using browse by folders (in which case it should use the filenames for sorting) or browse by Albums / Artists (in which case it should use the tags).

Never tag track numbers as 1/10, 2/10, 3/10 , 4/10 etc as that is poorly supported.

If you have large numbers of tracks to change the tagging on then I use a program called "The Godfather" which is a bit old and clunky but it does batch tag changing quite well when you work out how to use it.

Cheers

Phil

I've had the same problem with my QNAP/SB Touch server for about six months, previously I didn't have the problem. Drives me crazy. I think it has something to do with a QNAP firmware upgrade, I'm thinking of formatting the QNAP hard drive and reloading my music files.

Had the same problem (tracks all listed in alphabetical order) streaming from my laptop.Downloaded asset UPNP .You can download free to try !

I have a related question -- sorry if this is "off topic".

I want my artist sort to be by last name instead of 1st name as now.

So Bill Evans should be listed under 'E' and NOT 'B'!!!

is there any way of achieving this?

My steaming environment is UnitiServe/SSD and NDS with ReadyNas Duo.

enjoy

ken

Only by changing the artist name from "Bill Evans" to "Evans, Bill"...

Cheers

Phil

thanks Phil.

sounds very labour intensive to go through my entire music library doing this.

does anyone know if there is a some software that I can use on top of my set up that does this non-manually??

enjoy

ken

I implemented minimserve on my qnap and browse by "folder view" , this works for me.

Ralf

If they're albums that you've ripped on your UnitiServe then use Desktop Client (or n-Serve on OSX), highlight your "Bill Evans" album, right-click on it, select "Rename Artist" and enter "Evans, Bill".

If you have more than one album by Bill Evans then Select the whole of "Evans, Bill" and hit Ctrl-C (Copy) before pressing return and then for any subsequent albums you can Right-Click -> Rename Artist -> Ctrl-V -> Return ... shouldn't be OVERLY labour intensive.

If they're tracks that have been ripped elsewhere then a good Batch Tag Editor will do the same job.

Obviously if you're hoping for something that will automatically change ALL artist names to the format <surname>, <forename> automatically then I'm afraid you're probably out of luck there.

I did my collection (about 5,500 albums) doing that with "A"'s and "The"'s and it wasn't too painful. 

Cheers

Phil

thanks for the suggestions Phil.

I have just gone through album titles changing things prefixes like 'the' (e.g. the lord of the rings') and 'the very best of...' to something that will sort sensibly.

I will think about artist names a bit more before I dive in to also change these manually! I am a bit spoiled I guess as my mobile phone had an option to sort my contacts by last name and it made quite a good job of it -- even with nicknames.

enjoy

ken 

Hi,

Yes, a contacts list on a phone is a little different to the "Artist" field in a track tag though ...

In your contacts list on your phone the name usually does contain a name such as "Bill Withers" rather than - say - "Depeche Mode" so it isn't really possible to simply by default assume that an artist name is actually a persons name and not just a band or group name otherwise you'll end up with "Mode, Depeche", "Boy, Badly Drawn", "Seagulls, A Flock Of" etc.

It's not even possible to do it automatically with performers or composers as the data isn't provided as separate <surname> and <firstnames> fields ... it's generally a single text string so it's not even possible to just chop the last word and swap round as then - say - "Chris De Burgh" would be listed as "Burgh, Chris De" which is obviously wrong.

Basically - if you want your music collection ordered in a specific way then it does require a bit of time and effort spent on grooming your music collection once it has been ripped.

Cheers

Phil

fair points Phil. I haven't really thought this through but I suspect an automatic program could do a 'good enough job' to start with, and then allow you to edit where it will inevitably make the sort of mistakes you point out. a good problem would also I guess show you what change it is about to make before actually making it so you can say 'ja' or 'nein'  -- with the option of doing it all 'silently' if required.

enjoy

ken

Just thought I'd post a quick update as I have just finished installing my new Synology DS213J NAS after giving up with my Qnap and its insistence on displaying albums in alphabetical order when in folder view, thanks for the advice of switching on UPNP compatibly Phil but it didn't help unfortunately.

So I have just copied over a couple of albums direct from the Qnap, so the Synology is using the exact same rips, I nervously opened n-Stream, went to folder view, selected an album expecting it to be in alphabetical order again but thankfully all the tracks are listed in the correct running order, happy days, at long last I can listen to my music on my Naim kit as it was intended 

So all I can assume is that the Twonky server on the Qnap is screwing things up somewhere, at least now I can offer my customers a NAS solution that works perfectly, it is actually pretty cool as you can go in and do a custom list of what is displayed when browsing the music folder, so all I have got is, By Folder, By Album, By Artist, Artist/Album and Recently Added so it all looks nice and tidy.

I was always told that the Synology interface was quite tricky to navigate and was more for IT experts but I found it really easy to set up to raid 1 and get it all configured and I'm certainly no computer expert, so all I can say is that the Synology DS213j is definitely recommended with Naim streamers.

Paul thanks for your review of the 213j.  My son needs a nas, so I'm going to give him my 212j and have ordered a 213j.  It appears that the 213j is rated as just a little bit quieter than the former, which is fine with me, even though the 212j is quite quiet. 

Hi

Is it easier to get the right setting music on a Synology NAS than on a UnitiServe HDD (titles, numbering ...)?

Nothing is easier than the UnitiServe - Naim Player interaction.  The Naim music players are born knowing how to work with the UnitiServe.

Hi all,

thank you for your replies. I have worked something out using MP3 tag..(took a while)

I can get the tracks to list in the desired order of the album. This is vital for such albums as The Joshua Tree and Tubular bells to name but a few...

With MP3 Tag, it does re sort them to the correct order, but the only problem then becomes an aesthetic one....Tracks within N-Serve now show as for example:

1. 01 - Where the Streets Have No name

2. 02 - I still Haven't found What I'm Looking For.

instead of:

1 - Where the Streets Have No name

2- I still Haven't found What I'm Looking For.

Is there any way in future updates of N-Serve we could have the option to remove the numbering on the left hand side? This would help to solve the numbering problems for all QNAP users.

Regards,

Trevor...

Ok Here is the issue simplified after much discussion with Twonky & QNAP.

• Under folder view Twonky displays the songs in Alphabetical order, not the order listed on the particular album that we all want.
• Twonky refuse to change this.
• Twonky say that the tracks are in the correct order from the album in other views such as Album View or Artist View. This statement is correct.
• However the problem is that we want this to be like this in "Folder View" as this is the only workable view to search the artist as loaded as per our CD collection.
• Alphabetical order in folder view is only useful for photos and documents and not for music as we want the songs to be played in the order intended.
• Twonky won't change this or at least provide this option that other DNLA servers do.

Hope this helps clarify where we are with this. The only thing I can therefore suggest is that we all put pressure on Twonky (maybe via your NAS manufacturer such as QNAP) to provided this for us.

• The only alternative to using a different DNLA server completely such as Plex, is for Naim to provide us the option in N-Stream to hide the track numbering from the side which will mean if we edit the tags in MP3 tag it will show correctly.
• Simples....