Problem with multi-disc albums on Naim app

JLH, I am afraid this has little if anything to do with the Naim app, this is down to your UPnP media server and how it presents multidisc albums. Remember the Naim app simply displays what it is sent by the media server. The Naim app is kind of like a specialized web browser.

If your multi disc albums are correctly tagged as 1/2 etc and have the same album name, your media server should offer them correctly. I would look at the Minimserver options. I note that Asset generally offers multidisc albums more consistently than Minimserver. I use both.

Simon

Thanks for your reply. However, I remain suspicious of the Naim app.

As explained in the original post, I am using MinimServer with various apps. Multi-disc sets only display incorrectly on the Naim app, which presents each track as a separate album. I use the Naim app to control my UnitiQute2.

I also own a different streamer, the Auralic Aries, which can be controlled by various apps, including Linn Kinsky, Linn Kazoo, and Auralic Lightning DS. All of these apps use MinimServer as well, and all display multi-disc sets correctly.

Screen shot from Naim app:

Screen shot from Auralic Lightning DS app, with the same album:

As Simon said,  the Naim app displays what UPnP sends it,  but it does it in its own style just as the Auralic Lightning app does. 

You do have a choice to reduce the multiple picture size or get rid of them.

The app screen top right box changes the size & layout,  UPnP changes what's on display.

That said I DO LIKE the way Auralic Lightning app looks,  & in this regard Naim have some way to go & have something that compliments the high end status of Naim products.

Thank you, Mike-B. Changing the display options does not get to the root of the issue. If the Naim app's "own style" is to present individual tracks as separate albums for Discs 2, 3, etc. of multi-disc sets, than that seems to me a fault in the app. As I mentioned in my previous post, three other apps, all referencing the same MinimServer data, correctly present tracks on albums in multi-disc sets. If Linn Kinsky, Linn Kazoo, and Auralic Ligtning DS apps have no problem in correctly displaying tracks on albums in multi-disc sets, then why does Naim app display each track in Discs 2, 3, etc. as a separate album?

I'll ask on the MinimServer forum, though it seems to me that, since the three other apps are having no problems with MinimServer data as presently configured, the problem is more likely in the Naim app, or at least in the way that the Naim app interprets multi-album disc data.If I get a solution from the MinimServer forum, I'll report back here.

I'm away from home at the moment, returning tomorrow, so can't conclude on this.   I use Synology's native Media Server & it displays differently & I can control what it displays,  that to me says its not all down to the app.   Tomorrow I'll take a screen shot(s) of my app display & post it. 

I have only one album that does this...

Press Disc 1 and it looks like this...

Press the album cover and it will look like this...

It will then play happily. Goodness knows why it does this though. What I've noticed is that all my other multidisc albums show as separate discs, whereas this album shows as one. It's only when you select it that everything opens up to show the tracks. 

Thanks for the screen shots. Yes, I have that album, and it displays as you have shown it. Problem is, so do many dozens of other albums in multi-disc sets. And only in the Naim app. Linn and Auralic apps work fine. Yes, I know, I'm sounding like a broken record (remember those?).

I've worked out why it was doing this. If you look at the metadata in dbpoweramp you will see that all the tracks on disc 1 have [Disc 1] at the end, while all those on disc 2 have [Disc 2]. 

If if you edit the metadata to remove the [Disc 1] completely, and then change [Disc 2] to [CD 2], it will look as it should. You'll have the two albums, but without the tracks. I suspect just removing the [Disc 1] will do the trick, but as all my multi cd albums are tagged with [CD 2], but never with a [CD 1] I wanted to be consistent. 

Give it a go and let me know if it works. 

I've taken to mushing all tracks into what appears to be a single CD.  I have so much music as it is . . . and something like Tommy or Quadrophenia feels like it should just be one CD anyway.  Easier to see what I have this way.

Obviously some classical multi-cd sets are broken up by piece.  But then on some of those sets, the pieces span the cd's in a very illogical way.

All in all, I don't feel that I must retain the original multi-cd 'format' if it doesn't make sense to me.

Thank you very much, Hungryhalibut, for trying to help figure this out.

I looked at the metadata for the Ibragimova solo Bach album. Curiously, none of the track names end with [Disc 1] or [Disc 2].

Here is how the Ibragimova solo Bach album is categorized in the folder structure on the NAS:

Music > Alina Ibraimova > Bach_ Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin

Within the folder named "Bach_ Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin" the tracks (ripped to Apple Lossless) are listed as follows:

For CD 2, Track 1, dbPoweramp provides the following metadata:

Also,  I just tried re-ripping the 3-CD set for which I originally included screen shots: Volume 2 of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, performed by Paul Lewis. I rescanned the music library with MinimServer. Then I checked the various streamer control apps -- and again, Linn Kinsky, Linn Kazoo, and Aurlaic Lightning DS all work fine, presenting all tracks on all discs.

Only the Naim app persists in presenting the tracks on Discs 2 and 3 as separate albums, Yes, I can click through more screens and finally get the individual tracks on Discs 2 and 3 to appear. But this seems like a design flaw, or at least an inconvenient inadequacy, in the Naim app, and one that, I hope, might be resolved in a software update.

Two things - I said I would look at my double CD app layout when I get home. 

All mine show just as they would on a single disc & as I am using Synology's Media Server there is no point showing a pic as JLH & HH are using Minimserver - not comparing apples for apples. 

But like I said in my 1st post,  its what the UPnP sends to the app,  the app just shows what its given. 

- however I will repeat -  I DO LIKE the way Auralic Lightning app looks,  here's hoping the Naim app gets some artwork features aded & we loose the stark minimalist look 

I don't mush double "CD" recordings, I just load & play them back to back or individually depending on the piece, mood or time

I load The Wall-1 & then load The Wall-2 to play last - its then one continuous play & to take it seriously it does need to be played as one continuous recording.

Other pop/rock doubles are mostly just a collection of unlinked tracks

Whereas (e.g.) Chopin's Music of the Night & Beethoven's Late Piano Sonatas are about 2.5 hrs play for each double CD that are both made up of sonatas/OP numbers of aprx 3 tracks each that are linked but other than each of these short works they are not linked & can be played as one disc or both.

Thanks, Hh, tried changing album title, used square brackets, rescanned music library with MinimServer, even uninstalled and re-installed Naim app on iPad, but still getting the same result:

Have you tried changing the value of the Compilation tag to 1 (Compilation=1).

Also, are the AlbumArtist tag and the AlbumTitle tag the same for all tracks, e.g. "Alina Ibragimova" and "Bach: Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin (Ibragimova), CD2"?

Will have a look at my tags and report back if different from yours.

Hope it helps.

/Peter

Just adding some screenshots of file manager, tags and Naim App.

Is this not because you have CD2 in the album title?

Have either Album Title [Disc Number] or have a Disc Number tag, not both.

It IS all about how the UPnP server is handling the multi-disc albums - just the Lightning and Lumin apps ignore a lot of values the UPnP server presents (which is why name sorting is impossible with these apps).

It's about the tags. Somewhere there will be a tag or tag difference between discs which is causing this. Got the T Shirt. If all else fails I strip all tags out and start again manually inputting them. And I strip out all the tags I don't need.

Hi,

This *WILL* be down to the tagging on the files that you are ripping in conjunction with how your UPnP server is handling them ... The Naim app doesn't actually do anything with the files themselves - it only displays what the UPnP server tells it to.

I know that it does sound like a cop out but you'll need to get a bit friendly with a tag editor and make the tags consistent.

If you want me to take a look at one of these multi-disc albums and can get the files to me via something like WeTransfer or DopBox or Cubby (etc.) then I'm happy to take a look and let you know what it is that's causing you the problems, even return you a set of edited files so you can see what needs doing?

Phil

I will take yet another look at tags, etc., try some experiments, and report back. Thanks for the help.

Reporting back – as a reminder, I’m running MinimServer on Synology NAS:

The problem, as I originally posted in this thread, is that when I rip a multi-disc album, if the metadata tags include disc numbers--for example, 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3--then, from Disc 2 on, the Naim app displays each track as a separate album. (As noted before, only the Naim app does this. The Linn and Auralic apps display the tracks as tracks, not as separate albums.)

If I take the same multi-disc set and change the metadata so that for each disc the “X of X” field is blank or all are set to “1 of 1,” then on the ripped files the Naim app properly displays the tracks as tracks, not as separate albums.

So, if I have an 11-CD boxed set of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, I want each disc in the set to appear as a separate album. To achieve this, I append to Album Title for each disc a disc number: for example, “Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Brendel), Disc 3.” In the metadata for Disc 3, I make the disc number field blank (or change it to 1 of 1). Then in the Naim app, Disc 3 appears as a separate album, and the tracks on Disc 3 are listed correctly as tracks in a single album, not as a series of separate albums.

On the other hand, when I rip some multi-CD sets--for example, an opera--I want the whole set to appear as a single album, with continuous play from one disc to the next. Then I leave the disc number metadata in place (1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3), and I make sure that the other metadata fields are identical for all discs in the set. For example, the three CD-set of “Dvorak: Rusalka” appears (after ripping) in the Naim app as a single album with 30 total tracks.

So, it takes some effort to make the Naim app behave properly, while the Linn and Auralic apps display multi-disc sets properly without the extra effort of removing disc numbers. Maybe there's an easier way--more expert advice welcome. But for now, at least I have a workaround fix.

As you're using minimserver: Maybe I haven't read correctly, but have you tried retagging your album name with the ending [disc n]?

No coding or settings needed, base settings of minimserver will automatically arrange the multidiscs for you. I.e. It will neglect and not show you the [disc n], but will group accordingly. Powerfull stuf...

Btw: [disc n] means numbering for "n". So Sonato for blabla [disc 1] and Sonato for blabla [disc 2] etc.

Arriving at a tagging strategy that will work for multi-disc albums on a variety of renderers can be tricky, but I agree with Eloise here. After tagging my library first for Squeezebox (Logitech Media Server) and now UPnP with Minim, I found the most portable approach is remove any "CD <n>" or "Disc <n>" suffix from the album title and only use the DISCNUMBER and TOTALDISCS  tags.With this approach Minim handles multi-disc albums correctly.

You don't need to use the COMPILATION tag unless you really have a compilation. LMS' handling of compilations is actually a lot smarter than most UPnP servers including Minim. If each ARTIST tag is different on an album and there is no ALBUMARTIST tag, LMS will automatically group it under "Various Artists", whereas with Minim you have to put "Various Artists" into the ALBUMARTIST tag which I think is a rather heavy-handed hack. Without this, the only way to find the album is via the album title.