Naim Desktop Client & Media Monkey

Posted by: endlessnessism on 20 July 2011

My first post.  I have not been able to find other coverage of this topic - sorry if I have overlooked something.

 

I have an HDX-SSD and am very happy with it.  I store all my ripped CDs in a CD Music folder on an external hard drive.  This folder is accessed and controlled from a laptop through Naim Desktop Client and, to that extent, everything is fine.  (In due course I'll extend the system through NaimNet, get some wall panels or the Ipad App, etc).

 

I have also started converting some of my vinyl collection to digital and I store these in a separate Vinyl Music folder on the same external hard drive.  For want of something else I have used the free version of Media Monkey to organise the Vinyl Music folder, list album tracks in order, etc.  For most albums I can't be bothered converting each track of an album separately and "Side One" and "Side Two" are enough but for a few I have gone to the trouble of doing each track separately and that's where the problem arises. 

 

In case it's relevant I'm using a simple Cakewalk UM-2G to do the vinyl conversion.

 

When Naim Desktop Client scans the Vinyl Music folder, it does a pretty-good job of seamlessly integrating the vinyl with the CDs.  All the right tracks get grouped into the right albums under the right artist name but some of the tracks are in the wrong playing order and there's nothing I can do to correct it.  Tracks appear in the correct order in the Vinyl Folder and in Media Monkey.  Mysteriously they're in the wrong order in Naim Desktop Client, and they play in the wrong order which is very irritating when you've had a record for thirty years and the order of tracks is engraved on your soul.

 

Any tips?  The paid version of Media Monkey doesn't seem to offer a solution though I haven't tried it.  Is there some other library software that might be more compatible with Naim Desktop Client?

 

By the way, I bought my HDX in March this year and I have seen elsewhere in the forum that there has been a software update in May this year.  I suppose I should download it though people seem to be having trouble.  I'm not sure if it will address the problem described above.

 

Many thanks

Posted on: 20 July 2011 by DavidDever

If you align folders and name the tracks as follows (WAV files given as example):

 

Pink Floyd

Dark Side of the Moon - Vinyl Transfers

01 - Side One.WAV

02 - Side Two.WAV

 

where filename = XX (= two digit track number) (space) (hyphen) (space) TrackName (period) (file extension): XX - TrackName.ext

 

this should resolve the issue of track ordering inasmuch as the tracks are now correctly ordered from an alphanumeric perspective.

Posted on: 20 July 2011 by endlessnessism

Thanks.  I did try this but it made no difference.  Files in a folder will generally sort themselves alphanumerically but that doesn't seem to be the way it works in either Naim Desktop Client or Media Monkey.  When you enter the properties of a track in Media Monkey, one of the things you enter is the track number and the folder sorts itself accordingly, whatever the name of the track itself.  When, however, Naim Desktop Client scans the same folder it sometimes puts the tracks in a different order and that's the bit I can't resolve.

Posted on: 20 July 2011 by DavidDever
Is MediaMonkey embedding track number tags, perhaps?
Posted on: 21 July 2011 by endlessnessism

Thanks David.  I tried your solution once again, this time more rigorously, and problem solved (I think).  The trick is, as you say, to name each track with the 01 - , 02 - track number when you first do the conversion and save it to the shared folder.  Naim Desktop Client then seems to order the tracks accordingly, ie, alphanumerically, contrary to what I thought yesterday. 

 

You get further proof of this if you look inside a shared music store populated by Naim Desktop Client itself.  As part of the CD ripping process, tracks get named 01 - , 02 - etc.

 

The track numbering in Media Monkey doesn't seem to have much effect, or at least not a controlling effect.  As a precaution I am ensurinng that I use the same track numbering system (01 and 02 rather than 1 and 2) as for file-naming.

 

So thanks again for clarifying.

Posted on: 26 July 2011 by likesmusic

If you want to automate this track naming/numbering scheme, you might want to check out dBpoweramp  - it gives you a lot of control over the path and filename, so pre-pending a track number automatically should be easy.