Core app treats metadata files differently than the old n-serve app does

Posted by: Christine on 29 January 2017

I've a large library of around 5,000 CD's all ripped with my Unitiserv (all in .WAV).  I've now pointed my Core app (which I've had for two days now) to this network share but the app displays a large percentage of my music metadata incorrectly and albums by the same artist are not linked together along with many other issues.

I've worked out that the new Core App uses the cdddinfo.txt file as the source for album and track information and ignores the UserEdits.xlm file (which contains any corrections made manually via the Unitiserv desktop application)

This is totally different to the way the old n-serve app works which I believe ignores the cddbinfo.txt file and thus my metadata is perfect using the old app.

If I delete the cddbinfo.txt file from each folder then the new Core app displays my music data correctly.

So what we may need is an option in the new Core app to disable it looking at the cddbinfo.txt file if so required.

Alternatively I just delete all the cddbinfo.txt files from my complete music library???

Your comments please.

JK

Posted on: 31 January 2017 by nbpf
Christine posted:

NBPF thank you for your suggestions, I'll take a look at Ex-Falso later today but the old Naim Desktop Client works brilliantly for me.

Luckily I've now managed to get my Core working correctly and my Metadata and Albums are now showing perfectly in the new Core app.

Unfortunately I can't tell you how I did this because this thread may get deleted, please see post above from Phil Harris.

I just need to report back now to Naim now on the little bugs in the new app and some suggestions which will make it work more efficiently.

Sounds great, enjoy! Best, nbpf

Posted on: 31 January 2017 by Chris G

Hi Christine, your success is very welcome and I hope Naim can now quickly resolve the issue for us.  I couldn't find the files you referred to as my music is downloaded, not ripped via US.  Thanks for your pioneering work!

Posted on: 31 January 2017 by Christine

Chris G

Just out of interest your downloaded music, is it in .FLAC or .WAV format ?

If it is in .FLAC can you confirm that your metadata is correct in older Naim or other devices just not so with the new Core app ?

Posted on: 31 January 2017 by Bart
Chris G posted:

Hi Christine, your success is very welcome and I hope Naim can now quickly resolve the issue for us.  I couldn't find the files you referred to as my music is downloaded, not ripped via US.  Thanks for your pioneering work!

Chris, downloaded music is handled completely differently by the uServe than is music the uServe itself rips.  None of what Christine was talking about applies to music you download and add to the Downloads folder of the uServe.

Posted on: 31 January 2017 by Chris G

Christine:

My files are downloaded in FLAC format.  The metadata is presumably correct, as the downloaded files display correctly on my windows PC, and I have then copied them to a separate NAS drive, which via ethernet cable connects with my ND5XS.  Playing them the "old way" seems to work OK with things in the correct order.   It's after I have copied the files to an SSD drive inside the Core that the problems have become apparent.   Quite a number of files do display correctly in the Core, it's not everything.  I have problems with a number of Chandos downloads, which are listed by a CHAN prefix and number, whereas some are listed by Composer first or last name.  I can't find anything looking for artist or composer - these search options don't seem to populate.  Several multi-work sets seem to jumble up the order, displaying movements of works out of order and apparently at random. 

I guess from your experimenting, there is a solution, so I will wait for Naim to provide the necessary modification to the Core software. 

 

Posted on: 31 January 2017 by Christine

As Bart has pointed out downloaded music is different to music ripped with the US or Core.

Naim are working on a fix for the metadata problems your having, which to a large extent is totally different to the problems I was having.

Unless Naim allow the current Desktop application to talk to the Core, or release a new PC based desktop application then I will be selling my Core the moment Atom is available and will stick to Using Unitiserve probably for eternity.

For now I won't be ripping anything with my Core, but if the sound quality and current ipad app for the Core are anything to go by then the forthcoming Atom and other streamers in the range will be class leading.

 

Posted on: 02 February 2017 by nbpf
Chris G posted:

Christine:

My files are downloaded in FLAC format.  The metadata is presumably correct, as the downloaded files display correctly on my windows PC, and I have then copied them to a separate NAS drive, which via ethernet cable connects with my ND5XS.  Playing them the "old way" seems to work OK with things in the correct order.   It's after I have copied the files to an SSD drive inside the Core that the problems have become apparent.   Quite a number of files do display correctly in the Core, it's not everything.  I have problems with a number of Chandos downloads, which are listed by a CHAN prefix and number, whereas some are listed by Composer first or last name.  I can't find anything looking for artist or composer - these search options don't seem to populate.  Several multi-work sets seem to jumble up the order, displaying movements of works out of order and apparently at random. 

I guess from your experimenting, there is a solution, so I will wait for Naim to provide the necessary modification to the Core software. 

 

My understanding (from the discussion on https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...ore-downloads-folder) is that Naim recommends putting the files of an album into a "Artist/Album" folder. I thought that the idea was that if the Core cannot find proper values for the Artist and Album indexes (for whatever reason, for instance, limitations that are going to be taken care of in future software upgrades) it uses the folder names. Perhaps you could try to put the files of a specific album that does not display correctly in a folder named after that album nested in a folder named after "that" artist. This is not a solution, of course. But it could help you (and Naim) understand whether what you are experiencing are the consequences of current, known limitations of the Core software or an anomalous behavior.

Posted on: 02 February 2017 by Chris G

NBPF - thanks, but that doesn't address the problem of tracks being sorted on the Core in the wrong order.  In light of Phil's comments, I think it best to do nothing in terms of changing files/names etc for the moment.  The problem with classical music is, as stated before, that one would wish to sort or search under several categories, such as conductor, orchestra, soloists, composer and work.  Also there is the potential difficulty of having more than one recording of one particular work.  In that case it's important to be able to identify whether you wish to play, say, Beethoven's 5th symphony in the version by Kleiber or Chailly.

Posted on: 02 February 2017 by nbpf
Chris G posted:

NBPF - thanks, but that doesn't address the problem of tracks being sorted on the Core in the wrong order.  In light of Phil's comments, I think it best to do nothing in terms of changing files/names etc for the moment. 

Sorry, I had not understood that the problem was sorting. In this case I agree that it is better to wait for Naim to issue a software upgrade.

Posted on: 02 February 2017 by nbpf
Chris G posted:

The problem with classical music is, as stated before, that one would wish to sort or search under several categories, such as conductor, orchestra, soloists, composer and work.  Also there is the potential difficulty of having more than one recording of one particular work.  In that case it's important to be able to identify whether you wish to play, say, Beethoven's 5th symphony in the version by Kleiber or Chailly.

This is the main reason why I am using MinimServer. My music collection consists mainly of classical music and jazz. With MinimServer I can use those indexes that better fit my needs. I have introduced, among others, Composer, Work, Conductor, Ensemble and Form indexes. I distinguish between Genre and Form and assign to the latter values like for instance "piano concert", "string trio", "symphony", etc. With the Composer and Work indexes, I can select a composer and see all the works by that composer. Upon selecting a specific work, I am presented with all the interpretations of that work. It is possible that Naim will sometime support on their servers a UPnP server that is suitable for classical music. But at this point, I do not see any reasons to go back to solutions that seem less flexible, less mature and more complicated than MinimServer.