Two versions of same album - how to handle

You need to give the album a different name. Maybe add '24 bit' as a suffix.

Where I have bought a duplicate album I have simply moved the CD rip to a folder which is not visible to the UPNP server as there seems little point in playing the cd rip when there is a studio master to play instead.

Richard

Andrew,

you don't say what software server you are using but it's likely that it will be using meta tag data for organising the various browsing views. I suspect that both copies of your album will have the same album tag data so you will need to change one of them perhaps by simply adding "HR" to the end of your hi-res version album title. Mp3tag is a free tag editor for windows computer and I'm sure there are similar solutions for apple computers.

I usually give an alternative name as described above, although with most software you can also filter by bit rate etc 

Many thanks for all the replies so far. In the past simply renaming the folder to distinguish the hi res download from the cd rip has generally worked, but not always. So I thought I should try to sort this out once and for all. It may be related to the way in which the files are written during downloading. I don't have many hi res downloads, but, as far as I recall, renaming the files for albums from HDTracks has normally worked. The latest problem has arisen with a download from HiRes Audio.

I am using Asset. My rips are from DBPoweramp and I have a QNAP HS210 NAS. I will try renaming again, but will likely have to edit metadata as suggested.

Andrew, I also use Asset on my QNAP NAS drives and can confirm that it does use metadata rather than filenames to sort and serve your audio files.

I've just remembered that Asset does have a 'Folders and Filenames' view option which you can add via the Asset browsetree on your QNAP.

Append - CD or - 96, - 192 or whatever the sample rate.

I agree with Richard,   no point in keeping two copies,   just delete the CD rip.     

Editing the metadata for each track has sorted it out. Many thanks SJ.

i agree there is no need for 2 copies. I can keep the cd rip elsewhere to use on another device, if needed. I was just keen to compare the 2 versions on my main system; in some cases the differences are great, in others, to my ageing ears, less so.

I have multiple versions of MANY albums.  Between MFSL and hi res and remasters etc etc., I like to have them.  I just give each one a unique album name in the metadata.  Your mistake was thinking that UPnP server software uses folder names; it really doesn't -- it's the metadata as you now know!

Why delete the CD version? Not like drive space is expensive these days.

The comparison of different versions of an album can be illuminating. I google for reviews of re-masters, and/or HR issues. I do think many people out there have different ears to me though. Some reviews of "good" HR albums don't align with my experience, some do. I suspect that a lot of commentary is from people who haven't got a decent hifi or who are misguided. But there's nothing new there, back in the day I was often at odds with reviews of half speed masters and Japanese pressings of LPs.

But back to the thread topic. Yes you have to edit the metadata tags. I use "album name" 24-96 (or 24-192 etc). For most of my HR albums though I haven't kept the cd rip duplicate. I have about 500 HR albums in my collection of about 3000 albums. You forget which ones are HR. So as a mnemonic aid I photoshop a little banner 24-96, (or as appropriate), onto the album art, and retag the artwork to the tracks.

The other problem you get is when two artists have an album of the same name. So I will rename/retag also. ie, A Night At The Opera (BT) by Bryn Terfel to ensure it doesn't mix up with A Night At The Opera (Q) by Queen. 

Tedious but as your collection grows, good curation is essential or you go spare trying to find albums in the music foldet on your NAS.

Kevin Richardson posted:

Why delete the CD version? Not like drive space is expensive these days.

Once you have a big library with many duplicates, (and hard drive space isn't a problem I agree), it can get tedious just scrolling through your album list. Searches take longer and longer as your library grows too. And of course just loading takes longer on your app when you change from say album to song title viewing etc.

So I keep a few "duos" mainly as a demo for visitors and dump the generally lower quality/never played versions of duplicates onto another drive. 

If you use Asset you can sort by resolution, if that helps. 

Many thanks, Steve, for your very helpful advice.

HH, yes I have fairly recently begun to use Asset, after giving up on Twonky.  Excuse my ignorance, but can you tell me how to sort by resolution in Asset. Once sorted, what do I see in the Naim app? 

Hungryhalibut posted:

If you use Asset you can sort by resolution, if that helps. 

Thanks HH for that. I will give asset another shot. I have a Qnap nas and am just using Twonky. Bought asset but stuffed up by getting the 64bit version. Feeling a bit aggrieved as they wouldn't swap for the 32bit version. But will bite the bullet and try, (and sadly buy), again.

steve95775 posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

If you use Asset you can sort by resolution, if that helps. 

Thanks HH for that. I will give asset another shot. I have a Qnap nas and am just using Twonky. Bought asset but stuffed up by getting the 64bit version. Feeling a bit aggrieved as they wouldn't swap for the 32bit version. But will bite the bullet and try, (and sadly buy), again.

Hi Steve,

You say you have a QNAP NAS. Are you intending to run Asset on your NAS? If so there is only one version of Asset R 5.1 which runs on all QNAP NAS drives.

Yes, I have been edumicated. The night I was downloading software was not my finest hour. And I consider myself relatively familiar with the digital world. So tonight armed with more patience and less shiraz to the interwobble I shall sally forth. I will delve back to the Forum on an appropriate thread if it goes pear shaped.

Regardless of the sorting possibilities of your software it's always wise to also look at your tagging to avoid problems. So the rules I apply....

- I always add (HR) to the title of the album to distinguish it's high res, and I use the LR for what I call lower res albums, for instance recordings from the Live Jazz Lounge...., finally I tend to also use (M) to indicate mono recordings

- I organize collections which combine old albums across cd in their original appearance (so taking as original, album art original, directory structure as original)

- title problems I solve ad hoc, the same artist recording the same piece again then I normal add the year to the tag

While it is all more work, the benefits far outweigh the pain of not getting it right....

Tagging is definitely the key. I am still using iTunes for ripping and library curation onto my NAS, although I will be taking the plunge to dbPoweramp soon I think, (and Asset on the NAS). Still weighing the pro's and cons, been trialing a few different programs. But the tagging on iTunes is not too bad. And I am definitely not a Apple fanboy.

I like to group things, so all my HD tracks, or HD Linn, HD Naim, etc can be found easily. I also use both Artist and Album Artist fields, which make classical cataloguing easier I find. Also I only use the HR addendum to an album name if I have more than one version in the library, so my Rovi lookup doesn't get confuddled. I enjoy Rovi, checking credits, band history, and for other album recommendations. Fr me it adds to the pleasure of music and is a real return to my youth when I knew all the studio muso's who backed the star on the front cover.

And I have been doing all the crazy artwork things in Photoshop, which whilst it may be a little obsessive, is fun. Scrolling quickly through the album art in Album view on the ipad is my preferred way to wander when I'm not sure what I want to play next. The visual of the cover art, along with the little HR tags I put onto them, is easier for me to assimilate fast.

Ultimately I value my music collection far higher than my hifi. And so I am happy to put the time into sorting it.

As a PS Bert, been checking your posts in Music Room, you really are a musical omnivore. Me, I am that way too, although given I include hip hop, punk and rap metal in my list of musical likes, probably more the musical slut.

AndrewG posted:

Many thanks, Steve, for your very helpful advice.

HH, yes I have fairly recently begun to use Asset, after giving up on Twonky.  Excuse my ignorance, but can you tell me how to sort by resolution in Asset. Once sorted, what do I see in the Naim app? 

Actually, it seems you can only sort by bits, not resolution, but as it's the 24 bit albums that will be high res (though some may be 44.1/24) that's probably enough. Just choose advanced search then bits. It will show individual tracks, but if you go to the bottom of the list there is an album button. Choose that and they will be assembled into albums in alphabetical order. There is doubtless a way of drilling down into artist by bits, or bits by artist, by modifying the browse tree - not something I've felt the need to do. 

In Asset you can sort by "bits" or you can add whatever tag you want to organize your album the way you like.

You need to edit "AssetUPnPDefinedBrowseTreev5.txt" and "MediaDatabaseFieldsv5.txt" to add custom tags in the Browse Tree