Downloading hires files-dummies guide

The first and most important thing to remember is that if it's anything other than a CD ripped on the US, you must put it in the downloads folder. There, you can mess with the contents to your heart's content via a Mac or PC, and metadata editing must be done this way, as it cannot be done via the various Naim interfaces.

Whatever you do, be sure to keep some backup copies of the original download either on external drives or writable DVD/BluRay as data.

Depending on the online vendor of the music you may or may not be able to redownload in the future - even if the company offers that it's not foolproof if the rights holders have it removed from the catalogue.  Also if the company goes bust there'd be no way to redownload.

When you move downloads to the downloads folder on your US, it can take quite a while for it to show up in the app. Hours quite possibly, or even longer than that. Don't despair. It will get there eventually and several people here can help with ways to speed things if it takes too long.

You do need to sort out the metadata and album art yourself though because the US doesn't do anything with it except offer it for serving.

The network cable works bidirectionally so you don't need to worry about that at all! 

best

David

David,

Thanks. I thought metadata worked better with FLAC. Surely when it's downloaded the album info comes with it.  You suggesting the US will just show 'unknown' as what happens occasionally when it rips a CD it can't find on online look up? 

And, if it does take hours to show in the app, will it send it straight away when dragged into downloads folder?

Ray.

I would certainly stick with FLAC for downloads, especially as you are already transcoding to WAV on playback. The US can deal with metadata for WAV or FLAC, so that is not an issue. Just get a decent metadata editor on your computer, as you can't use the US one to edit downloads. 

mp3tag works well with windows and it’s free.

Why do you need a metadata editor.  If the download is FLAC and the US talks FLAC, then what's the issue ? 

Downloads can come with incorrect metadata, no metadata at all, or incorrect artwork, so you often need to correct or add it. Also, you may wish to add some info of your own, such as genre in a way that suits the way you browse your music.

Thanks, I see. So presumably you have to A, do that before you send to US folder and B, have a programme in your PC to do that?

Does everyone have this hassle when buying downloads so they can see/play everything properly on their Naim streamer?

Also, I've noticed on the nserve app, you can edit albums, cover etc etc. For some reason whenever I rip a CD I'm nearly always having to click on change cover to fix it.  I think there's even an option to look up album. So once you've edited the artist and album name, that might work? 

It's a good idea to get into the habit of editing the download straight away if it needs it. Also, save it to a backup location as well as the US downloads folder, as the US auto backup does not include them. You can, however, edit downloads after transferring them to the downloads folder. 

There is a problem with the US artwork/metadata lookup system, as the AMG online lookup service no longer exists. The US still tries to access it, which causes a delay, and then it is usually necessary to add the artwork yourself using N-Serve. Sometimes it you leave the CD rip for a while, the artwork does appear, but if you get bored of waiting, just add it yourself. Naim are aware of this issue, and although the US is a discontinued product, they agreed to investigate whether they could release an update to fix it.

As an example, if you download a classical album from Qobuz, its genre will probably be ‘classique’, which you will want to change to classical. That’s why you need a metadata editor. As others have said, download to the computer, fiddle with the metadata and then copy it to the US downloads folder. It’s all very straightforward. 

The last few albums I downloaded from Qobuz didn't contain a shred of metadata except for the track title. Without Metadatics I'd have been stuffed. 

That’s strange. I’ve bought loads recently and they have all been pretty well spot on. We must be buying different albums. 

Possibly, although I remember one of the worst I had was that bargain Lou Reed complete albums set, which I know some people (including you?) downloaded complete with metadata. Mine arrived as a long list of tracks, and I had to look up the discography on Wikipedia to split the long list into albums, add artwork, artist etc. I asked Qobuz why, and their response was so blunt and unhelpful they might as well have told me to F off.  

ChrisSU posted:

The last few albums I downloaded from Qobuz didn't contain a shred of metadata except for the track title. Without Metadatics I'd have been stuffed. 

I've had the same.  One time the first download I selected was WAV & it had no metadata,  I went back & selected FLAC to see if that was different,  that had the metadata & I converted that with dBpoweramp.   I e-mailed Qobuz & the reply was that WAV does not contain metadata !!!   whoops that got interesting,  blunt & a hint of F-Off,  an e-mail to correct the misunderstanding followed.  

Another time there was no codec choice on offer, I downloaded & found no metadata.  This time I sorted it using Metadatics or dBpoweramp (can't remember) ,   but later looked again on Qobuz & all the usual codec was on offer,  so I downloaded one & it did have the metadata.

Final grrr    I have with them is the_ album_&_track_titles_are_all_linked_with_underscore,  what's that all about?  HighResAudio, HDTracks & all the others don't do it, why Qobuz

Bottom line - Qobuz is not my first choice these days.  

ChrisSU posted:

Possibly, although I remember one of the worst I had was that bargain Lou Reed complete albums set, which I know some people (including you?) downloaded complete with metadata. Mine arrived as a long list of tracks, and I had to look up the discography on Wikipedia to split the long list into albums, add artwork, artist etc. I asked Qobuz why, and their response was so blunt and unhelpful they might as well have told me to F off.  

You can look at this in a different way - you got 17 high res albums for £7 instead of £150 and so a couple of hours sorting out the metadata was a small price to pay. Anyway, this is supposed to be a dummies guide for the OP, not a moan_about_qobuz_opportunity. My biggest metadata challenge was the Maria Callas set with about 30 albums, and restoring the original album covers from the pdf. 

To the OP I’d say that these are much more challenging things than those you typically face, but it’s really easy to pick up the knowledge with a bit of practice, and not something that should put you off downloads. 

The Lou Reed set was indeed a bargain, and worth the rather tedious couple of hours it took to sort out the download. That shouldn’t put the OP off as it is the exception, not the rule when buying HiRes downloads. 

All my Qobuz downloads (FLAC) have all the correct metadata and so able to drop straight onto Asset.  Well maybe amend the Folder Name to remove underscores

Mike-B posted:

ChrisSU posted:

The last few albums I downloaded from Qobuz didn't contain a shred of metadata except for the track title. Without Metadatics I'd have been stuffed. 

I've had the same.  One time the first download I selected was WAV & it had no metadata,  I went back & selected FLAC to see if that was different,  that had the metadata & I converted that with dBpoweramp.   I e-mailed Qobuz & the reply was that WAV does not contain metadata !!!   whoops that got interesting,  blunt & a hint of F-Off,  an e-mail to correct the misunderstanding followed.  

Another time there was no codec choice on offer, I downloaded & found no metadata.  This time I sorted it using Metadatics or dBpoweramp (can't remember) ,   but later looked again on Qobuz & all the usual codec was on offer,  so I downloaded one & it did have the metadata.

Final grrr    I have with them is the_ album_&_track_titles_are_all_linked_with_underscore,  what's that all about?  HighResAudio, HDTracks & all the others don't do it, why Qobuz

Bottom line - Qobuz is not my first choice these days.  

I believe the underscore is to avoid the double space mistake which can make some tracks and albums go into separate folders 

Rattlesnaic posted:

Mike-B posted:

ChrisSU posted:

The last few albums I downloaded from Qobuz didn't contain a shred of metadata except for the track title. Without Metadatics I'd have been stuffed. 

I've had the same.  One time the first download I selected was WAV & it had no metadata,  I went back & selected FLAC to see if that was different,  that had the metadata & I converted that with dBpoweramp.   I e-mailed Qobuz & the reply was that WAV does not contain metadata !!!   whoops that got interesting,  blunt & a hint of F-Off,  an e-mail to correct the misunderstanding followed.  

Another time there was no codec choice on offer, I downloaded & found no metadata.  This time I sorted it using Metadatics or dBpoweramp (can't remember) ,   but later looked again on Qobuz & all the usual codec was on offer,  so I downloaded one & it did have the metadata.

Final grrr    I have with them is the_ album_&_track_titles_are_all_linked_with_underscore,  what's that all about?  HighResAudio, HDTracks & all the others don't do it, why Qobuz

Bottom line - Qobuz is not my first choice these days.  

I believe the underscore is to avoid the double space mistake which can make some tracks and albums go into separate folders 

s/\s+/\s/g

Rattlesnaic posted:

I believe the underscore is to avoid the double space mistake which can make some tracks and albums go into separate folders 

Gotcha,  but why don't HighResAudio, HDTracks, Linn, Naim & all the other download vendors it seems,  not do the same ???

Whatever this is thread drift & not helping the OP question

It's fine MIKE-B, it's all educational for me anyway 

Well, I think I've managed it....

Bought album from HD tracks, downloaded successfully and the file was showing artist, album, track names and included a PDF showing album cover and some written pages like you get in a CD booklet.

I'm assuming the metadata is present then.

Opened the HD tracks folder(that the download created for me), opened the US folder saying downloads, dragged across and it took a few minutes to copy over.

Just waiting for the album to show in the app. Obviously I'm clicking on browse by device(which opens download folder)rather than CD collection.

I won't be happy if it's not showing by bed time.

Ray,

You may need to use google to find/download a jpg image file of your downloaded album if there was only the pdf file included. Otherwise the album cover will not show in the app. Rename the jpg image file “Folder.jpg” and save it to the folder containing the audio tracks.

Oh, ok. I'll have a go if that hasn't worked.

I wonder once I open the nserve on the iPad if I can change cover?

ray sheldon posted:

It's fine MIKE-B, it's all educational for me anyway 

Well, I think I've managed it....

OK Ray,  good to read you are getting the hang of it.   It really is remarkably simple with a NAS & a PC/Mac/laptop.   I had a chuckle with your opening post ......  "when it comes to I.T my knowledge is poor, well I am in my 40's"      I started at 70 so I must'ave been a real no hope case.     When I first got into streaming I bought a new NDX with a 4 week delivery,  in meantime I bought an NAS that floated down the big river in 2 days,  I loaded the HDD's & set up the NAS on my laptop & started ripping my CD collection (with no NDX remember),     I'm not an IT dummy but no way would I say I am IT savvy,  so this as all blind faith based on forum people advise & some www reading.    NDX arrived & it all worked,  all but 2 of the +/-200 CD's I had ripped up to that point were good.    I have to say ripping CD's is the easiest bit,  downloading is actually as easy despite what previous posts have said.  It only gets slightly more difficult on the very rare occasion that metadata is missing/bad.    Editing metadata is relatively easy (once the basic's are understood) using the right software, but that can get more challenging with classical albums - combinations of composer, orchestra, conductor etc.   Whatever its all good fun & mistakes are normally easily corrected.  Enjoy.