Sonos and WAV

Further on the question of accented letters, MediaMonkey and dBpoweramp.

MediaMonkey is the culprit when it comes to accented letters.  If you tag a wav file (probably any kind of file) with MediaMonkey, accented letters will appear as funny symbols in Sonos.  By contrast, Sonos will display accented letters correctly if the file is tagged with dBpoweramp.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, you cannot combine tagging systems in the same file, or even delete one set of tags and apply another.  I have tried to correct some of of my files tagged with MediaMonkey, but if you re-tag the artist, album or track name with dBpoweramp, it solves the accented letter problem but then Sonos ceases to recognise the track numbering and instead lists the tracks alphabetically.  I have experimented with different ways of solving this (even deleting all tags in MediaMonkey and then re-tagging with dBpoweramp) but without success.  The only solution that works is to start again - delete the file and re-rip the CD - and, frankly, I don't think I can be bothered with this.

Does anyone know a reliable way to correct or replave MediaMonkey tagging with dBpoweramp tagging, without deleting and re-creating the whole file?  It would be great if, say, dBpoweramp had a "delete all existing tags" tool but I haven't found anything like that.

I must say that, apart from this accented letter thing, I prefer even the free version of MediaMonkey to dBpoweramp.  For files that I have ripped with my HDX, MediaMonkey has a great "auto-tag from file name" which, in a couple of seconds flat, and with the exception only of accented letters, will do all the tagging that Sonos needs to display an album correctly.  Even if you have to enter stuff manually, MediaMonkey lets you display the whole contents of an album on one screen and you don't have to go into each track individually as you do with dBpoweramp.  dBpoweramp may be better for people who use it for ripping rather than just tagging but, if the HDX is doing your ripping, MediaMonkey is more convenient for tagging - if only I could solve the problem of accented letters.

That's really useful - thank you :-)

So having thought it time to download Mediamonkey, I discover it's Windows only, so no use to me.

Blythe

Have you tried my suggestion that I posted a while ago on 7 Nov to allow Sonos to see the UPNP Server by setting the 'Show Media Servers' to on in the Sonos Advanced Settings.

This should expose your UPNP Server to the Sonos system, it certainly does with Asset.

Richard

The problem, unfortunately, is that the HDX does not seem to tag the files from ripped CDs at all or, if it does, it does it in a bespoke proprietary way that Sonos and other streamers don't recognise. 

To play HDX-ripped files on Sonos, you need to use a program such as MediaMonkey or dBpoweramp to add the tags.  (If you go into an HDX-ripped file and use the "edit tags" tool in dBpoweramp, it will say that there are no tags - you have to add them from scratch).

For HDX-ripped files, I have found MediaMonkey to be the most convenient way to add tags that Sonos can read.  It's time-consuming (you have to do it album-by-album) but at least you can quickly do a whole album in one go using the "auto-tag from filename" tool.  By contrast, unless there's a tool I haven't yet found, dBpoweramp will only edit one track at a time.

The downside with MediaMonkey is that it won't properly tag accented letters in names - they come out as wierd symbols.  Nor can you use MediaMonkey for the donkey-work and then correct the accented letters by editing in dBpoweramp - that messes-up the track numbering and Sonos then lists the tracks in an album alphabetically.  It's all very frustrating but, as far as I have been able to tell so far, you have to use dBpoweramp from scratch on anything with accented letters, and if necessary that means deleting and re-ripping an existing file that you have already tagged with MediaMonkey.

I have done it very gradually over a couple of years but I have ended-up spending an awful lot of time on this, to the point where I really wonder whether my HDX was the right choice.  I'm definitely very happy with the Naim sound but, in hindsight, it might have been better to keep ripping and streaming separate - dBpoweramp for the former and NDX or NDS for the latter. 

Plus it seems the Naim streamers are moving toward a more straightforward and consumer-friendly multi-room solution than NaimNet. 

eLyric software will read and display the HDX contents correctly, eLyric control software can also control Sonos.

However, for some reason, eLyric will not read the back-up HDX files that I have. I guess it must be something to do with the server software being different between the HDX and the DNLA on my NAS.

MediaMonkey is not available for Mac, so not good for me anyway.

That's why I shall convert my entire library to FLAC which should be readable by everything.

If I feel the sound quality is worse, I can always keep the FLAC copies of my music on a separate NAS which the Sonos etc. can read and then I'll restore my WAV back-up to the HDX.

I find that I can use the 'track search' function in the Sonos App to find tracks on my Unitiserve and play them on a Sonos Play 1. However, searches by Album, Artist or Composer don't work. At least that's something?

Endlessnessism, once you install dbpoweramp it loads extensions into Windows file explorer, and so you can highlight the files of an album and then change all the files in one go by right mouse clicking and changing the metadata, its very quick and effective.

Simon

Thanks Simon.  I'm slowly getting there with dBpoweramp, and becoming convinced that it's a better option than MediaMonkey. 

I have been reluctant to concede this last point because I have done so much with MediaMonkey and I don't want to have to do too much all over again.  I was perfectly happy except for a little bit of irritation with the fact that accented letters in titles were not properly displayed in Sonos if I had tagged the files in question with MediaMonkey.  I wasn't going to bother about it but then I started and then I realised I had lots of titles with accented letters and it's become a big job.

I was aware of the extension that allowed me to edit the metadata for a whole album.  I hadn't noticed the "single" button that allowed me to do each track in the album at the same time but I discovered that last night and it speeds things up considerably.

I have also found a way to use dBpoweramp to get rid of tags added by MediaMonkey.  I previously had not been able to find a way to get rid of those tags and had started re-ripping CDs (and regretting that I had not just stayed happy with everything as it was).  MediaMonkey itself has a "clear tags" option but it doesn't work correctly and leaves a problem with track numbering.  Fortunately the "convert" function in dBpoweramp has a DSP add-in that allows you to remove all tags and this works very effectively.  (I think I had to download this add-in from the Codec section in the dBpoweramp website).

That leaves me with two questions to resolve:

It's one thing to remove all the tags but then I have to put them all back.  The ideal solution would be to use the "convert" function to delete all existing tags and then auto-tag from the file name.  (All my file names are correct because they have been entered via the Desk Top Client for my HDX).  There does seem to be an auto-tag-from-filename function in the Codec section in the dBpoweramp website, and I have downloaded it, but I have not been able to find it and access it.  I thought it might appear in the DSP list but haven't found it there.  Possibly it's only applicable to MP3 files (mine are all wav)?

The other question is whether I can safely apply the "convert" function in dBpoweramp to files in the Music Store created by my HDX.  I know you're not supposed to play around with the Music Store for fear of messing-up the HDX but I also know that tagging the files causes no problems at all, either with MediaMonkey or with dBpoweramp.  Somehow I think the "convert" function may be a step too far for the Music Store, even though I'm only using it to deal with tagging issues.  Perhaps I'll experiment with one or two albums and see what happens.  (The ones I have done so far are in a different share that I use for converted vinyl).