Music Store Conversion

Music stored on what, and in what format?

Unitiserve stores ripped music in Music Stores and downloaded music in Music Shares.  I am looking for a way to convert the Music Stores.

Unitiserve either rips at WAV or FLAC. All of those files are stored on its' internal hard drive or, on a NAS drive if that's how you have it set up.
If you ripped everything as FLAC and wish to convert all rips to WAV, simply select the ripping mode to which ever you want. FLAC is more universally accepted by other devices (tagging in WAV is not universal) - changing your ripping format will automatically make the Unitiserve convert all rips made on the US to the newly selected ripping format.
The easiest way to change this setting,  is to go into n-Serve on your computer.

It will take a couple days for it to process all of the files if you have 1000 CD's or more.

Music Store is just a Naim propitiatory way of describing a share that US HDX etc. sees as a primary repository or part of a hierarchy of repositories. Any  music server will see it as a share and play whatever is in it, regardless of format.

The format you have ripped into and/or wish to play back can be inter converted easily if you want to play. Just make sure you have a copy of the original.

You can just set the Serve to transcode to WAV without the need to convert anything. 

antmast posted:

What if for some unthinkable, shameful reason, like a non-NAIM streamer, you wanted to gain access to the cd rips in a Music Store.  Can you convert the music store to .wav files?  

Ok you're getting answers to a few different questions here..I'll try to sort them out.

First, format.  As noted, the Naim rips are either .wav or .flac, depending on how you've set up your ripper. Default is .wav  The .wav files are playable on any device that can play .wav files.  The problem is that they have no embedded metadata, so you will need to rather laboriously "tag" them so that things like artist, album, track name, track number will show up in your player.  If you set your ripper to rip to .flac, on the other hand, those files are both playable on any device that can play .flac files, and they contain basic metadata (album, artist, trackname, track number). 

Second, access.  The Music Store, which is just a folder on a drive, is written in a protected format and not intended to be accessed directly by other players.  So yes, it's best to copy it over to someplace else if you're going to use it as a library for other players/systems.

Third, the Downloads folder.  This simply contains what YOU put in it.  It's just a folder on a hard drive; not protected like the Music Store, and you pick the format of files that go in there.

Fourth, my experience.  I had a UnitiServe and had ripped a few hundred cd's to .wav  I realized that I might some day migrate away from the uServe, so had the uServe (1) convert the existing .wav Music Store to .flac and thereafter rip to .flac  I have now sold off the uServe and use a QNAP nas as my primary music server.  Everything that was in my Music Store, and in my Downloads, is now integrated into one big music library on the nas, all in .flac  My nas converts to .wav before it sends the data to my players.

Hope this helps!

PS. Fifth. Back up EVERYTHING.  Don't be that guy who posts here that he lost all his music.

"Second, access.  The Music Store, which is just a folder on a drive, is written in a protected format and not intended to be accessed directly by other players.  So yes, it's best to copy it over to someplace else if you're going to use it as a library for other players/systems."

On my HDX, which as I understand it, is pretty much the same as an Unitiserve in terms of storing their files, I can point my Linn DS (used in other parts of the house) to use the HDX as the music source, in effect, a server. Therefore, I'd say yes, it can be used as the music source for other players/systems.

blythe posted:

On my HDX, which as I understand it, is pretty much the same as an Unitiserve in terms of storing their files, I can point my Linn DS (used in other parts of the house) to use the HDX as the music source, in effect, a server. Therefore, I'd say yes, it can be used as the music source for other players/systems.

That was my point, I don't see the need to change anything. Maybe the OP could tell us exactly what he wants to do, as we could all be missing the point here.

My favorite audio salesman, who many years ago sold me my UnitiServe, and a Simaudio moon 380D dac, suggests I upgrade the DAC with a mime stream module and purchase a Simaudio 740P Preamp. Unfortunately this  puts my US out of commission. The network cable would go into the new mime stream module.  The  is for more SQ. I have 3 music stores and music shares on 3 Nas's. The question I am asking is  Will my Music Stores need 'treatment'  for the Mime Streamer to play them or for the SimAudio App to lookup album covers. 

If you're going to store them on anything other than the Unitiserve, convert them to FLAC on the US before you export them. Otherwise you will not be able to see the metadata properly, although the music will still play. This applies specifically to CDs ripped on the Unitiserve.

If they are on NAS a streamer will see them.

Converting to FLAC is a convenient way of pulling the tags over PROVIDING that you either cannot hear a difference between FLAC and WAV playback (including FLAC being trans coded to WAV on the fly) of if you actually prefer the sound of FLAC.

If you fall into the cohort who can hear differences and prefer WAV , your files will play just fine but the tags would benefit from a overhaul. Please note this tag overhaul is not necessary for the music to be played or viewed hierarchically - artist/album/tracks.

However, if you can't hear a difference or don't care, you're good to go FLAC, which is the easiest way to manage your Naim ripped collection. Just copy a few favourite files, convert to FLAC, play them through your new streamer/server and see if you hear a difference.

Our local music store has now become a coffee shop!  

And I have a friend who is/was building a business case to develop a combined music store (vinyl) and coffee shop...

There's one in Southsea called Pie and Vinyl. (Most needs are met in Southsea, mind).

C.

My local barber opened a pie shop, but he didn't get much repeat business.......but anyway......

antmast posted:

My favorite audio salesman, who many years ago sold me my UnitiServe, and a Simaudio moon 380D dac, suggests I upgrade the DAC with a mime stream module and purchase a Simaudio 740P Preamp. Unfortunately this  puts my US out of commission. The network cable would go into the new mime stream module.  The  is for more SQ. I have 3 music stores and music shares on 3 Nas's. The question I am asking is  Will my Music Stores need 'treatment'  for the Mime Streamer to play them or for the SimAudio App to lookup album covers. 

Did you mean a Mind streamer module? If so, I can't see why this would have a problem playing from the Unitiserve, but surely you can test this with your dealer. 

Yes. I meant Mind Stream module. However I understand the SQ boast comes from reading directly from the NAS via UPnp rather than the via the US.

So I presume you are using your Unitiserve direct into the Moon DAC via SPDIF. But the Unitiserve is also a NAS and a UPnP server, so it should be able to play via a network connection into the Mind streamer. If you're in any doubt about this, surely your dealer can confirm it for you one way or the other?

antmast posted:

Yes. I meant Mind Stream module. However I understand the SQ boast comes from reading directly from the NAS via UPnp rather than the via the US.

I tried both options - UnitiServe sounds best if feeds the files over a LAN. It can certainly be connected via its digital out (BNC only)  acting as a digital transport.