System volume information and file extensions are not pretty!

It's very likely to be the fact the music is on a stick that is making it look like it does. You really need to get the albums onto a good nas with a good upnp server and they will all look lovely. There are plenty of threads on this if you need any guidance. 

Ok thanks will for that will set up a NAS.

Agree with HH,    USB replay is just as you describe, 'orrble clunky computery,    272 (all Naim streamers) deserve a lot better, you deserve a lot better.  You need a pukka NAS unit, so many to chose from, search the forum for ideas.  Then the Naim control point app loaded on an iPad or iPhone or similar Android device,  Ethernet wire the NAS & 272 to your wireless router  (wireless will work,  but is very much 2nd choice)    & you end up with nice looking multi-category ever-so-easy browsing features & iPad (or Android) display screens that look like this.  

Ok I have set up a Serviio Upnp server on my Windows server and all seems to work well. Thanks!

Paul Graville posted:

Hi all. I'm just starting with my new NAC-N272 and got some tracks on a USB. When I put it in it all looks a bit computery. Artists and albums come [surrounded by square brackets] because they're folders, I can see the hidden folders on the USB stick e.g. [System Volume Information] and I can see the file extensions on all the tracks (e.g. Thriller.flac. Same problem with N272 screen and on the mobile app. I didn't have this problem with my iPod 45 years ago so why now? Have searched the threads for half an hour so sorry if this has been answered before. 

Well done for having been an early adopter. Presumably that was a pre-release version of the iPod: I imagine its limited memory would have probably restricted the number of tracks it could store despite its size, however I presume its failure to reach the mass market, instead soon overtaken by the Walkman, was a singular lack of digital music... But yes, no file extensions to worry about! 

Full update on what I've set up. DBPoweramp-ripped FLAC files on an HP Microserver Gen 8 running Windows Server 2016 and now free version of Serviio. Cabled Gigabit Ethernet via a switch to N272.

Only questions I've got now are:

1. Do I have to go through A, B, C, ... selection before I get to a list of artists?

2. How can I get hi-res album art? The standard ones look like they're 8-bit sprites!

Artists are in alphabetical order. You can either scroll through them or use the letters on the right hand side. How you search depends on how your upnp server works. As you use dbpoweramp I'd suggest Asset as it's very good and very flexible. 

For the album art, just get a better res version by editing the metadata in dbpoweramp. You can either embed the art in each track, which is what I do, or have it in a file called folder.jpg which is in the album folder along with the tracks. 

Paul Graville posted:

 

2. How can I get hi-res album art? The standard ones look like they're 8-bit sprites!

Album Art Exchange is a good source of hi-res album art.

Be careful with high-res album art, some NAS or UPnP media servers can't handle it so check if you have a limit.   I have not found my Synology NAS to have a limit but I can't see any difference where it matters between 600x600 & 1500x1500 on the Naim app on iPad

Mike-B posted:

Be careful with high-res album art, some NAS or UPnP media servers can't handle it so check if you have a limit.   I have not found my Synology NAS to have a limit but I can't see any difference where it matters between 600x600 & 1500x1500 on the Naim app on iPad

Concur totally. I too can discern little, if any, benefit of any resolution above 1,000 x 1,000 when viewed in the Naim App on my iPad. I've experimented with resolutions up to 2,400 x 2,400 and had no problems with Synology NAS handling them, but see no point in wasting storage space!

Thought I would report back on the A-Z issue after more investigation. It seems the navigation structure on uPnP is entirely controlled by the server. Nothing to do with the 272. I had chosen a server program, Serviio, which gives an A-Z page after you select Artists, which is unusably rubbish! I mean who runs the user testing at that place? 

So looking for another uPnP server that runs on Windows. Any recommendations gratefully received. Paul

Asset is excellent, and there is a Windows version. It's definitely worth getting a nas though, so the computer doesn't need to be switched on and you can fit large drives. 

Ok HH thanks I'll check it out. My computer is an HP Microserver so is sort of a NAS. 

I source my cover art (if needed) simply from the interweb. Tend not to exceed 1000 x 1000 resolution, to keep the file sizes reasonable. 

Another tip (a good housekeeping one) - make sure that the art files are true JPG. 
It may also be a good idea to keep the file names in a standardised way - Naim servers 'require' a cover art file to be called 'folder.jpg'. 
Of course if you use just a NAS and any decent UPnP software, the file name is not that important.
But.... if at any stage you may even remotely contemplate getting a Naim server like Core (or older UnitiServe) you may as well start calling all your covers 'folder.jpg' 

I embed the art and don't bother with a folder.jpg at all. 

Ok tried Asset and it worked but the navigation icons (Artists, Albums etc.) are extremely low res and amateurish. Then tried Plex but it doesn't work. I can see the Plex server, then 3 folders (videos, music, photos) but when I go into a folder I see nothing but a spinning circle for 3 hours then gave up. Any ideas?

Surely the main thing is that Asset works. The initial icons are a bit basic but from there on it looks good in the Naim app. It's easy to search and has lots of useful features such as new albums and the ability to put 'the' at the end of the artist name. Better something that looks a bit basic than something that fails to operate, surely?

I'm inclined to agree with you. Have stuck with Asset and am starting to tweak it. I just want to go artist, album and then see a list of tracks for each so have deleted every other route in! You can disable the interim A-Z pages (great!). Album art isn't too bad. Also I've located the crappy icon jpegs in the server file system so I might have a go at improving them!

Someone on here has made improved art - you should find it by searching. Unfortunately I can't help you with the exact thread. As you have found it's easy to tweak the browse tree to get what you want. I have a link to Asset, which is on a Qnap, on my iPad so it's easy to get to without needing to touch the computer. As to changing the icons it's beyond me so I've learned to love the funny brown things. 

Paul Graville posted:

Thought I would report back on the A-Z issue after more investigation. It seems the navigation structure on uPnP is entirely controlled by the server. Nothing to do with the 272. I had chosen a server program, Serviio, which gives an A-Z page after you select Artists, which is unusably rubbish! I mean who runs the user testing at that place? 

So looking for another uPnP server that runs on Windows. Any recommendations gratefully received. Paul

Hi,

Yes, I'm afraid this is something that is poorly understood and I often get queries such as "Where is the such-and-such option? I saw it in the shop but I can't see it now I'm home" or "My Uniti isn't seeing this new music I've downloaded" ... the streamer doesn't look at any files on a NAS - it only talks to UPnP servers and asks for a menu, tells the UPnP server which number option you've chosen and then either displays the next menu or plays the selected track.The UPnP server is completely responsible for generating all of the functionality that you see after selecting the UPnP server.

Even when you play a track it doesn't access the file on the NAS directly - it does it through file links generated by the UPnP server.

This is why if you generate a playlist using tracks from a UPnP server the tracks can then at a later date not be available in the playlist as the UPnP server may have changed all its virtual file links after - say - doing a rescan for new music.

Asset UPnP or MinimServer seem to be well received 3rd Party UPnP servers...

Cheers

Phil

Can you embed the art after an album has been ripped and already on the NAS? It's not a feature I was aware of....thanks HH

Arnsider posted:

Can you embed the art after an album has been ripped and already on the NAS? It's not a feature I was aware of....thanks HH

Assuming that you are referring to the artwork for a specific album, then the answer is yes. You can do this using a tag editing program e.g. mp3tag or dBpoweramp's tag editing function.