Metadata Lookup

I developed a CD import application for Raspberry PI, which imports my discs with meta-data to my NAS automatically. It gave me a chance to compare meta-data providers for CDs and I found that Gracenote (which Apple use as a source of their data) generally has more discs and is better for coverage of new discs.  There are other providers, such as Musicbrainz and Rovi (which, I think, Naim uses).

Yes I have the same experience DocMark. I tend to buy a couple of classical CDs a month from reading Gramophone magazine and if I rip these straight away, it's very common for the CD to show no metadata. I would say at least a third. DG are especially commonly a problem. I think what this means is that DG are slow submitting their new discs to the metadata providers. Not sure why Gracenote is better at that, but perhaps having a contract with Apple gives them the money to be pushy about getting metadata from all sources.

The Core is supposed to keep looking for metadata if it didn't find it first time and to add it in due course, but this never works for me. I think it's just another aspirational and announced feature that Naim didn't implement properly yet.

What I do is just change the art work from nothing to the CD cover and then every now and then I go to the rips with no metadata and in the app go to edit metadata and lookup metadata. Sometimes this will add metadata to one or two CDs. And if after 3 months or so there is still no metadata then I edit in the basics myself via the app.

best

David

Same issue here - even with some very well known, million selling CD's, including one recently, Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms"...
Surprisingly, I had to enter all of the details manually.
I have previously had some issues and a re-boot of my HDX has sorted it but not with the Dire Straits CD!

blythe posted:

Same issue here - even with some very well known, million selling CD's, including one recently, Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms"...
Surprisingly, I had to enter all of the details manually.
I have previously had some issues and a re-boot of my HDX has sorted it but not with the Dire Straits CD!

If you still have your HDX and haven't yet done the 1.7b firmware update, then it really is worth doing because the AMG lookup which is the default for HDX and US at 1.7a and below has been withdrawn. Firmware 1.7b adds MusicBrainz and that is quite good.

best

David

Try SongKong, there is a specific version for Melco owners

robgr posted:

Try SongKong, there is a specific version for Melco owners

Naim servers don't allow you to choose your metadata source, except in the Core you can check again using the three that it provides - Rovi, MusicBrainz and Freedb and choose which set of results to use, editing from there if you want.

With HDX and US you get what the first service that returns results in Naim's lookup strategy offers, but you can edit from there.

best

David

David Hendon posted:

blythe posted:

Same issue here - even with some very well known, million selling CD's, including one recently, Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms"...
Surprisingly, I had to enter all of the details manually.
I have previously had some issues and a re-boot of my HDX has sorted it but not with the Dire Straits CD!

If you still have your HDX and haven't yet done the 1.7b firmware update, then it really is worth doing because the AMG lookup which is the default for HDX and US at 1.7a and below has been withdrawn. Firmware 1.7b adds MusicBrainz and that is quite good.

best

David

Thanks David - I'm still running 1.7a
I didn't even know there was a "b" release!
I'll check the Naim web site for instructions :-)

It's a bit of a faff to do, but it's well worth the effort. Basically you download an image file and burn a CD, then you put the CD into the HDX, it will eject after a couple of minutes, then you have to wait ten or 15 more mins for the update to run. Once that has happened (I don't know how you tell that on an HDX but it's in the instructions), you turn the HDX off and on again, let it start up normally and voila Bob's your uncle.

best

David

blythe posted:

David Hendon posted:

blythe posted:

Same issue here - even with some very well known, million selling CD's, including one recently, Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms"...
Surprisingly, I had to enter all of the details manually.
I have previously had some issues and a re-boot of my HDX has sorted it but not with the Dire Straits CD!

If you still have your HDX and haven't yet done the 1.7b firmware update, then it really is worth doing because the AMG lookup which is the default for HDX and US at 1.7a and below has been withdrawn. Firmware 1.7b adds MusicBrainz and that is quite good.

best

David

Thanks David - I'm still running 1.7a
I didn't even know there was a "b" release!
I'll check the Naim web site for instructions :-)

If, as I suspect, you happen to be a Mac user, try to find a PC to burn the disc. Don't ask me why, but this was an issue for me. I spoke to Phil Harris about it, and he said that is was often a problem - he kindly posted me a CD ripped on a PC with the update on it, and the rest was easy.

Thank you for the tips.
I did struggle using "Toast" on my Mac to burn the ISO disc - initially I burnt the wrong information, so the CD was simply ejected. Then I believe I burnt something different but still not correctly as that was ejected before it could have read it.
Then I called Phil Harris who told me to right click on the ISO image file and select "burn ISO image". (This is only possible on OSX High Sierra apparently).
This time it worked just fine. The CDX ejected the CD after I heard it reading and spinning for a minute or so, then I left the drawer open.
The drawer then closed itself and the message "please wait" was displayed.
Some time later (maybe 10 minutes) the HDX had returned to the home screen.
At that point, I powered down the HDX using the remote handset (it says to use the remote in the instructions) and I then switched off the main switch on the back, waited a few minutes and restarted the HDX.
It is now showing "System Version 1.7b". 
It's a pity I don't need to rip anything at the moment... 

Many thanks to Phil Harris in Naim Technical support.

Excellent! I think you need to go and buy a new CD to celebrate!

best

David

I'm tempted to delete Brothers In Arms and re-rip it but, if it still doesn't recognise it, I'll have to manually enter all the details yet again...

I tried to find my copy here to see whether my Core would find the metadata but it isn't there. I suspect it has got a new home with one of my kids.....

You could probably abort the rip if it doesn't find the metadata and leave your existing rip edits alone.

best

David

Aborting the rip would work I guess except...
After updating the Firmware to 1.7b, I've been enjoying the music on my HDX, although it wasn't showing artwork for my albums any more..
I decided, having cleared the cache both on the app and on the n-Serve app on my Mac, I then deleted and reinstalled the app, all to no avail, so I decided to re-boot the HDX.
Now it won't start.
I've tried previous suggestions on the Forum of unplugging the ethernet cable and re-starting; I now see a message which says "waiting for network" then I plug in the cable and it says "connecting to Streamnet" (or something along those lines) then it freezes at "Starting"..
I think it's died and needs the Naim hospital :-(
I shall send an email to Naim and seek their advice.

Oh golly I'm sorry about that. I never heard of a 1.7b update failing before, so perhaps it's coincidence.

You should try rebooting your router in case it's an unrelated issue about getting an IP address.

best

David

The router was also re-booted.
So, yes, I think an unlucky coincidence - I don't believe it was a 1.7b update issue, as it appeared to update correctly and displayed 1.7b when I'd finished an initially restarted the HDX.
It also then played for the rest of the afternoon after updating. (but with no artwork).
It's possible the c-mos battery is getting old (5 years) or...
Anyway, I've sent an email and will hopefully receive and answer/suggestions fairly quickly.
Regards, Martin.

 I sent a note to Naim support on this topic.  I have yet to hear back from anyone.  I think that Naim should add Gracenote to their list of metadata providers - the ones that they have chosen don't cut it.