No Cover Art for aiff Files on the Core

The cover art for an album in the downloads folder needs to be called folder.jpg and in the same folder as the music files of that album. Probably currently they are called "name of album". jpg

Sonetimes other names (including album names) randomly work for me, and cover.jpg is often good, but folder.jpg is the surefire way to do it. I suspect that this is not what you hoped to hear.....

Best

David

Thanks for the note, David.  I'll give it a try and get back if it works.

Best,

The Core has to scan the changes, which can take it anything from a few seconds to a few minutes to start doing. So change a few and then go and do something else for a short while!

best

David

I noticed that.  Thanks for the advice.  Will test and get back.

Tom

The on-line Core support wizard says:

"A Downloads folder is created on a music store. The folder works the same as any other folder on a network. Select files to copy from another location on the network and paste them into the Downloads folder. The new music will be assimilated into the Uniti Core library and made available for playback. File formats that do not have embedded metadata (e.g. WAV files) need to be set up a specific way. Files copied to the downloads folder must have the music files and the album artwork in a folder with the name of the album. This folder should be located in a folder with the name of the Artist. Album artwork should be in a JPG format with the file name of ‘folder.jpg’ For supported music file formats, see the Specification section."

If AIFF files have embedded metadata then from that, they should work without the folder.jpg cludge.

best

David

Hi David,

As mentioned in the first post, I have over 20,000 music files in aiff format that were copied to the Downloads folder already.   They all have metadata included; otherwise, the cover art wouldn't be displayed in iTunes and Audirvana, etc.

The method you suggested works.   However, I can't imagine recovering the cover arts manually for those 20,000 something songs in 2,000 something albums.

Not sure what I did wrong in the first place.

That's what I meant by this not being the answer you wanted to hear.

i don't think you did anything wrong except use a ripping format that doesn't embed artwork the way Naim wants.

i guess you can use a batch editor to do the renaming, but someone else will have to tell you about that because I don't know the details.

best

David

I really have no idea what embedded artworks Naim wants because there are a few disc sets with different volumes, and in which only one or two of them have covers shown.

These discs were created at the same time.

Probably this should be an update job to be taken care of by Naim.  Because if most other players can see the cover art of the file, there must have somethings needing fixes in Naim’s app I guess.

Thanks David

You should provide feedback to them about that using the function in the app....

best

David

tmtsui posted:

Have tried refreshing the image cache, etc. on the app.  Even tried factory resetting the Core.  But so far not helping.

What is the rest of your system? Are you using the Core as a server into a Naim streamer, or something else? The reason I ask is that with a Naim streamer, I have generally found refreshing the image cache to be ineffective, whereas using the Naim app to refresh the UPnP server cache has sometimes been effective. (If you are not using a Naim streamer, this may well be irrelevant). 

Despite being a Mac user, I use FLAC rather than AIFF, and find that it generally handles metadata well. You might want to see if [@mention:44366773372132405] has any suggestions, as I believe he has a preference for AIFF. 

I do find working with AIFF files easier. I found them easier to handle and never had any problems with metadata.

But....

If the Core is anything like the UnitiServe, having album covers embedded in the files will not be enough. Irrespective of whether the file is WAV or AIFF. The system automatically 'looks' for a file called 'folder.jpg' and I think it tends to ignore the metadata field called 'front cover'. I could be wrong, but my numerous experiences seem to confirm that it does ignore the image in the metadata.

So... not exactly what the OP wanted to hear.... or to quote from Metallica .... 'sad but true'

Hi Adam, I thought that might be the case, but better to hear it from someone who uses AIFF. Maybe converting to FLAC would be worth a try?

Hi Chris - worth a try. I'd do it on one album first, using a dB PowerAmp and see if that bypasses the issue.
Better than manually appending 2000 albums' covers 

But... I've just thought of something

In some instances I've seen an override of the album's metadata. The system gives preference to the metadata in the AIFF and ignores the 'folder.jpg'.

I have this download of Eagle's complete studio albums and it's stuck on the file's cover (wrong) rather than 'folder.jpg' which I added manually. 
I will check the structure of the files to see what happened there.

To be continued.....

Not good.... 

[@mention:76328489007687093]

Could you possibly send me one file from one of the albums that are causing you grief? I'd like to have a look at the metadata.

Thanks,

Adam

ChrisSU posted:

tmtsui posted:

Have tried refreshing the image cache, etc. on the app.  Even tried factory resetting the Core.  But so far not helping.

What is the rest of your system? Are you using the Core as a server into a Naim streamer, or something else? The reason I ask is that with a Naim streamer, I have generally found refreshing the image cache to be ineffective, whereas using the Naim app to refresh the UPnP server cache has sometimes been effective. (If you are not using a Naim streamer, this may well be irrelevant). 

Despite being a Mac user, I use FLAC rather than AIFF, and find that it generally handles metadata well. You might want to see if [@mention:44366773372132405] has any suggestions, as I believe he has a preference for AIFF. 

The CORE is connected to my system via LAN cable.   Since it is new, I haven't started (I did tried a few) ripping any CD onto it yet.

Currently the AIFF files are put under CORE's downloads folder after nearly two days copying from Synology 916+ .

They were copied via iTunes' import functions because I am using Audirvana's iTunes integrated mode to control the playing of music thru my Mac Mini 2012.

The CORE is the only product from Naim.  My Dac is a Bricasti M12, which accepts UPnP from the CORE thru Audirvana (via LAN or USB)

Yes, you are right that CORE seems to handle WAV and FLAC nicely since they are the formats it uses.    However, the 20,000 somethings songs are already in AIFF, which seems no sense of converting them back to Flac.   At least not now

The AIFFs were ripped via iTunes, dbpoweramp mainly.

Adam Zielinski posted:

I do find working with AIFF files easier. I found them easier to handle and never had any problems with metadata.

But....

If the Core is anything like the UnitiServe, having album covers embedded in the files will not be enough. Irrespective of whether the file is WAV or AIFF. The system automatically 'looks' for a file called 'folder.jpg' and I think it tends to ignore the metadata field called 'front cover'. I could be wrong, but my numerous experiences seem to confirm that it does ignore the image in the metadata.

So... not exactly what the OP wanted to hear.... or to quote from Metallica .... 'sad but true'

Hi Adam,

The CORE is used as a UPnP music server to my Bricasti M12 via LAN cable.   It is controlled by Audirvana's iTunes integrated mode.

As suggested by David earlier, after I added an image file named folder.jpg, the cover can be shown in Naim App.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Not good.... 

[@mention:76328489007687093]

Could you possibly send me one file from one of the albums that are causing you grief? I'd like to have a look at the metadata.

Thanks,

Adam

Surely no problem Adam.   How could I give the file to you or to anyone who offers help ?

So it looks like you have two options, either convert the copies you now have in the Core downloads folder to FLAC, or edit every image name to folder.jpeg. I’m not sure if there is an automated way to change the image name, but if not, it would be a very long and tedious process. At least the FLAC convertion, while it might take some time, could be just left alone to  complete, but you’d want to do a few trial albums first. 

tmtsui posted:

ChrisSU posted:

tmtsui posted:

Have tried refreshing the image cache, etc. on the app.  Even tried factory resetting the Core.  But so far not helping.

What is the rest of your system? Are you using the Core as a server into a Naim streamer, or something else? The reason I ask is that with a Naim streamer, I have generally found refreshing the image cache to be ineffective, whereas using the Naim app to refresh the UPnP server cache has sometimes been effective. (If you are not using a Naim streamer, this may well be irrelevant). 

Despite being a Mac user, I use FLAC rather than AIFF, and find that it generally handles metadata well. You might want to see if [@mention:44366773372132405] has any suggestions, as I believe he has a preference for AIFF. 

The CORE is connected to my system via LAN cable.   Since it is new, I haven't started (I did tried a few) ripping any CD onto it yet.

Currently the AIFF files are put under CORE's downloads folder after nearly two days copying from Synology 916+ .

They were copied via iTunes' import functions because I am using Audirvana's iTunes integrated mode to control the playing of music thru my Mac Mini 2012.

The CORE is the only product from Naim.  My Dac is a Bricasti M12, which accepts UPnP from the CORE thru Audirvana (via LAN or USB)

Yes, you are right that CORE seems to handle WAV and FLAC nicely since they are the formats it uses.    However, the 20,000 somethings songs are already in AIFF, which seems no sense of converting them back to Flac.   At least not now

The AIFFs were ripped via iTunes, dbpoweramp mainly.

 

Even though I mainly use Audirvana's iTunes integrated mode to control the playing of the music files for now, the Naim App seems to be good especially when I need to do it without the Mac Mini.   Moreover, the Audirvana won't be able to see the new ripped fles from the CORE.

ChrisSU posted:

So it looks like you have two options, either convert the copies you now have in the Core downloads folder to FLAC, or edit every image name to folder.jpeg. I’m not sure if there is an automated way to change the image name, but if not, it would be a very long and tedious process. At least the FLAC convertion, while it might take some time, could be just left alone to  complete, but you’d want to do a few trial albums first. 

Seems to be true.    I don't think I want to convert them to FLAC because FLAC files couldn't be played under iTunes with Audirvana integration.

For the second option of making album files, ..... oh my goodness

But as said earlier,  if most other music players can read the cover art of the aiff, Naim should review why it can't.   No hard feelings and pardon me to said so.

tmtsui posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

Not good.... 

[@mention:76328489007687093]

Could you possibly send me one file from one of the albums that are causing you grief? I'd like to have a look at the metadata.

Thanks,

Adam

Surely no problem Adam.   How could I give the file to you or to anyone who offers help ?

My email is in my profile. Please send me one file via WeTransfer.

ChrisSU posted:

So it looks like you have two options, either convert the copies you now have in the Core downloads folder to FLAC, or edit every image name to folder.jpeg. I’m not sure if there is an automated way to change the image name, but if not, it would be a very long and tedious process. At least the FLAC convertion, while it might take some time, could be just left alone to  complete, but you’d want to do a few trial albums first. 

Converting my files to FLAC is not an option since I am using Audirvana's iTunes integrated mode to control the playing of music files.   As you know that FLACs are not recognized in iTunes.

For the second option of creating album folder.cfg...oh my goodness.

As mentioned in my post earlier, if most other music player programs on the market can see the cover of aiff files without any issue, I thiink Naim should have reviewed the issue seriously as a key equipment manufacturer.    No hard feelings and pardon me to say so.

ChrisSU posted:

So it looks like you have two options, either convert the copies you now have in the Core downloads folder to FLAC, or edit every image name to folder.jpeg. I’m not sure if there is an automated way to change the image name, but if not, it would be a very long and tedious process. At least the FLAC convertion, while it might take some time, could be just left alone to  complete, but you’d want to do a few trial albums first. 

The Core can't do conversions from anything to anything, even if they were ripped by it, which these files are not. So the transcoding would need to be done outside the Core and copied into downloads again.

Best

David

David Hendon posted:

ChrisSU posted:

So it looks like you have two options, either convert the copies you now have in the Core downloads folder to FLAC, or edit every image name to folder.jpeg. I’m not sure if there is an automated way to change the image name, but if not, it would be a very long and tedious process. At least the FLAC convertion, while it might take some time, could be just left alone to  complete, but you’d want to do a few trial albums first. 

The Core can't do conversions from anything to anything, even if they were ripped by it, which these files are not. So the transcoding would need to be done outside the Core and copied into downloads again.

Best

David

understood and you are right.

tmtsui posted:

Hi, 

I am a new user of Core.   I have quite some aiff files (over 20,000) and all of them have cover arts and can be shown properly in iTunes and Audirvana.  

However, when they are put in the downloads folder on the Core, only a small portion of them displaying their covers properly on Naim app.   Worth note that most of these files can show their covers properly via the “book” icon.  

Playing these files are of no problem.

Have tried refreshing the image cache, etc. on the app.  Even tried factory resetting the Core.  But so far not helping.

Checked the music files with covers properly showing but have no idea why their covers can be displayed and others’ can’t.  

Wonder if anyone has encountered the issue ?   Any suggestion for fixing the issue is appreciated.

Thanks

Hi,

If you are sure that the files are tagged with cover art then could you get one of the albums over to me - phil.harris@naimaudio.com - via something like "WeTransfer" so that we can take a look and see why the cover art isn't being extracted.

Best

Phil