Media Player File Formats & ID Tags

[Citigopher]

I searched the forum and found a couple of threads on this, but as they were fairly old and the Yeti head units have been updated since, I thought I'd start a new thread on the subject. So:

 

What do people use for ripping discs (preferably to FLAC, as the new versions of both the Bolero and Amundsen appear to support it), how do you get the screen to display track listings, album art etc correctly (especially if using FLAC, as the handbook infers that only ID3 tagging is supported) and what's the best way to arrange files and folders to make everything easily searchable?

[Urrell]

I use Windows Media Player to automatically rip CDs as soon as they are inserted into the CD reader.
They are ripped as WMA at the biggest file size it will do.
Then just pull the albums across to an SD card with Windows Explorer and all album artwork, artist and tracks are displayed on the Yeti screen.
I have over 90 albums on a 8gb SD card.
It's so easy to select albums by just flipping thru with a finger.

Edited 27 January, 2016 by Urrell

[graham47]

I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to rip as mp3 and then mp3tag if EAC hasn't been able to find and add the correct id3 tags and album art or to check what it has added. EAC will also rip as flac or ogg lossless formats.

As I say I tend to use mp3 on a usb stick so have no experience of album art in flac rips but you could try EAC/mp3tag and see what happens.

Given that in car units are not 'hi-fi' I find mp3 at 192 or 320 are adequate.

For file structure I use album artist/album title/track title e.g Adele/21/Rolling in the Deep.mp3 etc. simply because that's how I structure them on my PC and I just drag and drop to the usb stick.

Incidentally, l've also tried streaming via bluetooth from my phone and I've noticed the album art doesn't stream although the id tag does. I think I read sometime that bluetooth does support album art so I haven't investigated further.

[Ryeman]

It must be dead easy because I've managed to get all my Apple library to Windows Media Player and on to a USB stick.

[Citigopher]

I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to rip as mp3 and then mp3tag if EAC hasn't been able to find and add the correct id3 tags and album art or to check what it has added. EAC will also rip as flac or ogg lossless formats.

As I say I tend to use mp3 on a usb stick so have no experience of album art in flac rips but you could try EAC/mp3tag and see what happens.

 

Thanks for that. I've not used EAC for a few years, so will give it a try and mp3tag too. FLAC is attractive to me in this case, because the SD cards are so easily accessible on the Amundsen. That means I can take the same card and use it in other places (like the Cambridge Audio One in my office, for example). As memory is so cheap nowadays, the need to compress files gets less important - and I really hate the 'pulsing hiss' that you get in quiet passages on mp3's!

 

Do you know how the Bolero/Amundsen handle segued tracks? I've had a few problems with that in our Citigo when using the nav unit card slot.

Edited 27 January, 2016 by Citigopher

[Ryeman]

^^^^you must have great hearing - I've never heard a "pulsing hiss" of any kind.

[graham47]

Do you know how the Bolero/Amundsen handle segued tracks? I've had a few problems with that in our Citigo when using the nav unit card slot.

Sorry, this is way beyond my experience (I had to google to find out what the term meant).

Not even sure I have any music to experment with. Try it & see, is all I can suggest !

[Ryeman]

Sorry, this is way beyond my experience (I had to google to find out what the term meant).

Not even sure I have any music to experment with. Try it & see, is all I can suggest !

Join the club......I wish 'they'd' speak English.

[VAGCF]

It was easy for me to get up and running as I'd already got an SD card with a number of albums on, along with Artwork, which I just copied onto another SD card for use in the Yeti.

 

I'd struggled with the Artwork in a previous car until someone recommended Mp3tag, so that is a good shout. I've just downloaded it again onto this recently changed PC. 

 

MP3 is OK but I've felt is a little lacking on some albums, even though I've copied at the highest rate I can - I've been meaning to try other, higher quality file types, so thanks to this thread I shall endeavour to do so.

[Expatman]

Anyone worked out how to get this to work with an Apple Mac? If I copy MP3 files from iTunes to an SD card I get a load of greyed titles and can't seem to get the great effect that Urrell has achieved at all.

[Citigopher]

(For VAGCF) FLAC is a lossless format and it's supported by the newer Yeti head units so it's a good place to start. To my ears, it has far better sound reproduction than mp3. I'm not sure how it copes with seamless joins between tracks (aka 'segues' - they're quite common on classical music as 'movements' can blend from one into the next, but also crop up on some types of modern music, especially remix albums). I shall experiment with EAC and report back.

 

I've only got the standard speaker set up in my new Yeti. Initially I wasn't particularly impressed but had plenty of time to loosen the speakers up on the journey home and the sound quality was getting better all the time. Speakers typically take a few hours to bed in.

 

Ryeman: I'm in my 50th year, so no whipper-snapper, but on occasion I can still get down with the kidz

Edited 27 January, 2016 by Citigopher

[Ryeman]

I have some success in spite of myself

I wonder if the Mac is meant to not cooperate with an SD card - pushing the iPod instead?.

[VAGCF]

(For VAGCF) FLAC is a lossless format and it's supported by the newer Yeti head units so it's a good place to start. To my ears, it has far better sound reproduction than mp3. I'm not sure how it copes with seamless joins between tracks (aka 'segues' - they're quite common on classical music as 'movements' can blend from one into the next, but also crop up on some types of modern music, especially remix albums). I shall experiment with EAC and report back.

 

I've only got the standard speaker set up in my new Yeti. Initially I wasn't particularly impressed but had plenty of time to loosen the speakers up on the journey home and the sound quality was getting better all the time. Speakers typically take a few hours to bed in.

 

Ryeman: I'm in my 50th year, so no whipper-snapper, but on occasion I can still get down with the kidz

Thanks for that. I shall definitely have a go with FLAC when I've got the time.

 

Most of my albums have distinct tracks so hopefully won't have too many problems. 

 

Copying quality is obviously very important whatever the quality of the system as long as relatively decent. In previous cars that had CD and SD card slots the quality from the CD was noticeably better even at moderate levels so hoping the use of FLAC will address this difference.

[VAGCF]

I have some success in spite of myself

I wonder if the Mac is meant to not cooperate with an SD card - pushing the iPod instead?.

Whilst I rarely venture outside of the Yeti forum no doubt expertise if using a Mac will be found in the Technical Zone.

 

The chap on the A6 forum who helped me with my artwork problems did say that even though he was a diehard Mac user it was a pain getting his music and artwork onto an SD card because of extra files etc. being copied over so used a Windows PC instead. That was a couple of years ago though.

[Ryeman]

I was surprised to find that iTunes has the 'edit' facility to enable Windows Media Player for file transfers which makes downloads to my laptop - flash drive a dodle......I guess to an SD cards also.

Edited 28 January, 2016 by Ryeman

[Citigopher]

I found this article, which explains why I've been having problems with segued tracks (aka 'gapless playback') in mp3 format:

 

http://www.blisshq.com/music-library-management-blog/2011/05/17/digital-gapless-albums/

 

It also suggests that using a lossless format like FLAC may cure the problem because of the way they record the music.

 

I made sample single-track recordings of the same song in lots of different formats and bit rates last night so that I can perform a blind listening test (is that an oxymoron? ) on my home Hi-Fi and in the Yeti. However, if the gapless-playback thing can only be cured by using a lossless format, my choice of format may be decided for me by the above.

[VAGCF]

Not an oxymoron unless you listen with your eyes!

 

Be interested to see (hear!  ) the results of your tests.

 

I've done my good deed for today i.e. started to fit the new wash basin in the downstairs loo so may download EAC and start having a play. Especially with those albums I had problems recording in MP3; they were breaking up/distorted.   

[VAGCF]

I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to rip as mp3 and then mp3tag if EAC hasn't been able to find and add the correct id3 tags and album art or to check what it has added. EAC will also rip as flac or ogg lossless formats.

As I say I tend to use mp3 on a usb stick so have no experience of album art in flac rips but you could try EAC/mp3tag and see what happens.

Given that in car units are not 'hi-fi' I find mp3 at 192 or 320 are adequate.

For file structure I use album artist/album title/track title e.g Adele/21/Rolling in the Deep.mp3 etc. simply because that's how I structure them on my PC and I just drag and drop to the usb stick.

Incidentally, l've also tried streaming via bluetooth from my phone and I've noticed the album art doesn't stream although the id tag does. I think I read sometime that bluetooth does support album art so I haven't investigated further.

Tried downloading EAC and it's just hanging and saying it's running a security check - I'm running Windows 8.

Edit: Just checked my download folder and it's there. Double clicked on it and the timer just runs and runs and it doesn't open!

Edited 29 January, 2016 by VAGCF

[Ryeman]

Tried downloading EAC and it's just hanging and saying it's running a security check - I'm running Windows 8.

Edit: Just checked my download folder and it's there. Double clicked on it and the timer just runs and runs and it doesn't open!

Hated Windows 8 am happily using the free 10.

[brianja138]

I use Windows Media Player to automatically rip CDs as soon as they are inserted into the CD reader.

They are ripped as WMA at the biggest file size it will do.

Then just pull the albums across to an SD card with Windows Explorer and all album artwork, artist and tracks are displayed on the Yeti screen.

I have over 90 albums on a 8gb SD card.

It's so easy to select albums by just flipping thru with a finger.

Hi Urrell,when I pull the album across I get a message ' disc is write protected, remove write protection' Any ideas on how to get round this? I am on windows 7. Hope you, or some other kind person can help

[muddyjim]

Brian,

Have you got the little slider on the SD card in the 'lock' position? This write protects the SD card to prevent accidental erasure of content.

http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-2033680/card-write-protect-switch-set-lock-screen-unlock.html

Jim

[brianja138]

Hi Jim

 

Thanks for your answer 

 

No the slider is in the unlocked position. When it says 'disk' I presume it means the CD is write protected.

 

Brian

[Urrell]

You say CD, do you mean SD card?

You are trying to pull the albums from the Music Folder on your PC to the SD card and not from a CD in the drive?

Would you be trying to pull them from an Apple folder? That has some strange copy protection.

Edited 5 February, 2016 by Urrell

[Citigopher]

I use Windows Media Player to automatically rip CDs as soon as they are inserted into the CD reader.

They are ripped as WMA at the biggest file size it will do.

Then just pull the albums across to an SD card with Windows Explorer and all album artwork, artist and tracks are displayed on the Yeti screen.

I have over 90 albums on a 8gb SD card.

It's so easy to select albums by just flipping thru with a finger.

I'm having problems getting what you're seeing - namely the album artwork and the 'flip folder' for album selection. I'm using WMP set to wma format, 192kbps. Do you drag anything other than the ripped tracks over to your SD card, namely playlist, album image etc?

 

Since my last post on this thread, I've tried EAC ripping to FLAC and it plays back on the Amundsen without a problem. Sound quality is good, but probably not worthy of the c.4-500Mb per album disc space that it requires.Segued tracks transition almost perfectly. There is a very slight (and I mean slight) hiccup as the track number changes. You can't fast rewind across a track transition. BUT - I get no flip folder for the albums (even though I pulled a playlist in m3u8 format and a jpeg of the cover art over to the same folder as the tracks. The albums are instead shown in a written list that you can scroll down, rather than the flip-affair that Urrell posted, and there's no thumbnail album art.

Edited 5 February, 2016 by Citigopher

[brianja138]

Hi Urrell

 

I am following [i think] your posted method. Rip the CD via Windows Media Player.Then insert SD card [new SanDisk Ultra 8gb 40Mb/s] in my printer [this is recognised as drive 'E' in Windows Explorer] It is when I pull / drag the album to drive 'E' I get the 'write protected' message - so stuck.