CD Ripper - great product but a few niggles and frustrations

[Dangthrimble]

Hi,

I have just upgraded to dBpoweramp Music Converter R13.4 (Registered) and am using CD Ripper. It's a great product, but a few things have appeared, some of which appear to be bugs:

1) On upgrading I received a 30 day free trial of PerfectMeta™ (AMG, GD3 & MusicBrainz) Access. However this is only available on my admin account (which I normally only use for installations, etc.), not on my normal account. Is this intentional or a bug?

2) I have set up my own naming string "[IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[IFCOMP]Compilations[][IF!COMP][artist][][]\[album]\[IFMULTI][disc]-[][track] [title][IFCOMP] ([artist])[]". On reading a new disc, if I check "Current CD Meta" as soon as the Meta Data has been read, the track number does not appear in the track name. If I cancel and check again, the tracker number is there.

3) I have tried using the [Encode Local] codec with the [Multi Encoder] codec for FLAC and m4a Nero (AAC) writing to a NetGear ReadyNAS Duo. I can successfully use the codecs individually (though see (6) below) with and without [Encode Local], but when I also use [Multi Encoder] I get the following errors:

Error ripping to [Encode Local], 'Track 1' to '\\Readynas-1\media\Music\Lossless\Jacqueline du Pré\Favourite Cello Concertos\3-01 Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 - I. Allegro.IGNORE'

Error copying to '\\Readynas-1\media\Music\Lossless\Jacqueline du Pré\Favourite Cello Concertos\3-01 Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 - I. Allegro.IGNORE' insufficient space? [clEncoder::EndConversion]

Error ripping to [Encode Local], 'Track 2' to '\\Readynas-1\media\Music\Lossless\Jacqueline du Pré\Favourite Cello Concertos\3-02 Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 - II. Adagio ma non troppo.IGNORE'

Error copying to '\\Readynas-1\media\Music\Lossless\Jacqueline du Pré\Favourite Cello Concertos\3-02 Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 - II. Adagio ma non troppo.IGNORE' insufficient space? [clEncoder::EndConversion]

The files get created in each codec's "Folder" directory (e.g. as "103281140-dblocalencode.flac") rather than in the sub-directories identified in "Naming" but don't get renamed. They are playable. It seems to make no difference whether I use a mapped drive or a shared drive.

4) I have tried using the [Multi Encoder] codec for FLAC and m4a Nero (AAC) without [Encode Local]. However all the files again appear in the encoders' "Folder" directories, without using "Naming" to create sub-directories, though "Naming" is used to create the file names.

5) In order to get round these inconveniences I convert to FLAC using CD Ripper and then use dBpoweramp Batch Converter to convert to .m4a. However, because I am storing the two formats in different locations, when I give Batch Converter a destination folder that doesn't yet exist based on the source directory structure it won't create the sub-directories so I have to create them all before I can carry out the convert. Could this be fixed?

6) I have a problem with the m4a Nero (AAC) codec. I was trying to convert a FLAC file using dBpoweramp Batch Converter but the conversion failed. The track title was "Jenkins - Scenes from Wales - II. Bara D&*blooper*373;r" and the target filename was "2-02 Jenkins - Scenes from Wales - II. Bara D&*blooper*373;r.m4a". I then tried again, direct to m4a, using CD Ripper with the same effect. I then changed the target filename, replacing the '&*blooper*373;' character with 'w'. Finally the conversion worked and I then used the mp3tag application to rename the file and correct the ID tag. The FLAC codec had no such problems.

7) Finally, refresh for Batch Converter doesn't appear to work for folders on a shared ReadyNAS Duo drive. In order to see a folder that has been created (by CD Ripper) since Batch Converter has been running, I have to restart Batch Converter.

Once again, this is a great product but would be even greater if these niggles could be resolved. Thanks.

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper - great product but a few niggles and frustrations

You have to activate Perfectmeta in the account you want to use it in.

There would be potential issues of using encode local and multi-encoder at the same time.

RE 4) what path option do you have set up? in multi-encoder

5) We have never heard of a conversion requiring the folders to be created before converting, perhaps the program does not have the rights to create them.

6) I tried using the exact same filename and the conversion worked for me, Windows 7 - NTFS formatted (without the option in Windows to disable the 8.3 filenaming, which dbpoweramp would use).

[Dangthrimble]

Re: CD Ripper - great product but a few niggles and frustrations

Thanks for the prompt feedback.

Re (1), do you mean it can be activated in each account or it can only be activated in one? And how do you activate it?

Re (4), multi-encoder doesn't allow for a path option, unless you mean "Output Location" for each individual codec. There I select "Folder" and set it to, for exmple, "\\READYNAS-1\media\Music\Lossless\" below which I create sub-folders for Artist and Album, derived using the "Naming" string I have set up. Presumably for this to work the way I want it to I have to purchase dBpoweramp Reference and then use "Dynamic".

Re (5), looks like you are right! I do apologise.

Re (6), I had problems with a 'w' with a circumflex '^' over it, not the string '&*blooper*373;'. I am running WinXP Media Centre Edition SP3. Again the target is a ReadyNAS Duo. I'm not sure how that is formatted but it is made available via a network share. After renaming the track and converting it I was able to rename the file and updated the tag so the problem doesn't appear to be with the target file system.

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripper - great product but a few niggles and frustrations

1) Activate in each user account, see you download link for an activation link for PerfectMeta.

4) Correct Reference is needed for dynamic naming on each codec as you have described.

6) That will be the problem, the nero encoder in its Commandline usage is not unicode aware, so we create a file with a unicode name and pass the short filename to access it, this would be filesystem dependant.