Compilation of educational resources for newbs

[SnowPyr]

TL;DR Is there a list of guides, tutorials, etc for new users to get over the learning curve?

I ripped about 600 discs to iTunes about 20 years ago. When my OG iPod died and I switched to Android, I moved the entire library to google play. But now that Google has paywalled my music, I have to start all over again. I'm sure the answers to most of my questions are online somewhere, but I'm search-engine challenged and can never find what I'm looking for.

1. I have a couple disks that I can play but simply will not rip at all. How do you troubleshoot this?
   • Brian Eno, Ambient 3, Day of Radiance
   • Laurie Anderson, Big Science
2. What about tracks that complete Secure Rip (Recover Errors) but AccurateRip reports "InAccurate". How do you handle those?
3. File naming / folder structure, etc. Is there a way to sandbox the scripting/tagging features for learning and testing? Like a Jupyter Notebook for dBpoweramp Naming? Is there a name for this syntax? What language is it based on?
4. Now that I've ripped a few dozen albums and decided I don't like the naming conventions, I'll need to batch rename the existing files once I decide on a new convention. Can this be done using the dBpoweramp suite, or Mp3tag, or something else? Do i need to use an API to read the metadata in a general purpose language like bash or python?
5. Album artwork. I can't believe the album art is stored directly in every single track. What a waste of space. Are there formats that separate metadata for the album from that for individual tracks to avoid this duplication? Is there a way to keep different versions of artwork for lossless and lossy encodings?
6. Is there a way to access your library on Android without copying it directly to the main storage? I've tested using a USB stick, but none of the apps I tried were able to read from it. It appears to be an OS security restriction?

I don't expect anyone to hold my hand with all these questions, but if there are any existing references to help me get my bearings that would be appreciated!

[SnowPyr]

Re: Compilation of educational resources for newbs

2. What about tracks that complete Secure Rip (Recover Errors) but AccurateRip reports "InAccurate". How do you handle those?

For example, every track on this album had to be re-ripped. They all report "InAccurate" even though most are "Secure". Even the ones that are "Insecure" passed audio verification. What does that mean?

Information ripping to FLAC, 'Track 8' to '...\Music\Laurie Anderson\Strange Angels\08 Laurie Anderson - The Dream Before.flac'
Track 8: Ripped LBA 137682 to 151512 (3:04) in 1:48. Filename: ...\Music\Laurie Anderson\Strange Angels\08 Laurie Anderson - The Dream Before.flac
AccurateRip: Inaccurate (confidence 59) Secure (Warning) [Pass 1 & 2, Re-Rip 29 Frames]
CRC32: 8FC5A7D1 AccurateRip CRC: 0BC7384E (CRCv2) [DiscID: 010-0010962e-0085340e-750acc0a-8]
Audio File Passed Verification

Information ripping to FLAC, 'Track 9' to '...\Music\Laurie Anderson\Strange Angels\09 Laurie Anderson - My Eyes.flac'
Track 9: Ripped LBA 151512 to 176395 (5:31) in 5:54. Filename: ...\Music\Laurie Anderson\Strange Angels\09 Laurie Anderson - My Eyes.flac
AccurateRip: Inaccurate (confidence 56) Insecure [Pass 1 & 2, Re-Rip 63 Frames]
CRC32: 61B7B502 AccurateRip CRC: 474A4B2A (CRCv2) [DiscID: 010-0010962e-0085340e-750acc0a-9]
Audio File Passed Verification

[garym]

Re: Compilation of educational resources for newbs

see answers below.
[COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000]1. on almost every menu option popup, you'll see a question mark inside a circle near the top. This will take you to instructions/manual for that item.
2. I advise you to click on every menu item in the program, and all the submenu items, just to get a feel for what sort of options/settings are there and what they do. That's how I learned.
3. See:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-audio-guide.htm

[/COLOR]http://www.dbpoweramp.com/help/dmc/CDhelp.htm

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/help/dmc/dMC.htm

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/help/dmc/FileSelector.htm

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/help/dmc/dMCConfig.htm

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/help/dmc/dsp.htm

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/help/dmc/dMCWinExp.htm

I have a couple disks that I can play but simply will not rip at all. How do you troubleshoot this?Brian Eno, Ambient 3, Day of Radiance

Laurie Anderson, Big Science

[COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000]First I would try a different optical drive for ripping. I have 3 cheap throwaway drives that I connect to my computer via a USB connection to rip when my main drive has problems with a CD. Sometimes I can't rip a CD on one drive and get a perfect rip on another drive. The beauty of AccurateRip is that we no longer need expensive super special ripping drives. Almost any old drive is fine.[/COLOR]

1. What about tracks that complete Secure Rip (Recover Errors) but AccurateRip reports "InAccurate". How do you handle those?

[COLOR=*ff0000]Do nothing. They are likely just fine. Your rip didn't match the database rip. Sometimes this is because of different pressings/issues of the CD. This is even more likely to be true if you get AR numbers that are small, like AR(2), etc. Not many rips in the AR database. This is less likely to be true if you get AR(200) (200 is the max ever reported).[/COLOR]

1. File naming / folder structure, etc. Is there a way to sandbox the scripting/tagging features for learning and testing? Like a Jupyter Notebook for dBpoweramp Naming? Is there a name for this syntax? What language is it based on?

[COLOR=*ff0000]You are making this more complicated than need be. In the naming settings you can play around with different naming conventions, and even see on the screen what it will look like for single disks, multi disks, various artists, etc. Click on the "question mark inside the circle" at the upper right of the naming settings page and that will take you to online instructions about the various commands in the naming string. I use the following which automatically deals with single, multi, compilations, and whether I use albumartist or just artist.:

[MAXLENGTH]240,[IFCOMP]Compilations\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title] - [artist][][IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title][][]

that's for windows. reverse the backslashes to forward slashes for Mac.[/COLOR]


Now that I've ripped a few dozen albums and decided I don't like the naming conventions, I'll need to batch rename the existing files once I decide on a new convention. Can this be done using the dBpoweramp suite, or Mp3tag, or something else? Do i need to use an API to read the metadata in a general purpose language like bash or python?


[COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000]You can use dbpoweramp (convert to AUDIO ARRANGE I recall) , but I typically use mp3tag for this. load up files in mp3tag, then select, and choose "Convert > Tag to Filename" and you can create any naming format you want, including directories and subdirectories based on your metadata. Very easy.

[/COLOR]

Album artwork. I can't believe the album art is stored directly in every single track. What a waste of space. Are there formats that separate metadata for the album from that for individual tracks to avoid this duplication? Is there a way to keep different versions of artwork for lossless and lossy encodings?

[COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000]Yes, you can go into the CD Ripper, CD Ripper OPTIONS > Tags & Filenames > metadata & ID Tag, Options. Then untick album art in the listing of "write ID tags." And then at the top of that box, you have a place to tell it to create artwork where you have only a single file within the album directory. I set max to 1000x1000 and have it named "cover.jpg". Regarding different for lossy and lossless. I create the cover.jpg for lossless. When I create a copy of my lossless files for use on, say, iPhone, I convert my FLAC fles to mp3 or m4a, and in the converssion process I choose DSP effects, ADD "ID Tag Processing", then click on "manipulations" tab, and select "import from" cover.jpg and set the maximum size. When I'm converting to lossy, this then embeds the cover.jpg in the lossy file (as I may use these in groupings that do not include the entire album). I set max here to 500x500.

If you are using the multiripper that creates both lossy and lossess at the same time, I believe (but not sure) that there are settings for artwork independent for each type of ripping (e.g., mp3 and FLAC rippers).

[/COLOR]


Is there a way to access your library on Android without copying it directly to the main storage? I've tested using a USB stick, but none of the apps I tried were able to read from it. It appears to be an OS security restriction?

[COLOR=*ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=*ff0000]not sure i understand the question. I don't use Android. But for anything I use (iphones, home music server (Roon or LMS), foobar2000 at work, all of these require that I copy my music library to that server or device. How else would it know about your music library?

Good luck. And my best advice is to rip a few of a different types of CDs (multidisk sets, various artist CDs, etc.) and then use them in whatever server or players you normally use. Then you get an idea of what works for you and what may need tweaking. Too many people rip 1,000 CDs, then after they are done start trying to use the music and then discover they wish they had done something different.
[/COLOR]

[garym]

Re: Compilation of educational resources for newbs

For example, every track on this album had to be re-ripped. They all report "InAccurate" even though most are "Secure". Even the ones that are "Insecure" passed audio verification. What does that mean?



[ATTACH=CONFIG]3609[/ATTACH]

passed verification just means that it is not a corrupted file. It may or may not be a bit perfect copy of the ripped CD. In these cases there were some frame re-reads (which is normal for many CDs). Secure (warning) means that it had to rerip some frames, but upon multiple passes it got it right eventually. So just a warning. And the rip doesn't match others in the AR database. The other track has "insecure" it had to rerip frames but never got a full match of the multiple passes of the ripper, thus "insecure" rather than Secure(warning).

As mentioned before, an extra drive or two is very valuable when ripping. Some CDs rip perfectly on one of my drives and then has thousands of rerips on another drive.

[SnowPyr]

Re: Compilation of educational resources for newbs

Thanks, garym!

I'll find an external reader and retry the disks that won't rip on the internal Asus BW-12B1ST drive.

The tracks that are Secure but Inaccurate all appear to be from early pressings. My guess is that the database for them was populated from later reissues.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer	Tarkus	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 013-0012553c-00b961a7-a1091e0d]
Emerson, Lake & Palmer	Works, Vol. 2	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 012-0014767a-00bc6ebf-9d0a460c]
Genesis	Genesis Live	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 005-000965df-002c3059-370b0205]
Yes	The Yes Album	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 006-000a4164-0035edaa-5509c806]

[garym]

Re: Compilation of educational resources for newbs

Thanks, garym!

I'll find an external reader and retry the disks that won't rip on the internal Asus BW-12B1ST drive.

The tracks that are Secure but Inaccurate all appear to be from early pressings. My guess is that the database for them was populated from later reissues.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer	Tarkus	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 013-0012553c-00b961a7-a1091e0d]
Emerson, Lake & Palmer	Works, Vol. 2	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 012-0014767a-00bc6ebf-9d0a460c]
Genesis	Genesis Live	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 005-000965df-002c3059-370b0205]
Yes	The Yes Album	[AccurateRip DiscIDs: 006-000a4164-0035edaa-5509c806]

I suspect the early pressing idea is correct.