Metadata questions

Hi everyone.

I’m struggling to deal with metadata on CDs ripped on my Uniti Star and am sure that other, more clever, people will have already solved these issues so perhaps someone can help me:

  1. I’ve been ripping rock/pop CDs initially and all seems to work pretty well. Where I am going to derail will be when I get to compilations and then to classical. For compilations, I have ripped a couple of CDs I created ages back with loads of my old 12" single vinyl on them. These, understandably, don’t get populated by any online source so I am left with the ‘custom’ fields. In those, I can put track name but there’s no place to put the track artist. Has anyone managed to find a way to handle this, especially if it can be done using the Naim app rather than external software. Ideally, I want to know all the tracks I have by, say, ‘The Smiths’ by looking under Artist…

  2. On CDs and music I have manually put into the ‘downloads’ area, is there any way of editing the metadata using the Naim app? I can’t see the option in the IOS version of the app. Perhaps I have to edit metadata outside the app, using third party software.

Thanks - as always - for assistance given to a newbie.

Hi, the Naim app only allows you to edit metadata on CDs you have ripped on your Star. To edit downloads, you will need to put the drive in a computer and use a metadata editor running on that. If you use a Mac, Metadatics is good, or on a PC, try MP3tag.
If you find the Naim editor too limited, you can, on a computer, put a duplicate copy of the CD rip into the Downloads folder, and edit it there. What you must NOT do is try to edit CD rips stored in the Music/MQ folder using non-Naim apps, as this can cause problems. (If you want to avoid duplicates, you can delete the original rip from the MQ folder, but do it with the Naim app.)

Thanks for clarifying. TBH, I have been doing a very limited amount of editing of CDs ripped by the Star but this is mostly limited to replacing tracks with ripping errors (I have found my Mac CD drive less fussy than the Naim) and just making a minor edit of the rip.naim file to zero the error number and, if needed, the discarded flag. Should I not be doing this? If not, I’ll have to learn to take everything with ripping errors and redo it manually, putting the resultant music into the downloads are.

I’ll check out your recommendations on tag editors in OSX - I haven’t much experience in this area so all advice is welcome!

You should avoid doing this, as it can break the database, at least on other Naim ripper/servers, so I assume this would apply to the Star as well. That’s why I mentioned the idea of moving rips to the Downloads folder, as this is intended to be editable with third party software.
Of course, you may then find that it’s easier to just do all your ripping on a Mac. If you do this, have a look at DBpoweramp, which is a great app for ripping and editing.

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Really good steer much appreciated. TBH, I think I’ll power on with the rock/pop/jazz CDs using the Star as most of the time, the metadata and the ripping seems to be working fine. When I get to the tricky stuff, I’ll probably switch to the Mac, using third party tools. Now I understand I’ve been tinkering where I shouldn’t, I’ll repent of my ways and leave the Naim areas alone.

Hopefully you haven’t done any damage! If things are still working normally, I guess you’ve got away with it, but to be safe, maybe use the Mac in future. You don’t necessarily need to re-rip, just make sure anything you want to edit is in the Downloads folder.

Can you move that edited music file back to the Music/MQ Naim File?

That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing but Chris has put me on warning that I’m risking blowing up the database in the process. As such, I’m going to stick with safe behaviour and only poke around in the downloads area. The last thing I want is to have to rebuild from scratch, having ripped over 1,000 CDs. As it stands, the time taken is not really helping the marriage continuity programme, let alone all the happy hours spent as I rediscover lost treasures!

I’ve ripped almost 1000 CDs and all I want to do is listen and listen. I’ve discovered a lot of lost treasures too! Where have they been hiding… bottom line, I’m now a streaming addict.

Hubby doesn’t like the same music I do, so he watches TV. Uh oh.

No, you should leave the edited files in the Downloads folder. When you view them, CD rips and downloads are merged into a single library, so there is no need to move them.

Exactly as Chris says. One of the great things about the Core though is the way it integrates multiple storage locations into the same virtual place for playing and searching.

Best

David

Indeed, this makes life easy - although to be fair, as far as I’m aware, all UPnP servers can do this.

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