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New to MinimServer: where to begin?
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28-11-2014, 22:28
(This post was last modified: 28-11-2014 23:21 by InfernoSTi.)
Post: #1
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New to MinimServer: where to begin?
Hi,
I'm new to MinimServer and am looking for some guidance on getting started. I have a Synology NAS and have MinimServer running. I have MinimWatch on my Macbook Pro. I also have been running JRiver 20 (going back to 18) on a Windows CAPS music server. I have about 1.4 TB of music files in all formats and sizes (16 and 24 bit PCM of every type, mostly .AIF but also FLAC, WAV, etc from 44.1 to 192), as well as DSD files (.DSF 64 and 128). My files are typically tagged in JRiver and/or iTunes and/or as download files pre-tagged. I've purchased a Auralic Aries and wanted to get started running MinimServer before it arrived, so I've downloaded Lightning DS to run on my iPad. This is the Auralic control point for the Aries and they recommend MinimServer on my NAS. I can get *most* of my music to load and that is great! However, when looking for specific albums, I noticed that they are missing. The album "Some Nights" by Fun. is an example. I've tried all kinds of things to get it loaded but it won't load. I finally started looking at my log files and discovered there are hundreds of file errors and warnings, including this album: Quote:Error: unexpected end of file at offset 73477460 in file 1 Hi Rez/RockBluesCountry/Fun Original/Some Nights/02-Some Nights.aif (length 73477460) On this album, the rest of the album (tracks 10-19) is loaded, just not the first nine tracks: Quote:Error: unexpected end of file at offset 40663511 in file 2 Redbook/RockBluesCountry/Van Morrison/It's Too Late To Stop Now/1-01 Ain't Nothin' You Can Do (Live).aif (length 40663511) I am also getting such errors and warnings as: Quote:Warning: conflicting ALBUMARTIST values ignored for album Open Your Ears Quote:Warning: ignoring ID3v2 TDAT frame with no matching TYER frame at offset 202289111 in file [file name] (length 202289244) Quote:Error: format error in WAV file [file name] (length 123400334) Quote:Error: unexpected end of file at offset 51151079 in file [file name] (length 51151079) Quote:Warning: removing NUL character(s) from ARTIST tag value in file [file name] (length 98121365) Quote:Warning: truncating incorrect value for DATE tag 1999-13-08 in file [file name] It is literally hundreds and hundreds of files, not just one or two, and it is all types of files (.AIF, .WAV, .DSF, etc). I assume I need to figure out how to properly configure MinimServer and/or properly tag my files for MinimServer. Is there a recommended best practice or an "easy guide for beginners" that I can reference? I've read the "guide" but haven't been able to correlate the info into what to do next. I would like to work on my Macbook Pro if I'm going to be re-tagging files, so if there is a recommended file tagger for Mac program (assuming that may be what is needed), what might that be? I do have JRiver for Mac (19) that I can use already if that is a suitable tagger. Thanks in advance for any direction or advice you can provide. John P.S. this is my first MinimServer post so if I've missed a section to go read, just point me in that direction? I apologize that I'm a complete newbie... |
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29-11-2014, 17:51
Post: #2
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
Well, the good news is that your title is already overtaken by events. You have already begun, I think quite successfully.
We don't need to tell you how to get MinimServer working, because you've done that already, and the catalogue of messages you have in your log is clear evidence that MinimServer is working as designed. Simon, the author of MinimServer, is very clear that he wants the software to be fully standards compliant, so MinimServer is often intolerant of errors that other programs just accept. In my opinion, this intolerance is a good thing; when you have a clear log, you also know that you have files that conform to the relevant specifications and which should be acceptable to any standards compliant program. Unfortunately, I don't use Macs, so cannot review the range of software applications available. The CD ripper and file converter I use on Windows - dBpoweramp - is now available on the Mac, though I think it may still be in beta. My favourite tag editor - MP3Tag - is for Windows only, though I think I have read that it runs in the emulators. If you have access to a Windows machine, it might be using it with these applications for the file correction work you need to do; both programs are very widely used and very capable. MP3Tag is free (but seeks a donation, like MinimServer); dbPoweramp has a free version, but you will need the full version, which is paid for software. The price is, I guess, much less than you have already invested in your music and playing equipment, and in my opinion is very well worth paying. As far as I can see, all the log errors you describe relate to faults of some sort in your music files. In general, the faults are of two kinds. Those that relate to the file as a whole (with messages like 'format error' or 'unexpected end of file') indicate that the file is in some way corrupt or wrongly constructed. Usually, if these files will play in other software, the best way to deal with them is to use a program such as dBpoweramp to 'convert' the format. Actually, you can usually 'convert' to the same format as the original (obviously, the new file needs to be in a different folder from the old one); what happens is that the converter re-writes the file in the correct form, and the error goes away. Errors that refer to specific tags (such as the one referring to the Date tag, which expects a year value only) may need to be fixed with a tag editor. The value of an editor that works in a grid (such as MP3Tag) is that it will often allow you to change the problem tag value(s) for, say, all the tracks in an album at one go. This makes the editing process much quicker. I have used MP3Tag to make a particular change in every file in my collection (which is of a similar size to yours) and completed the job in a couple of hours. One of the errors that merits particular mention is the problem of multiple ALBUMARTIST tags. MinimServer expects all the tracks in an album to have the same, single ALBUMARTIST tag. Multiple ARTIST tags (which can vary between tracks) are allowed. I regard this approach as logical; others disagree. In this instance, all you need to do is set the ALBUMARTIST tag to the same value for each track, and make sure you don't have more than one such tag. This in turn means that you need to know how your tagging program creates multiple tags, so you don't do it accidentally. I'll leave it to others to unlock the mysteries of ID3 tags for you; all my files are FLAC, which does not use this tagging scheme. This kind of problem can be caused by incorrect use of the different versions of ID3 tags, and I think that it can sometimes be fixed by format 'conversion' as described above. I hope that this initial response is of some help. David |
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29-11-2014, 20:26
Post: #3
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
David,
Thank you so very much for your thoughtful response. I truly appreciate it. The logic that I'm "successfully" running the program is great to hear, as is the distinction between types of error messages and the logic to fix them. I also am starting to appreciate that if I can solve my MinimServer error messages, my music collection will be in a much better administrative place (rather than relying on programs that are tolerant of errors). This is will serve well over the years and I don't mind working my way through specific issues if I know what to do to address them. That is the beauty of a laptop in the listening room, right? I've purchased a copy of XLD to experiment with "converting" to see if that works. After some research, I also purchased Metadatics for batch tagging my files (it runs on a Mac and supports PCM and DSD formats). I'm running a few trials on a limited number of albums now so I am not so overwhelmed. If those work, that will be a great result and I know what to do. If they don't, I have a place to ask another round of questions. Again, thank you for the very thoughtful response. Best, John |
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29-11-2014, 21:06
(This post was last modified: 29-11-2014 21:14 by simoncn.)
Post: #4
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
(28-11-2014 22:28)InfernoSTi Wrote: Hi, Welcome to the MinimServer forum! Quote:Error: unexpected end of file at offset 73477460 in file 1 Hi Rez/RockBluesCountry/Fun Original/Some Nights/02-Some Nights.aif (length 73477460) There was a bug in earlier versions of JRiver that caused AIFF files to be written in an incorrect format. See this post for more information. It should be possible to fix these format errors using a converter program. Quote:Warning: conflicting ALBUMARTIST values ignored for album Open Your Ears As DavidHB has said, you need to use a single consistent ALBUMARTIST value for all tracks of an album. In this case, the ALBUMARTIST tag should probably be 'Various Artists' and the ARTIST tags should be 'The Conga Kings', 'Billy Burnette', etc. Quote:Warning: ignoring ID3v2 TDAT frame with no matching TYER frame at offset 202289111 in file [file name] (length 202289244) The TDAT frame provides month/day information and the TYER frame provides year information. This means it's OK to have TYER without TDAT but it's not OK to have TDAT without TYER. Quote:Error: format error in WAV file [file name] (length 123400334) This is probably caused by the same kind of format error that is causing the 'unexpected end of file' messages for AIFF files. Quote:Warning: removing NUL character(s) from ARTIST tag value in file [file name] (length 98121365) You have an ARTIST tag containing a NUL (0x00) character. The UPnP protocol doesn't permit a server to send NUL characters to a UPnP control point. Quote:Warning: truncating incorrect value for DATE tag 1999-13-08 in file [file name] There are only 12 months in the year, so 13 isn't a valid month. Quote:It is literally hundreds and hundreds of files, not just one or two, and it is all types of files (.AIF, .WAV, .DSF, etc). It will take you some time to work through these problems and fix them, but I hope you will find that the time is well spent in cleaning up these problems with your library. Quote:I assume I need to figure out how to properly configure MinimServer and/or properly tag my files for MinimServer. Is there a recommended best practice or an "easy guide for beginners" that I can reference? I've read the "guide" but haven't been able to correlate the info into what to do next. Please post any questions here. You should receive prompt and helpful answers. |
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29-11-2014, 21:56
(This post was last modified: 30-11-2014 01:44 by InfernoSTi.)
Post: #5
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
Thank you for the detailed information. I have a lot more comfort in such a short time already!
To report back on the two albums by Fun. and Van Morrison mentioned above, I've converted them using XLD. I also retagged the Van Morrison album with Metadatics and they now both show up on my Lightning DS control point and they do not show up in the error log, either. I think a lot of my DSD files have the DATE tag issue so I'm going to see what I need to do with those next. If I can figure that out, I should have 95% of my messages figured out and then I can work through the more complex stuff later. So it seems that I have a lot of work to do but it is fairly simple and I have a nice list to know what to work on next. Thanks a bundle! John EDIT/UPDATE: I've been using Metadatics to batch tag my DSD files. Basically I loaded all my DSD files and then just rolled down the list until there was a month value greater than 12 (typically month and day reversed) and I would either edit to just a year or to the month and date in the correct order. I would highlight the whole album and make one change. Then I would scroll down to the list, find the next one, etc. Very quick and easy work...well worth the $10 cost of the program on my Mac. And I've confirmed they load fine and don't produce an error message anymore. Good thing it's a holiday weekend! |
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30-11-2014, 10:29
(This post was last modified: 30-11-2014 10:30 by DavidHB.)
Post: #6
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
Glad to be of help, John. I can relate what you are doing to my own learning process of a year or so ago, and I've now ripped and tagged the whole of my collection, so I am sure you will pick things up pretty quickly. If you find yourself with a knotty problem, you know where to come.
That said, don't forget to just sit back and enjoy the music. It's what the system's for, after all. David |
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14-12-2014, 22:02
Post: #7
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
Hello, I'm also relatively new to using minimserver and like InfernoSTi, I also use a Synology NAS and Auralic Aries to as bridge to my DAC. All is working well, except for Various Artists Albums, of which I have many. Vast majority of my files are in FLAC format and all are tagged to accommodate sorting in Auraliti's PK90 server (Linux based), which I used before I had the Aries.
I had assumed that this meta data structure followed a sort of standard, but that appears not to be the case. I don't know much about the technical aspects of how servers work, but guess would like to understand how to best change the folder structure or meta data to accommodate the Aries requirements. I had contacted the people of Auralic who suggested the issue of grouping 'various artists' albums is dealt with by Minimserver and not by the LDS app which is the GUI for the Aries server. I'm using XLD too for tagging/ ripping music and all by various artists albums I checked the 'compilation' box. This apparently is not sufficient. How would I set XLD to take care of the following sequence: "Various Artists\Album Title\track number title song name artist" thanks, M |
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14-12-2014, 22:43
Post: #8
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
(14-12-2014 22:02)Mbraham Wrote: Hello, I'm also relatively new to using minimserver and like InfernoSTi, I also use a Synology NAS and Auralic Aries to as bridge to my DAC. All is working well, except for Various Artists Albums, of which I have many. Vast majority of my files are in FLAC format and all are tagged to accommodate sorting in Auraliti's PK90 server (Linux based), which I used before I had the Aries. For compilation albums, you need to set the AlbumArtist tag to 'Various Artists'. This should show your compilation albums under 'Various Artists' in the Artist index. |
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15-12-2014, 14:23
(This post was last modified: 15-12-2014 14:39 by Mbraham.)
Post: #9
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
(14-12-2014 22:43)simoncn Wrote:(14-12-2014 22:02)Mbraham Wrote: Hello, I'm also relatively new to using minimserver and like InfernoSTi, I also use a Synology NAS and Auralic Aries to as bridge to my DAC. All is working well, except for Various Artists Albums, of which I have many. Vast majority of my files are in FLAC format and all are tagged to accommodate sorting in Auraliti's PK90 server (Linux based), which I used before I had the Aries. Thanks, but when I do this in XLD, the album art and counter get multiplied by the number of tracks on the album. Would you mind sharing how you've filled in each field in the XLD interface? Or perhaps more interestingly, how have you set the 'file naming'? regards, M |
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15-12-2014, 19:01
Post: #10
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RE: New to MinimServer: where to begin?
(15-12-2014 14:23)Mbraham Wrote: Thanks, but when I do this in XLD, the album art and counter get multiplied by the number of tracks on the album. Would you mind sharing how you've filled in each field in the XLD interface? Or perhaps more interestingly, how have you set the 'file naming'? I don't use XLD myself. Perhaps someone who uses XLD will be able to give advice about this. |
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