Help And Advice

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

I have had family and friends ripping my cd collection for me over a period of 3 months.

I have now started to sort out the songs some 23,000 of them but have now encountered a major problem or 2

 

Some of the albums / songs are tagged wrong i.e Barry Whites greatest hits is the 1812 Overture?

Virtual DJ lists the songs but won't play them but windows media player etc will.

 

I am beginning to think that the shift to digital is a complete wast of time and effort having spent 3 moths ripping the songs.

 

What have we / I done wrong?

 

I still haven't been convinced that a shift from CD to Digital is the best move as there just seems to be so many problems involved with ripping a collection.

Can you buy a ready to go collection just like you would with a CD box set or music collection?

Edited March 20, 2011 by Raymilkybarkid

[vokf 0]

Ray, what software are you using to rip the tracks?

Are you sure they are MP3?

 

Call me if you need to,

Cheers,

Jason

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

Ray, what software are you using to rip the tracks?

Are you sure they are MP3?

 

Call me if you need to,

Cheers,

Jason

 

Various from windows media player to whatever people have had installed.

They are listed as mp3 but VDJ finds the listing but has either error or just won't load onto the player

[fester 0]

Can you try to narrow down a selection of the offending tracks and see if they were all converted by the same person/people?

 

I would guess that we are looking at bad encoding by one of the "whatever people had" software titles.

 

I ripped all my own CD's and yes it's a mind boggling and incredibly tedious process but it really is the way to go Ray. CD is fast becoming an obsolete format in my opinion.

[MintyDave 0]

i would double check the file path because if vdj sees them then you move them that causes issues

 

with regards to the whole tagging thing i have too had alsorts of problems just using windows media player etc. you really want something better.

 

i just use my laptop to rip tunes so at least i have consistency

 

A lot of aggro - yes but you will see the benefit soon, im sure we all were in the same boat

Edited March 20, 2011 by MintyDave

[superstardeejay 0]

I assume the tags have been completed by media player (or whatever rip program you've used) connecting to the online database; it isn't foolproof and relies on the site correctly identifying the track as well as the data on the database being correct, which it sometimes isn't. You could always edit the tags yourself as and when they crop up as being wrong.

Edited March 20, 2011 by superstardeejay

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

The main problem is that now I have to listen to 23,000 tracks to check the tags.

having spent 3 months ripping I may as well just start all over again. :damn:

 

I am unable to narrow the selection down to who did what as I don't know I just gave them the external HD and the CD's to rip for me.

 

I am toying with the idea now of just paying for digital downloads it may be quicker in the long run but again I run into the time factor. I need 8 days in the week and 26 hours in the day.

I am not technically minded with some of the terminology and don't know how to check the route of the file.

All I can tell you is that the files are stored on an external HD.

 

I am unsure if I am going to use a laptop or HD controller yet but the more in depth I get the more I feel I can't be bothered to make the move. Having spent many hours talking to people about software, hardware etc I am no nearer to making a choice of which is going to better for my needs. I like the idea of the Denon where you can still play CD's as well as mp3's.

 

Sorry just having a rant :djurant:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DJMickeyk 0]

I am unsure if I am going to use a laptop or HD controller yet but the more in depth I get the more I feel I can't be bothered to make the move. Having spent many hours talking to people about software, hardware etc I am no nearer to making a choice of which is going to better for my needs. I like the idea of the Denon where you can still play CD's as well as mp3's.

 

Sorry just having a rant :djurant:

Don't know if this helps Ray but being a lazy git I have only ripped about 5000 songs to my HDD, these are the "most played" at weddings and parties and my res, most of the obscure or rarely requested stuff that I have stayed on CD and I still carry them to gigs as backup, I use that Denon DN-HC 4500 setup you mentioned above (it's super btw) so can switch to CD very easily, but to be honest I very rarely have to. All new music from CD Pool or download goes straight onto the HDD also so I keep it right up to date. Perhaps your gigs require a wider range of music and genres, but 99.9% of my gigs are very predictable motown, party & chart affairs so 5000 tunes to pick from for live work is loads. Virtual DJ has made my life alot easier, almost to the point where I'd give up DJ'ing rather than go back to CD. Ripping the collection is a very tedious task alright, if I was you however I'd rip them all at a high bit rate on the same machine to a format that you know works with your software rather than letting friends or family do it for you, it'll be worth it in the end. Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble with it, it took me ages to rip even 5000 so can't imagine the torture of doing 23,000, good luck with it in any case.

[stardust 0]

Apart from being an epic job, i feel that you need to put some research into this beforehand -

 

I started ripping my collection around 8 years ago - I can't remember at the time if 320Kbs was available via Itunes or i just felt at the time that 192Kbs was sufficient, anyhow i did all of them in 192Kbs..

 

A few years later 192 was not good enough for me so re-ripped as much as i could to 320.

 

Now with the price of backup media being very good i would love to rip to wav..

 

Also have a good look for some additional tools such as Platinum Notes which cleans up and enhances the mp3.

 

Maybe do some further research into the best ripper available and ensure that all your tracks get ripped via the same software. I have always used Itunes to rip and have been happy with the results.

 

Cheers

Steve

[gadget 0]

Apart from being an epic job, i feel that you need to put some research into this beforehand -

 

I started ripping my collection around 8 years ago - I can't remember at the time if 320Kbs was available via Itunes or i just felt at the time that 192Kbs was sufficient, anyhow i did all of them in 192Kbs..

 

A few years later 192 was not good enough for me so re-ripped as much as i could to 320.

 

Now with the price of backup media being very good i would love to rip to wav..

 

Also have a good look for some additional tools such as Platinum Notes which cleans up and enhances the mp3.

 

Maybe do some further research into the best ripper available and ensure that all your tracks get ripped via the same software. I have always used Itunes to rip and have been happy with the results.

 

Cheers

Steve

 

I've done 320k mp3 at highest quality for a while now (Exact Audio Copy and Lame MP3 encoder set to its highest quality setting at 320k - means mp3s are bigger, but still readable by the Denon).

 

I have recently tried out FLAC format - which is a lossless format, smaller than WAV files, but should be readable by software (Traktor reads it), however hardware players may not.

 

I wouldn't use itunes for encoding to mp3, because the encoder isn't that brilliant imho, plus I can never tell if it extracted the CD accurately (Something that EAC does - it will do a 'secure copy' and makes sure your CD/DVD drive is set to rip at the correct offset and all that). Takes time to setup correctly, but once done, easy enough to do. Yes it takes time (shove CD in, check the track names/labelling etc is correct) - but worth doing properly the first time...

 

Not only all the ripping which takes time, but organising your music on the HDD is another thing to consider - both to make it easier to find and put new stuff into the right places.. I store downloads in a totally separate directory to the CD rips themselves, and CD rips are organised based on compilation type (e.g. Now Cds are altogether, Now Millennium series are in their own), and those which just need to go under a genre (e.g. Oldies Compilations for stuff that's 60s and not a massive series such as 100 Hits). I also rip to a "cdrips" directory first, to make sure that it's labelled correctly, etc. Once Happy with this, it gets moved to the right location and then I "import" to Traktor, let it tag/analyse the gains/peaks. After that I then sync it to an external HDD (Using Microsoft's SyncToy - crap name, but works *very well*).

 

Yes it is boring, takes time, but if you have a half decent machine to do the ripping on in the first place, and as long as its all set-up as best as you can, then will be easier to do in the long run.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[superstardeejay 0]

Worth while looking into the audio extraction rate of various CD-ROM drives. Some are alot faster than others indeed. I use a Pioneer.

[Daley Bee 0]

Your problem could be DRM protection!

 

In fact - I'd put money on that that's your problem x

Edited March 21, 2011 by Daley Bee

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

Your problem could be DRM protection!

 

In fact - I'd put money on that that's your problem x

 

What is DRM protection?

 

Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble with it, it took me ages to rip even 5000 so can't imagine the torture of doing 23,000, good luck with it in any case.

 

 

This is only part of my collection I still have all of my 7" & 12" singles to rip in real time.

30 odd years of music.....

[Robster 0]

I'll bet a fiver to charity this particular problem isn't just Digital rights management. The wrong labelling is due to database errors of the free database when ripping , the non playback could be DRM .

 

The trouble is you have used various methods to rip and different software does different thinks.

 

I personally Manually tag both ID3v1.1 and ID3v2.X tags i make sure there is no album art (i know this can look pretty but i have had various software refuse to play when there are picture files hidden in the ID tags)

I standardise them to how they are labelled the file names are set in a certain way so make it all standardised.

 

all my files are at 320 Kbps and at Constant bit rate not variable this again means compatibility with all my playback devices (early firmware from cortex only liked CBR and VBR support was added later ) all my files are also mp3 gained.

 

I used quite a lot of FREE software

 

MP3 Tag Tools is free and a good tagger

 

http://massid3lib.sourceforge.net/

 

download this then look at one of the files that will play in wmp but not virtual dj see if the copyright column has yes in it also see if the picture column has yes in it , you can remove the picture files with this software and see if it plays after removal of pictures.

 

I also mp3 gain which is a Free program which sets the playback volume as when some tracks are ripped they are ripped stupidly high volume or too low http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

 

if they are drm copyright problems they will need re ripping audiograbber again is a good free ripper

http://www.audiograbber.org/

 

my mums having a op today so i'm not free today or tomorrow but thursday during they day if you want to give me a call or you want me to give you a call please feel free to and we can try other stuff ray to sort your probs

 

Rob

 

 

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

I would like to say a BIG thank you to Rob for the post he was bang on and it had nothing to do with DRM.

It was down partially to me not understanding the software and how to use it properly.

The tagging format was not consistent thus causing some of my problems.

 

Now here is my next problem do I use a PC based controller or do I use a HDD controller.

Budget is about £1200 so any tips would be welcomed. Ideally I wouls still like to be able to play CD's as well.

 

 

[fester 0]

Personally speaking I would use a PC based controller.

I find the HDD / SD card players fine to use as backup but the sheer versatility of running Virtual DJ wins every time for me.

If you have a large database of music I find it very time consuming and tedious finding my way round a HDD controller especially using the typically very small screen. With a PC based system it's so easy to find and search for tracks and the screen size makes browsing folders so much easier.

One of the things I like a lot and use often in VDJ is the similar track function which will search your database for tracks in a similar key and bpm. Really handy if lets say you are in the mix doing a 90's dance set.

 

It's also very easy to keep your library up to date, just download or rip your cd straight to your pc, no faffing about with database managers etc

[rockymount 0]

The main problem is that now I have to listen to 23,000 tracks to check the tags.

having spent 3 months ripping I may as well just start all over again. :damn:

 

Hi Raymilkybarkid,

 

Did look to reply to you a couple of days ago and luckily my membership came through today so I can now reply Gadget got the ‘ripping’ part spot on as Exact Audio Copy (EAC) which together with the LAME MP3 Encoder Gives perfect mp3’s (EAC automatically detects your CD Reader(s) and if you’ve got more than one even tells you which one has the least ‘jitter’ and which is the best to use for ripping !!!). For tagging I personally use TagScanner which you can download either from here ;

 

http://www.xdlab.ru/en/download.htm

 

or here;

 

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/TagScanner/981935153/1

 

in the latter case you can click on the image to see just how comprehensive it is and it’s just so easy to set all the tracks to a particular album, artist, genre etc. The Music Renamer tab even allows you to change the actual PC Filenames, whilst the List Maker tab allows you to output the track, title, artist etc, info directly to Excel (and it’s got a built in player so you can listen whilst you’re tagging ).

 

Also when I just want to play an album’s worth of mp3’s on my PC without overloading my PC’s performance in the slightest (i.e. whilst I’m surfing, photoshopping etc.) I use foobar 2000 which has such a small PC footprint it’s unreal.;

 

http://www.foobar2000.org/

 

Have a good weekend

 

Rockymount

 

[DJMickeyk 0]

Now here is my next problem do I use a PC based controller or do I use a HDD controller.

Budget is about £1200 so any tips would be welcomed. Ideally I wouls still like to be able to play CD's as well.

 

I have been using this week in week out for some time now and it works very well with VDJ, you can switch to CD control on either deck in seconds, even if you are playing a track from VDJ on that deck. I think Pioneer do a similar product within your budget which I would guess is equally as good if not better. Only problem with this system is that if your controller goes down you lose both PC and CD playback, so you would need some form of backup. Never used a HDD based system so can't comment but the denon is a pleasure to work with and has been very reliable for me, I've not heard of any other users being unhappy with theirs either, it did have a problem when initially released but Denon have sorted it long ago with a firmware update.

[gadget 0]

I have been using this week in week out for some time now and it works very well with VDJ, you can switch to CD control on either deck in seconds, even if you are playing a track from VDJ on that deck. I think Pioneer do a similar product within your budget which I would guess is equally as good if not better. Only problem with this system is that if your controller goes down you lose both PC and CD playback, so you would need some form of backup. Never used a HDD based system so can't comment but the denon is a pleasure to work with and has been very reliable for me, I've not heard of any other users being unhappy with theirs either, it did have a problem when initially released but Denon have sorted it long ago with a firmware update.

 

That's good to know you can switch in/out of CD control... which is something I cannot do with the HD2500 (Midi control *or* hd2500 control - although you can flip between CD and internal devices, but not in Midi mode )

 

I still want an HC4500 + drawers :)

 

Cheers,

 

david

[mjmac 0]

Ray, i hope you have made some progress on a way forward let us know how you are getting on!

 

While i know iTunes isnt everyones cup of tea, i find it very handy in creating quick play lists and ripping my cd collection, ive used it for years and not had an issue with it.. based on i always set the ripper to 320k mp3 and not used the standard apple settings...

 

Even if you do use windows media player (WMP) the same thing prevails... you must ensure the ripping part of the software is set correctly. Meaning by defauly iTunes or WMP will rip in their native setting... typically produce AAC or WMA (iTunes / WMP respectivly).

 

Now using these native formats may cause play back issues in VDJ, traktor or serrato... (however they are all much better with this in their latest versions)... but years gone by very few of the DJ apps would play native formats and mainly worked with mp3 or wav.

 

DRM = Digital rights management is normally applied to music files purchased online.... however, cd's did have a form of DRM that prevented you from copying music to the hard drive via iTunes or WMP... by creating a non standard audio cd - basically the cd wasnt mastered by the big record companies to 'red book' standards... so i doubt any of the music you have had ripped is drm protected - as you wouldnt have been able to rip it in the first place!

 

So the files you have will not be DRM issues... but more like format problems and VDJ not recognising them.

 

Here are some links you can read more if you wish >

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(CD_standard)

!You may need to copy & paste these links if they dont click and open!

 

i personally dont want to push itunes at you but it does take a lot of the effor out of creating play lists and filling... esp if you are not very confident using windows explorer or osx finder?!?!

 

for me i itunes is the centre of my music world... both traktor and rekordbox look to the itunes library.. not sure if VDJ will have the same integration as traktor?!?!?!

 

As previously said... ripping to 'wav' is best, or 320k mp3 - these two formats you wont go wrong with!

 

Having said all of that - i do tend to purchase online now rather than rip from my collection... as i hate spiders and my collection is stored in the loft... my loft is full of spiders!

Edited March 28, 2011 by mjmac

[Dan allanthemsdisco 0]

I believe PCDJ provide in house training and will clean and configure your DJ computer for you £100 i believe - its all on the pcdj website

just thought id add it because for some people that could be very useful!

[aimeehudson 0]

try narrow down

[aimeehudson 0]

I would like to say a BIG thank you to Rob for the post he was bang on and it had nothing to do with DRM.

It was down partially to me not understanding the software and how to use it properly.

The tagging format was not consistent thus causing some of my problems.

 

Now here is my next problem do I use a PC based controller or do I use a HDD controller.

Budget is about £1200 so any tips would be welcomed. Ideally I wouls still like to be able to play CD's as well.

 

 

:wall: