How to get started

[Bubbens20]

Okay, I'm going to swallow my pride here and ask the following: I just purchased Audirvana Plus for my MacBook Pro, and then purchased an album (24/88) from HDTracks. How do I get the purchased and downloaded files from the HDTracks download application into Audirvana? I thought it would be simple and straight-forward (drag'n'drop) but it's not working. Any remedial guidance that you can offer to this high-rez computer neophyte will be much appreciated.

[Musicophile]

Okay, I'm going to swallow my pride here and ask the following: I just purchased Audirvana Plus for my MacBook Pro, and then purchased an album (24/88) from HDTracks. How do I get the purchased and downloaded files from the HDTracks download application into Audirvana? I thought it would be simple and straight-forward (drag'n'drop) but it's not working. Any remedial guidance that you can offer to this high-rez computer neophyte will be much appreciated.

Hi Bubbens,

 

Welcome to the forum. You've come across one of the few downsides of Audirvana (in my personal opinion), which is that it doesn't help you build a folder structure like iTunes does (drop and drag something into iTunes, it just organizes the files the way it considers relevant).

 

Drag and drop into Audirvana, will get you stuff into a playlist for playing it once, but will not add it to the library.

 

So unfortunately the first thing you need to do is to figure out where to put your files and how to organize your own folder structure. The good news is, A+ doesn't care about your folder structure, it takes all files it can find in the folders you tell it to search (under options/library), where you can add any folders that A+ will read, search for compatible audio files, and constitute your library based on the files it finds there.

 

So the first thing you need to do is figure out where to put all your audio files, devise your own folder structure (A+ doesn't care, it just reads metadata), and tell A+ under the options/library field which folders to monitor.

 

Once you've placed audio files into a folder that A+ watches, they should pop up in the library and can be modified with the A+ for metadata changes.

[Bubbens20]

Thank you so much. Sorry about the delay in responding; I was out for the evening. So how do you create folders in Audirvana? And is it easy to move files there?

 

Another question: I bought a high-rex album on my OTHER laptop before getting a second MacBook for dedicated music use. Any reason why I can't put those files on a thumb drive and put them into Audivarna on the second MacBook?

[Gonzbull]

Heya, I think your misunderstanding this a bit. You create the folders as you normally would do and synch A+ to them.

I just created folders for DSD and regular hi-res in the general Music folder that contains the iTunes library. You can drag and drop whatever you want into them and when A+ starts up it will scan for any changes and update itself accordingly.

You choose what folders you want A+ to synch as stated above.

Hope this helps.

[Musicophile]

Gonzbull has summarized it nicely. Welcome to the forum as well by the way!

 

A+doesn't care how you organize your music files, whether you create tons of subfolders or have them all in one big master folder (and indeed, I'm talking about regular MacOS folders). Just point A+ to it, and it will find the files, read the metadata in the files, and organize the library accordingly.

 

That said, if you plan to purchase a lot of albums, for your own sake you'll be better off if you think of some kind of organization for the files.

[Bubbens20]

Thanks, guys. I'll play with that tomorrow. But I'm hoping it doesn't mean syncing to my iTunes library, which is actually on another computer; one of my reasons for getting Audirvana Plus was to bypass iTunes altogether, and on set up, I chose NOT to have it interact with iTunes, so ...

[Gonzbull]

Hi again. thanks Musicophile for the welcome if it was for me.

 

If you wish you could copy the music that's already in your ITunes folder into a new folder on the new mBP. Then synch A+ with that. This bypasses iTunes.

[Bubbens20]

Okay, I still don't see a way to purchase high-rez fikes and get them into Audirvana without going through iTunes, and I wasn't even able to do that (tried to copy the album I had purchased and move into the music folder in iTunes -- no dice). So now, even allowing for my unfamiliarity with how Audirvana works and my general lack of facility with computers, I'm wondering why it isn't easier to use this $75 piece of software? What am I missing? Bueller? Anyone?

[Musicophile]

Okay, I still don't see a way to purchase high-rez fikes and get them into Audirvana without going through iTunes, and I wasn't even able to do that (tried to copy the album I had purchased and move into the music folder in iTunes -- no dice). So now, even allowing for my unfamiliarity with how Audirvana works and my general lack of facility with computers, I'm wondering why it isn't easier to use this $75 piece of software? What am I missing? Bueller? Anyone?

OK, so really step by step:

 

Create a MacOS folder wherever you want on your hard drive (I assume here you know how to use Finder, otherwise you'd probably need more basic computer/MacOS instructions somehwere else). Put your purchased Hires audio files there. Go to Audirvana Preferences, Library tab, click on the + symbol to add the folder you previously created. Et voilà, the files will be recognized by A+ and added to the A+ library! That's all. No need for iTunes at all.

[Bubbens20]

OK, so really step by step:

 

Create a MacOS folder wherever you want on your hard drive (I assume here you know how to use Finder, otherwise you'd probably need more basic computer/MacOS instructions somehwere else). Put your purchased Hires audio files there. Go to Audirvana Preferences, Library tab, click on the + symbol to add the folder you previously created. Et voilà, the files will be recognized by A+ and added to the A+ library! That's all. No need for iTunes at all.

 

Okay, I tried that and I think it worked. Hopefully, like a lot of new things, this will become second-nature to me in the coming days as I work with it more. I really appreciate your help and patience. And I look forward to being an active (and better-informed!) member of this excellent forum.

[Musicophile]

Okay, I tried that and I think it worked. Hopefully, like a lot of new things, this will become second-nature to me in the coming days as I work with it more. I really appreciate your help and patience. And I look forward to being an active (and better-informed!) member of this excellent forum.

 

Glad things worked out for you. I'm a big fan of Audirvana, I'm sure you will enjoy it. And don't hesitate to come back with more questions.

 

A suggestion: questions about A+ will get more attention when posted in the software category.

[Bubbens20]

Glad things worked out for you. I'm a big fan of Audirvana, I'm sure you will enjoy it. And don't hesitate to come back with more questions.

 

A suggestion: questions about A+ will get more attention when posted in the software category.

 

Thanks, and thanks also for that suggestion RE: posting A+ questions in the software sub-category.

[Bubbens20]

I see in your equipment description that you have both Audirvana and J River. Do you use both? Is there a reason to have both?

[Jamesroy]

What about Play Lists in iTunes. I thought I had to use A+ in combo with iTunes+