Is There a Music Player Out There for a Wav Library?

[SixChannel]

I'm at the end of my rope: I have ~3000 wav songs accumulated over the past 25 years with no metadata, and I've spent untold hours trying to set up a music player on my Windows computers (7 & 10) to listen to them. Sequentially in folders, and gaplessly; a simple folder/tree-based menu. I've installed a dozen reputed players and futzed with them for hours, but wind up with nothing to show but an ugly screen and an endless random string of totally unorganized songs - and that's a positive outcome. My only player for the past 10 years is through a media USB input on a Samsung DVD player, which structures my folders perfectly. It doesn't offer much flexibility (through my hi-fi only) and, drat, it isn't gapless. I'd be grateful for anyone who has knowledge of a music player solution, or where next to seek one. Or if I'm stuck with the Samsung player.

[miguelito]

I'm at the end of my rope: I have ~3000 wav songs accumulated over the past 25 years with no metadata, and I've spent untold hours trying to set up a music player on my Windows computers (7 & 10) to listen to them. Sequentially in folders, and gaplessly; a simple folder/tree-based menu. I've installed a dozen reputed players and futzed with them for hours, but wind up with nothing to show but an ugly screen and an endless random string of totally unorganized songs - and that's a positive outcome. My only player for the past 10 years is through a media USB input on a Samsung DVD player, which structures my folders perfectly. It doesn't offer much flexibility (through my hi-fi only) and, drat, it isn't gapless. I'd be grateful for anyone who has knowledge of a music player solution, or where next to seek one. Or if I'm stuck with the Samsung player.

Firstly, I imagine you have these files in directory structures that tell you the artist, album, etc, and likely the file names have something to do with the track name.

 

If the answer is no, I think you're out of luck and you can go away and cry in a corner.

 

If yes, then you can:

 

A- Try and see it Roon will auto-discover what the files are. I imagine it could do that based on directory structure and file names.

 

B- Try to use a tagger to import the directory/filename data into tags.

 

WAV does not officially support tagging but I think you can actually do it, IIRC. But what I would recommend is to batch-convert all your files into FLAC, and use the tagger on the FLAC versions (and keep the WAVs as backup). I am not familiar with Windows tools (I am a mac person). It might even be possible to use JRiver on Windows to transcode and tag all in one go.

[Ultrarunner]

Most of my albums are WAV. I used to tag them but different players handle the tags differently. I definitely wouldn't convert to FLAC. That would be a step backward in sound quality. That's why I switched to WAV in the first place. It really isn't a problem using folder mode with the various programs and control apps. I currently use Logitech Media Server and it displays album art correctly and integrates Spotify well. I've also used MPD and DNLA. Lots of options. I don't think ROON has a Folder option but I haven't tried. Get a Sonicorbiter SE. It will do all the above and more.

 

 

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[SixChannel]

I was afraid someone would suggest tagging again. I have never tried tagging my wav files, as DSOTM (one of the few complete albums in my library) or Herbie Electric (onsies or twosies plucked from many albums) have served as sufficient folder, or "album" titles. About 30% of my files are from vinyl conversion, and some have never been released digitally. I can't imagine assigning metadata to each song.

 

Thanks for reminding me of Roon. I'll admit that I just checked Roon & see there is a 14-day free trial I'm going to try. I had been reluctant to buck up $119 to peek under their kimono only to wind up with the same results as from others. I haven't seen the Roon in-hand presentation, but I think I'd want to suppress any artist/genre/artwork from my screen. I guess I always thought Roon was tilted towards NAS/network/whole house applications rather than merely onboard my PC. I'll certainly have a look.

[mrvco]

You could convert the WAV files to AIFF. At least then you'd have the option to embed album art and tags if so desired.

[tmtomh]

Most of my albums are WAV. I used to tag them but different players handle the tags differently. I definitely wouldn't convert to FLAC. That would be a step backward in sound quality. That's why I switched to WAV in the first place.

We just can't have a thread without some version of this, can we?

[Ultrarunner]

We just can't have a thread without some version of this, can we?

 

What's your problem?

 

 

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[tmtomh]

No problem, just making an observation. Nothing personal, and apologies if I gave offense - not my intention.

[Ultrarunner]

All I was trying to do was point out that working with WAV isn't that difficult. ...and for him think twice before converting to FLAC.

 

 

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[esldude]

All I was trying to do was point out that working with WAV isn't that difficult. ...and for him think twice before converting to FLAC.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

Wav is poor on metadata. FLAC will sound as good as wav. No need to worry about imaginary problems.

[kumakuma]

Wav is poor on metadata. FLAC will sound as good as wav. No need to worry about imaginary problems.

 

Also, if you're worried about sound quality taking a hit from FLAC's lossless compression, uncompressed FLAC and AIFF are available. Both are widely supported and handle metadata properly.

[Cebolla]

Most of my albums are WAV. I used to tag them but different players handle the tags differently. I definitely wouldn't convert to FLAC. That would be a step backward in sound quality. That's why I switched to WAV in the first place. It really isn't a problem using folder mode with the various programs and control apps. I currently use Logitech Media Server and it displays album art correctly and integrates Spotify well.

Hi Ultrarunner,

 

Out of interest, have you tried LMS's transcoder option to get the Sonicorbiter (in Squeezbox mode) to stream WAV files transcoded from FLAC files?

 

That way you store FLAC files for LMS, but the Sonicorbiter only receives WAV files while streaming, since they have already been decoded on the fly from FLAC for streaming by LMS. It would also save you from physically having to convert the FLAC files to WAV for storage.

[koupa]

I suggest trying foobar2000 with facets ui add-on. Create a column based browser with the folder depth you want. All if that assuming that your music is in some logical sort. Eg

 

C:/artist/album/track.wav

 

So you will make 2 columns. The first is for artist and the second for album. The tracks will appear in the playlist.

 

Στάλθηκε από το Nexus 6P μου

[plissken]

I surprised that you can get an app for your phone that will tell you what music is currently playing as you walk around but there is no app that can go into a directory you specify and sample .wav and figure it out.

[CatManDo]

I have ~3000 wav songs accumulated over the past 25 years with no metadata

 

Does that mean you have downloaded or ripped individual songs and not complete albums? 3000 tracks, that's about 300-400 albums, i.e. not an awful lot to sort out manually, if you have complete albums.

 

If you have album folders with files that come from CDs ripped without using an online database and you ended up with "01 Track 1.wav", "02 - Track 2.wav" etc files in an album folder (with or without the right name), you can have the album recognized online with foobar2000 or other software and have the folder and track names changed accordingly. This is semi-automatic and wouldn't take a lot of time for 400 albums.

 

This won't work for vinyl rips though, as the online databases won't recognize them using the track numbers and length.

 

Tags are overrated IMHO, the more important thing is to have the right folder and track names and track numbers (folder: Artist - Album, Tracks: track number - track name.wav). I always add the year after the artist name to have the albums of one artist listed chronologically. My albums (folders) are sorted alphabetically according to the first names of the artists, but I can live with that.

[dtb300]

Wav is poor on metadata. FLAC will sound as good as wav. No need to worry about imaginary problems.

+1 And you can run FLAC uncompresses - same as WAV but now with proper MetaData Support.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi @SixChannel - Please let us know how Roon works out for you. If you tracks aren't standard length, because of vinyl rips, you will be SOL no matter what you do.

 

You aren't the first person in the world to run into this issue. But, the vinyl rip aspect will probably require some manual work.

[miguelito]

I was afraid someone would suggest tagging again. I have never tried tagging my wav files, as DSOTM (one of the few complete albums in my library) or Herbie Electric (onsies or twosies plucked from many albums) have served as sufficient folder, or "album" titles. About 30% of my files are from vinyl conversion, and some have never been released digitally. I can't imagine assigning metadata to each song.

Ok got it.

Thanks for reminding me of Roon. I'll admit that I just checked Roon & see there is a 14-day free trial I'm going to try. I had been reluctant to buck up $119 to peek under their kimono only to wind up with the same results as from others. I haven't seen the Roon in-hand presentation, but I think I'd want to suppress any artist/genre/artwork from my screen. I guess I always thought Roon was tilted towards NAS/network/whole house applications rather than merely onboard my PC. I'll certainly have a look.

Give it a spin... If Roon does categorize from a directory structure then great. Additionally, I wonder if it would either identify files properly or at least allow you to add info as you see fit.

 

For me, Roon is more about discovery and learning about my music than anything else. So metadata is crucial here. If you name albums/collections arbitrarily, and don't add extra metadata in the case files are not identified, then in my opinion the whole purpose of Roon is defeated.

 

 

Additionally do keep in mind that Roon does NOT write any metadata back to the files. My understanding is this is by construction given their business model is both to provide the metadata and to update it constantly. That is, this will only work in the Roon ecosystem and not, for example, in a portable player.

 

 

I really cannot emphasize strong enough that transcoding to a taggable format (FLAC uncompressed, AIFF, or FLAC compressed) is really the way to go, EVEN if you have your own album titles, groupings or whathaveyou. Really.

[miguelito]

Tags are overrated IMHO...

You been dated!

[koupa]

Tags are overrated IMHO, the more important thing is to have the right folder and track names and track numbers (folder: Artist - Album, Tracks: track number - track name.wav). I always add the year after the artist name to have the albums of one artist listed chronologically. My albums (folders) are sorted alphabetically according to the first names of the artists, but I can live with that.

 

Ten years ago my girlfriend and my best friend gave me two hdd's with over 40gb MP3 each. 90% Greek music. The latest songs. It was impossible to organize that data without proper tagging. As Greeks were have serious problems with music since we are a very small market. And none of the online databases are informed. I managed with the proper tools to manage the library.

 

Στάλθηκε από το Nexus 6P μου

[dtb300]

You been dated!

Agree....Now Tagging is very important - you can do it now or you can do it later. The longer one waits the longer the job is. I fixed/did all mine when ripping and going to computer audio.

[Ultrarunner]

Wav is poor on metadata. FLAC will sound as good as wav. No need to worry about imaginary problems.

 

I'm surprised you can't hear this. My wife can in a blind AB. It's obvious even on my portable rig.

 

 

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[miguelito]

Ten years ago my girlfriend and my best friend gave me two hdd's with over 40gb MP3 each. 90% Greek music. The latest songs. It was impossible to organize that data without proper tagging. As Greeks were have serious problems with music since we are a very small market. And none of the online databases are informed. I managed with the proper tools to manage the library.

 

Στάλθηκε από το Nexus 6P μου

Plus you need a whole set of new tags... Like what cheese, wine, olive oil go with the particular tracks, it really gets very detailed...

[miguelito]

I'm surprised you can't hear this. My wife can in a blind AB. It's obvious even on my portable rig.

Any views on WAV vs uncompressed FLAC or AIFF?

[Ultrarunner]

Hi Ultrarunner,

 

Out of interest, have you tried LMS's transcoder option to get the Sonicorbiter (in Squeezbox mode) to stream WAV files transcoded from FLAC files?

 

That way you store FLAC files for LMS, but the Sonicorbiter only receives WAV files while streaming, since they have already been decoded on the fly from FLAC for streaming by LMS. It would also save you from physically having to convert the FLAC files to WAV for storage.

 

I haven't. I switched from MPD to LMS relatively recently. And, unfortunately, after I ripped my 1,100 CD's. This would be a useful feature to have known about. Oh well. Folder mode works well enough. My collection is organized, with high quality album art. I haven't really needed tagging.

 

 

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