On a quest for my utopian music player - specific sorting options & metadata

[camarillo-brillo]

First of all, thanks again for your patience & help.

You did not mention the file system on your internal 1TB drive?

TBH, I am not 100% sure.

Also, can you check the ownership of the folders containing your AIFF music files?

Select a folder > Right Click > Properties > Permissions

It has me listed as the owner.

Alternatively, instead of spending hours looking for a solution, why not just transfer the AIFF files to the Music folder in your user directory?

I have a lot of music. If I were to put all my music on that drive, I'd have about 6 GB for everything else. The whole point of the TB drive was to keep all the files I use, with the SSD just for boot-up purposes.


So, here's what's going on:
On my TB drive, I created a music folder.
In that folder are a number of folders with the names of the artists, with folders for individual albums in the artist folders. WAV, FLAC & MP3 files play without any problems.
AIFF files will only play if they are in the music folder I created, but not if they are in a sub-folder.

[Yellow Pasque]

I usually delete the Music folder/dir and recreate it as a symbolic link ("shortcut") to my real Music folder/dir. Maybe Rhythmbox (RB) will like that better? There probably is a way you can tweak RB to use something other than ~/Music, but I don't like/use RB, so I don't know off the top of my head.

[tea for one]

Good evening

We're still battling on................

To identify the file system on a drive/usb device:-

Open a terminal

sudo parted -l

The last letter is lower case L for list.

Only output the file system and then close the terminal because parted is a partition editor and I would not want you to accidentally alter your partitions.

Alternatively, there is a GUI application called Disks (gnome-disk-utility). Click on the Nine Dot Icon and search for Disks.

Secondly, have you tried changing the library location in the Rhythmbox preferences?

[camarillo-brillo]

We're still battling on................

To identify the file system on a drive/usb device:-

Open a terminal

I've included a screenshot from Terminal.

Secondly, have you tried changing the library location in the Rhythmbox preferences?

Indeed. That was the first thing I tried. Before I posted here, I tried everything I could think of, which, admittedly, isn't much...

[tea for one]

We seem to have reached an impasse. Just to recap the pertinent points:-

Your external drive is ext4 system which is fine.
You are the owner of all the files so there is no problem with permissions.
Rhythmbox recognises and plays the AiFF files when they are in a location that Rythmbox expects.

If I were in your position, I would consider:-

• Gradually converting my favourite AIFF tracks to a format that plays.
• Moving the AIFF files to the top level of the Music folder (your post 11)
• Investigating the symlink suggestion by Yellow Pasque (post 12)

If I think of anything else, I'll post here but, as I do not have AIFF files and a 1TB drive, I cannot reproduce your dilemma exactly.

Good luck

[camarillo-brillo]

We seem to have reached an impasse. Just to recap the pertinent points:-

Your external drive is ext4 system which is fine.
You are the owner of all the files so there is no problem with permissions.
Rhythmbox recognises and plays the AiFF files when they are in a location that Rythmbox expects.

If I were in your position, I would consider:-

• Gradually converting my favourite AIFF tracks to a format that plays.
• Moving the AIFF files to the top level of the Music folder (your post 11)
• Investigating the symlink suggestion by Yellow Pasque (post 12)

If I think of anything else, I'll post here but, as I do not have AIFF files and a 1TB drive, I cannot reproduce your dilemma exactly.

Good luck

Thank you again,
And thank you to everyone else that has been incredibly helpful with suggestions.
Normally, I can be pretty stubborn.
I started this thread with the hope that, "there's gotta be a way."
But, I also have work to do, and this obsession is distracting me from getting other stuff done.

I will take your advice, and slowly convert my music to FLAC. In the long run, it is the easiest solution.

[tea for one]

Thank you again,
And thank you to everyone else that has been incredibly helpful with suggestions.
Normally, I can be pretty stubborn.
I started this thread with the hope that, "there's gotta be a way."
But, I also have work to do, and this obsession is distracting me from getting other stuff done.

I will take your advice, and slowly convert my music to FLAC. In the long run, it is the easiest solution.

Good evening

It is gratifying to read that you have decided to persevere with Ubuntu and that you have decided to convert your AIFF files.

Does that mean that you are now an Ubuntu convert?

You will find that there are some very helpful users on this site and many have extensive knowledge about Ubuntu/Linux/hardware.

Best wishes

[camarillo-brillo]

Good evening

It is gratifying to read that you have decided to persevere with Ubuntu and that you have decided to convert your AIFF files.

Does that mean that you are now an Ubuntu convert?

Convert? Yes! Let me know where you want me to distribute the pamphlets - I am all in!

You will find that there are some very helpful users on this site and many have extensive knowledge about Ubuntu/Linux/hardware.

Best wishes

Indeed, this very thread has shows me exactly that. I am an eager student, ready to learn.

[cmcanulty]

I like VLC works, no hassles

[tea for one]

Convert? Yes! Let me know where you want me to distribute the pamphlets - I am all in!
Indeed, this very thread has shows me exactly that. I am an eager student, ready to learn.

Splendid, I reckon that you will enjoy your time exploring Ubuntu/Linux.

When you get a little bit of spare time, I wonder if you can conduct a little experiment.

I have assumed that your AIFF files were created using Apple software.

Are you able to create a new AIFF file using Ubuntu software and store the converted file in the usual place on your 1TB drive.

Does it play?

I'm just curious if the Apple software you previously used has somehow "locked" the data to a specific set of circumstances i.e. a certain file location can only be played with a nominated music player.

The command line tool ffmpeg is ideal to convert one audio format to another but the syntax can become complicated.

The basic command (to convert aiff to flac) is:-

ffmpeg -i input.aiff output.flac

Please double check that the metadata (id3 tag) is preserved in your output file.

It would probably be better to start another thread if you want specific advice concerning ffmpeg because there is a huge choice of options/flags to add to the basic command.

Lastly, if you want an application for audio editing with a GUI, then have a look at Audacity.

Kind regards