HalfBit
10-17-2009, 07:25 AM
VortexBox / SqueezeBox Server directory structure - A proposal
I just completed restoring all music from a backup to a VortexBox Appliance (VBA). Upon directory scan, it seemed that not enough songs were listed. It was approximately 2,000 songs short. I found the problem, and its source, and think this may happen to others. Here is what I found with a proposal for change:
The default music directory listed in SqueezeBox Server’s (SBS) Settings window is:
…/music/flac
In my previous implementation the scan was directed to
…/music
Under the …/music directory on my backup, I had:
/flac
/MP3
/playlists
With restore, I copied all those directories to the VBA, but the MP3 directory was not scanned because SBS was looking one directory too low, and scanned only the …/music/flac directory. I think this has changed from an earlier version, and probably the change is because by default, VortexBox now rips only to FLAC format files. VortexBox creates MP3 files only on request, and those are primarily intended for offload to portable devices like the iPod. It would not make sense to scan the /mp3 directory in that case, because it would contain MP3 duplicates of the FLAC files with their lower audio quality.
The music I have in the …/music/mp3 directory on my system is unique; files downloaded from eMusic and files ripped before loaned CDs were not returned. I suspect some VortexBox users have the same need to maintain and play unique MP3 files mixed with FLAC files.
Of course, the MP3 directories and files could just be placed in the …/music/flac directory, and the current structure and process could be maintained, but I do not want to mix file types, especially when the directory name would be misleading.
I would also like to be able to generate and offload MP3 versions of the FLAC files to a directory on the VBA, but suspect if I run that process, the MP3 file equivalents will merge with the unique MP3 files. I propose that this could be easily handled if the FLAC-to-MP3 process placed those files in another directory at the level of …/music, e.g., …/offload/mp3. That way all directories and file types in the …/music directory could be scanned, and the equivalent MP3 files could be generated and maintained where they are not included in a SquezeBox Server scan.
I’m sure there are other, and better, ideas. If the general idea is useful, it would be worthwhile to standardize it and include it in future VortexBox releases.
Your thoughts?
I just completed restoring all music from a backup to a VortexBox Appliance (VBA). Upon directory scan, it seemed that not enough songs were listed. It was approximately 2,000 songs short. I found the problem, and its source, and think this may happen to others. Here is what I found with a proposal for change:
The default music directory listed in SqueezeBox Server’s (SBS) Settings window is:
…/music/flac
In my previous implementation the scan was directed to
…/music
Under the …/music directory on my backup, I had:
/flac
/MP3
/playlists
With restore, I copied all those directories to the VBA, but the MP3 directory was not scanned because SBS was looking one directory too low, and scanned only the …/music/flac directory. I think this has changed from an earlier version, and probably the change is because by default, VortexBox now rips only to FLAC format files. VortexBox creates MP3 files only on request, and those are primarily intended for offload to portable devices like the iPod. It would not make sense to scan the /mp3 directory in that case, because it would contain MP3 duplicates of the FLAC files with their lower audio quality.
The music I have in the …/music/mp3 directory on my system is unique; files downloaded from eMusic and files ripped before loaned CDs were not returned. I suspect some VortexBox users have the same need to maintain and play unique MP3 files mixed with FLAC files.
Of course, the MP3 directories and files could just be placed in the …/music/flac directory, and the current structure and process could be maintained, but I do not want to mix file types, especially when the directory name would be misleading.
I would also like to be able to generate and offload MP3 versions of the FLAC files to a directory on the VBA, but suspect if I run that process, the MP3 file equivalents will merge with the unique MP3 files. I propose that this could be easily handled if the FLAC-to-MP3 process placed those files in another directory at the level of …/music, e.g., …/offload/mp3. That way all directories and file types in the …/music directory could be scanned, and the equivalent MP3 files could be generated and maintained where they are not included in a SquezeBox Server scan.
I’m sure there are other, and better, ideas. If the general idea is useful, it would be worthwhile to standardize it and include it in future VortexBox releases.
Your thoughts?