[olddude]

"frustrated by the way the Ripper deals with various artists compilations - gets the song names but just labels the artist as 'various' which is annoying"
 
In some ways this is a good thing, as compilation albums often have lots and lots of artists' names and when you go to your AK Artists screen there are a ton to scroll through.  I actually label all artists on compilation discs Various Artists and that way if I go to Various Artists under Artists there the albums all are.  On my 240SS if I go to an artist's name from a compilation disc, it often just shows the song or songs of that artist, not the complete album.  so an artist with a single song gets you a single song you can play.  .  
 
If you organize as I showed in my previous post, by folders, you can also use Folders instead of Artist or Album or Genre to navigate, though with the 240 series you have to navigate either the Internal or Card folders, as they are not compiled into one big database.  A minor issue with the UI.  

 

[laurencewayne]

Great post olddude-and I see you are CA as me-but a thought and question. I never use the "Music" folder (that came with the 380) I just create a folder with the name I want,I.e. "Beatles" and then drag the music there. Seems to work fine....or could that create an issue. The question: since my internal memory is now full, how would you recommend transferring to my card? Thanks for taking time to assist.

 

[Uncle Monty]

 

#bflat - how exactly do you manually add album art so that it embeds into the track? For me, it either appears automatically or it

No worries, it's not obvious in iTunes. You right click on the full album or select all the tracks of the album and right click. You will see several options but select "Get Info". This will open up a small window that shows all the tags and a separate tab for artwork. Once you select Album Art you just use the option to add and then select the image file then save.

ITunes keeps album art in a separate database so even if you see art in ITunes it may not display on your AK. Even if I see the right album art in iTunes, I delete it and replace it with an jpg file I find just using google. Once I do this, it forces iTunes to embed the image in each track.

Thanks for that - I've used the 'Get Info' tab for sorting out artist names etc but was never sure how the artwork option worked - I'll give it a go because sometimes the artwork chosen by iTunes is a bit random.

 

[Uncle Monty]

Great post olddude-and I see you are CA as me-but a thought and question. I never use the "Music" folder (that came with the 380) I just create a folder with the name I want,I.e. "Beatles" and then drag the music there. Seems to work fine....or could that create an issue. The question: since my internal memory is now full, how would you recommend transferring to my card? Thanks for taking time to assist.

Going by my recent experiences (!), if you use Windows it's just a case of plugging the device in and moving stuff to the SD card, however if you use a Mac (like me) you need to use Android File Transfer app and I'd recommend moving the files in small batches i.e. not 230Gb in one go and backing up om EHD for when AFT loses everything...

 

[laurencewayne]

Going by my recent experiences (!), if you use Windows it's just a case of plugging the device in and moving stuff to the SD card, however if you use a Mac (like me) you need to use Android File Transfer app and I'd recommend moving the files in small batches i.e. not 230Gb in one go and backing up om EHD for when AFT loses everything...

I am on Mac. So do you recommend taking the card out of 380 & either using a card reader (or put the card in the iMac) to move the files from internal memory to the card? Seems now way to do that strictly on the 380?

 

[olddude]

Both my AK120 and AK240 used Music folder at Root on the internal memory.  When I set up my card I used the same file structure.  I assume that the 380 does the same as well.  When you plug your 380 in and open up AFT you should see your file structure on both the internal and the card (depending which you select on AFT.)  It should go Music>music folders (except that the 240 has an Album Art folder above it on the interna, the 120ll did notl).  See below:
 

 
You can drag folders to the Music folder and they will line up by alpha, or you can navigate to an artist's folder and drop more of that artist in it.  That way multiple folders are nested in a single artist folder.  This helps when navigating AFT.  Using the AK, you don't see the nest folders, only the individual album folders.  

 

[Uncle Monty]

 

Going by my recent experiences (!), if you use Windows it's just a case of plugging the device in and moving stuff to the SD card, however if you use a Mac (like me) you need to use Android File Transfer app and I'd recommend moving the files in small batches i.e. not 230Gb in one go and backing up om EHD for when AFT loses everything...

I am on Mac. So do you recommend taking the card out of 380 & either using a card reader (or put the card in the iMac) to move the files from internal memory to the card? Seems now way to do that strictly on the 380?

Noooooo! For god's sake don't do that. The Mac seemingly puts all sorts of crap on the SD you don't need. Plug your 380 in and AFT will open (if you've downloaded it). You'll see 'Internal Memory' and 'SD card'. You'll need to save the files from internal memory on to your Mac (or EHD) before dragging them in to SD card on AFT. Probably best to do in small batches. Always back up because when I came to delete the files on 'Internal Memory' (after transferring them arduously to 'SD card) AFT deleted all the files everywhere leaving me with an empty 380. The easiest thing might be to visit and friend with a Windows pc and use that instead. 

 

[Uncle Monty]

  Both my AK120 and AK240 used Music folder at Root on the internal memory.  When I set up my card I used the same file structure.  I assume that the 380 does the same as well.  When you plug your 380 in and open up AFT you should see your file structure on both the internal and the card (depending which you select on AFT.)  It should go Music>music folders (except that the 240 has an Album Art folder above it on the interna, the 120ll did notl).  See below:
 

 
You can drag folders to the Music folder and they will line up by alpha, or you can navigate to an artist's folder and drop more of that artist in it.  That way multiple folders are nested in a single artist folder.  This helps when navigating AFT.  Using the AK, you don't see the nest folders, only the individual album folders.  

How do you get Internal Memory and SD card AFT to both open at the same time?

 

[olddude]

I am on Mac. So do you recommend taking the card out of 380 & either using a card reader (or put the card in the iMac) to move the files from internal memory to the card? Seems now way to do that strictly on the 380?

I'm not sure about your question.  Why do you want to move from the internal to the card?  Everything or just some?  If some, just pull those files to the desktop and then reinsert them into the place you want on the AK using AFT.  If you are filling up space on both card and internal, then it's time to get a second card and decide what you want on each card and then use one or the other card as desired.  Or winnow out songs/albums you don't listen to and free up space.  I have about 120gb on my 200gb card and 120gb in my internal.
 
I do everything on the AK except for moving the entire card Music folder.  That I do using a card reader, as it can be somewhat faster.  There is no real gain to popping the card out and back in, and it may be possible to mess up any playlists you have assembled by doing so.  
 
When I migrated my 120ll to the 240SS, I pulled over groups of folders (maybe ten main folders) at a time from the internal to my desktop.  It barfed if I tried moving the whole thing.  Once they were all on my computer, I pulled them back into the internal Music folder of the 240SS.  Took about four hours for 120gb or so.  The card from the 120ll I just popped into the 240SS and when all was done it did a Media scan for about ten minutes or less and then all was set up.  
 
If your tagging is problematic things can take a lot longer, especially scans.  That's why getting tagging right is so important.  

 

[olddude]

You open one pane or the other as shown in my photos above.  They do not both open at the same time.  
 
Macs will put hidden files on devices, I use BlueHarvest (payware) to delete them when using a card reader.  There are ways to do it for free as well (Google Mac Hidden File remover).  There seems to be no issue with them when using AFT directly.
 
I only have had one instance of losing everything when using AFT and that was user error, as I wasn't too careful selecting what to delete.  Since then, no issues.
 
Again, I drag files to my desktop to work on them.  Just safer that way.

 

[laurencewayne]

I'm not sure about your question.  Why do you want to move from the internal to the card?  Everything or just some?  If some, just pull those files to the desktop and then reinsert them into the place you want on the AK using AFT.  If you are filling up space on both card and internal, then it's time to get a second card and decide what you want on each card and then use one or the other card as desired.  Or winnow out songs/albums you don't listen to and free up space.  I have about 120gb on my 200gb card and 120gb in my internal.

I do everything on the AK except for moving the entire card Music folder.  That I do using a card reader, as it can be somewhat faster.  There is no real gain to popping the card out and back in, and it may be possible to mess up any playlists you have assembled by doing so.  

When I migrated my 120ll to the 240SS, I pulled over groups of folders (maybe ten main folders) at a time from the internal to my desktop.  It barfed if I tried moving the whole thing.  Once they were all on my computer, I pulled them back into the internal Music folder of the 240SS.  Took about four hours for 120gb or so.  The card from the 120ll I just popped into the 240SS and when all was done it did a Media scan for about ten minutes or less and then all was set up.  

If your tagging is problematic things can take a lot longer, especially scans.  That's why getting tagging right is so important.  

You actually answered my question. My internal is full and I want to move files from internal to sd card. Safely and easily. I thought that might be possible strictly using AFT and moving from internal to sd card. If not, can I just drag (or copy) from internal to desktop (Mac) and then back to the card. Or better to take out the card, place in external drive and drag from AFT to the card. I think I'll experiment with just I small song! And btw, so "interesting" how some album art shows up and some doesn't, regardless of tagging, dragging etc. and many thanks for responding.

 

[olddude]

Just pull folders/files out of internal to the desktop and then put them on the card while it is in the AK (just change panes so you can see where to put them).  Easiest that way unless you plan to move giant amounts.  This is the safest way, as once it's on your desktop whatever happens when moving it back it's still on your desktop.  
 
You can't move stuff inside the AK, that won't work.  I've not even been able to move stuff from place to place within the internal by dragging from one folder to another.  
 
Album art is very easy using XLD and/or Yate to embed it.  I've only had a few instances of it not working when doing so (sometimes some files are really messed up and I have to change FLAC to WAV and back to FLAC and totally re-tag to get them to work.  But that is rare.  

 

[Gosod]

there was a comparison Ak380 with the new fiio X5III?

 

[Lavakugel]

Is astell & kern releasing a new player soon? Better one than ak380. Read something on a website....

 

[olddude]

I've not seen a comparison and there are rumors about a 480.  Based on prior marketing, a new one every couple of years and they just released a stainless so nowhere else to go but newer.  $5k?