I've been experimenting with making partial library clones. That is, making a sub-set of my library and turning it into a new library. There are a variety of reasons you might want to do this. I think one of the most popular reasons would be to have a full standalone copy of *part* of your library on a second machine. In my case, I wanted to make a version of a library that could fit on an external portable drive. Again, just a sub-set of the Library.
I found a really good thread where Glynor discusses how he uses the Handheld Sync to build a copy of his library to be used by itunes. He does conversion to MP3 at the same time. His setup is a bit complicated, but I'm pretty sure he uses an MC library on a laptop to "receive" the converted files, and then MCiS to move the media files over to Itunes. The thread is here:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=97242.0There's something rather important in this thread that I didn't know about: Handheld Sync can use the MPL format for it's Playlist when it does a sync. This means that you can copy part of your library to some other location, and along with it, an MPL file that contains EVERY BIT of the metadata about those media files, including custom fields, and anything else that might not be saved in the media file.
This makes building a partial clone pretty simple:
1. In the Handheld Sync Tool, set up a directory on a drive you want to use for the partial clone.
2. Make a playlist or smartlist on the Source library that contains the media you want to clone (a subset of your media).
3. Configure the directory structure of the Handheld Sync. Set any conversion options you might want. Set the Playlist type to MPL.
4. Perform the Handheld Sync (Sync Now).
5. Create a new blank library. On the machine you are going to put it on.
6. File > Import Playlist ... and select the MPL file you created above.
Now that subset is imported into your new library. This could be done on the same machine, or on a second machine. As long as the paths are the same, you're good to go. If that paths *aren't* the same, you can use Find and Replace in the Rename, Move, and Copy tool to fix the paths.
Of course you can get slightly more sophisticated and do a real clone of your Library first, then delete all of the media from it. This helps if you want to retain any Views or anything else you have created. Then you can import the MPL you created and all of the exported media is now in the new library.
This is pretty advanced stuff, but I think there are people here that might want to do this, but didn't know it was possible. You could really use this for quite a few applications. How about making a partial clone of your Library to be used on an ID? There are some details you might need to work out (like converting path separators from \ to /), but I think it would work really well.
I just felt like sharing. Hope someone enjoys this.
Brian.