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[Skeezix]

I have a library that I named "My Audio Files" and it contains about 9000 MP3 files. About 500 are Christmas-related, another 1000 files are Oldies, and another 1000 are HOS (Hearts of Space)-related. I don't want to see the Christmas, Oldies, or HOS files in my everyday use, so I thought I'd make three separate libraries. I've been working on this for over an hour and am totally confused.

So after displaying all my files in "My Audio Files" I selected only my Christmas files, then used the Library Manager to create a new library that I named "Christmas MP3s".  When I returned to the "My Audio Files" library I saw that all of My Christmas files disappeared from it.

Then I created another library and named it "HOS MP3s". Now I can't find "My Christmas MP3s" so that I can load them.

I can't find anything that says Christmas MP3s in Media Center 21. What do I do to get those files back into "My Audio Files"?

[Listener]

The files you selected in the original library don't automatically show up in the new library.  JRiver just doesn't work that way.

Do the Christmas files have a genre value that is unique to them?  

Are they in file folders separate from your other music files?

The simplest way to get them into the new library is to import them.  Two approaches:

- You could import just the folders containing Xmas files.

- You could import all your music files and then delete the non-Xmas files from the new library.  You'll need a way to separate the XMas fies from the rest. Be careful to delete the files from the library without deleting the files themselves.

[Skeezix]

>>Do the Christmas files have a genre value that is unique to them?

I can't say for sure because I cannot see them anymore on my screen. Some were tagged with Genre = Xmas, Xmas Organ, Xmas Classical, etc.

>>Are they is file folders separate from your other music files?

Yes. One folder is named simply "Xmas" and it contains 110 files. The rest of the xmas files are in folders named after the song's artist, so they are really scattered about the disk.

[blgentry]

I'm unclear on why you can't see some of your files any more.  Have you selected your original "Main" library from the Library list?  File > Library > Main Library

Or if you were using a different name for your library, it should be selectable from the same menu.

Try going to a files view like Audio > Files.  That should show everything.  Search for one of your Christmas songs and you should still see it.  You didn't tell MC to remove the files from your main library did you?  If not, they should be there.

All that said, I think you would be better served by VIEWS than by separate libraries.  You can easily alter the views you use to exclude the types of songs you don't want to see all the time.  Then you can build one or two new views that show *only* those unusual type files.  That way, you'll never see them day to day, but you can always just click on a different view and see those files.  Much easier and faster than trying to switch libraries.

There are some good reasons to use different libraries for different things.  Just segregating different kinds of music is not normally a good reason.  This is one of the things views were invented for! 

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

Plus One to everything Brian said.

Now, do you have a recent backup of your library from just before you tried to create the new library? If so, restore it, and start again.

I suspect you (or MC, when you selected the files and tried to create the new library) have deleted the Xmas files from your main library, which means they won't be reimported back into it. Hence, restore.

[glynor]

All that said, I think you would be better served by VIEWS than by separate libraries.
...
There are some good reasons to use different libraries for different things.  Just segregating different kinds of music is not normally a good reason.  This is one of the things views were invented for!  

Yes. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself this question:

Is there ever any circumstance that would make me want to (a) move information from one Library to the other, or (b) switch back and forth between these Libraries to accomplish any task?

If the answer is yes, or maybe, then you should NOT make a new Library, and make custom, filtered Media Views instead.
If the answer is no, and you're sure it will never turn into a Yes, then go ahead and make a separate Library.

The best example of an appropriate use for separate Libraries I can think of, and what I use them for myself, is to have a Home Library (of all of your "entertainment" media) and a Work Library (which contains no entertainment media at all, but only stuff you've created or use at work, like stock footage, videos you've edited, sound clips if you're a musician, etc). These two "worlds" of using MC will never collide, and you won't need to replicate views, playlists, or move files in-between the two Libraries.

Using Libraries for things like separating different types of music, separating different Users, or separating different "categories" or "genres" of things is usually asking for trouble down the road. For some people, it might work out, but don't come crying 2 years from now when you want to merge them in the future (hint, you can't). As Brian indicated above, that's what Media Views are for. Since Media Views are searches, they can filter your media in basically any way you can imagine, so you only see what you want to see in each section of the Tree (or Theater View or whatever).

[Skeezix]

After reading (several times) the responses I received (and Thank You for responding!) I finally realized that the Tree does not show library names, but shows View names.