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Mike Foran:
I should add: After the RMC is approved, JRiver doesn't give any indication that it is doing something. There is no progress bar, nor feedback in the Action Window. The files show a 'missing' icon until they are moved, at which point they show up with the new path.

RoderickGI:
The removal of access to the RMCF function on a MC Client was a recent MC21 change. Prior to the change the copy process still worked, but other processes such as Move didn't. It was confusing people, and they were breaking their libraries trying to use it, apparently.

I didn't test all this stuff. I am just going by comments in earlier threads.

One of those threads, BTW, was where you were complaining about the removal of access to the Copy function Glynor.

Mike Foran:
If that's true then that is extremely frustrating. I want to keep supporting this program, but the client/server functionality was one of the main things that drew me to it. I didn't really see any new features in v.21 that were important to me, but I wanted to keep supporting the development of this great piece of software. Unless this is fixed and restored I am going to stay at version 20 and not waste any more money on upgrades that break important functionality. I hope the team can find a way to fix this issue. Clients should be able to import media into a shared library.

Arindelle:

--- Quote from: Mike Foran on February 15, 2016, 12:24:40 am ---If that's true then that is extremely frustrating. I want to keep supporting this program, but the client/server functionality was one of the main things that drew me to it. I didn't really see any new features in v.21 that were important to me, but I wanted to keep supporting the development of this great piece of software. Unless this is fixed and restored I am going to stay at version 20 and not waste any more money on upgrades that break important functionality. I hope the team can find a way to fix this issue. Clients should be able to import media into a shared library.

--- End quote ---
As I said above, the final version of 20 already was like this ... this is not a version 21 change so lets not get all worked up about this. I don't know which exact version, but I checked the 20.0.132.


--- Quote ---Clients should be able to import media into a shared library.
--- End quote ---
careful when you make statements like this. This can be confusing to people.

You are sharing access to the media files, yes. You are, normally, loading a library on your client machines from 1 machine that is running media server. You are not "sharing it" or accessing it directly, it is like a virtual copy - by design. This “copy”  updates via auto-sync every so often, if you have that option ticked, or by running a manual sync.

The fact that through mapped drives it was convenient to move files around via clients is one thing. But by design, and Glynor can edit for omissions or errors on my part, there have always been limitations: Forcing a manual Import, Ripping, Cover art manipulation, moving and renaming files,  audio analysis … So by using RMCF in that way you actually are modifying the library directly, probably why they made the change as it allowed a workaround using mapped drives visible on the client machines. People were clamoring for read only user access and ways to stop family members to mess with the library. They just closed the loophole.

There are ways to do what you do ... just move the files from a client via Windows into a watched folder and wait for auto-import to take over. Or use Team Viewer or any remote desktop app to work directly on the server machine. I've found the best way is just have a temp “sandbox” directory; its gets imported via the server machine (via auto-import or a direct manual import) ... do your tagging from your clients (you still have access to this for playback every where) and when satisfied just use RMCF on the server machine remotely (or locally).

I'm not saying that maybe there should not be a way to use RMCF across the network, or even maybe change how the server/client set-up works. But I don't think it was there intention that you could directly access a library from a client.  Basically one machine running media server; other machines running as clients that can edit metadata is how its been working for a long time. Running media server on multiple machines, and using RMCF from clients I don't believe were ever intentional functionality so saying they have to fix it or restore it doesn't make sense.

Mike Foran:
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm fine with adapting to new behavior as long as it works reliably. Remoting in to the server is a little beyond my wife and daughter's interest, but I could see copying to a watch folder and then organizing the library afterwards from the client. It's not as convenient and it takes longer, but it would work.

However, to your point of whether this behavior was by intent and needs to be fixed: prior to upgrading to v21, I was at v20.0.131. I'm not actually sure why it wasn't at .132 since I have auto update turned on. Regardless, as of .131 this ability to RMCF across the network from a client was intact on my system. And from a personal perspective, the ability to do this was one of the main reasons I bought into the program in the first place, and has always been an important feature to me. I hope the dev team recognizes the importance of this ability, but considering I appear to be the only person complaining about it's removal (maybe Glynor too but I can't find the other threads you mentioned) I suspect the new behavior is set and I will either have to adapt or remain at v.20.

I can totally understand why it would cause issues and confusion. I doubt it would play nice across platforms (not sure how Linux and OsX handle alternatives to mapping drive letters). And I could see why people would not want clients making revisions to a shared library. However, to that last point, I don't see why there couldn't simply be a checkbox under the 'Media Network' options saying 'Prevent clients from modifying library.' It could even be activated by default.

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