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[aviateur]

Hello Interact Forum:

I just upgraded from MC21 to MC22. A pre-defined field, [Library] no longer displays in the player display window. In the past, I have used this field to determine which library, 'mp3' or 'flac' was active. A quick glance at the player display was all that was necessary to make this determination. This was especially helpful when both were running simultaneously. So, has this field been eliminated from MC22?

Lawrence

[blgentry]

I had never noticed that field existed.  I've just done a few experiments and can confirm that [Library] works on MC21 but not on MC22.

That being said, using separate libraries for different music, or even for different formats is rarely the right thing to do with MC.  Normally it's best to Tag your music in some way (keywords, Genre, file type, etc) and then build your views based on those to display your songs the way you want to find them. 

Brian.

[aviateur]

Brian, Hi:

I solved the [Library] field problem. MC22 decided not to carry forward my previous settings ,by defaulting to 'main library' and ignoring previously-defined libraries. That aside, I am sincerely interested in reasons why my approach is not proper so that I may think about the problem in, perhaps, a different way and possibly consider a different perspective.

Currently, my digital audio library exceeds 87,000+ tracks. I have a 'flac' library, which resides on a 4TB HD and a 'mp3' library, which resides on a 2TB HD. The 'flac' library is my primary source. The 'mp3' library is used for 'portability during travel' uses on a notebook computer as well as flash drives which are used in my car (think handheld synchronization).

My backup process for the flac library pushes the content via 'Syncback' to additional 4TB HDs which are mounted on a docking station, commonly referred to as a 'sled'. I rotate the 'sled' versions offsite to a friend's home on a periodic basis to ensure to the backup drives are not co-located with the primary source should I experience a property disaster which affects the primary source. This is just Disaster Recovery 101 stuff.

I decided awhile ago to physically split the formats within the same music server for ease of management. I find having two instances running and displayed separately for each library helpful during a 'CONVERT FORMAT' operation and the subsequent verification. I have discovered on several occasions the existence of convert errors. I actually have a defined process involving a Microsoft spreadsheet which compares the library output (names and sizes) of the 'flac' and 'mp3' libraries to ensure proper synchronization.

I have never had any issues managing these two library formats in this way. Again, I am sincerely interested in your thoughts, which may improve my approach.

Lawrence

[blgentry]

The way you are describing it, I think your libraries are copies of one another:  The FLAC and MP3 libraries have the exact same songs, just different formats.

This is one of those less common cases where separate libraries make sense.  If you're using your FLAC library most of the time and would NEVER need to switch to the MP3 library to find a song, then separate libraries are just fine.

The general rule of thumb is:  If anyone would ever want to play songs (or videos, or other media) from two different libraries, in one listening session, then they should not be in separate libraries.  It sounds like your cases obey the rule of thumb.

Brian.

[Matt]

For me the [Library] token shows the name of the loaded library in the player display.