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[Skeezix]

I am using MC version 21 for my music files. Now I want to use MC for my image files. Should I create an additional library for the images, or if I should just continue to use my music library?

[Hendrik]

MC can create entirely different views for all sorts of media. There is no reason not to combine everything into the same library.

[MusicHawk]

Contrary opinion: I use separate libraries for MUSIC and PHOTOS. If I cared about videos I'd have them separate too.

Not because MC can't deal with all-together, but because it's much easier for me to manage if I keep them separated. I have tens of thousands of each type of file, so managing storage is critical. Music files are stored on a particular drive path, photos on a different drive path, for instance. I can then easily copy all the photos to a portable drive to then put on PCs of other family members (in other towns), without mixing in music files that I do not share.

Also, views that are optimized for Photos have different fields (standard and custom) and columns and layouts than views optimized for Music. For Photos I care about Captions and other fields that tag and categorize images, such as date, location, type of event/activity, people in the photo, etc. Because MC does not directly map some of its photo-specific fields to somewhat-standard image tag fields used by other imaging apps, I use tricks posted here long ago to simulate this, using keyword naming that then encounters expressions to populate other fields, and to create very useful views grouped by People, Places, Events, etc. If I had just one library and did this, none of that would be useful for Music, which has its own specialized fields that get different processing. (Actually I have two music libraries, one just for Holiday\Christmas music, better than having to wade through thousands of such tracks the other 11 months, though using just one music library has some offsetting benefits.)

But for me, mixing Music and Photos into a single library would be like dumping my steak dinner and my breakfast cereal into the same bowl at the same time, just to avoid washing two dishes. Actually, that would be worse, because setting up multiple MC libraries is just a one-time task.

I've been doing this for years (started with MC when it was MJ6) and find a huge feature of MC is that I can use multiple libraries, each customized for its purpose, because most of MC's config is library-specific (stored in the library). (MC is 95% there, though a few settings are global, so a struggle requiring cross-library compromise settings.)

[JimH]

One library.

[ferday]

one library

[KingSparta]

I'm with MusicHawk, and I have separate Libraries for different file types.

When I am working on music I don't want My old time radio shows showing up.

[ferday]

They won't, if they are tagged correctly and you have a good view scheme.  The power of being able to quickly and easily move across formats in one library shouldn't be underestimated.  The configurable views ARE MC to me

Not only that, but if your images are in a separate library you can't listen to music whilst tagging images and that sounds awful

But hey, cats and skin and all that. 

[221bBS]

ONE Library all the way.

I have multiple drives holding different types of files. All gets renamed automatically into the correct drive by using a couple of expressions (one for folders and one for files).

Anything that get's automatically imported get's dumped into my sub-import view which has there own columns optimized for that media type (music, video, image, audio book, etc...). I have various views and sub-views that deal with specific type of files and I've never had problems mixing up various types of media.

For me, having multiple libraries would be like having three houses, one where I only eat breakfast, one for lunch, and another for diner. It's just easier to have everything in one place.

[Skeezix]

Contrary opinion: I use separate libraries for MUSIC and PHOTOS. If I cared about videos I'd have them separate too.

Not because MC can't deal with all-together, but because it's much easier for me to manage if I keep them separated.

I was thinking exactly along those lines. I keep my underwear in separate drawers too. One for socks, one for underpants, and one for tee-shirts.

BUT .....

I only have 8000 files and maybe 800 images (if that many), and it appears the "single library" guys outnumber the "multiple library" guys. So I think I'll start out by keeping my photos on a separate disk but add them to my as-of-now single library, and add the photos to it one folder at a time.

Thank you all for your replies 

[syndromeofadown]

It's a good decision to use one library. MC is designed to handle photo, video, music, and data. Likely 99 percent of users are using one library. Using a second library makes as much sense as buying a second computer just for photos. None of the analogies here make sense either. Photos aren't steak, they are digital files just like videos and audio.

[BartMan01]

I agree with the one-library approach too. Your views can be separated to work just like you have multiple libraries so you lose nothing from a functionality standpoint by having it all in one.

Multiple libraries may work if you only run MC from a single computer and only one user needs to access only one type of content at a time. If you ever try to share out the content using the server features then it quickly breaks down.

[Trumpetguy]

One library. Number of files is totally irrelevant. Any argument towards multiple libraries makes me think the user hasn't really embraced (or sometimes understood) the concept and strength of metadata.

[Daydream]

I have a different reason in favor of multiple libraries. When I hit Run Auto Import because 3 video files where added/changed, I don't want MC to search my quarter million pictures for updates too. It takes x100 the time.

[KingSparta]

I have a different reason in favor of multiple libraries. When I hit Run Auto Import because 3 video files where added/changed, I don't want MC to search my quarter million pictures for updates too. It takes x100 the time.

that's a good reason too

also since i have over a million files MC gets to be real slow when you have a larger library.