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[JHaycox]

I am confused about the path to use when adding a new library.  I tried adding a library and thought I saw a default path.  I misunderstood and gave it the path to my media files.  It apparently created the library in my media folder.  I undid my mistake.  But when I tried again there was no default path for the new library.  My question is was there a default path to begin with and can I revert to it (I can use regedit if needed)?  If not is it appropriate to use a folder in the "Roaming\J River\Media Center 23" path?

Additionally, will my additional libraries be automatically backed up?

[ferday]

the "default" location is

c:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 23\Library\

you can put this file anywhere you want, it has to be in an otherwise empty directory.  it is recommended that you put it on your fastest drive, which for most people is default

as for backups, they are automatically made.  you can choose where they go @ options>file location>Program Files
library backups contain all libraries and settings.  you can manually backup as well anytime you want.

[Spike1000]

Unless you have specific requirements it's usually preferable to just use one library and customise the views to display the things you wish to display. . .

YMMV of course as you don't say why you need an additional library.

Spike

[blgentry]

I like establishing a specific path, outside of JRiver's installation directories, to hold additional libraries.  That way I know they are entirely separate and I can back them up, move them, etc.  Installation, reinstallation, updates, deinstallation, etc will never touch these directories.

I generally do this for experimentation purposes, or when I'm working on other people's libraries for various reasons.

Your "extra" libraries will be backed up *when* you use them.  At some point, after a couple of days of not being backed up, MC decides to run an automatic backup.  I'm not sure what triggers it.  But I am reasonably certain that to back up library X, you must have library X open in MC.  To have library Y get backed up, you have to have it open in MC.  Which makes sense.  Why would it back up a library that isn't open and therefore hasn't changed?

As the guys said, generally speaking, you can do what you want with a single library.  This is usually more efficient and convenient.  There are some instances when extra libraries make sense.  But they are the exception, not the rule.

Good luck.

Brian.

[JHaycox]

Thanks for the thorough answer to my question and the possibility of views as a better alternative.  Views are more powerful than I realized and might indeed be better.

To answer the question about why I am considering more libraries I have two possibilities.
First, I am currently re-ripping my CD collection to flac and I want to use these files for most of my listening.  But I also have the mp3 version of most of my CD plus a bunch more mp3 files that friends have given me.  I was thinking of putting these in a separate library so I do not get confused about listening to flac vs mp3 and so I do not normally see my friends' files (our tastes do not match all that well).

The other candidate for another library is a collection of mp3 files that can best be described as podcasts.  They are mostly recordings of radio broadcasts that focus on a particular artist.  When I first installed MC auto import picked up these files.  They are poorly tagged and consequently MC organization was not very useful.  The current "tagging" consists mostly of folder (e.g. by year) and file name.  I was thinking of adding these to a separate library to avoid the confusion of messy tagging in my main library.

However, after thinking about it perhaps the best solution is to not import them at all and use file explorer for navigation.  Things I really like I can add appropriate tags and move to the main library.

OT - Another issue I just rediscovered is that many of the files are large and difficult to navigate using the file-position slider (e.g. 260MB 3-hour broadcast).  If I am not satisfied listening beginning to end or skipping around blind I currently load the file into Audacity.  That provides satisfactory navigation.  But the load time for that 260MB file is almost 2 minutes (on my faster computer).  I have some files that are 8 or 10 hours.  In the best of all possible worlds the player would start playing immediately and load the waveform display in the background.  Even better - start playing and display a gross waveform immediately and refine the waveform in the background.

I am not suggesting MC needs this feature - just throwing the idea out in case anyone knows of something I should look at.