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[Absinthe]

Since my music server does not have an internal optical drive and my external is packed away in a box somewhere, I was attempting to rip the CD on a client machine  To this end, I was greeted by an error message stating that the library being used by the machine doing the ripping must be a local library.  Several weeks ago when I attempted to rip via a remote desktop connection, I received the same error, but thinking it was caused by a security setting in the RDC connection, I didn't give it much thought.  After today, it appears this is a limitation of MC itself and not the OS.  I can wake and access all of my MC Clients via RDP which allows me to do maintenance on each machine without having to actually go to the machine, but ripping discs is a no-go.  Curious to see if there were other media players/cataloging systems that would allow this and there are.  Is this by design in JRiver?  Is it a security issue?

[Spike1000]

Rip locally using a 3rd party tool, copy the files you your media directory and run and import on the MC server?

I've always ripped that way as i find ripping in MC is too problematic. The tool I use is multithreaded and I can rip from my 4 drives simultaneously without issue. Ripping to a SSD really helps too 

Spike

[JimH]

Rip locally using a 3rd party tool, copy the files you your media directory and run and import on the MC server?

I've always ripped that way as i find ripping in MC is too problematic. The tool I use is multithreaded and I can rip from my 4 drives simultaneously without issue. Ripping to a SSD really helps too 

Spike

MC can also rip from multiple drives at once.

Please report any errors.

[JimH]

Absinthe,
Are you using authentication on the server?  Most writes to the server require it.

[rec head]

Rip locally using a 3rd party tool, copy the files you your media directory and run and import on the MC server?

Couldn't you just rip directly to that directory? It is what happens when I rip a movie with makeMKV.

Also in MC on the client could you make a new library for ripping and rip to the target directory? Then the MC server would find and import them? When done with the rip switch back to the main library.

I'm asking because I have thought of moving my library to a PC without an optical drive.

[DJLegba]

Ripping to a network location is really slow.

[Manfred]

I have the same scenario: MC Client on a PC connected to an MC Server instance on a remote computer only connected over the network.

If I rip a CD I switch the library on the PC to main (local) library and after the rip I copy the directory to my audio directory on the server. Auto import on the server imports the CD and makes the CD available to the client(s). It's not the most elegant way but it works. It also faster first rip to a local SSD and then make a copy of the CD to the server instead of ripping to a remote folder over the network.

For DVD/BD I use mkv,  rip it to a local SSD and the copy it to the relevant video directory on the server.

[Absinthe]

Rip locally using a 3rd party tool, copy the files you your media directory and run and import on the MC server?

I've always ripped that way as i find ripping in MC is too problematic. The tool I use is multithreaded and I can rip from my 4 drives simultaneously without issue. Ripping to a SSD really helps too 

Spike

Its a solution, just not one that works well for me.  Prior to ripping the disc, I populate the AMG Album ID and the Discogs Release ID to allow easier metadata retrieval in batch later on.  These two tags are custom to my MC library and if the client is not connected to that library, those tags will not be saved.

[Absinthe]

Absinthe,
Are you using authentication on the server?  Most writes to the server require it.

Yes, username and password

[Absinthe]

Couldn't you just rip directly to that directory? It is what happens when I rip a movie with makeMKV.

Also in MC on the client could you make a new library for ripping and rip to the target directory? Then the MC server would find and import them? When done with the rip switch back to the main library.

I'm asking because I have thought of moving my library to a PC without an optical drive.

Also keep in mind that when you rip with a 3rd party tool, the Media Type and Media Sub Type fields are not populated typically.  If there not set up as Audio and Music, MC will never find them or show them unless you have a view set up for files only.  Any of the JRiver experts, please verify but I'm pretty sure any tags you have created outside the standard ID3V2 tag are custom to J River MC and will not be populated during an import

[Absinthe]

Ripping to a network location is really slow.

Not sure what your specifics are but I haven't experienced that.  Everything between the client and the server is Gigabit or above, and the CD Rom is usually running flat out unless the disc is damaged.

[rec head]

Not sure what your specifics are but I haven't experienced that.  Everything between the client and the server is Gigabit or above, and the CD Rom is usually running flat out unless the disc is damaged.

Agreed. I rip everything to from CDs to UHDs straight to my NAS. Maybe its slower but its fast enough that I don't need to bother with the extra step.

[Absinthe]

Absinthe,
Are you using authentication on the server?  Most writes to the server require it.

I took some time and read a lot of posts pertaining to ripping from client machines and as I suspected, MC is blocked from writing to the library completely.  Only read access is granted to the clients.  I'm assuming this was done to eliminate data corruption due to simultaneous write actions to the server by multiple clients?

[dtc]

I took some time and read a lot of posts pertaining to ripping from client machines and as I suspected, MC is blocked from writing to the library completely.  Only read access is granted to the clients.  I'm assuming this was done to eliminate data corruption due to simultaneous write actions to the server by multiple clients?

MC Clients can write to the library, but only certain things.  In particular, the client can make tag changes for existing tracks in the main database.   It needs authentication enabled to write to the library.

A MC Client cannot rip a disk and write new tracks directly to the server database.  That requires a two step process of ripping the disk on the client machine with full version of MC, not a MC client, and then having the server version of MC import the file.   Ripping directly to the server database from a client is a limitation of the current implementation of MC.  This feature has been requested many times, but has not been implemented.

[Absinthe]

A MC Client cannot rip a disk and write new tracks directly to the server database.  That requires a two step process of ripping the disk on the client machine with full version of MC, not a MC client, and then having the server version of MC import the file.   Ripping directly to the server database from a client is a limitation of the current implementation of MC.  This feature has been requested many times, but has not been implemented.

Thanks for the history lesson dtc.  This is unfortunate as this capability would ease the turbulent process by which I currently rip media.  The most straight forward solution would be to purchase a slot style blue-ray drive for my server.  However, this necessitates moving the server out of the base of the Entertainment center where it now resides.  My server was constructed headless and I typically don't touch it other than to replace components

You say that the feature has been requested many times but not implemented.  If the feature has been requested many times, I'm curious to understand why it has not been implemented.  Are there overwhelming technical issues involved?  Is it not a high enough priority given the other request being made?  If I can understand the reasoning behind this, it will help me decide on the best solution for my application

[RoderickGI]

Clients of a MC Server can't rename or move files on the server. For that reason, it would seem logical that they can't create new files on the server as well. Hence, connected Clients of a MC Server can't rip CDs directly to the MC Server Library, using the existing Client/Server functionality MC has. Adding that capability is a big job, if possible at all, apparently.

This is because files are served from the MC Server to the Client. Generally, the MC Client doesn't have direct access to the disk on the Server. Sure, there is a setting and a way to configure MC so that a Client can play the server files directly, without it being served by the Server, but I don't think that capability would extend to ripping new CDs directly to the Server. In fact, I can think of issues even attempting to do that would cause. i.e. Ripped files would be imported into the local copy of the Server Library, but the synchronisation of those changes may not get back to the Server Library before that same Library imported the new files directly, if Auto Import was active on the Server. That could result in duplicate entries in the Server Library, or worse, clashes in trying to update the Server Library.

Make it easy for yourself. Rip using a local Library on a Client, with all required fields in the local Library so that it is equivalent to the Server Library, and then copy the resulting files to the Server to be imported. Custom field (tags) can be written to the files so that they are picked up on the server. Just set MC on the Client to do that. You can easily create or update a local Library using a backup of a Server Library, so that the local Library is equivalent to the Server Library, in terms of field definitions. Just Restore the backup and delete all the content, if you wish, or have the local MC installation "Fix broken Links" to remove records that don't exist, because the Server and Client drive layouts are different.

Perhaps then you wouldn't be getting empty tags on the Server, as reported elsewhere.

[tij]

Out of curiousity ... can’t you just share CD drive on client over network ... then connect to server from client  using Remote Desktop ... on server then access shared CD Drive and rip disk from server

Once CD is ripped and imported by server (through Remote Desktop from client) ...  can tweak tags from client MC

Generally speaking it is very hard to implement truly multi-user database system (just try to find photo management software that allows concurrent modification of tags by multiple users ... you won’t find any consumer grade product as those are all single user)

[Absinthe]

Out of curiousity ... can’t you just share CD drive on client over network ... then connect to server from client  using Remote Desktop ... on server then access shared CD Drive and rip disk from server

Also out of curiosity, I tried this.  after I shared the CD Rom, I verified that I could access the tracks on the Server, but when I opened the drive in Explorer inside MC, none of the tracks were visible.  Curiously enough when I tried to import the shared CD ROM, MC acknowledged there were 13 tracks on the disc.  The results were the same whether I was accessing the server via RDC or directly from the machine ? ?

[RoderickGI]

Out of curiousity ... can’t you just share CD drive on client over network ...

No.

Windows doesn't allow the level of access required to rip a CD when the drive is shared as a network drive. The driver needs direct access to the drive, locally.

In that situation, all you will see is the files on the drive. Useful when it is a data CD, but not for ripping.

[dtc]

Another approach would be to allow the client to rip the disk from its local CD and, rather than processing it on the local copy of MC, pass the data through the network link and then let the server process the data through its CD code as if it had gotten the data from its local CD. I am sure the concept is easier than actually doing the coding. But, in principle, it would avoid of a lot the problems raised so far.

I am just pointing this out as an alternate approach. As I said, I have no idea how hard it would be to actually do.

[RoderickGI]

Make it easy for yourself. Rip using a local Library on a Client, with all required fields in the local Library so that it is equivalent to the Server Library, and then copy the resulting files to the Server to be imported. Custom field (tags) can be written to the files so that they are picked up on the server. Just set MC on the Client to do that. You can easily create or update a local Library using a backup of a Server Library, so that the local Library is equivalent to the Server Library, in terms of field definitions. Just Restore the backup and delete all the content, if you wish, or have the local MC installation "Fix broken Links" to remove records that don't exist, because the Server and Client drive layouts are different.

[glynor]

I think perhaps you're making this more unnecessarily complicated than it needs to be... Though I could certainly have missed something (I admit I skimmed this somewhat).

I can't remember the last time I ripped a CD. However, I do remember my previous setup for it at the old house. I had a HTPC in the Living Room, my laptop clients (which in remotely modern years didn't include disc drives), and the server in my office in the basement. The server had an optical drive, but it was all the way downstairs. So, I would semi-frequently end up ripping discs on the HTPC instead.

Setting up to do this is simple:
1. Make a Library Backup on the server.
2. Make a new Library somewhere on your C drive on the client (or just switch to the default built-in Library if you didn't forcibly delete it) and load it.
3. Restore the Library Backup (making sure to DISABLE the Restore Settings portion of the restore).
4. The files in this Library are effectively junk, but this gives you the basic "Library structure" (useful Views and Smartlists and whatnot) that you're used to. So, remove everything. Switch to an Advanced View that shows all imported media...
5. Command/Control-A. Delete. Choose Remove from Library (ONLY! Don't delete your media files like a fool.)
6. Set up the Tools > Options > File Locations > Audio setting to point to a directory on your NAS that is watched by Auto-Import on the server. (And, while you're in there, set your Ripping settings properly under CD, DVD, and BluRay, if needed.)

Done. Now you can use this Library whenever you need to rip a disc. Switch back to the server Library when you're done and Auto-Import will pick it up and done and done.

If it would be convenient, you can make different Start Menu shortcuts to the different Libraries. Or you can add a Library toolbar button to make it super-easy to switch between Libraries (that's what I do):


If you really want, for another purpose, I worked on a VB script a few years ago that would do this:
1. Quit any local copy of MC that was running.
2. Send a Quit command to my server via MCWS.
3. Wait a while for the server to shut down.
4. Re-open the client using the "direct" version my main Library (served over the network via network share, rather than connecting to the Library server).

I didn't ever finish it and I don't remember what state it is in, and I recall I kinda stopped because it became a little fiddly to figure out an appropriate Wait time for step 4 above*. I'm pretty sure I do have a separate script that is in some semblance of order that does only Step 2 above (and that's really the "hard" part if you don't know how to call MCWS via VB), at the least. In any case, if you want it, I'd be happy to dig out what I have and post it.

* - If the server is in the middle of a tagging operation, it'll take a variable amount of time to actually exit because it waits for the tagging to finish. If that tagging operation is a Rename, Move, and Copy Files action, it could take a really long time. I remember thinking "I can get to a good value when I play with it" but then never came back to the attempt.

[Absinthe]

Glynor,
This is pretty much what I ended up with except I cloned the server library and stored it on a network drive.  The stand alone machine uses this clone library (as a local library) only for the library structure but it rips the media to a shared folder on the NAS.  I can import and move the physical files by accessing the server by RDC. 

Is there a way to keep the cloned library and the master server library synchronized?  Currently, I believe any changes I make to the master server library will not be replicated in the cloned library

[dtc]

Glynor - Honestly, that seems incredible complicated for what should be a simple task for a real client/server setup.

[glynor]

Glynor - Honestly, that seems incredible complicated for what should be a simple task for a real client/server setup.

The script was (which is why I abandoned it), though I wasn't doing it for rips. I was using it for RMCF. I just do that via remote desktop now.

Switching to the Local Library takes a tiny bit of setup, but that's only:
1. Once. (And really, it is backup, restore, command-a, delete, enter, which isn't exactly arduous.)
2. Necessary at all if you care about having access to your Library Views and stuff while ripping.
3. Also very useful to have a Local Library in MC in case your server is down for some reason (without a Library to load, MC won't open).

So... Meh. Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. But, as I said, I can't remember the last time I had to rip an audio disc.

[glynor]

Is there a way to keep the cloned library and the master server library synchronized?  Currently, I believe any changes I make to the master server library will not be replicated in the cloned library

Not without trying to become an evil scripting genius. But, frankly, who cares? It is a transient-only Library used just long enough to get the stuff into your "real Library".

I still maintain a Local Library (as you can see in my screenshot above) though I rarely have cause to use it. When I do, if I get annoyed with what is in there or I'm missing some View I need from my real Library, I just blow it away again with another Backup/Restore.

[dtc]

So... Meh. Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. But, as I said, I can't remember the last time I had to rip an audio disc.

You are not an average user.

[glynor]

You are not an average user.

I doubt ripping is still a highly utilized feature in MC, but they'd almost certainly have telemetry and don't have to guess. Doesn't much matter to me. I'm just trying to tell Absinthe how to solve their issue with what we've got now.

[glynor]

Fairly recently I (finally) moved my MC server into my rack. This project (which was started well before I moved) took way longer to complete than I'd planned, but I now have everything hosted in a rack-mounted computer and I got my loud media array out of my office. A huge win. As part of this, the office PC became a NUC (which amusingly has more RAM, better single-thread performance, and a much faster SSD than my old "main" machine, which is now the server).

This thread made me realize (I hadn't really thought about it before) that since then, the only optical drive I still have available is the BluRay drive on the HTPC. Other than digging out a USB drive and plugging it in like an animal, I guess.

The optical drive in my old workstation didn't make the jump to the rackmount case. It wouldn't fit with my backplanes unless I went with a slim-profile one, and I did not care enough to even look up how much they cost. I remember saving for my first CD-ROM drive, and I remember being quite excited about my first DVD-ROM drive, but I don't remember even really thinking much about the fact that only the HTPC would have an optical drive for more than a few minutes.

Out with a wimper, not with a bang, I guess.