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[tombert]

I've got the same music collection on two servers i.e. two libraries e.g. at work and at home. Does someone except me has thought about synchronizing two libraries? E.g. if I rate one song here - I want to have the same rating there?

Importing of XML would probably help - I could extract Album, Artist, Song and Rating by myself and import it in the other library.

Hmmm ... Imagine if your library moved to a different location (e.g. drive letter) - you would export to XML - search and replace the drive letter - then import the XML ...

[hit_ny]

How about creating exactly the same file structure on your office PC as is on your home. Since the files and thier locations are identical, you could just save library in one location and restore on another. But this will get tedious after a while.

What about media server then ?

Stream from home to the office, if you are the only user this might work out easier.

[tombert]

Yes - after a while thinking about it - having the same file structure and same drive letter! of course this would work it out - since Media center would not see the difference if I'am in Office or at Home. The problem is that it isnt  ...

Streaming is not possible ... thats the reason why I'am having two (manual) synchronized servers ...

[hit_ny]

i don't think there is any other alternative then, the key to your problem rests in creating the illusion that the files locations are identical between home & office.

You might need to seperate your media from the rest and create seperate partitions for them. Once the partitions are created you can use MC to move the media to these paritions so it knows about the new location, this way you will preserve play stats and any other tag info that is not saved in the files itself. Then do the same at home. Another issue with the above is how do you deal with new stuff, you would have to copy the same between the two locations as well.

Or you can move all existing media to a portable USB drive and lug that between locations. But i think this is more trouble than replacing the library in both locations. Note that you are not sharing the library in real time between two locations but just updated copies. The library is not designed to be shared in real time yet.

So what ppl finally end up doing is getting a big iPOD and using MC to sync to it

[Alex B]

I use mapped network drivers and the Subst command for making the base folders identical on separate PCs.

Locally on my main MC PC (the HTPC) I use Subst.

My music files are in reality in "D:\Mus\", video files are in "E:\Vid" and some other files are in "C:\Z\"

However, since I use a bat file that includes three Subst commands in my startup folder MC uses these locations:
X:\   (music)
Y:\   (videos)
Z:\   (etc)

The bat file is currently this:

Code: [Select]

SUBST X: D:\Mus
SUBST Y: E:\Vid
SUBST Z: C:\Z
I have shared the "D:\Mus", "E:\Vid" and "C:\Z" folders. On other PCs on my LAN I use mapped network drive letters (D:\Mus = X:, E:\Vid = Y:, C:\Z = Z:).

Since the filename paths are identical on all PCs I can restore the same MC library backup file on each PC.

When I am travelling I use an external USB2 drive with a laptop. The drive contains usually only the music files and I use a subst command for making the base path to be drive "X:". I can use the same library, the only difference is that the Y: and Z: drives are offline.

[tombert]

This subst thing is a great idea - thx for this hint!

[Alex B]

This post has further info and some forum links:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=29585.msg204025#msg204025

Besides using the library backup/restore function it is possible to use a batch file or script for synchronizing the database files: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32484.0

[dcwebman]

Alex,
I've seen your tips before on subst and how you map everything, but have never seen you mention the USB drive. I'm on vacation now with my laptop and am kind of missing my music. I have an unused USB drive at home that would have been perfect, just never thought of using it for that. Thanks for the idea!
Jeff

[zurn]

tombert,

just wondering if you found a solution to this...your situation is similar to what i want to do.