I was not aware of the tree thing, thanks for the tip. 99.99% of the time I'm in either panes or library browser views, both work fine for this job, and I always have the 'files to be replaced' listed and selected in MC. I then use explorer to do the swap, then go directly back to MC, right click the selection and do the two synchronisation updates.
Again, "the other way" assumes that the better quality files are of the same filetype as the poorer ones, and that the recycle bin saftey net is not a requirement. Personally, I always make sure the incoming filenames match the outgoing, then copy the new files over, replacing the existing files. I don't use a recycle bin here, when I hit delete, it deletes!! Some people prefer to err on the side of caution though, so....
It's better to step through the list from the helpfile. Depending on the finer details of what you're doing, namely filetypes and filenames, some of the steps there could obviously be redundant, but until a person is fully confident with the process, they should go through the full list.
If you remove a folder full of mp3s and replace it with a folder full of .ape or .flac files and you have not gone through the "find and replace" steps, MC will get a little upset and report that the files are missing because it will still be looking for mp3 files.
Also, as we're in transition period from 11.1 to 12, I think it's worth noting that if you move on to v12 after learning about this little tip, you should make sure that v12's auto import feature is
not watching the files and folders you are working with, otherwise, you could find that it beats you to the punch and updates the library from the new files, or worse still, removes all info regarding the outgoing files from the library, which entirely defeats the object of the task in hand.
Don't say you weren't warned
-marko.