I am still struggling to configure the ultimate setup: allowing my workstation to coexist with a HTPC where the correct data is shared as desired.
Take [Last Played] for example. MC Does not store this in the file tags by default--and I don't blame MC at all. Incremental backups would go crazy if every played file was modified! Your whole MC playback experience would consist of "Stop playback to save tags." But why can't we still have our cake and eat it too? For quite a while I've been asking for some sort of client/server methodology to solve this. You would have a MC server that would merely offer the program database with live updating communication to the clients.
No matter how carefully I configure this, multiple user accounts destroys the configuration once more. As soon as two or more users have their own MC database, the complexities multiply. For my user account and the HTPC, I want the same view schemes. In no way would I want there to be differences. I basically configure and set everything up the "right" way and leave it. Then, if I make a change, I would want the HTPC to be updated along side the workstation.
As far as I'm concerned, managing this important MC database of content is a natural progression forward. A workstation with 4 users accounts and a HTPC (single user account, obviously) there are as many as 5 separate databases. Sadly, simply pointing to the same DB is not a perfect solution because people should still have the ability to have local data. Take a typical IMAP setup -- you can have items (playlists, view schemes) which are stored locally or on the server.
Any comments would be helpful!