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[ajowers]

Hi,

I have a PC running MC15 in theater mode and it warehouses all the music on its own hard drive.  It has no mouse or keyboard, only a remote and output to TV.  currently I use VNC and remote in from another computer, walk over with a thumb drive, walk back to my main computer and copy the files to "my music", etc ....This computer is using Wifi, so copying huge files is kinda slow but it does work but I always wonder if the FLAC every get a byte or two corrupted on the way there.  It makes me wish for an error correcting transport of some kind designed for this.

I would like to know if there are built in ways or better ways of getting the music "installed".  Keep in mind that when I RIP CD's I understand these go directly into my music.  What I am referring to here is music I have downloaded, etc...

What do you guys do ?

Thanks,
Anthony

[zxsix]

Network shares.
MC can watch for new content in a folder.
Either copy the newly downloaded songs to a network folder on that "server" and let it pick them up when autoimport runs...
...or tell autoimport to look at a shared folder on your "client" machine.


On my system, songs are downloaded to a client PC.  MC autoimports from a specific folder I download them to.
Then I use the rename files from tag properties feature which moves them over to a NAS drive array.

[ajowers]

Are you saying that it will "copy" the files found in a network share to a configured drive?

Ok, suppose  I create a shared folder on my download machine and copy files into that folder.  I would want MC15 to copy the files in the same relative paths into the "My Music" folder on drive C and add to the library.

Is this how it will work ?  I do not want to add the remote share to the list of folders neccessarily because I want them cloned on its drive C.

Does this make sense ?

[zxsix]

It would be easier if you move the files over to the "server" and let MC pick them up there.
The steps below outline what I think would take the fewest steps.
However, there's one important question I don't have the answer to...How do you tag the files and from what machine?

Let's use a couple of example folders:
C:\my music is the C drive on the server machine.  Let's say that machine's hostname is SERVER.
This folder will need to be shared on the network with full control access rights.  Let's name the share MUSIC for our example.
So at this point from any machine on the network, going to start > run and typing  \\SERVER\MUSIC will show the contents of c:\my music on the server.

Now on the headless server, you'll need to VNC into it and start up MC.
Go to File > Import.
Check the box for "Auto-import".
Select the root folder of your music folders, such as c:\my music
This will now start autmatically importing any new files it finds in that folder structure.

Setup portion is now done.

-------------------------------------
Daily grind: 
Download songs on your client machine.
Once download completes, move the folder containing the new files over to \\SERVER\MUSIC

Soon after, MC will find them and automatically add them to the library.

Use a "recently imported" playlist to find the new stuff that you haven't tagged yet.

--------------------------------------

Optional step if you're anal about file location:

Highlight the newly imported and tagged files. 
Right-click > Library Tools > Rename/Move/Copy files
Change drop-down option to "Rename (moves files if directory changes)
For the Base Path, put C:\my music
Check the boxes for Directories and for Filename
For the rule, use whatever you want, such as [Genre]\[Artist]\[Album]
Same for filename, I use [Artist] - [Name]
Click ok and give it time to work.

[ajowers]

So the second step requires VNC?  Its a manual step?  I am looking for something automated.. I already use VNC and its just as easy to do what I am saying as what you are saying I think.

I use only flac and my MC15 "server/player" machine always "tags" the files.  Sometimes I have to manually update the cover art....This is manual and requires VNC.

I may just develop a client/server service to do what I want... no VNC and files end up on my MC15 machine.

Thanks for your help.

[zxsix]

I assume you need to do some form of tagging after you download.
If the tags are ok, as is, then there'd be no reason to VNC into the server.

You could use the library server feature to connect to the server's library and make tag changes that way.
I only do this for the rating tag.  Some tags can be changed via library server connection and others cannot.
I don't think we have an in-depth list so you'd have to experiment with the tags that are important to you.

You could share the library via a windows folder share, just like the music folder, and then do all importing and tagging from MC on a client computer.  Use the rename from tag feature to have it move the newly imported and tagged songs over to the server share.
This is how I do mine.
Then there's no need to run MC on the server for managing the songs, just for playback with theater view or whatever.