Using MC 17
Can a client make changes to the library on the server?
Absolutely. And it could with MC16 too. You need to enable Authentication (you have to have a username and password) and then enable
Automatically sync changes under Options -> Media Network -> Client Options. Then any tagging changes you make on a client are automatically synced back to the server periodically and when the client copy is closed.
There are some things you
can't do from the Client:
1. Delete Playlists
2. Change a Standard View permanently (including things like sorting), add new Views, or anything like that.
3. Change auto-import settings
4. Change the Theater View setup (including the "state" of Theater View, such as which view was "last used" and is therefore opened by default next time)
5. Stuff that messes with the physical files on disk, like Rename, Move, and Copy files.
6. I'm not clear on the current state of Cover Art support, you'll have to check with maxxsid.
7. Use the Send To menus to send a file to an external program.
They have added a few new things to MC17 though, like you can now Drag-and-Drop files out of the client MC (so over to the desktop to make a local copy, for example), as long as the remote media is locally accessible (so not out over the Internet unless you have a VPN). But, if you are on a LAN and you have all of your media on a network drive (and it is mounted on all the client machines using the same drive letter) it works fine. Another way to do it is to import your media into MC using a UNC path instead of a M:\blah\blah type filename.