I know, this might sound like a real specific and perhaps even silly request, but it is a very real issue and I'll explain why this feature would make my life so much simpler.
My main database, on my laptop, has everything: music, docs, etc. We tend to play music in the living room, so I copy my database onto that computer regularly. I lose all play stats, so many of my smartlists can't really be used (e.g., play faves we haven't heard in 1 year).
Why don't I just leave the database on there and use it as a server? I do. Tried that. Doesn't work. As I said, I use data alot. ALOT. All my recipes, my woodworking projects, etc. Well, that data is on my laptop, not the living room computer.
Ok, so divide the database: music in the living room and everything else on the laptop. Excellent. Tried that too. Since MC is always open on my laptop I would have to open a 2nd instance. That is not as easy as it used to be (issues with the order of what is selected first). Furthermore, I rip my cds and use emusic and tag on the laptop. Why open another instance when I can do it all locally and easily? Besides, I'm not sure all my tags would be saved if I loaded the server version. Yes, I know, authentication must be enabled. Problem is if I enable that then it's also enabled for gizmo, and we don't like entering stuff in gizmo. Turn on phone, check what's playing. That's how we like it.
So, I tag on the laptop. Well, in order to tag properly, I need access to my entire database. Why? Because when I'm tagging I search for the artist and then I get a visual of how I've tagged that artist before. No need to go back to All Music Guide etc. I just select all, make the same relevant checkmarks and I'm done.
So... I need audio on my laptop as well as the living room computer. The living room is for playback only. While there are all these other ways of doing things (server, etc), what would best suit my needs is to keep everything on the laptop where I do all the work and then just update the living room once in a while. Therein lies the problem. If I could update the living room computer without overwriting the play stats, I would be in heaven. Simple, elegant, and I get to keep all my playback info on the playback machine.
I would be one happy camper if this feature could be implemented.