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[boss_hogg]

Hi to all, this is my first post as I recently bought MC18 to manage my music library; I just love the extent of features it has! I'm struggling though with the library server feature:

I have a PC at home and a laptop I roam with. What I want to do is the following:
- mirror everything from one to the other; I want both to have the same physical files on the same relevant locations (d:\music and e:\music respectively), keeping the folder structure I like (it's not artist/album or anything that can be derived from tags).
- Any change I do on a file (tag, album art, move/rename/delete file) on either server or client, I want it to be mirrored on the other machine.

So far I have server working and accessible on the home PC (Win 7), client on the laptop (also Win 7). When I sync library on the client, I do get playlist changes that occurred on the server, but that's about it.

- Tags changed on the server/client are not reflected on the client/server
- files added/removed on the server/client are not reflected on the client/server
- album arts added on the server/client are not reflected on the client/server

These are the relevant settings I use:
Server:
Options -> File location is "D:\Music"; Cover Art->also store image in file tag is checked; the rest is default
Options -> General -> Update tags when file info changes is checked
Options -> Library & folders -> Run auto import in background is checked; All "Media import" tasks are checked
Options -> Media Network -> Use media network to share... is checked; Authentication is checked; Client Options I guess are not needed (?)
Client:
Sync Library-> Options -> Actions -> Merge files & Merge playlists are checked
Sync Library-> Options -> File locations -> all are disabled (when I tried to enable  File locations -> Audio,  files started to appear on the client but in the "artist/album" form, which I don't want)
Options -> File location is "E:\Music"; Cover Art->also store image in file tag is checked; the rest is default
Options -> General -> Update tags when file info changes is checked
Options -> Library & folders -> Run auto import in background is checked; All "Media import" tasks are checked
Options -> Media Network -> All 3 "Client options" checkboxes are checked

If I knew what can be done from the above, it would help a lot!

[boss_hogg]

Having made some tests, it seems that my options are the following:

1) On the client, enable Sync Library-> Options -> File locations -> Audio : E:\Music\[Genre]\[Artist]\[Album]\ . Files indeed started appearing from the server, but no updates of any kind are happening either from server to client or the opposite. Also, on the server the file structure remains intact, how can i make it also follow the [Genre]\[Artist]\[Album] model? What have I missed???

2) I have a 100GB dropbox account, perhaps I could copy my music there, would that work? Can the two libraries handle the same files without ...bringing havoc???

[MrHaugen]

If I were you, I would probably focus on the server, getting that working 100% first. Check that meta data changed on the client syncs back to the server database. Remember that certain things like file paths and cover art data can not be edited from the client. Dropbox account might work well for this, as long as it's a folder on the two machines that get's synced. Alternative is to add a sync app on the server, which manages which directions to sync, handles conflicts etc. As long as nothing is accesses and changed two places at once, you should be ok with dropbox though.

Then I would add a new library on the client. Importing all the dropbox media. Remember to check the "Update library on external changes" option on both machines.

Now, you use the client library when home, and switch to the local client library when you're out of the house.

I have not tried this, but in theory it should work.


Also remember that you CAN user library server over Internet. As long as you have a OK connection with a good data plan, this would be the simplest scenario. You'll just have to open up and forward a port on the router.

[boss_hogg]

Ok, I have managed to make server-client work; instead of adding a "Library server" library I was adding a "Local library" on the client. Now rating, tagging and file deletion are synchronised.

I setup importing on the client library , so that it plays files localy if they exist, but now I have double the files on the client library (it includes each file on both server and client PCs). Is this normal?

If I cannot overcome this then the only solution seems to be dropbox, which is a shame since I'll be wasting 40 out of my 100GB limit for a technicality on the server-client functionality

[MrHaugen]

I setup importing on the client library , so that it plays files localy if they exist, but now I have double the files on the client library (it includes each file on both server and client PCs). Is this normal?

No. It's not. Remember that you should import media on the client when connected to a library server. Only exception would probably be if coth machines use the same UNC path or mapped drive perhaps. I'm not sure if this even works, and the client transfers all the meta data to the server again. I would try it first with a few files, IF you need this.

The auto import rules on the client should just exist on the Local library for the client.