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Author Topic: Library vs. Playlist  (Read 2235 times)

This2ShallPass

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Library vs. Playlist
« on: June 11, 2013, 02:30:13 pm »

Hi:

Haven't set up my MC fully yet, but I have a question - Why would one want more than one library? What's the benefit? Wouldn't one simply create multiple playlists (say, for different listeners in a single home)?

Put another way, is there some functionality that makes a playlist different from a library? Why wouldn't I want ALL of the music on my NAS available to each listener (4) in my home?

If I didn't want my 9-year-old to hear certain hip-hop, wouldn't I simply create a clean playlist?

Sorry if this is odd, but just moving from the much-loathed iTunes...
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BryanC

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Re: Re: Library vs. Playlist
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2013, 05:32:45 pm »

Pretty much any per-user setting: rating, default views, playcounts, layout, etc, etc. When I create a smartlist, I want the metadata to reflect my listening preferences, not everyone that has access to my library. One library could allow tag writing, the others could just store info in their respective databases. Each user could have his or her own playlists that aren't visible to others (ever try to make a mushy mix tape for your SO without them seeing it?).

Probably the biggest benefit, however, would be the ability to serve different libraries to different people via Library Server.
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This2ShallPass

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Re: Library vs. Playlist
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2013, 09:02:28 pm »

OK, I think I get it.

It's just that I need to re-arrange my thinking. To Microsoft (I only own PCs), a library is a space where you can designate more than one source location, so that - if you had music in 2 different directories on 2 different physical drives, for instance - you can create 1 library that pulls from both.

I can't think of a situation where I'd want more than 1 library, but I'm chewing on it!  8)
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BryanC

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Re: Library vs. Playlist
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2013, 11:36:17 pm »

I can't think of a situation where I'd want more than 1 library, but I'm chewing on it!  8)

Most people don't need more than one library, but some situations do call for it. You'll find out when you get to that point, and creating an additional library, for whatever reason, is trivial. Perhaps a word that would make it more clear is 'databases,' in lieu of libraries.
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Listener

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Re: Library vs. Playlist
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2013, 12:47:54 am »

I can't think of a situation where I'd want more than 1 library, but I'm chewing on it!  8)

I have several libraries:

perm - my permanent collection of music.  purchased downloads and files from ripping CDs go in and stay forever.
other music - concert recordings that are of variable quality and interest.  Many will be deleted after a while.
new_rips - I rip CDs with this library selected so that I can get the tags right before I add those files to my perm library
pictures - I started a library with just images. No audio, no video.

Bill
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Samson

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Re: Library vs. Playlist
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2013, 04:38:24 am »

MC maintains a large databsae of all your media collection wherever it is located.AFAIK this is where the Windows analogy of "Library" ends i.e both maintaining a collection of links to the media location.

MC then analyzes this library database according to any tags in the files and according to the file's folder/filename structure within windows.

With this info MC can then filter the media database into selections called "Libraries". These selections are based on instructions you give it to display, search and organize your media to suit a particular collective purpose.

The commonest view would be arranging all you artists grouped by album, similar to a physical CD collection you have on the shelf but the the flexibility of having a database with filtering and search capacity now starts to become mind boggling.

To paraphrase the wiki, You can create custom library views to filter selected content to suit a particular purpose.
   • You can create a library for each member of the house. Members import only those files they like. They can also rate their music in their own way. You may want to disable tag updating in this scenario.
   • You can create a library for Party Music. When your friends come over, they see the music they are supposed to see (and your collection of Engelbert Humperdinck albums remains your secret!). See Party Mode and Access Control for a different way of doing this.
   • On a laptop that you use both at home and on the go, you could have two libraries: one for home use accessing a network drive containing the losslessly compressed content, and one containing smaller (lossy compressed) content for travel.
   • You might want to keep your audio, images, and video separated from each other so you could create a separate library for each.    
   • You might want to keep your French music separate from your English music. Create one library for each.

Playlists on the other hand are just lists of tracks which you play in sequence or random shuffle.Conceptually, granted there are similarities eg like a "party playlist", tracks you have selected for parties, or a Library of party songs, but the big differences are in the power and flexibility to search, organize and display your media.

At the risk of confusing things there are also "smartlists" aka "dynamic playlists" which are basically track lists ( a selection of the database) chosen by a set of rules.


When you look into how MC Libraries are so powerful you will start to understand when you see they are created using basically six "categories" you can combine and mix in different ways for viewing, searching and organizing your media..


These categories are:
   • Category based on any of MC Fields like [genre],[artist] etc. ( the most common)
   • Category based on a File path
   • Category based on a Playlist group
   • Category based on an Expression
   • Category based on a Search List,
   • A "Special" category.

Categories are arranged sequentially, either horizontally in line, or vertically like a folder structure,  to multiply their filtering power. This 'chain linking' effect means the first category having a knock-on effect to the next in line eg. sorting Artist and then  Album ( [Artist]/[Album] ). They can be grouped within the same type of category like Fields eg [Artist]/[Album] or mixing categories like Library [Field] /Expression.


I could go on but hopefully you get the picture.

(others will correct any technical errors ;D )

Its a world of fun but there is a learning curve, so suggest be patient.
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