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[Karrma]

Just downloaded JRiver, and learning how to rip CDs to FLAC for the Neil Young PONO player.  I am using Windows 7, and want my husband and son to be able to access all the music, so want everying to be shared as public.  I tried to download the program to be in public, but it looks like it is all in users\nancy\music\ .  I started to make new files in public for the music files, but now that I am looking at the cover art, conversion center, etc, realize that I am not savvy enough to move all of those things. 

JRiver for dummies questions:
 1.  Will JRiver appear in all 4 of the users desktops on Windows 7 (dale, spencer, nancy, public) or just nancy?
2.  Will there be an option after the CDs are ripped to put them in public?
3.  Do I need to uninstall, then reinstall in a different place, and where, if I want everyone to be able to access the music files?

4.  When I start to rip, is there a specific audio output mode you would recommend for PONO?  (it will have an internal DAC i think.  I am just learning this language and technology)
Thanks in advance, Nancy

[glynor]

Hi Nancy!  Welcome to the forum.

We can get you sorted out.  There's a few things you have to understand, though.  I'll do my best to explain.

Media Center Installation:

MC, like basically all Windows programs, installs itself into the Program Files directory on your C drive.  This is where the program itself is installed (the stuff created by the nice programmers at JRiver, Inc) and that's probably the best place for it.  You can force it to be installed elsewhere when you first install it, though this is always a terrible idea unless you really know what you're doing (and even then, it is probably still a bad idea).

Where MC's program files are installed has absolutely no bearing on which users of the computer can use MC.  Everyone can.

(Very) long story short: You don't need to uninstall and reinstall.  It is probably in the C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 20 folder and that's where it should be.

Media Center Settings:

Media Center, like most Windows programs, has some user settings that control how the program behaves and other options.  In MC this includes things like what toolbar buttons you have set up, the vast majority of the options if you go to Tools > Options and play around with settings in there.  It includes things like your Audio setup as well if you go through the Audio Setup Guide.

It specifically does NOT include, however, all of the files you've imported into MC (the music, videos, pictures, and whatnot), Playlists, and the other stuff you can access through the main interface for MC.  Mostly it is the things under Tools > Options.

MC's Settings are user-specific, and are stored in the Windows Registry.  These cannot be shared, but you can import from one user's account to the other if needed.

That's not usually a big deal because you would typically just set this stuff up once and leave it (unless you're a huge nerd like some of us here).  It also lets multiple users have different preferences if they happen to prefer slightly different behavior (or skins or whatnot).

Media Center's Library:

Here's where the rubber meets the road to your request.

Media Center is essentially a database.  Much like iTunes, it tracks (imports), files on your computer in a variety of locations on disk and shows them all to you in one place and lets you sort and filter them and search them and whatnot.  Unlike iTunes, however, Media Center lets you pick and choose (easily) where that database is stored.  You can have multiple databases, and switch between them.

Media Center calls its database a Library.

Unlike the settings discussed above, the Library contains all of the details about what files you've imported, where they are on disk, the Artist name, and any album art you've provided, or lyrics you entered in (all the metadata).  The Library tracks how many times you've played the files, and what rating you've given them.  All the stuff like that.

The Library also contains all of your Playlists, Smartlists, and whatnot.  If you do advanced things like customize your own Media Views, these customizations are also saved as part of the Library.

When you set up a new copy of MC, it creates the Library by default in your user's Application Data folder.  On Windows 7, this is typically here:
C:\Users\glynor\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 20\Library

However, you can move it to wherever you'd like.  If you want to move the Library to the Public folder, that might be a good idea for your setup.  You can see where your Library is stored, and move it if you'd like, using the Library Manager.

Note: You can't actually move it, because MC cannot run without having access to a valid Library (so it would be broken while it moved).  However, you can Clone your existing Library over to a folder wherever you want on your hard drive (make a folder for it, because there are a bunch of weird database files in there), switch to the new clone, and then delete the old original one if you want.

Media Files on Disk

Lastly, there are the Media Files you have on disk that MC uses to actually, you know, entertain you.  The MP3s and FLAC files, videos, and photos you've imported.

MC does not care, at all, where the media files are stored.  It will use any file your user account has permission to read, and can access.  This includes network disks, usb drives, your system drive... Whatever.  If your user account has permissions to access the media files, and you import them into MC, it will use them where they are.

This stands in distinct contrast to iTunes, which always wants to consolidate your media files into your user's Music folder on the hard drive.  MC does not do this.  It imports the files where they are currently and does not move them unless you tell it to move them.

When you use MC itself to create new files (rip a CD for example), it stores in folders them based on the preferences in:
Tools > Options > File Location

You can customize these settings (note, they're settings so they are user-specific) and change where MC will rip a new disc to on disk.  So, you probably want to move at least your Audio Rip folder to your Users\Public\Music folder, if you want to rip there.  This won't move the files you've already ripped, but any new ones will be saved in the given directory.

Note: The name "Library" can sometimes be misconstrued to mean the place where you have your media files stored on disk.  In MC, these two concepts are not related.  That's why I separated them in this post into "Library" (with a big L) and "media files on disk".  It's maybe not the world's most perfect name for MC's database, because sometimes people get confused (though it is also descriptive of what it does), but it is what it is and it has been called that for a long time.

Those are the four main "places" where MC is "stored" (the different components).  Read the articles I linked above, and you'll get a BUNCH more detail.  In particular, the Library and Library Manager articles cover a lot of this and more:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Manager

In my next post, I'll tell you how to make all of the Users setups match.

[glynor]

Okay... Now, to actually help you do this.  Here's what I'd do:

1. Learn a bit first. You do, I'd assume, already have MC installed and set up and you've been playing with it.  Continue to do this until you get it all set up the way you like it.  Try not to import a whole bunch of files though, or rip a bunch of discs, until you finish doing this whole process.  But, get a feel for the stuff you can do first and play around with it a little.

2. Customize the settings, on your user account, for the file locations described above under Tools > Options > File Location so that they all point to folders all of your users can access (in the Public Music, Pictures, and Videos folders would probably be good spots).

Also, get the Audio setup done by going through the Audio Setup Guide.

2a. You should also set up Auto-Import to import these new locations on disk.

3. Move the Library by cloning it to a new location in the Library Manager as I've described above.  From what you said before, I'd suggest you make a new folder for it here: C:\Users\Public\MC Library

But, you can really put it wherever you want, as long as you make sure all the users of your computer have permission to read and write to that folder, and all of its contents.  I can't really help you with Windows filesystem permissions, though there are some resource links in the wiki here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Troubleshooting_Disks#Filesystem_Permissions_Errors

Once you clone it to a new one and load it, just delete the old original Default one.

There is one caution here, though.  MC likes the Library (the database, not the media files) to be on a fast disk.  If you have a solid state disk as your C drive, you should probably keep it on the C drive.  It is usually a TERRIBLE idea to put the Library files (again, the database) on a network or external USB disk.  More information here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Troubleshooting_Network_and_Slow_Storage

4. Move any files you've already ripped or imported that are in user-specific folders to the appropriate folders in Users\Public.  This is also a bit of a long story, but you have two choices:  You can move them yourself in Windows Explorer, and then re-import them in their new place in MC.  Or you can use MC itself to move them for you, which it is pretty good at, but the tool is quite powerful.

To use MC to move them, you want to select the files you want to move and then Right-Click and choose Library Tools > Rename, Move, and Copy Files.  The Rename, Move, and Copy Files tool is very powerful, and can automatically rename and move files based on their tags.  However, if you just want to keep them in the same "structure" as they are now, but move them to a different "root" location, it can do this too with the Find & Replace section.  Pay attention to the Preview, and do a few before you do a bunch.

Unfortunately, there isn't a great article on this in the Wiki, though conceptually it isn't that difficult.  Here are a few posts that go into some of it:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=78206.0
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=75430.msg511454#msg511454
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=92161.0

If you get stuck, ask for help specific to this task.  You can actually do the rest of this and skip and come back to this step.  Since you're just getting started, if you've only ripped a CD or two before you made the changes in step #2 above so the rips go to the right place?  A simple option would be to just delete the ones you already did and re-do them to the right place.

Now, lastly, once you get it all set up right... We're going to copy all of these settings over to your other user accounts.

5. Make a Library Backup and restore the Settings over to the other users.

In MC, you can make a Library Backup.  This includes BOTH the Library itself (as described above) and the Settings (as described above).  And each of these things can be restored onto other copies of MC (or in your case, the same copy, running as a different user).  When you do the restore, you can choose to restore just the Library, just the Settings, or both.

Now, since you've already moved the Library into the shared location in Step #3, you don't need to restore the backup of the Library from you to each of your different users.  In fact, you don't WANT to do that, because then the two "copies" of the will go out of sync (when you rip a new CD from your user account, the other users won't see it, and you won't see their changes).  That's why we did step #3 above.

However, you do need the Settings to match, at least initially, on each of the different user's accounts.  This is because, primarily, one thing that the Settings include (as described above) is which Libraries on disk the Library Manager knows about!  So, you can make each of the user accounts MCs "match" by:

A. Making the Library Backup on your account.  Save the ZIP file it makes somewhere on disk where all the users will be able to access it.
B. Switching to User A and Restoring the Library Backup.  However, when restoring and given the option, UNCHECK the Restore library and playlists box, and CHECK the Restore Settings box.  This will, after MC starts, make "their" MC look and work just like "your" MC did when you made the Library Backup, and now they'll both be pointing at that same Shared Library you made above.
C. Repeat B for any additional users you have on the system.

That should get it done, if you follow all of that.