I've been wanting to make this topic for years so I'm glad that someone else already got the ball rolling.
Let's call a spade a space, MC is an amazing wrapper around an amazing database. In 2023 most people off the street have a rough idea of what a database is. I really don't think that these concepts need to be abstracted or skeuomorphised away any longer, it just adds complexity to existing jargon. Users on Interact frequently conflate the "Library" with the MC database and their on-disk files and it leads to more confusion that it solves at this point.
What is a library? In this context it's a collection of catalogued items (i.e. the items themselves). So the whole concept of the MC "library" has never made a whole lot of sense (making a library backup that doesn't include a backup of the actual files).
If it were up to me, I would completely redefine the existing nomenclature. What we are really talking about most of the time in reference to the MC library is not the library but the MC database. We are connecting to remote databases, loading alternate databases, backing up databases, etc.
The library should refer to the "file library" of actual files on disk (and it would be clearest to new users to refer to it as a "file library"). The database should refer to MC's internal catalog. So if we want to make a complete copy (as part of the new feature) we would be downloading both the file library and the database. Maybe there is a singular term that could combine these but that's not for me to decide. You could define the "MC Library" as files (or file library) + database as Jim alludes to, but that actually contradicts the existing nomenclature as was pointed out.
I think I agree with this, and would like to see more consistent and clear usage. One thing I think folks may be missing is that the problem of inconsistent use of the word "library" is already present in JRiver's UI, and it frequently confuses folks (including me!).
As folks above have noted, most of the time when JRiver uses the word "library" it just means the database and not the files. E.g. the menu option called "backup library" backs up only the database and none of the media files. But that's not always true. There's also an option in File-->Library called "sync library" which copies actual *media files* from a library server to another computer, but
not the database. To be clear the "sync library" command is not to be confused with "sync changes with library server" which only syncs database information and not media files, but has a very similar name. So the word is definitely already equivocal in the UI, and I think it's confusing that different functions are called by the same name: the first time I did a library backup, I was very confused that no media files came along for the ride; the first time I tried to sync client changes to the server, I tried the "sync library" command, which does something entirely different, etc.
I agree with the broader sentiment that it would be nicer if menu options that only act on the database and menu options that act on the files had distinct names, whatever those names are. Taking functions that act 1) only on the database, 2) only on the files, or 3) on both at once, and calling all three by the same name seems like a recipe for people thinking they have a backup and not actually having one.
As an example of the potential confusion, I'm a little confused about the scope of the new "download library" feature. It sounds very similar to what "sync library" already does. Will it effectively replace/expand "sync library"? Or will it coexist with that feature? In the other thread Jim describes it as:
"It would move all selected files (or all files) to the connected client. It would ask whether to include playlists, settings, etc. These could probably be moved as a backup file. MC would make an assumption about the default locations, but allow you to change them."
But that looks exactly like what the current Sync Library function does right down to customizable locations? I've attached a screen cap of the current Sync Library dialog for reference.
