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[Marty3d]

Hi!
I just discovered the Library server (been using MC since v7)! We always had a kind of a fight at home when my girlfriend demanded she watch recorded O.C episodes or play games from the main computer when I wanted to listen to music while working on my laptop.
So it's superb, I can listen to my stuff through my laptop while she uses the desktop...fantastic!

But I have some questions... What are the limits on what you can do? For example, by old habit, I right-clicked on a file -> Locate -> On disk (external) and all I got was an empty IE window. Doing the same but to (inside MC), delivered an empty file list in MC.
This had me wondering that perhaps the distinction within MC wasn't strong enough to figure out whether you were connected to a LS (Library server) or not. What other actions could you perform but not properly recognized by MC? What about tagging for instance? Is it possible or is MC just lying to me?

Another question, probably answered a million times here, but since I'm already typing, I could perhaps ask it anyway. Is it possible to start LS as a service or at windows startup, and just LS, not entire MC? I figure it would be great to have it running at all time

Conclusion. In a future version, I believe MC should disable functions that doesn't work properly when connected to a LS, to avoid confusion or irreparable mistakes.
Also, I noticed that MC downloads the entire library when connecting. Perhaps a quick comparision of the cached library and the LS library could speed things up a bit (not that I need it, a file of 2mb isnt that bothersome)?

Thanks for a great product! You're always discovering new things!
/Martin

[JimH]

Thanks.  You can start Media Server from Start/Programs or add it to the Windows Startup.

Media Server in MC11 is just a very small footprint version of MC.  Libary Server is configured in the tree under Services and Plug-ins and must be started there.

[Marty3d]

That was quick!

Thanks Jim! So, Media server is a standalone version of Library server? (remember what I wrote about confusion )

[JimH]

It's a long story, but in a nutshell:

Media Server is now a very small version of MC.  You can see this in Task Manager and in the memory it uses.

Library Server is a part of MC.  It needs to be there in order to serve an up-to-date library and update playcounts.

It's not an ideal solution.  More like a marriage of convenience.  I'd like to move all the configuration and startup of servers to a separate Media Server program, but it would be a lot of work for no gain in performance.

Each time we do something and use it, we see a way to do it better, but it takes time.

[Marty3d]

Absolutely! I uderstand that you can't fix everything at once, no sweat

But...

What are the limits on what you can do? For example, by old habit, I right-clicked on a file -> Locate -> On disk (external) and all I got was an empty IE window. Doing the same but to (inside MC), delivered an empty file list in MC.
This had me wondering that perhaps the distinction within MC wasn't strong enough to figure out whether you were connected to a LS (Library server) or not. What other actions could you perform but not properly recognized by MC? What about tagging for instance? Is it possible or is MC just lying to me?

...what about this? Any tips?