For me the 'List View + Column Browser' is always persistent, including height of the column browser etc. (even after MM5 restart)
I even did not need to use the "Back Monkey" skin, because I used slide down of the upper edge in the default Material (Dark) skin.

Maybe that in your case (for some reason) the persisten.json file isn't saved on MM5 close? Could you check timestamp of the /Portable/persisten.json file, is it updated after each MM5 close? Also, could you attach (or PM me) your persistent.json for analyzing?

This is the sequence:

1. Start MM5
2. List view display with column browser hidden (Material Design skin) - Jazz node in media tree
3. Go to Black Monkey skin to retrieve column browser (not able to do this in Material Design)
4. Switch to Classical Music node in media tree - list view and column browser show
5. Switch back to Jazz node - Browser view appears rather than the desired List View
6. Switch back to Classical Music node - Browser view appears rather than the desired List View

That is not what happens in MM4. This is what happens

1. Start MM4
2. List view display with column browser - Jazz node in media tree
3. Switch to Classical Music node - list view and column browser show
4. Switch back to Jazz node - list view and column browser show
5. Switch back to Classical Music - list view and column browser show

Why does MM5 keep switching to the Browser mode (note NOT Column Browser but the view with Artists and Album art) when that isn't what happens in MM4 and certainly not what I want?

It works fine for me: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6hby31k2nl6z ... 4.png?dl=0
Just the Column Browser is broken in 2147 : http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 30&t=93548 -- I had to pull it down from the upper edge.

I think I remember being able to set the display as List View with Column Browser enabled for a particular node (such as Classical Music) and have that be the "default" display when I return to that node after using another node (such as Jazz, a collection I created). Now in 1274 (and for some previous versions) the display always reverts to the useless to me display of Artists pictures and Album covers when I come back to a node. Why did this change? I guess the MM programmers are plased with their fancy display of Artist pictures and Album covers, but I'm not. If I can't make Column Browser + List View the default for a nide, I'll stick with MM4 where I can do that.