by Rob_S » Thu Sep 26, 2024 11:14 am
This is a very interesting subject for me, as I try to maintain an identical music setup on several PCs. I find Mediamonlkey for the time being is just not very good at it, even though I think it could easily be improved if there was an easier way to get the database to recognize a same or similar music folder located on a different PC or drive. Better yet, just introduce a Music Backup feature, which could be used to copy new or missing tracks and matching database to another network location.
Note added: I have often wondered why the database could not "optionally" reside in the root of the music folder, and thus automatically recognize all tracks within and beneath it.
So I basically use a file manager type of program in this case Total Commander, which allows me to sync newer or missing track files in a designated pair of folders in both directions over a network such that updates added or modified on either PC will be copied to the other. Missing files on both sides are identified, so I can determine if this was intended and should be deleted, or if it is in fact missing and should be copied.
To make this work I need to make sure all my tags are embedded in the tracks, so that a rescan with MM will update the databases and pick up any changes. I also need to avoid relocating or renaming any tracks, as there is NO sync program that I know of that can avoid duplications if path and filenames are changed.
The only issue is for me are playlists, which are totally embedded in the MM database, and thus not easily copied. Manual playlists can be exported and re-imported, and should mostly work if both sets of relative paths are the same. Autoplaylists can be replicated manually fairly easily.
Playcounts remain separate, dont get copied, and I personally dont care too much about those.
This is a very interesting subject for me, as I try to maintain an identical music setup on several PCs. I find Mediamonlkey for the time being is just not very good at it, even though I think it could easily be improved if there was an easier way to get the database to recognize a same or similar music folder located on a different PC or drive. Better yet, just introduce a Music Backup feature, which could be used to copy new or missing tracks and matching database to another network location.
Note added: I have often wondered why the database could not "optionally" reside in the root of the music folder, and thus automatically recognize all tracks within and beneath it.
So I basically use a file manager type of program in this case Total Commander, which allows me to [b]sync newer or missing track files[/b] in a designated pair of folders in both directions over a network such that updates added or modified on either PC will be copied to the other. Missing files on both sides are identified, so I can determine if this was intended and should be deleted, or if it is in fact missing and should be copied.
To make this work I need to make sure all my tags are embedded in the tracks, so that a rescan with MM will update the databases and pick up any changes. I also need to avoid relocating or renaming any tracks, as there is NO sync program that I know of that can avoid duplications if path and filenames are changed.
The only issue is for me are playlists, which are totally embedded in the MM database, and thus not easily copied. Manual playlists can be exported and re-imported, and should mostly work if both sets of relative paths are the same. Autoplaylists can be replicated manually fairly easily.
Playcounts remain separate, dont get copied, and I personally dont care too much about those.
