Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple libraries

Get answers about using MediaMonkey 4 for Windows.

Moderator: Gurus

loondawg
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 10:46 am

Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple libraries

Post by loondawg »

Hi,

After searching the forum, I can see this subject has been asked about a lot of times before but I can't seem to find a clear answer about if this is possible and how to do it if it is. So I looked all through the forum and found a bunch of different answers and possible workarounds. The most promising seems to be the idea of using the command line option for "/INIFILE=fullpath" at start-up to specify a different INI.

But this has left me with a few of questions.

First, I want to be sure I'm using the correct MediaMonkey.ini since I found two on my system. One exists in C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming and one in C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\MediaMonkey. It looks like I should use the one from roaming since it was modified more recently. (And is the directory in "appdata\local" still needed or can I just delete the MediaMonkey directory from local to avoid further confusion?)

And then the bigger problem. I can't find an ini parameter to specify the location for the MM.DB to use. Ideally what I would like to do is create two directories, one for clean and one for working, and maintain a separate MM.DB in each. Is there a way to make the INI point to a different data directory based on the INI being used? Or better yet, is it possible to use the INI to just point to a MM.DB in different location?

Is this possible? Are there other factors I need to concerned with? Can you offer any other suggestions that might help with the problem?


And here is the background about why I need to be able to do something like this:

I'm a long time gold user so I do have the option of collections, but they really don't address my needs in this case.

My music library has become massive and it's stored on a home server. So when I start MM, all the scanning over the network means MediaMonkey is often unusable for long periods of time. And sometimes it just becomes unresponsive for hours at a time as it scans for changes. Sometimes it even hangs and needs to be restarted. And like a lot of users, I have one area of music that is all cleaned up with proper tags and artwork and another that is a complete mess.

So what I would like to do is set up two, or more, separate libraries. So when I want to just listen to music, I can open MM from one icon and have my nice, clean library there ready to play. And then I would like to have second "working" library with all the other music for when I feel like doing some tagging and cleaning up.


Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. In the current state it is in, I'm really not able to use MM.
BKKKPewsey
Posts: 361
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:45 am
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by BKKKPewsey »

Rather then answer your questions directly I will relate on how I use the monkey.
Like you I have a fairly large music library (1.3 TB) on a home server and yes scanning that lot takes ages.
All my new music goes into 1 directory, which is the only one scanned by the monkey on startup.
All the other folders just have scan continuous setup so any changes made whilst the monkey is awake by external apps (eg mp3tag) are updated.
I then get my tags sorted, correct album art etc then use auto-organise which puts the new stuff in the correct folders etc.
This means that network traffic is kept to the minimum.
The problem I can see with using 2 db's is that they will get out of sync unless all the library is scanned on startup.
If you want to go that route I would suggest installing MM again but in portable mode - this would create a new separate Monkey with its own db and ini file
You can then just point that monkey to your good music. :)
Everyone has the right to be stupid Image but some abuse the privilege
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by Lowlander »

ini location: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=17
Custom DB location: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=46
/inifile switch: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=45

loondawg wrote:My music library has become massive and it's stored on a home server. So when I start MM, all the scanning over the network means MediaMonkey is often unusable for long periods of time. And sometimes it just becomes unresponsive for hours at a time as it scans for changes. Sometimes it even hangs and needs to be restarted. And like a lot of users, I have one area of music that is all cleaned up with proper tags and artwork and another that is a complete mess.
Sounds like you have startup scanning enabled, you should disable it.

I have the same setup with a large library on a NAS with both verified (tagged/listened to files) and files that are a mess. MediaMonkey has no issue starting up, but I don't do startup scanning and regularly use File > Maintain Library with complete optimization. The files are separate in MediaMonkey using Collections and I use a new files folder as the only folder being scanned (thus quick scanning as it doesn't have as many files). As all file operations occur in MediaMonkey only the new file folder requires scanning.
loondawg
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 10:46 am

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by loondawg »

Thanks for the help. The only one of those notes I had found was the one about the INI switch. With the other two, I think I am going to give trying to figure out if I can use two libraries a try.
loondawg
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 10:46 am

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by loondawg »

BKKKPewsey wrote:Rather then answer your questions directly I will relate on how I use the monkey.
Like you I have a fairly large music library (1.3 TB) on a home server and yes scanning that lot takes ages.
All my new music goes into 1 directory, which is the only one scanned by the monkey on startup.
All the other folders just have scan continuous setup so any changes made whilst the monkey is awake by external apps (eg mp3tag) are updated.
I then get my tags sorted, correct album art etc then use auto-organise which puts the new stuff in the correct folders etc.
This means that network traffic is kept to the minimum.
The problem I can see with using 2 db's is that they will get out of sync unless all the library is scanned on startup.
If you want to go that route I would suggest installing MM again but in portable mode - this would create a new separate Monkey with its own db and ini file
You can then just point that monkey to your good music. :)

Thanks for the suggestion. I think if my whole collection was clean and I was just moving forward, this would work great. But over half of my collection is such a mess I would have to bring it over in hundreds of small pieces rather than being able to work with it all at once. So I'm thinking I still want to try two separate libraries, almost just for the challenge of it at this point.

But this approach makes a lot of sense. I may wind up adopting it if I fail at the two libraries approach.

Thanks again.
dannyno
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:27 pm

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by dannyno »

Sometimes the workflow we want to use is actually the cause of the problem. Think again! Collections are absolutely the way to go, and as other have said you don't want startup scanning switched on.

In my set up, I only make changes to files in MM, so life is a bit simpler.

All new music is put into its own folder, and that is the only folder that MM scans. I have a collection called "new music" which consists of only the music in the "new" folder. As I go through and tidy up the files in this folder, I move them to their final homes and they disappear from "new music".

There is no reason at all why you can't have "clean" and "dirty" collections. You can do this by putting clean and dirty files into different folder structures, and then creating collections which draw on those different locations. Or you could give all "dirty" files a "dirty" genre tag, and all "clean" files a "clean" tag, and create collections which are based on genres. Then as you clean up your files you just change the genre. You could even do it just with the "dirty" genre, so that you have a collection which only sees "dirty" files, and a clean collection which excludes them.

Or use the "comments" field, or a custom field.

And you would still have everything visible in the "entire library" collection.

Why wouldn't that work better for you? I note you say something about bringing everything over in small pieces, but I didn't understand what you meant.

Dan
loondawg
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 10:46 am

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by loondawg »

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the comments. You've definitely given me some things to consider. Maybe I am just approaching this incorrectly.

My problems come from years of on-again, off-again music management. I've allowed a lot of my collection to become horribly messed up in so many ways.

And I did adopt the habit of using a start-up scan on everything because I lost a lot of music once as a result of not using it. I accidentally deleted a huge chunk of music from a directory I thought was being monitored. So when I identified music that I thought was duplicates, I actually deleted the only remaining source of it I had. It was totally a user error, but it made me really gun shy about not having everything scanned at start-up. That is a habit I think I can (will have to) break though.

Thanks again,
loondawg
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 10:46 am

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by loondawg »

One more question on your approach to this.

You suggested not using start-up scanning except on your new music directory. Do you also not use the scan continuously setting for any of your music directories? Do you just use manual refreshes by selecting "add/rescan files to the library" for all directories except your new music directory so that becomes the only source of refreshes?
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: Setting up with separate INIs to allow multiple librarie

Post by Lowlander »

There is no need to scan continuously on any folder other than new if you don't make any outside changes to it. As I don't there is no need to ever scan it.
Post Reply