Need questions answered to see if MM will be right for me.

[efantom]

Hello all,

I've been playing around with the free version of MM the last couple of days and I must say it has some very nice features that I've be looking for. I really like how I can customize info in playlists and to be able to copy and past from playlists and the library. Something WinAmp won't do. I do have a couple of questions that I hope I can get some answers on though.

1.) If I purchase the lifetime MM, would I be able to use it on my home PC and my personal laptop, if strictly for personal use? Or do I have to purchase 2 agreements?

2.) I currently have about 5 collections that I keep seperate by using seperate players looking at only different folders. Would MM allow me to keep all these libraries seperate on one player? The info given on the website about collections is very vague. Can someone please explain it's functions in details and maybe some examples how people are setting them up?

3.) Once I have MM set up with info, themes, and playlists on one computer can it be saved then used on another computer with all settings applied? If so, can someone explain how?

These are the 3 main questions I need answered before purchasing. The collections is very interesting to me and may be just what I've needed for years if it works like I hope it will. To explain myself, this is what I've been doing for the last couple of years. I have about 85 gigs of maticulously tagged music. I have about 125 gigs more to go through and tag. I also keep seperate libraries for Best Of - Greatest Hits Albums, and one for Soundtracks, and one for Compilation Albums. In my main library I try to have all my songs tagged to the first time they were released and that album art. An example would be Van Halen's - Little Dreamer song. I don't want to see a date and album cover of a greatest hits that came out in 2008 when the song originally came out in 1978 on their self titled album. I want those other versions, but just kept seperate from my main library. I hope this example makes sense. As I tag the 125 gigs of music to my standards I'll be slowly added it to my main library. So with this said, will MM collections do what I need it to?

On a side note, if anyone knows of a software that will find song tag info to it's original release date, I would love to know it. I have been searching for that for years and nothing does it. Probably just dreaming on that one. Thanks to anyone and everyone who may be able to answer these questions?

[Lowlander]

1) Yes, as long as they're yours: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=86

2) Yes, Collections are precisely for that. You can use criteria like Path to create your Collections and the default Music and Classical Music are an example of how Collections separate content: http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... _Rules/4.0

3) No, although it is technically possible there are some issues to content with. Some settings use Paths which may be an issue between PCs. The database uses DriveID to access files, thus moving it to a different PC is an issue.
Installing as Portable Install could be a workaround. Either install on external memory (USB HDD, USB thumbdrive, Flash memory) and move between PC's (even easier if music is also on this external memory) or install as Portable Install on the local machine and see if copying it will work (I haven't tried it like that). If music is to be stored on the local machine you can fix the driveID: http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... w_computer (alternative also can fix path differences).
The important stuff like file info, Collections and Playlists are stored in the DB. So if copying settings proves to be problematic you still should be able to copy over the DB, change driveID and have access to file data, Collections and Playlists.

4) Check out the Discogs Tagger for Original Date, it may have this capability: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =2&t=43924

[oldtimer]

Some things you might not know that probably interest you.

1) MM has a location view. You can store you music physically in as convoluted manner as you can and with the location tree you can browse as the music is physically organized.

2) MM handles large collections better than any other software I have used. It may take a while to load but once loaded it runs pretty fast.

3) MM has the ability to run scripts. If any application would allow you to replace the real year with the earliest year this would be the app. I know there is one script that might do a cleaner job than what you are asking for. The problem with you wish is although tune xyz was first played in 1981 the version you have wasn't played till 1989. The script will try to locate the first release of the actual version you have.

[efantom]

Thanks Lowlander and Oldtimer for answering my questions. I truely appreciate it.