how to play flac files or mp3 depending on location?

[JoanM]

Hi all,

My first post here though I've been using MusicBee for a long time now.

I'm waiting for a pair of KEF EGG loudspeakers to arrive and replace my current desk loudspeakers... 

My question is:

I'm a freelance programmer and travel a lot, my laptop disk is not as big as I'd like, and therefore I store there compressed mp3 files...
At the office though I have a mini server (NAS) with plenty of space and there I could store lossless files...

Which would be the best method to reach one set of files or the other depending on where I am?

Thank you all for your recommendations!

 

[frankz]

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

I wish, but there is no way.  Apparently, the spec for XSPF playlists allows for this kind of thing, but it's not implemented that way here.

I've wanted some toggle option or playlist format to act this way for a long time (select whether to play lossy version / lossless versions / some hybrid depending on availability) for playing different file types in different situations for a long time.

See here:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=25578.msg146639#msg146639

or here:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=24591.msg141733#msg141733

[Steven]

are your files at the same location where the only difference is the file extension?

[JoanM]

@Frankz: I'll check your links, but given your comment they won't help much...

@Steven: No, the mp3 files will be at the music folder of my windows 10 laptop (in the laptop's hard disk), and the lossless files will be located into a Music folder in my NAS and shared through LAN.

Thank you both to sped time on this!

 

[JoanM]

@Steven:

Could we have two libraries implemented?


Then the user could select, one library or the other at start... This would solve the issue as in my laptop at home I could use the lossless files and outside I could use the mp3 files.


This would not change a lot the interface and would allow to use different file sets depending on the location or user preference...


Thank you very much for your time!   

[frankz]

You can already have as many libraries as you want.  The difficulty would be in playlists, as they are specific to a library and point to specific files.  You would have to duplicate each playlist in a lossy and a lossless version in the respective library for each format.

[ma_t14]

To add to what frankz said, after creating a new library (File > Library > Create new library) you can choose which library to load when starting MusicBee by holding the shift key.

[JoanM]

@frankz and ma_t14

Yes, that is what I wanted... Been using Music Bee for years now  and still didn't know that... ^^¡

Thank you very much!