Library Sharing over Lan

[zzh1989829]

if there are machine A and B in a local LAN, is it possible for B to access A's library ?

e.g. A set sharing ON, then B can open the library A is sharing

[Steven]

you could do it, but MB is not multi-user so that means if 2 people have the same MB library open at the same time and both make changes eg. just rate a song, then its the last person to exit that will actually have his changes saved. I would not recommend it and no plans to make MB multi-user as its difficult and wasnt designed that way from the start.

However you could safely do this if its just you and only one computer has the shared MB library open at a point in time.
You could also safely do this, if its 2 people and each has their own library which references the same files shared on the lan drive.

[zzh1989829]

hi steven
you said "you could do it" but didn't say how

 there are two Win7 machines in the same Home group.  i tried with MB 1.2.4083.
if  MB-B open a remote library by using file-> new library-> choose existing lib, MB-B will only show MB-A's playlists,BUT  the content of library is blank. not to mention play MB-A's tracks. i don't know why. do you have any ideas?

[Steven]

MB-A creates a library on a drive accessible from both machines, add links to the files and playlists (the playlists need only exist in the Playlists sub-folder of where the library is located, so can be copied using windows explorer if thats easier)
Exit MB-A
on MB-B create a library, but use the option to choose an existing one ie. the one you just created on the shared drive

some catches:
if you are using a drive letter mapping for the share, you need to make sure its the same drive letter on both machines or alternatively use the "run as a portable application" which doesnt store file links with drive letters,
or instead of using a drive letter use a network share \\xxxxx\yyy when adding the files to the library

[zzh1989829]

sorry to bother you again.

i've done what you said  and seems that it works fine
there's only one thing : when i tried to set auto-organize lib files on MB-A, it says  "\\roy-pc\Music" is not a recognized storage device. may i ask what's this about ? ("roy-pc" is the computer name of A and can be accessed (R/W) both from A and B)

and it just occurred to me that it's about the same if MB-B use a remote lib OR MB-B just use local lib to access remote media files

[Steven]

i'm not completely sure what you are doing, but as a guess - have you added "\\roy-pc\Music" as a network share within MB-A ?
if you cant see it as a node in the computer section, right click/Manage Folders/Add Network Share