Usage of MB Portable with 2 PCs and Notebook

[Windsurfer1979]

Hi Guys,

I have some Questions regarding the portable Version of Musicbee.

Yesterday I moved my Music Collection from a WD MyCloudMirror to a 4 Bay NAS (asustor), because the MyCloud Performance is very low. MB Prtable is installed on the NAS and I createt shortcuts on my PC's and Notebooks to the MB.exe on my Server.

My target is to use the same library, Artworks included, on all Devices.

1. When I add for example tags or artworks on PC1, are the changes visible on all other devices?
2. I'm thinking about using MB on my smartphone later as well. Can I use the same library?
3. I'm reading several times, that MB crashes, when I'm using it at the same time on 2 or more devices? Should I make sure to use only one active instance?

Cheers!

[phred]

1- With shortcuts to the MB installation on the NAS, each PC should see the changes although you may have to rescan the library.
2- How will you use MB on your smartphone? There is no smartphone version.
3- Understand that MB was not/is not designed to be a multi-user application. I'm pretty sure if more than one PC is trying to access MB on the NAS, you're going to run into trouble.

I suggest you try it for yourself and see what happens. It's not going to cost you anything but time.

[frankz]

I have MB portable set up in a network share and run that EXE from two computers that access the same library (in a network share) and music files (in a network share).

1. Your experience on the two computers will be exactly the same.  The only problem I ran into is when I ran it from a laptop with a smaller screen resolution.  It seemed to change some settings in the ini file, but I don't remember what. Changes you make to your tags and artwork (and layout and settings) will be reflected in both installations without additional work.  You're opening the same version.
2. See phred's answer
3. I have accidentally opened MB on PC 1 while I was actively using it on PC 2.  Nothing bad happened.  I didn't try to use it on PC 1, just opened and closed it.  I suspect trying to use both at the same time would be a problem, but a momentary mistake shouldn't blow things up too bad.  Don't do it on purpose I guess.

[phred]

I have MB portable set up in a network share and run that EXE from two computers that access the same library (in a network share) and music files (in a network share).

Is your MB installed on a NAS or on a PC in a directory that you've shared out to the network? And does it make a difference? The OP states the installation is on a NAS.

[frankz]

On a PC.  I don't know if it makes a difference.  When the OP said he had it "installed," I assumed it meant that it was actually successfully installed and functional like he said and not, you know, just sitting there.  Maybe that was too presumptuous.

Best way to find out if this will work as intended, OP, is to try it.  Let us know how it goes.

[phred]

My comment was based on this:

MB Prtable is installed on the NAS

[frankz]

My comment was based on this:

MB Prtable is installed on the NAS

No, you're right it may well be different.  I saw that and just assumed he'd done the basic testing of making sure it actually opened and all, but maybe that's not right. 

[Windsurfer1979]

At the moment everything is working great.

I just saw an app in the play store called "Musicbee WiFi Sync" So I thought it's a player that can be installed on a tablet/smartphone and plays via UPNP Plugin Music in every Room.

[The Incredible Boom Boom]

3. I have accidentally opened MB on PC 1 while I was actively using it on PC 2.  Nothing bad happened.  I didn't try to use it on PC 1, just opened and closed it.  I suspect trying to use both at the same time would be a problem, but a momentary mistake shouldn't blow things up too bad.  Don't do it on purpose I guess.

I have MusicBee "Always available offline" for convenience and to (theoretically) offset any negative repercussions from accidentally opening and using it on both computers.

I suspect what would happen in such a case (it hasn't happened yet) is the MBL would become out-of-sync in accordance with Windows Sync Center and the solution would be to restore the older file on the first opened instance, then modify the newer file on the second instance.