J River Media Center 19

Do you know how to copy files on to a USB flash drive or an SD card like many cameras use? Do you have a USB cable that you can attach to both computers and copy the files from one to the other?

Maybe you have a friend or family member that could help you. Maybe a grandchild if you are older and not tech savvy.

Put all the music files on a separate outboard HD and name the drive "Music."

You direct JRiver to use file name "Music" as the file source. This outboard drive can be unplugged from your current computer and plugged into another computer as if it were flash drive. Options are FireWire, USB and Thunderbolt to link the two.

I used two Hitachi Desk Star 4 TB drives in a Oyen Digital twin bay outboard housing. Mac or Win see this as a single 8 TB drive. If you require less space the answer is the same, just smaller or fewer drives.

Once the music is on this outboard drive it can work with JRiver or other playback software and can be attached to any computer that reads the files.

I chose FLAC since it's Win friendly and works great with my Mac Mini with JRiver.

You need to copy the files over and also copy over a backup of the library so you do not have to do your setup all over again.

If both computers are on the same network, you can just copy the music files (flac, wav, mps, etc.) from one computer to the other, e.g. using Windows Explorer on a Windows system. From the new computer, just look under Network in Explorer to find the other computer. Just copy the whole music file from the old computer to the new one. You will have to allow sharing on the directory the files are being copied from on the old computer. The copy may take some time depending on how many files your have, but it is very straightforward. If you can plug them both into your router the copy will be much faster than over WiFi. If possible put them in a folder of the same name as on the original computer

Alternatively, you can transfer the files from the original computer to a USB disk drive and move that drive to the new computer. Again, if you can use the same path name (device, folder) it will make the setup easier.

To move your J RIver library to a new computer, do a backup from within J River (File - Library - Back Up). Put that file in a directory you can find. Then copy that file to you new computer, and do a Library Restore from within J River. That will copy all you tags, settings etc. to the new computer. If you can use he same directory for the music files on your new computer as on your old one, everything should just work. You can move the backup file to the new computer over the network or with a USB drive, just like you did the music files.

If you have a different directory on the new computer you can use Tools - Library Tools - Rename, Move & Copy - Find and Replace to change the path. If you do the Find and Replace, I would suggest trying it on an album or two first, before doing the whole library.

Any questions, please ask. I do it fairly often.

Thanks, you have been very helpful.

This has changed in 19.

"If you have a different directory on the new computer you can use Tools - Library Tools - Rename, Move & Copy - Find and Replace to change the path. If you do the Find and Replace, I would suggest trying it on an album or two first, before doing the whole library."

It's similar but you can't do a Find & Replace on Filename field any longer; just make sure you use Update Location (as opposed to Copy, Rename, etc.)

cheers!

Just tried Find and Replace on JRiver 19 and it seems to work the same as on v18. You can still do a Find and Replace for drives and folder names. The Update Location to Point to a New Location is a nice option. Seems like both of them can be used to change a drive and/or folder name.

Updated comment after trying on V 19.

I do the same thing for propagating one library to two PC's in different locations.... after cloning the data drives using something like filesync.

If you use the media server feature in one location... the unique network identifier gets copied and creates havoc with networked devices. I think you don't want to transfer settings to prevent this... So... I think I should only restore the database and not the views and other features of the program. (don't ask me how I know)

I do the same thing for propagating one library to two PC's in different locations.... (after cloning the data drives using something like filesync).

If you use the media server feature in one location... the unique network identifier gets copied and creates havoc with networked devices. I think you don't want to transfer settings to prevent this... So... I think I should only restore the database and not the views and other features of the program. (don't ask me how I know)

Tcatman - it seems easier to restore all the settings and then reset the Media Network key on the new PC than to do all the settings by hand on the new PC.

That is worth a try...
The fundamental problem is that I simply don't understand home networks and what gets through a firewall or not enough to bend the rules a bit.. The second issue... is that I do this job very infrequently and the details get fuzzy... remembering to write down all of the proper keys in each place... definitely needs to be on the to do list..

A little of topic , but does anyone know if an APPLE IPAD AIR, with the JRIVER REMOTE will allow the IPAD to control a windows based laptop, so I can control my JRIVER music that is stored in the WINDOWS LAPTOP ? I have such a set up and am unable to get the two devices to sync up together . Both units are on my home network (ATT) and both are working and on at the same time, but when I load the IP address into the JRIVER app on the IPAD, it says unable to find another active device or server.

THANKS........

I use my iPad Jriver app to control my PC based music server, and it works smoothly and reliably..not sure why yours isn't synching..but its not an issue of Apple vs PC.

MRIBOB...
DO you recall when you set yours up, if you entered the IP ADDRESS on your windows pc into the JREMOTE app on the IPAD?, or did you input the key code (which by the way I am unable to locate on the registration email they sent me....I see the registration number, but the key code isn't available anywhere, even on the attached file JRIVER sent with the original registration ).

THANKS

Musicmann1 - by key code, I believe you mean the network access key for J River on a particular PC. If so, you can get that from Tools - Options - Media Network. The access key is listed there. You can also reset the network access key there.

The IP address is a good way to go on a local network if you set up the PC to use a static IP address on your local network. If you do not use a static IP then the PC may get a different address when it boots up and your remote will not connect.

Note - I do not use JREMOTE but assume it works the same way as J River clients like Tremote and Gizmo.