From Ssl-wiki

Quoting DeezNotes from here:

ALL of my MP3s are stored on my desktop. I use my laptop with SSL, so I wanted to find a way to keep both computers up to date with the EXACT same MP3s - no duplicates, no copying, no external hard drives - just pure synchronization between both machines to ensure identical file matching (Windows only).

This is a bit technical, so I'll give an overview and answer whatever questions may come up. There are some drawbacks to this method, but as with any tip/trick you can use this at your own discretion.

Your desktop will act as the “server” or primary source of MP3s. This is where I do the majority of my file tagging, BPM generation and gain settings. I organize my MP3s in a folder named \Audio. Inside this folder, I created a \Crates folder for all my crates. The folder structure for my SSL files looks something like this:

• \Audio\Crates\Hip Hop
• \Audio\Crates\R&B
• \Audio\Crates\Funk & Soul

I have other folders which are backups of my CDs and other folders for Mix CDs as well. The folder structure for those is:

• \Audio\CDs
• \Audio\Mix CDs

The first step you must take is to enable file sharing on your \Audio folder. Here is a link with instructions. What this will enable you to do is to access your music from another computer, as long as the two computers are networked. If you use a share name of “Audio,” you can access the files by using the following format: \\<COMPUTER NAME>\<SHARE NAME>. Here’s an example: \\Dell\Audio. Type this in the Address bar in Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer to access your MP3s from your laptop. Be sure to enable read/write access on this share. WARNING: If your network is not protected by a firewall or other means of security, your files may be accessible by intruders on your network.

The next step is to Map a network drive.

Here is a link with instructions: . I assigned my network drive the letter M: (for Music). When connected to the network, I can use the files on my desktop computer in SSL. To put it simpler, I’m using SSL on my laptop; my M: drive is connected to my desktop computer (\\dell\audio) and I’m DJing using the files on \\dell\audio instead of files located on an internal/external hard drive.

Once you get to this point, I would suggest you jump on SSL and try it out. You MUST do this anyway to create the .ScratchLive folder (this is a little harder to explain and I still have to do a little testing with this, so I’ll post an update if I’m incorrect in the instructions below). Create at least one crate with these files as well. Your files may load slower in SSL, because it’s accessing the MP3 from another computer over the network.

Now that you have your M: drive on your laptop which gives you access to the MP3s on your desktop, you now have to get the files to synchronize. By this time you should have already DJ’ed a little bit using SSL with your networked MP3s. Here is a link with instructions. Using the provided instructions, the two folders you want to make available offline are the folders which contain your MP3s (in my case this would be M:\Audio\Crates ~ which maps to \\Dell\Audio\Crates) and the .ScratchLive folder (which is hidden by default). Here’s a link to show you how to view hidden files. I would suggest using a network cable to synchronize your files rather than the wireless network, since the cable is much faster.

Once your files have finished synchronizing, you should be able to disable your network connection to your desktop. Your MP3s will now be available in the same place (M:\Audio\Crates) on your laptop. Now, lets say you’re DJing with your offline files and you auto-build some overviews? Once you reconnect the laptop to the network and it detects the computers are ready to synchronize, the version on your desktop should be updated with the new file from your laptop with the overview info added to the file.

Like I said, there are some drawbacks to using this method. I can’t think of them all right now, so I guess we can save that for a follow-up post.

I hope this is helpful to some and not too high-level for those who may find this useful.

Links

Acknowledgement

Credits for this article go out to:

• DeezNotes

Todo