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Songbird: Media library database in fixed location on drive.

Submitted by SnowFreak on October 28, 2009 - 8:40am

To whom it may concern.

Library files are placed in relation to the root of the drive, not the .exe file.

After getting used to Songbird for the last year, to my pleasant surprise, it's also available as a portable app now. No more using third party tools (and/or add-ons) to save all the metadata not stored in the media files themselves. Yay!

The problem:
I have copied the installed PortableApps\SongbirdPortable files to a folder on my system disk (c:\). However, not to the root of the drive, but into a folder (c:\Data).
Now, when scanning the media library, SongbirdPortable insist on placing the profile database files in the root of the drive (i.e. c:\PortableApps\... instead of c:\Data\PortableApps\...). I use the Watch Folder function to import media, but I suspect that information is irrelevant.

It's not a big problem, but it screws up my scheme of only having one folder to backup.

( categories:

Other Apps Support

)

Unfortunately, Songbird is

Gizmokid2005 (Homepage) - October 28, 2009 - 10:28am

Unfortunately, Songbird is one of the apps that doesn't handle directory changes well, there's a note on the app page about it. Whichever directory you install it to in relation to the drive root, is where it's going to expect to be no matter what. Unfortunately, the way that songbird is coded for the config files, there's no way to overcome that, at least at the time being.

I hope this helps.

-Gizmokid2005

OK. I suppose you're

SnowFreak - October 29, 2009 - 11:27am

OK. I suppose you're referring to this note on the Songbird Portable page: Helpful Tip: Choose the location of your media library and where you install Songbird Portable carefully.
As I read that I would have to install it directly into the subfolder on my C: drive, and then the media library files would be placed into that subfolder too. Correct?
I have not found any way of pointing out the database location from within Songbird, which is a pity, as that would have been sweet. And even sweeter would have been a dynamic media root. Well, at least now I won't have digital cavities.