If I sometimes use two different computers, is it best that I use an external drive to have my music on, as music 1 will try pull from that folder that music is on?
M1 itself doesn’t necessarily have to have any connection to the location of the audio files. that is something your playout system will always need, of course. it is always good to have the music (the audio files) available to M1, so you can click-and-hear as you work with it. and it is nice to have M1 on the same machine or network as the playout system that your use. then it can automatically put the new playlists into the folder that the playout system looks into. but you could just as well have M1 on a stand-alone computer and do all of your scheduling there…then transfer the little playlist files, the music schedules to the computer that has your playout system.
the super-important thing is the contents of the CART field on the M1 ‘cards’. that is the drive\path\filename that it then gives to the playout system in its playlist. M1 imports this data when the songs and other audio files are first added to the M1 database. but if you should later move any of the audio files from one of your folders to another…M1 does not know that it has been done. it will continue to put the ‘old’ drive\path\filename into the playlist files until you correct it.
SMART MOVE: if you’re using a playout system that relies on drive\path\filename to find-and-play audio, then put all of the audio files that you’ll use for your broadcast in one folder, directly under the C drive so there will be a very short (and easily moveable) path. example: name the folder Library and the path should then be: c:\library\…. you can have sub-folders within that master Library folder.
this is good because all of the audio files have a short drive\path. and it is especially good for backing up and for moving your playout system to another computer. you have only to copy one (big) folder and then drop it onto the new machine directly under that one’s c-drive.