Tools for library management?

[amabrok]

I know it's an old thread but I thought I'd add my ten cents . . .

Everything is currently on Windows 7 with a mixture of 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

I used iTunes for years but got fed up with no FLAC support so moved to MediaMonkey Gold which I now use for management and basic tagging (usually fixing errors).  I converted my ALAC files to FLAC with dBpoweramp Music Converter in batch mode - took me a couple of days but no real issues.  However, I never used the ratings options in iTunes, nor any other "useage" tags (e.g. number of plays etc.) so whether they get carried across or not was never an issue for me.

I really wanted FLAC because of cross-platform support plus I've been a big Squeezebox user since the early days and they have native FLAC support whereas ALAC has to transcoded on the fly by the server, which is only a little EeePC with an Atom processor and a 1GB drive stuffed inside (by me).

Ripping I also do via dBpoweramp.  It goes into my main desktop PC where any errors are fixed (ditto downloads) by MediaMonkey.  I occasionally use MP3Tag if I have problems with MP3 files.  I then run FreeFileSync on the netbook server which copies new files and changes from the "master" PC to its disk (both it and the main PC are hard-wired to the router so it's quite quick) and finally tell LMS (Logitech Media Server) to add the updates to its library (which is read-only by design) for use by my various Squeezeboxes.  It all sounds harder than it actually is . . . 

MediaMonkey is also good IMHO for putting stuff on iPads, iPhones etc. because it converts FLAC content to MP3 on the fly during the copying process.

Currently at 32,795 tracks and no real issues with any of the above.  But happy to hear about alternatives . . .

it is never too late  and thanks for sharing it was very interesting for me.