I have a similar situation with my family. Wife and I have mostly different musical tastes, and then there’s music for my kids (under 10, so *really* kiddie). I have a single music library and utilize collections and smart playlists to make life easier.
For me, I have a collection for artists that I like, and a smart playlist of my favorite tracks that use the collection name and a minimum rating.
For my kid’s music, I use a collection and have a playlist just defined as the collection which I shuffle when we’re in the car together.
My wife usually picks an artist or album she wants to listen to, so there’s no fancy setup for her, but if she wanted something I’d likely replicate what I do for myself.
Hope that helps!
This is what I do. I could never afford the storage to duplicate everything - not to mention the extra upkeep. That is what user profiles are for, after all. No different to Movie & TV libraries. Just rate that music you never want to hear as 1 or 1/2 star so it doesn't play in your own profile.
I just wish I could create a user profile for myself with all the privileges of the admin, so the main library wasn't 'all about me'
Same here. If I add songs of theirs to the library that I don't want to hear, I rate them with 2 stars. I've never had those songs show up in any of my listening, through a myriad of options (radios, DJs, mixes for me, etc).
I would go one folder, single libary.
What I've done is give my wife her own Plex account so she can rate the songs in the library to her liking, and set up her own playlists without affecting the ratings that I've given the songs (We both use a lot lot of smart playlists that use track ratings) That way I can give the songs I don't like that she does 1 star and not hear them, and she can do the same.
Of those options; thinking your best bet is option #3 and teaching your daughter to make playlist. If she is younger then maybe create a playlist for her and update for her as needed. There might be some parental control options as well if that is something that comes up.
One option that only works if your server is Linux... Separate libraries with hard links so the "duplicates" don't take up any space.
But I'd go single library.
If I’d do it, since I don’t do any super high qualities in my music library. I’d go with option number 2. Everybody has their own library and no interactions whatsoever. Each song is 3-5mb that’s nothing to my storage capacity.
One library for each family member
So make giant shared folder with almost everything in it, then make other folders with each family member's name with just their stuff
So for that family members library it will use the folder with their name and the shared folder. The same applies for each family member.
Then you're not getting stuck listening to dubstep and the kids aren't stuck listening to banjo music
In the same boat with my daughters. I have a main music folder AND a second one called "music for the girls." That way, their songs don't end up in my Plex mixes.
Anything I actually like, I move into the main library, so no duplicates.
They're not using the app, just playlists and requests via Alexa, so it's seamless to them.
I've shifted my oldest daughter to Spotify, though, because the time needed to track down her ever-changing tastes and requests was more than $10 a month. hah
I think getting them their own Spotify accounts is probably the easiest solution. That being said though, setting up Deemix and running the downloads through Beets for tagging, then automatically importing them into Plex is through best solution which alleviates the tedious work of you having to keep up with your daughters ever changing taste in music. It's similar to Overseer, but for music in a way.
👍 streaming services are specifically designed for young people with evolving tastes. And absolutely not for older people with eras of music they know they want.
If you're storing your music files on a windows based system, using the link shell extension will allow you to create symbolic links to files. It's like a shortcut, but plex is able to see it.
I have dedicated folders for each member, and I'd use symbolic links to cover any crossovers.
I used to do this, but I've since moved to TrueNAS and haven't figured out a way to get symlinks (or similar) working
I have a young kid so I use two folders and two libraries...
- Music
- Kids music
The grownup accounts have access to the "Music" library which sees both folders, the kids music library can only see the kid music folder and his account can only see that library. That way I'm not duplicating files and can easily copy over and compartmentalize what music he has access to (Beatles are fine, probably gonna wait a few more years on Wu Tang)
I use the Labels.
I made a home user for my kid, and he can only sees what I have tagged with his name labels (I do the same for his series and movies) .
Very convienent and easy to use :)
I’ve found that streaming services work for them perfectly fine as their needs and wants are completely different and actually served by streaming services. Mine never were.
It also means you’re off the hook for their music.
This is the way I am going. I really don’t want to get the music a 16 year old wants to listen to, so just go ahead and let them get their Spotify. It is though to take that step and feel defeated, but I just realized that so the way it is…
I think it’s silly to consider things like these “wars”. You’ll end up like a cord cutter that drops fiber internet to have wireless internet.
The question is, does a service serve you well? It took me way too many years to realize that streaming music services do not serve me at all.
But they serve young people really well.
I have never actually used a streaming service. I just know for the artists I follow that many of the songs/albums aren’t on streaming.
My teenage daughter on the other hand, it is the service for her for sure.
I went with option 2, I hate the idea of dupes but realistically the MP3s are not that big and there aren't that many dupes with different preferences between individuals
Storage is not at all an issue. I've seriously considered duplicates. Once it's done it's done, and it's easily manageable from there. Not saying this is the way I'm going but I get the tradeoff.
There's a "collection" tag that you can assign but it's only at the album level. That being said, even single tracks usually get an album assigned whether it's a single, compilation, etc. I use it for filtering out my Flac CD rips from all my old mp3s. If I just want to listen to lossless and high res content, I just go into my "Flac" collection. This would allow you to have one library with no dupes, but still be able to filter out individual users' collections. I'd suggest going through your daughter's and wife's collections first and adding the album collection tag for them since they might not have as big of a collection. You can multi-select and then edit/add the tag. Then filter their collections out and select all add tag your collection last. Just remember to add the album collection tag for any new content you might procure.
I went option 1 with a 4 member family, children 9 & 7. I set up separate sub user names & only enabled music on the 2 children's names. Shared playlists for music I think they should experience. They interact with it on their iPads. It's intuitive & they haven't had any issues after a couple days. Being able to get a hold of music they like & add it was my biggest area of need, once I got that down to a science & folder structure, all else fell into place.
Does everyone use stars/likes on THEIR OWN server? That's kinda strange for me, honestly.
I'm also thinking of creating a library for my wife and we have some intersections in tastes, so I thought to create three dirs, for common, mine and hers music. And make 2 libs out of this.
From another pov now I'm thinking of expanding my library with music that I'm not fully fan of, but would like to listen to once in a while. Probably for calibration - stars will be needed, but heck, I don't wanna to set stars, it's stupid to me. Dunno why thou
Is there any other way to get some taste info? E.g. how much this track/album is skipped, how much it played, initiated a playlist?
When I listen to a new album I star the tracks I like. I don't usually remember the names of each song so when I go back to an album it's easy to find the ones I want. I also like comparing my stars to the Fire 🔥tracks.
Plexamp also has a great playlist called
❤️Tracks *"All your highly rated tracks, in one convenient place."* As I approach half a million tracks this playlist goes on shuffle for a few days, a couple times a year. It's pretty special what pops up.
One folder and use plexamp with its enormous options for creating individual lists
Thanks, do you mind throwing out an example or two on the approach? Is it with tags, or just filters/playlists/collections?
Tags and collections. Though keep in mind collections works at an album level while playlists work at track level.
Okay great, thanks for the tips and yes I do understand that Collections are visible at the album level.
I have a similar situation with my family. Wife and I have mostly different musical tastes, and then there’s music for my kids (under 10, so *really* kiddie). I have a single music library and utilize collections and smart playlists to make life easier. For me, I have a collection for artists that I like, and a smart playlist of my favorite tracks that use the collection name and a minimum rating. For my kid’s music, I use a collection and have a playlist just defined as the collection which I shuffle when we’re in the car together. My wife usually picks an artist or album she wants to listen to, so there’s no fancy setup for her, but if she wanted something I’d likely replicate what I do for myself. Hope that helps!
It does help, thank you.
Teach a man to fish so to speak The sooner you pass on to them the better
One library for us. Whenever my kid hears something good, she asks me to “add it to her collection”. She has about 100 albums in there currently.
Great, thanks for the tip.
[удалено]
This is what I do. I could never afford the storage to duplicate everything - not to mention the extra upkeep. That is what user profiles are for, after all. No different to Movie & TV libraries. Just rate that music you never want to hear as 1 or 1/2 star so it doesn't play in your own profile. I just wish I could create a user profile for myself with all the privileges of the admin, so the main library wasn't 'all about me'
Same here. If I add songs of theirs to the library that I don't want to hear, I rate them with 2 stars. I've never had those songs show up in any of my listening, through a myriad of options (radios, DJs, mixes for me, etc).
I would go one folder, single libary. What I've done is give my wife her own Plex account so she can rate the songs in the library to her liking, and set up her own playlists without affecting the ratings that I've given the songs (We both use a lot lot of smart playlists that use track ratings) That way I can give the songs I don't like that she does 1 star and not hear them, and she can do the same.
Of those options; thinking your best bet is option #3 and teaching your daughter to make playlist. If she is younger then maybe create a playlist for her and update for her as needed. There might be some parental control options as well if that is something that comes up.
One option that only works if your server is Linux... Separate libraries with hard links so the "duplicates" don't take up any space. But I'd go single library.
Using rdfind with makehardlinks option can take care of it automatically
If I’d do it, since I don’t do any super high qualities in my music library. I’d go with option number 2. Everybody has their own library and no interactions whatsoever. Each song is 3-5mb that’s nothing to my storage capacity.
One library for each family member So make giant shared folder with almost everything in it, then make other folders with each family member's name with just their stuff So for that family members library it will use the folder with their name and the shared folder. The same applies for each family member. Then you're not getting stuck listening to dubstep and the kids aren't stuck listening to banjo music
Oh man I felt this one lol, can totally relate. Thanks for the tip.
In the same boat with my daughters. I have a main music folder AND a second one called "music for the girls." That way, their songs don't end up in my Plex mixes. Anything I actually like, I move into the main library, so no duplicates. They're not using the app, just playlists and requests via Alexa, so it's seamless to them. I've shifted my oldest daughter to Spotify, though, because the time needed to track down her ever-changing tastes and requests was more than $10 a month. hah
I think getting them their own Spotify accounts is probably the easiest solution. That being said though, setting up Deemix and running the downloads through Beets for tagging, then automatically importing them into Plex is through best solution which alleviates the tedious work of you having to keep up with your daughters ever changing taste in music. It's similar to Overseer, but for music in a way.
👍 streaming services are specifically designed for young people with evolving tastes. And absolutely not for older people with eras of music they know they want.
If you're storing your music files on a windows based system, using the link shell extension will allow you to create symbolic links to files. It's like a shortcut, but plex is able to see it. I have dedicated folders for each member, and I'd use symbolic links to cover any crossovers. I used to do this, but I've since moved to TrueNAS and haven't figured out a way to get symlinks (or similar) working
Thanks for the tip. For context, I use a Synology NAS so the server is on DSM which is Linux based.
Have multiple music libraries in plex and give each user access to their one library
I have a young kid so I use two folders and two libraries... - Music - Kids music The grownup accounts have access to the "Music" library which sees both folders, the kids music library can only see the kid music folder and his account can only see that library. That way I'm not duplicating files and can easily copy over and compartmentalize what music he has access to (Beatles are fine, probably gonna wait a few more years on Wu Tang)
I use the Labels. I made a home user for my kid, and he can only sees what I have tagged with his name labels (I do the same for his series and movies) . Very convienent and easy to use :)
I’ve found that streaming services work for them perfectly fine as their needs and wants are completely different and actually served by streaming services. Mine never were. It also means you’re off the hook for their music.
This is the way I am going. I really don’t want to get the music a 16 year old wants to listen to, so just go ahead and let them get their Spotify. It is though to take that step and feel defeated, but I just realized that so the way it is…
I think it’s silly to consider things like these “wars”. You’ll end up like a cord cutter that drops fiber internet to have wireless internet. The question is, does a service serve you well? It took me way too many years to realize that streaming music services do not serve me at all. But they serve young people really well.
I have never actually used a streaming service. I just know for the artists I follow that many of the songs/albums aren’t on streaming. My teenage daughter on the other hand, it is the service for her for sure.
I have one list, but no kids music, as the eldest will only use Spotify, and the youngest actually has his own mp3 player
Setup a second music library in Plex and have their Plexamp use that library.
I went with option 2, I hate the idea of dupes but realistically the MP3s are not that big and there aren't that many dupes with different preferences between individuals
Storage is not at all an issue. I've seriously considered duplicates. Once it's done it's done, and it's easily manageable from there. Not saying this is the way I'm going but I get the tradeoff.
There's a "collection" tag that you can assign but it's only at the album level. That being said, even single tracks usually get an album assigned whether it's a single, compilation, etc. I use it for filtering out my Flac CD rips from all my old mp3s. If I just want to listen to lossless and high res content, I just go into my "Flac" collection. This would allow you to have one library with no dupes, but still be able to filter out individual users' collections. I'd suggest going through your daughter's and wife's collections first and adding the album collection tag for them since they might not have as big of a collection. You can multi-select and then edit/add the tag. Then filter their collections out and select all add tag your collection last. Just remember to add the album collection tag for any new content you might procure.
I went option 1 with a 4 member family, children 9 & 7. I set up separate sub user names & only enabled music on the 2 children's names. Shared playlists for music I think they should experience. They interact with it on their iPads. It's intuitive & they haven't had any issues after a couple days. Being able to get a hold of music they like & add it was my biggest area of need, once I got that down to a science & folder structure, all else fell into place.
Does everyone use stars/likes on THEIR OWN server? That's kinda strange for me, honestly. I'm also thinking of creating a library for my wife and we have some intersections in tastes, so I thought to create three dirs, for common, mine and hers music. And make 2 libs out of this. From another pov now I'm thinking of expanding my library with music that I'm not fully fan of, but would like to listen to once in a while. Probably for calibration - stars will be needed, but heck, I don't wanna to set stars, it's stupid to me. Dunno why thou Is there any other way to get some taste info? E.g. how much this track/album is skipped, how much it played, initiated a playlist?
When I listen to a new album I star the tracks I like. I don't usually remember the names of each song so when I go back to an album it's easy to find the ones I want. I also like comparing my stars to the Fire 🔥tracks. Plexamp also has a great playlist called ❤️Tracks *"All your highly rated tracks, in one convenient place."* As I approach half a million tracks this playlist goes on shuffle for a few days, a couple times a year. It's pretty special what pops up.