Audacious

Hi all,

New Audacious user here. Thus far very pleased with the overall simplicity and system integration (Fedora 23, Gnome 3.18). I have a few questions regarding music libraries which are no doubt pretty straightforward, but I'd appreciate any input, comments or clarification anyone can offer. I've only recently started in Linux, so am slowly migrating away from Windows, and trying to replicate and perhaps expand current resources, programs etc. I have a large-ish music library which has lived for years on an external USB drive connected to my Windows machine. We're talking roughly 35,000 tracks, mostly mp3.

I've been experimenting with ways to access and play that volume via my Linux installation, including accessing it as a streaming service - which is kinda great but not great - and to date have found my best solution has been to install Subsonic on my Windows machine which allows me to use the IP address and port of the subsonic server to connect Audacious to the remote library.

What I'd like to know is the following:

Are there any drawbacks or performance limitations in using Audacious to access a large (currently 320gB+) remote library?

Once Audacious has scanned the library, does it retain this database during shutdown and reboots? I don't have to ask it to recreate the library every time I log on?

Does the remote library update or do I have to manually rescan the entire lot?

Finally: are there any particular pros or cons of accessing a local media library via mounting the remote device versus streaming it and accessing the streams via a different client? I don't intend to set up anything complex, I just want to establish a rock solid platform for my music management, such that eventually the library will live on an exclusive, dedicated resource/drive/machine.

Many thanks in advance :0)