Merge or Rebuild Database?

[Skybird74]

I'm a little confused. I keep reading the Manual trying to understand the difference between merging and rebuilding. As I understand it, if you rebuild and there are duplicate IDs (don't understand how that happens), then those songs are put on a list and then you have to re-import all those songs. Is that true? If so, why would you ever want to Rebuild?

I have always used my desktop to import and make changes (fix song names, etc.) to my external hard drive and then do my Show with my laptop. However, when I want to just practice at home using my desktop, the database is very different from what I get when I use my laptop after merging these files.

So, I started making all my corrections with the laptop only to be sure that these corrections show up at my Show. Am I doing something wrong?

Just bought a new Vista laptop, so I'm wondering the correct way to transfer my songs to be sure I get everything, including any previous changes I've made. If I rebuild and there are duplicate IDs, I'm worried that they will get renumbered. I don't want to start over. I don't have the hours/days needed to re-import all those disks.

Any advice will be appreciated.