I am MILITANTLY public spirited, but yes, I understand your point about not wanting to attract the attention of litigators. What I would like to get a straight answer about is, how many is TOO many? Is 500 files too much, a 1000, 5,000? I know there's no rule, it's all a cat and mouse game, but I would like a general idea. My sense of browsing other people's files is that they seem to be under 500, and always under 1000.

Also, I'm not a student who's fighting the university administration on top of everything else. I'm the "middleaged mom" that people don't even think has a clue about sharing music.

But back to tech question: once my iTunes library gets hashed once thru, is it "done" and won't take as long in the future? Or do I have to leave my sharing software on ALL THE TIME? This is actually a sep. question, I know, but a mysterious one to me. Am I starting from scratch everytime I open LimeWire or Acquisition or whatever?