Wouldn't it be nice if emplode/emptool could be configured not to skip duplicates if they are in different playlists, but to make a link (as opposed to uploading actuall MP3 duplicate)? That way those of us who would like their PC-based MP3 collection directory structure to mimic empeg playlist structure could achieve this using Unix hard links (as long as tune names are same).

A few things on this:
I don´t know about emptool (haven´t used it yet, emplode is way more easy for me to use), but emplode will not upload duplicates (as of 1.1, see other posts on this board, it will even detect them across syncs) and it will certainly not skip them by default.
And symlinks would probably be better than hardlinks, since they are easier for a program to detect (no need to use low level FS functions like detecting the starting inode of the file) and work even across filesystem or via network (as long as you use relative filenames for them).
However, for emplode, there is no such thing as a symlink or hardlink available under Windows (I don´t count *.lnk files as actual links, and the only way to do hardlinks would render the FAT useless)

Or, how about retaining original filenames and i-node numbers in *1 tags and optionally use them by emptool in order to duplicate the structure, links and all?

While retaining original filenames might be usefull (but guys@empeg keep telling that this would destroy the idea of a centralized music database that is kept on the empeg), inode numbers certainly are not. Why? Simple: The are not restored when restoring from a backup. And I always keep backups on tape.

cu,
sven
(MkII 12GB blue, #080000113)