SoundLib doesn't need to load the whole sound every time it reads it's attributes. It only reads the ID3 tags and other information from the sound. If I recall, it caches that information in memory after the first read as well. Even if it doesn't, there seems to be no slowdown, no memory hogging, nothing like that. Works very well. At least until steampipe/ValveFS came along and stopped it from finding the files in the new search paths.
Also, thanks PowerLord. You summed up the other reasons to have sounds on the server that all fall into the kind of use cases I've come across. Another reason I can think of, is having it so everyone hears the same sound at the same time, at the same point in the sound. Useful if you want everyone to hear the same speech. It'll also be useful once I implement the ability to have the music emit from a specific point in a map as well. (For some maps where the music shouldn't just be global. For example, a map that has a party room with speakers.)
Last edited by StrikerMan780; 09-24-2015 at 12:54.