Windows 7 Library Structure

Ok, I can't believe I have to even ask this, since I've been working on computers since 1985. What the heck is the idea of this "Library"? Is this just shortcuts to folders elsewhere??

It annoys me because I have a Work at Home folder -- but it insists that the path is under "Users\MyName\My Music

I don't WANT it under My Music. I never created it under My Music. I created it under the LIBRARY. Why does it just do what it wants? Since it looks like folders are duplicated, which is annoying -- I deleted one. Nope, took out both of them. That's fine - buy here's what I DO NOT GET. When I deleted that work at home folder -- I had all of my pictures folders, Documents folders, Videos, etc. that came default in the explorer -- but all of the folders were empty!! No pictures (apparently), no documents in any of the folders -- nothing! When I restored the Work at Home folder from Trash, all of the other items came back. They have NOTHING TO DO with this Work at Home folder!!

WHY can't Microsoft make a system that just WORKS?? For goodness sake, its amazing because you are trying to make it sooo dang easy for everyone -- yet in the process you are making it wayy too complicated - and it doesn't work the way it is supposed to!
Does anyone have any sort of explanation of how this dumb Library thing should work in its simplistic way its supposed to? I would rather just be able to make my own folders and keep my crap where I want to, but I swear it would screw up this machine.

Thanks - any advice on this would be great because I am so sick of wasting my time trying to figure out what MS is thinking.

Yes, the main link under each library type is strictly a pointer to another location. By default that is \Users\{LogonID}\My Documents\My Music/My Pictures/My Video.

Libraries are really great once you get used to them and you can create extra links. Like I have Videos in 3 different folders across 2 different drives but by adding two extra pointers now I just go to My Videos and everything is right there.

The truth is, now that I'm used to them, I rarely use anything but Libraries and you generally don't need to know where the folders really are unless you are sharing them with other computers or using a back-up utility other than the one provided by W7.

By maintaining the files under Users\{logonid} it provides a controlled folder structure and direct access can be limited. Because one machine may have several logins and in fact you could personally have several logins it makes things more consistent.

Example: you have twp userids LOGIN01 and ADMIN01. No matter which ID you use your documents can be found at Libraries\Documents\My Documents. You don't need to remember, oh I'm signed in as LOGON01 so my documents are at C:\USERS\LOGON01\My Documents but when I'm ADMIN01 then they are at C:\USERS\ADMIN01\My Documents.

The fact is that the default User Account Control settings actually prevent you from accessing the \USERS\{logonid} folders directly. For security reasons folder access is limited to keep your data safe from other accounts on the machine and to protect the userid folder structure. Libraries provide a consistent access for all users that logon to the machine.

I suggest you create your Work at home folder under My Documents rather than under My Music (which by default is itself under My Documents). Even though direct links to My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos are provided in libraries you will actually find they are maintained under My Documents. This make it extremely convenient for Windows Backup because then all your data is under" \USERS\{userid}\My Documents".