I've been studying the Hibernate reference manual and focusing on Components and Custom Types. I'm trying to figure out when to favor Components over Custom Types.

The specific use cases that I'm wondering about are multicolumn value type objects, such as an Address. I've seen references to mapping this kind of situation using both components and custom types.

Is it just a matter of preference and typing?

Or, would a better rule of thumb be to prefer custom types when they can be used, otherwise use the more flexible component.

Richard