How do you create a new account for a family member?

Question

My daughter and I both have Ipods, and want to setup SEPARATE accounts. Itunes 7 worked great, but now when we 'upgraded' to 8, it MERGED all our files. So I thought I had a separate account, but it turns out when I load a new song, it goes into HER Itunes files. She deleted all my info, and I REALLY want a separate account (that sticks).
My songs are still in my directory under "Mikes Itunes", but when I reloaded them into what I thought was a fresh entry, it turns out it went into my daughter's Itunes file too! What is up with Itunes 8? and how can you create a TRUE separate account so I have control over MY songs!?

Answer 1

First, let's make it easier to swap between accounts. In the Accounts pane of System Preferences click on the Login Options (after unlocking the pane). Enable fast user switching. This will put a new menu in the top right of the screen. You can then swap to the other account without having to log out of the current one.
Log into the original account. Select the folder you want access from the other account and choose Get Info from the file menu. There is a section called Sharing & Permissions. You will need to click on the padlock to make changes. Click on the + to add permissions for the other user account by selecting the user account from list that appears. Set the permission for that account to read only. Once you have it listed then choose the "Apply to enclosed items" from the gear menu below the list. This should give you access from the other account to that folder and any folders contained in it.
For iTunes you will want to do this to the Music folder, giving you access to the files below. From within iTunes you can select Add to Library from the file menu, and then select the music from the other account to that account's iTunes library. Once you have set up the new library whoever's library is the original can clean up the library to remove any music they don't want (now that it's in the new account).