2 iTunes Users Sharing a Computer

Can I have two different iTunes users/libraries on a single computer? If so, how do I set this up? My husband has recently gotten himself a shuffle and he is putting all his "music" in my library. I would much rather it went into a library of his own as our tastes are vastly different!

To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Option key when launching iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to the other Library.
Note: You can only have one Library open at a time and iTunes will default to the last library opened if you don't use the keyboard command to choose one. The new library will be empty until you add content to it. To get back to your original library you need to close iTunes and open it again while holding down the shift key, this time choose to open an existing library and navigate to its location: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Mac
Another option is to create a separate Mac User account for each person on your computer. Different user accounts by definition would give you completely separate libraries. Each account has it's own iTunes folder, Library and iTunes Music folder and you load it with CDs etc just as you did with your original one.

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How do you transfer songs to second iTunes user account; same computer

How do I transfer songs from one user account to another user account on the same computer?
I've given my son his own account on our second computer. Prior to this, he shared his sister's iTunes account, using a playlist to populate his ipod. Now that he has his own account, he wants to transfer his music to his own account. Is it possible to do this quickly? I've been able to copy some actual song files from the first iTunes library and physically move them to the new account using a flash drive, but this is cumbersome. Any better options? Thanks.

Name wrote:
Sounds like a good plan. What folder/files do I move...the entire 'iTunes Media' folder? ...and how do I point to it...through the advanced preferenced feature?
It would be the folder you have selected as your Library folder. Usually Mac HD/Users/[User]/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
See below:
Select Mac HD/Users/Shared/Music - CREATE IT if need be
Move your iTunes folder to the new Music folder. You'll probably have to "re import" the Library in iTunes. (Clear the old library first)
But ionce it;s in the Shared Music folder, EVERY account on the comp can access those files for their own library (whichever songs THEY want) and you onle need ONE copy of everything.
Each user can only access or modify THEIR OWN library while logged on so it prevents someone erasing another's library, because the iTunes Library file is in a locked folder when others are logged in.

Address books for another user sharing my computer for now

At this time I am sharing this computer with one other person ..I have set up and named another address book for them.
Is there a way that their email addresses do not get added too mine.. is there a setting where we can set it up so each one has there emails being added to their own addy book.. At the moment there emails are being added too mine... this problem will be ongoing fpr a period of time....
Thank you in advance. :)

''re: At this time I am sharing this computer with one other person .''
Usually, when people share a computer, each user has their own User Account which they logon using a password.
This means that Thunderbird then runs in that User Account and creates a profile in that User Account which holds all the Profile data, emails, passwords, address books etc specifically for that users email address mail accounts.
So then no one can read each others emails nor access other peoples passwords and they can use their own address books.
So if you are sharing a computer and sharing a Profile, then it is advisable that you do not have any stored / remembered passwords, unless that person is eg: spouse and you do not mind them having full access to all your personal stuff.
You have a couple of Options:
'''1.''' Create User Accounts on your computer so that each user has their own User Account, Create a Thunderbird Profile folder and set up mail accounts storing personal emails and address books.
This is the only method offering best security.
'''2. ''' Create another Profile for the other person. then create mail account for that Profile. This will then have it's own folders, address book.
Use Profile Manager to create another Profile.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager
Make sure to uncheck the box 'Don't ask at startup' to force it to ask which Profile to use.
Any user can still access any profile.
'''3. ''' In current situation.
Stop auto saving outgoing email addresses that are not in the address books as this uses only one setting per Profile.
Tools > Options > Composition > Addressing tab
uncheck: 'Automatically add outgoing email addresses to my'
click on OK
Then you would need to use an Addon in order to be able to select a specific address book when you wish to add the email address/contact to an address book. At the moment, if you click on the FROM header email address or right click and select 'Add to address book', this adds to the default address book called 'Personal Address Book'. This you cannot change because you are using the same User account and Profile.
But with the addon 'MorefunctionforAddressBook'
Right click on eg: From header and choose > Save recipients addresses' > as Contacts
This allows you to select the address book you require.
Addon 'MorefunctionforAddressBook':
* https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/morecols-en.html
Download to desktop.
In Thunderbird:
Tools > Addons
Clickon on gear wheel icon and select : Install addon from file;
locate file you downloaded and click on Open
You may need to restart Thunderbird.

Managing two iTunes users on one computer - a complicated scenario.

Here's my situation: I have two users/accounts on my computer. Each user wants access to all the media (music, podcasts, etc) on the computer.
However, there are a few specific constraints:
1) Each user's instance of iTunes should only display the media they want it to display (for example, if they don't want a certain song, they can remove it from their iTunes library, but it would still exist for the other user).
2) Star ratings, play counts, and other sort-of meta data must be unique for each user (for example, if user one assigns 5 stars to a particular song, that won't affect user two who only gave it 1 star).
3) If one user deletes media from their library it won't suddenly disappear from the other's library because the file has been deleted.
4) No duplicate copies of any given media file (for example, if both users like a particular song, there would not be two actual copies of that song's file laying around - each user's library would reference the same file).
5) No unused media files (for example, if neither user wants a particular song, the actual file would be deleted and would not just sit there unused eating up space).
I hope that makes sense. Any ideas?

I'm not worried about downloads from the iTunes music store (yet)... I'm primarily concerned with existing music. I tried following Apple's instructions for sharing music:
a) I moved both account's media folders to a shared location.
b) Then, using "Add to library" I added the contents of each media folder to the other's iTunes Library. At this point both users had access to all music, and star ratings/play counts were unique for each user.
c) If user A didn't like a song from user B's collection, and removed it from the library, it still appeared in user B's library. And vice versa. Great!
d) If user A didn't like a song from his own collection, and removed it from the library, it still appeared in user B's collection so long as user A didn't also trash the actual file. Great!
That left me with two problems: First, duplicate copies of song files. This wasn't a big deal because I could slowly weed them out - but still kinda annoying. And second, unused (by either user) copies of song still had their files there taking up space. This was problematic as I couldn't figure out a way to find these files and trash them.
I figured surely there was a better solution - be it how to handle the above problem, or a completely different method of setting things up to begin with.

Two iTunes users on one computer

I just purchased a new computer to share with my partner. We both have our own iTunes accounts on our old computers that we are getting rid of. How would we both be able to use iTunes to sync our music and still have our own accounts?

Is there any way that you know of to do this by using one user account?

Multiple iTunes users on single computer

First, I would like to point out that I am sonehwat comp savvy but not an expert. Here is my deal..my son and I each have an ipod and we both use iTunes. I am trying to find a way to have a single iTunes library that either of us can access taht will hold all of our music. I have been using iTunes longer and initially gave him access to my library by copy the link and the xml files to his iTunes. The librayr is intended to reside on my external Maxtor Hard Drive. Now however, when either of us updates our libray, the other doesn't get updated automatically. Can someone give me proven, specific instructions on how to achieve my single, synched library goal? Thank you. I hope that isn't too wordy or selfish sounding.
Gateway PC Windows XP Pro Maxtor External HD

These links should help:
Natalie Beresford: Multiple iPods/iTunes Installations
How to use multiple iPods with one computer
How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
Also See: How to Transfer Music Between the Computer and iPod
The iPod offers three ways to transfer music from your computer. You can select one of the following update modes from the iPod Preferences menu in iTunes (Edit=>Preferences=>'iPod' tab):
1) Automatically update all songs and playlists. This is the default mode, in which your entire music library, including playlists, is automatically synced to your iPod. If the music library on your computer exceeds the iPod storage capacity, you are prompted to select a different update method.
2) Automatically update selected playlists only. With this option, iTunes automatically copies the playlists you have selected to the iPod when you connect it to the computer.
3) Manually manage songs and playlists. You can also choose to transfer music to the iPod manually. This allows you to drag and drop individual songs and playlists from iTunes to the iPod.

CWS with multiple domain users sharing a computer off work

Hi,
I need to know if this is an expected behaviour and if there is a workaround to this. I have AnyConnect Web Security (3.1.04063) installed on Windows 7 Enterprise computer that is part of a Windows domain. Two domain users login to the computer at work. When User1 logs in and visits "whoami.scansafe.net", his relevant user/group info is displayed in the browser. When User1 logs off and User2 logs in, the page correctly displays info for User2 in the browser.
However, if at this point the computer is then taken off the work network say a home/public network where AD domain servers are not available. Both User1 and User2 can still logon to Windows but for both of them the "whoami.scansafe.net" page display the info for User2 only. It doesn't change even if the computer is restarted and User1 logs in - still User2 scansafe info is displayed. This happens to User1 untill the PC is brough up on Work network where Windows Logon service is available and User1 can now correctly see his scansafe info in the browser.
Shouldn't Web Security client app be pulling the info relevant to the logged on user for both on and off work networks ? If this is expected, is there a docu reference to this ?
Thanks,
Rick.

Hi Rick,
That is the expected behaviour of AnyConnect Web Security (ACWS).
Reason is when you are off the network, ACWS will use the cached credential of the user who last login. In your example, if user2 is the last to login when he/she is connected to the work network, then his/her user credential will be cached.
It uses the information from the output of gpresult/r.
Regards, Jen

TS1363 I'm trying to set up my new ipod nano, it appears in windows and not in itunes- if I reinstall itunes, will the files of other ipod users on the computer be lost?

I'm trying to up my new Ipod Nano, it appears in Windows and not in Itunes, if I reinstall Itunes, will files previously set up by other Ipod users sharing the computer be lost?

You said " I sign in but her music list shows up mixed with about 1/3 of mine."
Sign in where?
What music list?
It also sounds like that computer is not authorized for the account. You can only have 5 computers authorized for one account. If yo go to iTunes>Store>View account and then sign in it will tell you how many (but no what computers) are authorized. There is no way to find out what computers are authorized.
You can deauthorize all computer once a year.
See:
iTunes Store: About authorization and deauthorization

Who is sharing my computer?

I have a MacBook Pro, an iMac 20" and an iPhone 4. All share the wireless link to the router.
Occasionally when shutting down the MacBook Pro, I get the message "There is a user sharing this computer. If you shut down they will be disconnected".
But if I turn off the iMac 20" and the iPhone, I still get the same message on the MacBook Pro.
There is nobody else obviouly logged in to the MacBook Pro (Click on the user-name at the top right and only the current user's name appears).
So how can I find out how (or what!) is logged on?
I know I can just knock them off by shutting down but want to know who they are!
Is it a bug? Am I being hacked? Or what?

OK
You may not even be aware of who's snarking your computer resources: after all if you could tell they, let me call them "network bandits" then they wouldn't be very successful at their mischief would they. Too bad they don't use their considerable talent in positive ways...
Rarely, I would suggest a s/w glitch.
Detection and Protection go hand in hand. After all what good is it to detect them w/o protection from one's dastardly acts. Certain instances detection alone is sufficient in itself: cable(TV) / internet theft will get one some not-so-quality time in prison...happens every day of the week.
All the more reason to having an elegant solution such as a Apple's TC and sleep tight at night. After all your loved ones and family are at risk by computer resources in more ways than I have time to explain especially wi-fi. Just encrypt everything preferrably in 256 AES and Blowfish combined. Apple TC will also encrypt any or all at a simple checkmark.
Slight technical explanations follows:
Both symmetric and asymmetric encryption algoritms share one common trait: you can tell a file is encrypted by looking at it's contents. I prefer steganography where change is undetectable I mean undetectable. I use pictures and sound files. Lets step dowm the ladder of abstraction to the real world: If every say 105th pixel in my pictures were changed (byte level) by a single shade of color the resulting picture would appear identical to the "original". Perfect for my new brand new iPhone 4S(64G) 8meg camera and high res 1080p video. So when you see for example a certain person's I know well stamp collection on the web: each picture is worth more than10,000 words(a word in techie speak is now 64 bits or 8 bytes or 32 nybbles). The elegence of "stegano" is that endemic is (it's very nature) the existence of the message. Again stegano everything off line then share by email posts, pixs on face book, videos on You Tube and RELAX
BTW disclosure: served as USAF Captain in WISP(Wartime Information Security Program) and Air Force sponsored my Masters degree in Economics where I graduated at the top of my class. NONE ,repeat NONE, of what I discussed here or would I disclose is classified. I also am a registered Apple Developer.
Trust me, you'll never truly know who's accessing your computer resources. Period. And errant s/w is the least of your worries.
Let 'er rip and...
cheers

HT202213 I have 3 users on one computer with 3 unique user accounts. Each have unique ITunes accounts. How do we share our music libraries using home sharing?

I have 3 users on one computer with 3 unique user accounts. Each of us have separate and unique ITunes accounts. How do we share our music libraries using Home Sharing? Everything that I can find talks about sharing between networked computers, but this is all on the same computer. I just want to share between ITunes accounts. Thanks!

Hi b noir, I also have two users on one pc with two different iTunes libraries. But I also want to put them onto an external hard drive so that I can free up some memory on the pc. So I figure I need to consolidate the two users iTunes libraries first before moving to hard drive? But not quite sure how to do that on the iTunes 11? Thanking you in advance!!

HT1203 iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - I tried to use the instructions to configure 2 different windows users sharing the same iTunes library. I could not get this to work per the instructions.

I tried to configure 2 windows users accounts using a single library per the instructions in HT1203. My iTunes library is on an external drive. I cannot get this to work. Any suggestions?

To give other users read-only access to your iTunes library, use the Sharing features of iTunes. Sharing works over the local network as well as on the same computer. See the built-in help for details.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support article linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
There is a way to share the library without moving it to a secondary volume. If you really need to do that, ask for instructions.

Sharing iTunes on a single computer with multiple users

Greetings,
I have been troubleshooting a problem sharing iTunes on a single computer with multiple users that cropped up a few weeks ago and have not had very good luck.
Several months ago I successfully set up my wife’s G4 Laptop (PowerPC processor) so that we could share iTunes on that computer. I had just gotten her an “My Book” external hard drive (Western Digital). The iTunes Library will go on this new unit because the internal drive was running out of room. I successfully set the privileges, moved the entire library onto a “Share” directory and everything worked fine.
In this way, when I got a new CD I could add it to iTunes (under my login, administrator privileges) and she could access it (under her login) to listen to while working on the computer or using her iPod. This arrangement went well for quite awhile.
About a month and a half ago, when I tried to launch iTunes from my login I received this message:
“The iTunes Library file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file.”
I think the permissions must have changed when there was an update because my wife is pretty careful about what she does on her computer. Updates were the only thing I could think of that had changed since I had set her computer up. I also noticed that some of the iTunes defaults were different from the last time I had used it to add a CD.
So, I did some reading and went back through the motions of trying to set it up again. I re-formatted the My Book hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) added the files back to the external, reset permissions on the external hard drive. (Owners: System, Access: read and write - Group: wheel, Access: read and write – Others: read and write).
When I now launch iTunes under my login I get this message:
“The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items.”
What gives? I am the original owner and have always had top-level privileges.
Can someone point me to any articles or clues as to how I need to set-up iTunes on a single computer to be shared by more than one user? Also, I am considering upgrading to the newer system in a few weeks, so if a solution for OS X 10.5 is available, that would work too.
Tim

Was your wife logged into the libray at the time you tried to log in? I have had a similar problem and it was because another user was logged into the library when I attempted to. I got the permission denied banner.

Sharing my iTunes Library with other Users on my computer?

...hi guys! Nice to find this friendly commumity!
I wonder if any of you have worked out how to share the library across other users on the computer yet?
I share a PC with my girlfriend, and all of our downloads on iTunes are from our CD collection. But as I installed iTunes on my user account, she can't get the songs now!
When she opens iunes from her user account, it's a blank library!
Please help!
Thanks chaps,
Kerr
Message was edited by: heinzeman

Chris CA wrote:
Move the entire _iTunes folder_ located in *My Documents/My Music*/ to a Shared directory. Make sure to set this folder for read/write permissions for all users.
I set my permissions as follows OS 10.4.X:
first under the original owners login, change all permissions to read & write, then change 'group' to wheel. Then change the owner from the user to system (I applied to all within ~ may not be necessary).
Start iTunes holding the Shift key and select *Choose existing library* then pick the iTunes library file you moved into the Shared directory.
In iTunes 7.5, you'll need to hold the Option key and then pick the /Users/Shared/iTunes/iTunes Music
Quit iTunes and log out of your user and let her log in.
Start iTunes holding the Shift key and select *Choose existing library* then pick the iTunes library file you moved into the Shared directory.
Now she needs to File -> *Add folder to library* and pick *My Documents*/My Music*/*iTunes*/iTunes music*.
This will add all her music to the common library.
Once this is complete, she can delete *My Documents*/My Music*/*iTunes.
Do this for all users. Any changes made by one will be seen by all.

ITunes Shared library with all users on one computer

I am trying to share my iTunes (version 8.2) library with all the users on my computer. So far, this is what I have done:
1) I have moved the music folder into the shared folder.
2) I have selected "Add to Library" in all three accounts.
3) I have tried checking and unchecking the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library."
Since then, I have added some CDs that had some songs that I already had. When I loaded these CDs, I deleted the duplicates that had the worse sound. Since then, everything is unwinding. The additions on one user account are not being added to the others. When I delete a track, iTunes (obviously) says that it can't find the song anymore. What's odd is that I then delete the one that is missing, and both are missing now: the one that I deleted on the original account and the one that I did not delete on the original account.
I am starting to think that I need to start from scratch. So, to make a long story short (too late), how can I share my iTunes library with all users on one computer, where I can make a change in one account that will update automatically on the other accounts. If it can't be updated automatically, how can I add/delete files without causing the headaches I am currently having?
Brian

I actually followed this, but I still had problems that I listed above. Is there any way that when you make changes to one account (even if there is only one main account where changes are made), the changes are automatically (or at least easily) applied to the other user accounts?

Sharing Itunes Library with multiple users on same computer

Several people in my house share the same laptop and we all have our own user id. I am the administrator. How do I set up itunes so that all of the music, the entire library, is accessible to all user id's when each person is logged in? I thought I had it figured out but whenever I download new music the others don't see it, only what was already there. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Give this ago, This is what I am trying at the moment and is a bit experimental, I haven't Tested it yet with iPhone/iPad/iPods sync yet. (will do this soon and will report back)
1. BACK UP!!! (just in case) Copy your itunes folder normally found under (user - "username" - Music folder) to a usb drive or just copy it into the music folder. (in fact do a full system back up I'm guessing you haven't done it in a while)
2. Create the new user account if not already done so. (I am setting up my other users as a new users with no existing iTunes content.)
3. Move the itunes folder under (user - "username" - Music folder) into (user - shared)
4. Change the read/write access to the (user - shared - iTunes folder) Right click on the folder - +Get Info+ - Under Permissions allow all the users Read & Write, Click the cog and select apply to enclosed items.
5. Make an alias of the "iTunes folder" and move it back to your original itunes folder location +(user - "username" - Music folder)+
6. Remove alias from the name.
7. Start itunes check to make sure every thing is ok, play a few tracks.
Under iTunes preferences - Advance
make sure the itunes media folder location is (user - "shared" - iTunes - iTunes Media)
I also have Keep iTune media folder organized checked
& Copy files to iTunes Media folder checked. (When music, vids, or update Apps for my iPhone/iPod, it should now show up in the other user's account)
8. Close out of itunes User done.
9. Log into user 2's and go to (user - shared) folder Check to make sure this user has read & write permissions. Make an alias of the "iTunes folder" and move it to user 2's music folder +(user - "username" - Music folder)+
10. Start itunes check to make sure every thing is ok, play a few tracks.
Under iTunes preferences - Advance
make sure the itunes media folder location is (user - "shared" - iTunes - iTunes Media)
Make sure Keep iTune media folder organized & Copy files to iTunes Media folder are checked.
Log this user into the iTunes store if need (it shouldn't effect the the other users)
11. YOUR DONE, Unless you have more users, then just repeat steps 8, 9 ,10 (and 11 if needed)
Just note that only 1 user can access the Shared iTunes account at a time so close iTunes if you not using it.
Each user should be running off the same iTunes library now. Once you are happy with the set up and nothing has happened to your music then delete the back ups in step 1.
Hope this helps, Let me know how you get on?
I will let you know how I get on with 2 iPhones and 2 iTunes store accounts under each User syncing.
AND I cant see why this shouldn't work for iPhoto.
Message was edited by: Gmor

2 iTunes Users Sharing a Computer

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