How can I share music between users on one computer without duplicating it all?

I have myself and my partner set up as separate users on my laptop. I have shared the music on iTunes so we can both access it, but this has meant that all my music is on the laptop twice and is consequently taking up all the memory. Please can someone tell me how to do this without duplicating everything?

Hi Justinece, I've solved the problem in this way:
In my wife user profile I've set in itunes settings/advanced the path to my music library: /Users/"MY NAME"/Music/iTunes/Itunes media.
Than, from my wife profile using my administrator user and password I've set the "read/write" privileges on the above mentioned folder.
Finally I've added the folder in my wife's library taking care to not duplicate it ( leave blank the flag in itunes setting/advanced).
I really don't understand what's the use of home sharing...

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I have windows, one computer but multi users. home sharing is on. how can i share music between users on one computer?

I have windows. One computer but multi users. Home sharing is on. 2 apple accounts-1 per user. 4 devices-2 iphones and 2 ipods per user. How can we share music on one computer between 2 users?

Hi Justinece, I've solved the problem in this way:
In my wife user profile I've set in itunes settings/advanced the path to my music library: /Users/"MY NAME"/Music/iTunes/Itunes media.
Than, from my wife profile using my administrator user and password I've set the "read/write" privileges on the above mentioned folder.
Finally I've added the folder in my wife's library taking care to not duplicate it ( leave blank the flag in itunes setting/advanced).
I really don't understand what's the use of home sharing...

How can you share music between 2 users on an iMac?

Does anyone know how to share music between 2 users on an iMac. I dokn't want to have to log in to my wife's settigns to use iTunes where all our music is stored.
Thanks

This Apple Support article explains how to accomplish that:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1203

How do I share music between user accounts on the same computer?

My wife and I have separate user accounts on the same MacBook Pro so that we can both sync our phones to this computer. My account is the primary user account, and my iTunes library is stored in this account. My wife would like to put music on her iPhone so she can run, but I can't seem to access the music library thru her account. I know the files are all on the hard drive regardless, so I just need to know how I can make iTunes on my wife's account access the library that's there. I've tried the steps I could find on Apple's website, but I can't seem to make it work. I'm running the latest versions of everything - even tho the post says I'm running 10.9.1, I'm actually running 10.9.4

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.

HT4007 how can i share photos between users on the same mac?

Dear All,
My wife and I use the same MacbookPro, but our own different login Accounts on the Mac, how can we share photos bewtwen these 2 accounts.
Say, I've downloaded some pics from my camera and would like to transfer to her login account.
Can I do it on the desktop level or can I use iPhoto to do this? I'd like to know how to do bothways, without having to duplicate the files(ie saving 2 copies of the same file on the computer)
Isn' there a 'New' feature on iPhoto / Aperture saying that it uses the same 'Unified' library or something ?
Can this feature help? but how to activate?
Pls help.
Thanks

Macs have a folder called "Public" for this purpose. See this from Finder's help:
Share files with others using a drop box
To give a copy of a file to another user, you can copy the file to the person’s Drop Box.
HidePut a file in the Drop Box of another user on your Mac
Open the user’s Public folder (in their home folder in the Users folder on your hard disk).
Hold down the Option key and drag the file to the Drop Box in the user’s Public folder.
Click the desktop to make sure you’re in the Finder, and then choose Go > Computer.
Double-click the icon for your computer’s internal disk (usually named Macintosh HD) to open its folder.
Open the Users folder, and then open the folder for the person to whom you’re giving a file.
Open the user’s Public folder, and then drag the file to the Drop Box. To keep a copy of the file for your own use, hold down the Option key while you drag.
Even though you can put items in another user’s Drop Box, you can’t open any Drop Box except your own.

How can I share music between two computers and two accounts?

My wife and I each have our own devices. I would like to purchase an album and have it on both accounts so we do not have to buy the same album twice just because we both like it. I have seen many articles on how to achieve this on a single computer but nothing that talks about multiple computers and multiple accounts.
TIA

iTunes: How to share music and video - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2688 - about Music Sharing and Home Sharing
Home Sharing Support page - http://www.apple.com/support/homesharing/
iTunes: Setting up Home Sharing on your computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4620
Understanding Home Sharing - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3819
iOS8 preview - http://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/family-sharing/ -family sharing
By account I take it you mean computer account, not iTunes Store account. You can't currently share items between multiple store accounts though you can share it between computer accounts. Also read about changes in forthcoming iOS8.

How can I share music between 2 different users on the same macbook pro? Same apple ID on both is no good.

I shouldn't have to use "match" yet another thing to pay money for. I've been reading other discussions and can't figure this out.

Home sharing is and was on in itunes in both users. I get different music in each itunes but they are both logged in to the same apple ID. I would have thought the exact same library would pop up. Why woudl it be otherwise? Strange.

How can I update multiple IOS devices from one computer without downloading IOS each time

My company is on a VERY slow internet connection, and at the moment we are using a cellular modem to increase our bandwidth. This connection is a metered connection. The 1 Gb download for IOS 7 will kill all of my purchased bandwidth, and has a potential to both take a while and/or cost a fortune. I need a way to update 58 iPhone 4's, 4S's and 5's to IOS 7 while only downloading IOS for each device type once. We are using iTunes to do this update as the update utility on the phone has caused 3 of our units to crash and lose all their data. 2 of which were bricked and had to be replaced by applecare. We had a utility for that when I worked for apple a few years ago that used iTunes in this manner, but I am not sure this exists on the consumer side. Does anyone know where i can look for this solution?

- Since you have iOS 4.x, the only way to update the iPod is to connect the iPod to a computer and update via iTunes. See:
iOS 4: Updating your device to iOS 5 or later
- If you following these instructions you can update the iPod without losing anything. WHen you restore from backup as the article says the iPod will also be updated.
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities

How do I share files between users on the same Macbook pro?

I have created different users on my new Macbookpro, but I can't seem to share files between two users. Help how do I share files between users on one laptop? eg. a pdf file that I want to grab from my user x and use it on user y, thanks. By the way I have already tries going into system preferences, sharing folder, then turning on file sharing and that didnt work. thanks

From the Help Menu using the search criteria Drop Box

I have one iMac with 2 users. Will Home sharing allow me to share music between users? (running Mac OS 10.8.2

I just seemed to get turned around when trying to share music on the same iMac.
How do I share music between two different users with two different iTunes accounts on the same iMac. My wife and I simply want to be able to share music that she purchases with me and visa versa. We each have our own iPads and I am unsure of the proper way to do this so I don't messup the syncing of our iPads.
Part of the reason I ask is that I see questions concerning two different computers. Does it make any difference that I am trying to share music between two users on the same iMac
Thank you in advance for information helping me to understand the Home Sharing process.

Hi, one question & one suggestion...
What possible things are connected at home but not at the store, inlude every cable, etc.
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or some USB or Firewire device, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Can you share music between iTunes accounts on the same computer

Can you share music between iTunes accounts on the same computer? My kids iPods are under my account now with all of our shared music but they want their own iTunes accounts. I would like to transfer the music and apps that they purchased under my account to their new accounts... Is this posible?

Anton M wrote:
This really isnt good. there isnt even a .tmp file on my pc.
Did you enable the display of system files and hidden files and folders?
by the way, how can i stop this from happening another time.
Make a backup!
i had music there for over 6 years.
Well you must have updated iTunes once or twice in that time. Do you have some sort of "tidying" app that is supposed to clean "unnecessary" files. If so perhaps it is too aggressive.
tt2

My husband and I use the same computer. He has his Itunes library that updates his ipod. I have my ITunes library that updates my ipod. How can we share songs between us?

My husband and I use the same home computer. He has his ITunes library that links to his Ipod. I have my ITunes library that links to my Ipod. How can we share songs between our libraries? (Windows - Vista)

No. Its not possible.
Alternatively, create another user account in your computer. Install iTunes in that account with the library you wish to sync.

How do I share programs between users on my MacBook Pro.

How do I share programs between users on my MacBook Pro. I downloaded mine craft under my user name and I just made my son a new user on the computer but I can't figure out how to put mine craft on his desktop

Try going to system preferences, then go to users and groups- find the option to allow sharing among users
I hope this solved your problem(: btw- I love minecraft!!!

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MartyP wrote:
Or is there a problem with both OS's writing stuff to the
~/Home/Library folder that may be incompatible?
Yes, big time. Mail, for sure, has a different file/folder structure, and would not be happy.
Plus, a number of apps (Apple and 3rd-party) are "Sandboxed." That's a security feature, to prevent malware or bad coding from affecting things it shouldn't. Some of their files, including the preferences files, aren't even stored in the same places!
Or to other places I'm not aware of?
Probably. If you have two versions of the same app, they may or may not expect the same data setup.
To have one User folder for both OS's would save a lot of drive space
Not if you use some or all of woodmeister50's suggestions.
But I'm also not sure how I'd use Time machine with such a set up.
Just as you do now. By default, Time Machine backs-up everything (except things like system work files, most caches and logs, trash) for all users and all internal drives & partitions. By default, it excludes external drives.
You can change those defaults, of course, via TM Preferences > Options.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations of multiple drives.
Presently I backup with . . . clones to other HD's
Good. Yes, clones are different. You need multiple "tasks" to back up multiple drives/partitions. But once set up, that shouldn't be a big deal.

How can I share music between users on one computer without duplicating it all?

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