How do I share iTunes music between two user accounts?

We have two (admin) user accounts on our iMac. My husband has downloaded tons of music from CDs to his iTunes library. How can I get some of his music to my iTunes library without having to re-download from CDs? If anyone can give me simple instructions it would be appreciated.
Thanks Jeanette.

Look at this article: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203

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Share iTunes purchases between two user accounts on the same Mac?

I have a Macbook Pro, for my bride and I, and a Macbook, for our kids. Both Macs are authorized on my iTunes account.
So, how can I share an iTunes Store purchased song on my account with my wife's? I understand how to turn on sharing and she can see my songs in iTunes on her account, but she cannot synch them to her iPod.
Now, I'm allowed to authorize an iTunes account on up to five Macs. I have two. But I have four accounts. Either way, I won't be exceeding five copies, but can't find a way to get a song I bought in my iTunes to my wife's iPod.
We use the same iTunes account but don't want to have to buy things twice to get them on her iPod. Just seems weird that I could put it on five machines but not two user accounts on the same one.
Message was edited by: Sky Guy

On my Mac Pro I moved the entire library to "Macintosh HD/Shared/iTunes". Changed the Folder location in iTunes Preferences->Advanced->General to point to that location. Then in each user change the Music/iTunes folder to be an alias or link pointing to the Shared/iTunes folder. You will likely need to change the permissions on that folder to give everyone the ability to read and write. Do that via "Get Info" on the iTunes folder using Finder. I'd suggest backing everything up before you do this.

Sharing iTunes music between two User accounts

hey all,
my mom and i share an iMac G5, each with our own user account. we both listen to a lot of the same music and it seems silly to use double the Hard drive space by each maintaining separate iTunes libraries. What is the best way to share music between user accounts? is there a way to make it so that when she opens iTunes, it will open as if it is opening iTunes on my account, giving her immediate access to all my music? any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanx much!
David

This article describes two methods:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
If you want only one library, use the second method.
There are some disadvantages:
If one of the users deletes a song, the other can't play it no more.
If one user adds a song, the other has to add it to his/her library too.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

How do i share iPhoto library between two user accounts

I need to share my iphoto pictures between two accounts on the same computer

For iPhoto 09 (version 8.0.2) and later:
What you mean by 'share'.
If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Any user can drag a pic from the Shared Library to their own in the iPhoto Window.
Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc.
Quit iPhoto in both accounts. Move the Library to the Users / Shared Folder
(You can also use an external HD set to ignore permissions, a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.)
In each account in turn: Double click on the Library to open it. (You may be asked to repair the Library Permissions.) From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.

Using the same photos and music between two user accounts in the same Mac

Hi,
I think this question might have already been asked in the forum.
1. I have one MacBook Pro and two user accounts (One for me and one for my wife)
2. We are having two seperate iPhones with seperate AppleIDs
3. We want to maintain the apps / calendar / mail / reminders / contacts as seperate - Through iCloud (Seperate Apple ID approach) - All this is fine
4. All we want to have it shared is the Music files and the Photo library without duplicating
I have tried the shared folder approach for the music and having the iTunes point to that directory for the libary location in the preferences but unfortunately if she adds a folder to the library mine does not get updated unless I do a add folder to library and vice versa.
Whats the best way to deal with the Photos / Music sharing between two user accounts on the same mac
Thanks
Shas

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.
To give others selective access to your iPhoto library, you have the option of using iCloud Photo Sharing, if the privacy implications don't bother you. The images will be stored temporarily on Apple servers.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support articles linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
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.

Trying to share iTunes libraries between two users on one iMac

Ok, so I have two users on my iMac, but I want to share iTunes libraries between the two (so that both have the same music, movies, apps...), but for some reason I can't! So first I tried turning on iTunes while holding option key so that I can open my Library from my user that i'm trying to grab the music and everything else from. But for some reason it said that I didn't have the permissions to (which both ARE admin). So then I went to the Preferences on iTunes and tried to change the directories from where to grab the media from, but it wouldn't let me access my other users music folder, it siad again that I didn't have permissions for this. I'm really fed up, please help me.

Chris, thanks for the reply. Are you telling me that I should move the iTunes folder itself, and not merely the iTunes Media folder, as instructed by the KB article? At this point, I'd be willing to try just about anything, but the KB article specifically states:
Important: Do not move the iTunes folder, the iTunes Library file or the iTunes Library.xml file.
As I stated above, I did exactly what the KB article said to, which is to move the iTunes Media folder (called iTunes Music on my iMac, since the library has been around since pre-iTunes 8 or so) to /Users/Shared, and then go into iTunes Prefs for each user, and under the advanced tab, choose the location of the library for each user. I know that this method does NOT share iTunes library (.itl or .xml, or the other associated files), and doing what you suggest would, but I'm curious if that would cause any problems.
And yes, like I said in the OP, I did check/change all file permissions on that folder appropriately.
Thanks again for the help! Please let me know if I'm reading your suggestion right!

How can I share a folder between two users on the same mac?

Hi all,
I would like to share a folder between multiple users on the same macbook without having to transfer the folder to the Public/Shared folder.
Is there not a way, using the the folders shared permissions, to allow shared folders from one user to be visible and usable by another user on the same mac without having to move the folder to a designated shared location?
Regards,
Caleb

jrwood116 wrote:
Thanks, but do you have to do that every time you share a folder?
No, you just need to do it once and that's it. Anything that is in the Shared folder is accessible by all user accounts within the same Mac.
jrwood116 wrote:
I've read numerous 'how to share a folder' blogs and they just say it's as simple as clicking 'share' and allowing specific users to access it...none have mentioned this (not saying your advice is wrong at all, just don't get why no-one else has mentioned what appears to be a key step!)
Can you give me an example of such a blog. I suspect you may have mis-understood what they were saying but if you can provide a link, I'll look at it.

Can i share itunes library between separate user accounts?

i bought a new imac and i am in the process of migrating from my pc. I have transferred my itunes library into my user account on my imac from my old windows computer. I have 3 other user accounts on my imac that i would like to be able to access the same library. I have selected the option to share libraries, but i cannot seem to access the itunes library on any of the other user accounts. Since the music files are on the hard drive, it seems like i should be able to access those files on all accounts. any suggestions?

Have a look at this page it might be of some help: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Best way to share iTunes library with two user accounts?

I have a single iTunes library on my Macbook Pro. I would like to share between to user accounts, each with Apple ID's. What's the best way to do so? Right now, I've given the second user rights to read/write to the first users "Music" folder. But when one user adds song files, the other must "Add Folder" in order to see the new purchases. It's kind of putsy. Is there a better way? Thanks!

Hello again,
Have the iTunes Library located in the Shared Folder for instance and then launch iTunes in both users while holding option (or alt) on your keyboard. Choose the iTunes library file wherever it may be located. You can keep it in the same spot if you want (i.e. your Music folder). Many people have their's on a local network hard drive and do this.
The benefit is that when one user updates the iTunes library file, the next user will open an updated version that has all songs that the other user added.
Since you have one computer shared, this should be fine. I am unsure what happens when multiple computers/users access the library file at the same time.

How do you sync iTunes library for two user accounts?

Hello
I have a MacBook with two user accounts - myself and my wife.
I have to do this because we both have iPhones and we need to keep our sync-ing separate or we would just keep overwriting each others preferences.
I have an iTunes library and so does my wife.
Problem...
I recently imported some songs using my account that my wife wants on her iTunes. When I logged out of my account and went into hers the songs I imported were not there!!
Question...
How do you marry and update the libraries of both accounts so no matter which iTunes library you access (my account or hers) you have all the available songs in both?
I have tried trawling through some of the zillion posts here, but the prospect of spending hours and hours was just too much to contemplate!!!!
So if i've asked a question that has already been asked and dealt with please forgive me - or better still if you know where the needle would be in this haystack a link would be very much appreciated!
Many Thanks in Anticipation.
Mr Totsy

Hi ffiti
I have done a bit of cleaning up on my Mac (OCD!) and made a bit of an ar*e of things - can you help?
I went into my wife's account and wiped all iTunes files and stored songs.
This was done because some songs were on my iTunes library and some were not on hers - so I just wiped the lot off and started again...I know it gets even better...
I then went into my user account and wiped off everything there too...
I went on the Apple website and downloaded the latest iTunes 11.0.4 I think and reinstalled an empty library from scratch - that way I will be only filling one library full of songs - I also took the media file out of the shared folder and reset it back to its default position
I went to sync my iPhone and now it tells me I can only sync one device with one library - so how do I sync my phone without it deleting everything and replacing it with nothing?!!!!
I doesn't matter how great Apple products are they just can't account for human idiocy !!!
Regards,
Mr Totsy

Can I share an Ipod between two User accounts

Trying to share one Ipod between two accounts ! but dont seem to be able to download from different accounts onto Ipod, outside of Ipod original account !!

Other users on the machine should already be able to see the apps assuming they're not installed in a specific users ~/applications folder.
Are they not visible?
If the app is in the ~/applications folder you might want to try moving it to the /applications folder.

How to share iTunes library between two users on the same Mac

We have recently bought a Macbook Pro and have successfully transferred the old PC information onto the Mac. But, the iTunes library from the PC has now just gone into the old user acct. I am now confused as to which iTunes user name I connect my devices? Is there a way to merge these two iTunes through the user accts?
Thanks,
I feel like I learning about computers all over again!

It's doable. As it's been pointed out Aperture has no provisions for file locking so you can't have two users accessing the library at the same time. This includes having one user having the library open only for browsing. Aperture doesn't have a +Read Only+ mode, when it opens the library, even if you make no changes to any images, the library will be written to.
This also means you can't have one user open the library and then stop using Aperture but still have the library open and then have another copy of Aperture open on the library.
Of course if you have two copies of Aperture running even they are on different libraries you'll be in violation of the license and you'll have bigger problems to worry about then a toasted library.

TS4001 How can I share Safari bookmarks between two iCloud accounts using IOS 7 and Mavericks?

Before iOS 7 and Mavericks, we were able to share Safari bookmarks between all of our devices. My wife had the primary iCloud account which was setup to share bookmarks, contacts, calendars and reminders. A secondary iCloud account was setup on my phone for only my email. Each phone had our private email accounts segregated and we shared all the bookmarks, contacts, calendars and reminders. When I saved a bookmark on my phone, I could see it later on our iMac or iPad. Now only my wife can sync bookmarks between her phone and the iMac or iPad. This *****!! This worked beautifully before we upgraded to the latest versions of OS & iOS. Is there a work around or a new way to set things up? I don't want to be stuck reading Safari on my phone when I have a 24" iMac sitting in the living room. I don't want to see all of my wife's email on my phone either. Do we need three iCloud accounts now? One main for sharing and two separate accounts for only email? Need help! Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

David,
Thanks for the reply. That's how I set it up originally. Although the new iOS 7 update lost some functionality. I found the following on the TUAW website. The Safari Bookmarks and Find My Phone options have been removed from the secondary iCloud accounts options. This is the problem. Everything worked great before we updated. I guess "new way" consolidates the iCloud accounts better with Maverick? Now I will have extra documents on my phone that I don't need. We will both have to share the same iCloud storage and backup space too. Have to try it out and see how it works. Thanks.
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/19/how-to-use-multiple-apple-ids-in-ios-7/

Sharing iTunes music between two users (two logins) on one Mac

Hi,
I have a Macbook with the latest iTunes. My I have a lot of music in my library which I want to be able to share with my wife when she logs in under her own ID. How can I get my library to show up in her iTunes library? I tried >Prefs>Sharing, but this did nothing. There was no change. I also tried setting the files to allow all to Read/Write in the "Get Info" window - no joy. There must be a way. Please advise.
Thank you
Kyur

Zevoneer,
I talked to a mac cust rep and he game me the same article. I did everything step by step but when I open up itunes in my acct or my wifes acct, I can only see music bought with each acount respectively. Do I need to import libraries? I just want to be able to share our music on itunes.
Thanks in advance.
Justin

How can I share a folder between two users on the same iMac?

I have an iMac with 2 user accounts and I want to share a folder between them. I have gone on to system preferences>sharing and turned on file sharing. I have also got the 'Get Info' thing up, selected 'Shared Folder' and added the other user to the read and write permissions...it just doesn't show up on the other desktop (the folder is on my desktop, I would have expected to see it on the other desktop...?)
Any ideas?

jrwood116 wrote:
Thanks, but do you have to do that every time you share a folder?
No, you just need to do it once and that's it. Anything that is in the Shared folder is accessible by all user accounts within the same Mac.
jrwood116 wrote:
I've read numerous 'how to share a folder' blogs and they just say it's as simple as clicking 'share' and allowing specific users to access it...none have mentioned this (not saying your advice is wrong at all, just don't get why no-one else has mentioned what appears to be a key step!)
Can you give me an example of such a blog. I suspect you may have mis-understood what they were saying but if you can provide a link, I'll look at it.

How do I share iTunes music between two user accounts?

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