I would like to use one library but with multiple ipods, but because they are my kids Ipods, and they each have their own gift cards, I'd like to be able to add money to their "profiles" without them having their own account - what is the best way

Question

So here is my delima - I want one Ipod account - because I only want one library - since we all like the same music - but my kids, who have their own IPODS, have gift cards, who want to be able to keep track of their balance without the other child affecting the balance - meaning - each gift card should be seperate and not totalled to the single account - Beacuse the library is fairly large, having three libraries of large amounts would be a waste.  I would also like to restrict their purchased to the gift cards only and not my credit card on file.  Does this make sense?  Once this is resolved, I'm assuming they would use their own playlists to copy their favorites to each Ipod.  Or would I set up an account for each child - which I dont want to do, because I dont want them having access to my Credit Card, and only gift card balances.  With multiple accounts, I'm assuming that would also build seperate libraries?  We also have multiple computers, but I share the library to those computers -
What is the best way?  I'd like to be able to add credit to a specific child (birthdays, etc) without the other child being able to access that credit.  For simplicity sake.
We are new to IPODS and lack any MAC skills.
Thoughts?

Answer 1

Not going to happen the way you want it to.
When you add a gift card balance to the Apple ID, it's available for the Apple ID.
Probably best to create unique Apple ID's for each... this will also make things easier in the future as purchases are eternally tied to the Apple ID they were purchased with.