IMac G5 - How do all accounts see and play my itunes / music

Question

Hi, This has been frustrating me for a while....
I have 40GB of music on itunes which is on my iMac G5 which plays in my account when I log on the computer.
The rest of my family have 3 accounts on the same computer, all have itunes but non of my tunes show...
How can they listen to my music, this is driving me crazy ?

Answer 1

*David Smith18* wrote:
Does that mean then that I have 2 lots of data (80GB) or do I delete the original once copied... or can I just drag it there.. I have also seen on here the term "consolidation" should I do this ?
Library consolidation is really a feature for people that have content scattered all over their hard drive instead of within a single media folder (e.g., the iTunes Music folder). Unless you have media files in multiple locations, you do not need to concern yourself with consolidating. NOTE: media files may be contained within a folder structure within your music folder, such as what occurs when you have iTunes organize your music folder, because the music folder is the root folder for accessing media files. Consolidation becomes an issue when you have media files in the folder that iTunes recognizes as your music folder and then files in other folders (e.g., a folder for MP3s downloaded from Amazon).
Other than that, there are essentially four ways in which you can set up a public music library for sharing between user accounts. One thing that you should note is that sharing between accounts is not like sharing over a network; the feature that iTunes supports internally. With network sharing between computers the users accessing your library have read-only privileges. That is, they can navigate your library in various ways and play/watch content, but they cannot alter your library in any way; e.g., if they change a view that change only takes effect locally and not within your library.
With the shared library between accounts there is little you can do to prevent other users from altering the library.
*Set Up a Shared Library with Full Access Privileges*
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Move or copy your iTunes folder from ~/Music to ./Users/Shared
3. Launch iTunes.
a. If you copied your iTunes folder just launch into iTunes normally.
b. If you moved your iTunes folder then hold the option key immediately after launching to invoke the Choose Library window then select the iTunes Library file now located in the Shared folder.
4. Have each of your family members re-launch iTunes in accordance to 3b.
In this scenario, your family members will have full access privileges to the shared library. They will be able to add or remove playlists, change the status and tags for content, add/delete content, etc. From your standpoint, if you launch iTunes as per 3a because you copied your music library, you will still be accessing a private library, while your family will be accessing a shared library with similar content and structure. If you launch iTunes as per 3b, then you will be accessing the same shared library as your family.
*Set Up a Shared Library with Read-Only Access*
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Create a new iTunes folder in ./Users/Shared.
3. Copy or move the contents of your iTunes folder to the new iTunes folder except for the iTunes Music folder. Do not move your media files into the Shared folder.
4. Launch iTunes.
a. If you copied the contents of your iTunes folder:
— Launch iTunes normally.
— Go into iTunes preferences Advanced tab and set the location of your iTunes Music folder to the location of the music folder on your account (e.g., ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music).
b. If you moved the contents of your iTunes folder:
— Launch iTunes the immediately hold the option key to invoke the Choose Library dialog and choose the iTunes Library file in the Shared folder.
— Go into iTunes preferences Advanced tab and set the location of your iTunes Music folder to the location of the music folder on your account (e.g., ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music).
5. Have each member of you family launch iTunes holding the option key and choose the shared library.
In this scenario, your family members will still have full access to the shared library, the iTunes Library database file, because it is in the Shared folder. They will not have full access privileges to the media files. So while they can change library settings and preferences (e.g., create new playlists, etc.), they cannot modify the media files (e.g., add or remove tracks, change ID3 tags, etc.) because iTunes will be linked to files that are on your account. If other accounts on your computer can access your files it will be as read-only files.
Again, how you transferred and access the library will determine if you retain a private library. If you moved your iTunes library, then you will need to access the same shared library as the rest of your family. If you copied your library, then you can continue to use your private library and not have to deal with any library structure changes that others have performed in the shared library.
*Something New in iTunes 8.0… Maybe*
In the past people had reported that the shared library feature in iTunes did not work across user accounts on the same computer. As I do not share my computer, I had no reason to put this to the test. Not being able to share a library using iTunes sharing feature may have changed, as I went into my emergency administrative account to check on something for you and saw the iTunes library from my primary user account listed under Shared libraries in the source list in iTunes on the second user account.
As such, try this first:
1. Go to the Sharing tab iTunes preferences.
2. Enable “Share my library on my local network” and “Look for shared libraries”.
3. Have your family members do the same in their user accounts.
4. Now other user’s libraries should appear under the Shared heading in each of your source lists. +In order for this to (hopefully) work the source and target accounts must be active (do not logout) and connected to your home network.+
5. By accessing your library in this way they can access your playlists and music, but they cannot in any way alter your library.