Multiple Itunes users??

Does anyone know how to set up more than one user in Itunes. I dont want to share apps or contacts with my wifes Iphone but just did.

This article has three options for that. My advice is use Method #1
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1495
since apparently you do not like method #2, sounds like that is how you're set up right now.
Avoid method #3 unless both you and your wife can always remember to start itunes using the shift-start. And even that won't help with separating iphone contacts like method #1 will, it will only keep the apps & music separate.

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Multiple itune users on the same computer

Is it possible to have two seperate itunes running on the same computer? My husband and I share a computer and both have ipods. We both have different tastes in music so we would like to be able to access our own itunes instead of having to share a library with all the music together.
He currently has itunes set up with all his music on the computer at home. I have been running my itunes at work and would like to be able to bring my stuff home. Is this possible?

When the iPods belong to different people, there are basically three ways of using multiple iPods on a computer and these involve:
a) Sharing a single iTunes library
b) Creating Multiple Libraries in a single user account
c) Creating multiple user accounts.
Note: When you are sharing an iTunes library, you don't have to set each iPod to update in the same manner, you can mix and match from the options below as each iPod has it's own update settings
Sharing a Library and/or User Account
If you want to share the one library, you can set either or all of the iPods so that they only get updated with only certain playlists (you can update from more than one if you wish): iPod - Syncing Music
Choosing the update option "Sync Music - Selected playlists" allows you to create a playlist specifically for the iPod and drag the tracks you want into it. If you tire of the list and want to change it, you just add or remove the songs you don't want. The ones you take out out remain in the library to be used some other time if you choose. You can read more about playlists at these links:
iTunes: Creating playlists of your favorite songs
How to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
Or you can choose to update any or all of the iPods manually and just drag whatever content you want to them: Managing content manually on iPod
Loading the iPod shuffle differs slightly but it can still be used with the others, for details have a look at this page: Adding songs to iPod shuffle - Windows
Multiple Libraries
It's also possible to have multiple libraries in a single account. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Option key (or Shift key in Windows) when launching iTunes 7. 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. This can prove tricky when using multiple iPods, if you don't use the keyboard command you can risk syncing to the wrong library: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
Separate User Accounts
Another option is to create a separate User account for each person on your PC or Mac. Different 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. The iPod can be set to update however the owner chooses, sync all, manual or sync specific playlists
I don't use Windows so I can't give you a step by step on that one, however I can point you to another web page which should help you out. You can read about Windows user accounts here:
Using Windows XP User Accounts

Setting up multiple itunes users

Ok so i'll be making my first step into the Applesphere this Christmas with a new iphone for myself and ipods for my two kids. Having never used itunes before the task of getting setup is a little daunting. I want to know the best way of setting up so all our music libraries are separate and ensure the kids are unable to access anything on there ipod touch that they shouldn't when on the app store.
I am also looking to sign up for imatch as i'd like to access my music on multiple devices and wonder how this works and any issues with multiple users. There may be times when i'd be happy to share some of my music with the kids and sometimes not.
So basically how do i get started (does each user need an apple id?, how do i separate each individuals library on a single machine, and does imatch work per library, per user or for all music on one machine)
Thanks for any sage advice.

Create a separate iTunes library for each device. Note: It is important that you make a new iTunes Library file. Do not just make a copy of your existing iTunes Library file. If iTunes is open, quit it.
Mac users: Hold down the Option key while you open iTunes.
Windows users: Hold down the Shift key while you open iTunes.
In the dialog that appears, click Create Library.
Name and save the alternate library file. iTunes opens with your brand new library file.
Open iTunes Preferences. Choose iTunes > Preferences (Mac) or Edit > Preferences (Windows).
Click the Advanced tab.
Deselect the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" checkbox if it is already selected and click OK. This will prevent iTunes from creating duplicates of your existing media files in the new library folder.
Add the specific media files you want on your device to iTunes either by dragging them into iTunes or choosing File > Add to Library (Mac) or File > Add File to Library or Add Folder to Library(Windows).
Once you have the iTunes Library just how you want it, connect and sync your device.
Once the sync is complete, quit iTunes.
Mac users: Hold down the Option key while you open iTunes.
Windows users: Hold down the Shift key while you open iTunes.
Click Choose library.
Choose your original iTunes Library and click Choose (Mac Users) or Open (Windows Users). You can now switch back and forth between the different libraries for different devices.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495

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.

Question: Multiple iTunes users w/ single music library on file server

My son and I (separate computers) host all of our music on a common file server. Initially, it was my music library...when he loaded iTunes, it imported everything and all was fine.
However, now if I add a few songs to the library (I can see them in the shared folders that we both have setup as our music folder within iTunes) they don't show up in his music library unless we either import them or drag them from File Mgr into iTunes.
There has to be an "automatic" way...doesn't there?
I'm eager for suggestions.
Thanks much,
Rick

Sorry to say, there is not an easier way and folks have been requesting it from Apple for years.
You are running into the situation noted in this article, towards the end
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203
+When another user of the computer has imported new music from CD, repeat steps 6 through 8 to add the music to your library.+

One PC, multiple iTunes users

We have one PC, running Windows 8, and three Windows accounts for three separate users. The users all have individual iTunes accounts and separate iTunes libraries.
If user A runs iTunes and leaves the PC without quitting iTunes, it prevents user B and C from running iTunes because it is already running although it's under a different Windows user account that user B and C ideally have no access to. So my question is:
Is it possible to run "virtual instances" of iTunes so all user accounts on the same box can have their own instances running at the same time?
I would really prefer NOT to have to install separate instances of iTunes under the individual users - if that's event possible...
Thanks for you input!

Each user has their own library by default. It is possible to connect different users to the same library if that is desired. iTunes doesn't play well when you connect a device to a new library. See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for tips.
tt2

How do I manage multiple iTunes users on the same PC?

Hi- I'm new to iPod and iTunes. We have 3 iPod's in our house but only 1 PC. How can I set up iTunes so we can all manager our music separately? Thank you!!

I manage three iPods too--mine (a mom of 50+ years old); a son 22 years old; and a daughter 14 years old. Obviously we must all have very different tastes in music!
You're right we do! But we all share one library--because we like all of our music to be in one place. So all of our iPods are set to MANUALLY update. Then we create playlists that we want to add to our device. This has worked well for over two years now. I have no other advice!

Multiple iTune Users

I have an iTunes account that my I share with my wife and young daughter. Up to this point, we have purchased all songs thru a single iTunes store acount and have different play lists - some songs we all thre enjoy listening to. My daughter recently received some gift cards for the iTunes store. She wants to use her gift card to purchase music - if we do so thru my iTunes store account, what happens in a year or two when she is older and wants her own account - can those songs be transferred to her new account or will she need to repurchase those songs? If we set up a new iTune store account now for her now, will we be able to share songs that I have already purchased?

I have an iTunes account that my I share with my wife and young daughter. Up to this point, we have purchased all songs thru a single iTunes store acount and have different play lists - some songs we all thre enjoy listening to. My daughter recently received some gift cards for the iTunes store. She wants to use her gift card to purchase music - if we do so thru my iTunes store account, what happens in a year or two when she is older and wants her own account - can those songs be transferred to her new account or will she need to repurchase those songs? If we set up a new iTune store account now for her now, will we be able to share songs that I have already purchased?

ITunes setup on a NAS with multiple windows users - how?

iTunes setup on a NAS with multiple windows users?
I am very confused on what is the best way to handle this setup for my friends family. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry in advance as I know this is a long winded post - I have a feeling this will help others faced with the same issues or questions.
CURRENT SETUP
I have three new Windows 7 machines networked (two desktops and one laptop) that have four users on each - as busy family with children who need the computers for homework, projects, games, etc... The goal of this setup is that any user can log onto any computer and have there documents available to them no matter computer was free to use. I set this up using the library function in Windows 7 and seems to work pretty well.
I have put a Buffalo Linkstation NAS on the system as well. This was going to serve two purposes 1) run some backup software to protect the computers and 2) consolidate the iTunes content in one place for all users. There is also an iPad in the home that I should would be better served by accessing the content on the NAS without requiring any of the computers being on. Dave is thinking about getting some other playback devices like Apple TV so thought a NAS would be a good way to go.
CURRENT ITUNES SETUP - I have created a new iTunes library on the NAS by holding the SHIFT button down while starting iTunes and pointed to that folder on a Share on the NAS. There was no music on the system at the time as we are planning to copy this over from an OLD machine that is now not being used. I have also authorized all the computers and turned on the home sharing feature (although I am not sure what good that does).
This “shift” button trick seesm to also point the default directory there without point to it in the advanced setup tab of iTunes.
I then synced one of the iPods with purchased content on it and synced that to the library after asking me to do so before an update. All the content showed up in the library and was playable - awesome.
I then logged into each user on each machine (yikes) and installed iTunes and used the “shift” trick to connect each users iTunes to the database on the NAS. Everything seems to work - but I have not tested it thoroughly.
SUMMARY
3 new Windwos 7 networked machines
4 identical users on each machine
1 TB Buffalo linkstation
iTunes setup with the folder on a SHARE
all user’s itunes connected to the iTunes folder on the NAS
all computers authorized with home sharing turned on.
one iTunes user account signed in on each machine
multiple iPods and one iPad in the system
QUESTIONS/CONCERNS
Is there a better way to do this on a NAS?
Would home sharing be better in some way?
I understand the NAS should show up under the shared section in iTunes - I assume that would mean that would mean each user has an iTunes library on their documents?
I have read that there may be corruption issues if users on the different machines try to access iTunes at the same time.
Will there be any issues syncing that various iPods with?
Ugh - sorry for the long post and all the questions. I am just trying to find the best way to do this. I wish Apple would put out a best practices document for setups like this. Thanks in advance.

This is a user to user support forum. Your fellow users can offer solutions or workarounds based on their experience with the application. If you think it should work differently drop a line to iTunes Feedback.
For reasons unknown Apple haven't chosen to allow iTunes to be suspended in one profile and active in another. My recollection is that this applies even if each profile has a different library, although it is some time since I've committed a personal test.
I'm not sure why my suggestion make less sense that your current approach?. As I understand it currently everybody is either signed into their own account when they can do something other than work with iTunes, or they sign into the special iTunes account where they can't access any of their other stuff. You don't have to disable fast user switching. Follow exactly the same steps, but make sure everyone closes iTunes before turning the computer over to another user. Disabling fast user switching helps to enforce that action.
tt2

HT1689 How do I download multiple itunes accounts on one computer under one user?

Recenlty moved to one account on our windows 7 computer to cut down on potential malware issues that allowed malware to migrate over to other user accounts. However, we have different iTunes accounts and want to be able to download our individual music from each of our devices that include an iphone 4, iphone 4S, and ipod. How do I create this capability under one windows 7 user account?

It certainly is possible.
How to use multiple iOS devices with one computer
A single computer can be authorized for multiple iTunes accounts but only one account can be signed into the store at a time.
Frankly, you are better off with unique Windows User accounts for each user.

Multiple iTunes open in multiple 'user accounts'- at the same time

We have three people in our family, each with their own iPod/iphone, we sync our iPod/iphone on the same computer but in different ‘user accounts’ in xp.
Now the problem is ; only one iTunes program can run at a time, so if one person is downloading a podcast and another logs into their user account then they can’t open iTunes because it is open in another user account already.
There must be a way to run multiple iTunes at the same time in different user accounts?
Anyone?
I’m running XP on an i7 machine

Welcome to AD!
Sadly, there is not a way to do this.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1969?viewlocale=en_US

Multiple iPod users on one computer, one iTunes

Need help.
We have 3 iPod 5th generation using one computer and each of us have different tastes in music/movies/games etc. I just spent 6 hours redoing my personal setting to resync my iPod after my son reset it for his tastes. Is there any way of setting up preferences within iTunes for each iPod to prevent or elivate this total waste of time. When adding new music, audiobooks, and/or movies it should be a no-brainer to resync them but it is a total pain-in-the-arse.
Thank you

When the iPods belong to different people, there are basically three ways of using multiple iPods on a computer and these involve:
a) Sharing a single iTunes library
b) Creating Multiple Libraries in a single user account
c) Creating multiple user accounts.
Note: When you are sharing an iTunes library, you don't have to set each iPod to update in the same manner, you can mix and match from the options below as each iPod has it's own update settings
Sharing a Library and/or User Account
If you want to share the one library, you can set either or all of the iPods so that they only get updated with only certain playlists (you can update from more than one if you wish): iPod - Syncing Music
Choosing the update option "Sync Music - Selected playlists" allows you to create a playlist specifically for the iPod and drag the tracks you want into it. If you tire of the list and want to change it, you just add or remove the songs you don't want. The ones you take out out remain in the library to be used some other time if you choose. You can read more about playlists at these links:
iTunes: Creating playlists of your favorite songs
How to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
Or you can choose to update any or all of the iPods manually and just drag whatever content you want to them: Managing content manually on iPod
Loading the iPod shuffle differs slightly but it can still be used with the others, for details have a look at this page: Adding songs to iPod shuffle - Windows
Multiple Libraries
It's also possible to have multiple libraries in a single account. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes 7. 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. This can prove tricky when using multiple iPods, if you don't use the keyboard command you can risk syncing to the wrong library: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows
Separate User Accounts
Another option is to create a separate User account for each person on your PC or Mac. Different 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. The iPod can be set to update however the owner chooses, sync all, manual or sync specific playlists
I don't use Windows so I can't give you a step by step on that one, however I can point you to another web page which should help you out. You can read about Windows user accounts here: Using Windows XP User Accounts

How do I consolidate multiple Itunes folders on one computer?

I had a mishap with my external hard drive (I didn't know how to use it properly..yup USER ERROR!) so I have three different Itunes folders intertwined in my music folders with different previous Itunes libraries. I made a backup of the entire music mess on a flash drive, have a new computer and finally an ipod to put my music on...
Can someone give me some detailed steps to be able to consolidate all of my many Itunes libraries and let me know how I can access the music in my previous Itunes libraries? I want to make sure that I still have the rights to the music that I purchased in the past. I had some music in the Itunes cloud which is great but not nearly all of it...DRATS!
I found some steps to consolidate music from different computers onto one but I'm not sure that the same steps apply to my situation. Here are the links that I was looking at in eHow: http://www.ehow.com/how_5704389_consolidate-multiple-itunes-libraries.html and http://www.ehow.com/how_8149083_can-itunes-libraries-two-computers.html.
Thanks so much in advance!
Itunes libraries make my brain hurt!

Import everything into one library and then dedupe it.
tt2

How to use one I-tunes library with multiple windows users (family) on 1 pc

On our family pc we log in with different accounts. We want to use I-Tunes but all have the same library. I tried to create a library not in the users directory, but in the All Users folder that is accessible for everyone. However, when I import the music in the library for one user and set the same location for another user, I-tunes does not recognize the library. So everyone has to create it's own library.
What are the best practices to overcome this?

Keep in mind that what you have done now is you have multiple iTunes libraries accessing the same media folder. Meaning, that each account can have their own ratings, playlists, etc. but more importantly, each account does NOT know what the other account does, so if your daughter adds a CD to her account, it will go into the shared folder, but it will NOT automatically go into your wife's iTunes library. She would have to add it manually. Likewise, if one account deletes music from their library and tells iTunes to remove it to the trash, the other accounts will not know and iTunes will still try to access the file from the shared location even though the file is now trashed.
Each account has their own database files (.itl files in the iTunes folder) which stores this stuff.
If you want to have everyone use the exact same library which means the same ratings, playlists, etc. then you need to move the database files into that same location and set each iTunes account to read the same data.
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
Patrick

How can I share only the same music with multiple iTunes accounts

Hello
I hope someone can help. [I am using Windows Vista (Unfortunately J) and iTunes 10]
I am trying to share the same music library with multiple iTunes accounts. Basically, I want to know if there is a way to automatically upload to other libraries when importing new music into my library, vice versa. [Better information below]
Me, my sister and my dad all use iTunes (on different iTunes accounts), and before now we used to have are own music on our own windows user. Due to many duplicates and a loss of hard drive space I have brought an external hard drive and organised all the music.
It was all going well - I first populated all the music onto my iTunes, exported the library, and then imported it on both the other users. However! Because this is only a copy of the library, when I try to import a new CD, it will not show up on there’s until I “Add File to Library”! Originally I thought about using the same library however we each have are own apps etc, that we don’t want to share.
If you need anymore information please ask!
Matt

Hello roaminggnome
Unfortunately the support is down at the moment, I will have a better look later. I did go though the Apple support previously, however I found nothing that worked.
The first thread I came across was “Home Sharing” however no mater what I did, it did not appear in the iTunes sharing list (I did go though the “Show Sharing Networks” support as well)
Secondly, I saw “Using A Single Library With Multiple Accounts On The Same PC” (Something like that) but all this did was let us share the same music location, if I was to rip extra music, it will not show in there library
Matt

Multiple Itunes users??

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