Multiple Users - 1 Library

Is there a way that 5 different people can use iTunes on the same computer without having to share and modify the same library? Ideally, what I would like to do is set up different profiles for me, my wife, my daughter, and my two sons so that each of us can have a different library on the same computer....
Thanks,
Coach

While the original request was for a way to make multiple libraries there is another approach to multiple users that is worth considering.
You can keep all the music in one library and make use of playlists to control which music goes on to each iPod. You can create regular playlists into which you drag different selections of music however I prefer to make use of the grouping field and create smart playlists based on the content of this field.
e.g.
"Alice's Tracks" is "Grouping contains Alice" + "Kind contains audio"
"Bob's Videos" is "Grouping contains Bob" + "Kind does not contain audio"
Tracks that both Alice & Bob want on their iPods have the grouping set to "Alice/Bob"
etc.
I currently manage four iPods using this system, each getting a different selection to suit their tastes and the capacity of their iPod. An advantage of using the grouping field is that it is stored in file tags (for audio files anyway) so that it is relatively easy to recreate the playlists should the iTunes library get trashed. Also useful if you move files about manually as playlist membership is preserved when you delete & re-import the tracks.
tt2

Similar Messages

Multiple Users, One Library

I have made myself a new user on our emac, with access to ITunes. I am taking our computer to another site and don't want anyone messing with it while I am not around. My logical thinking told me that when we have one ITunes on our harddrive that it would share it's information with all users on the machine. When I logged in and opened up ITunes the library had nothing in its list. Can I share the library with my husband (which is our normal login)? Or do I have to start all over again?

iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer tells you two methods.
If you want one central library, use the second method.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac 800 MHz, 768 MB RAM, 200 GB HD, DL burner Mac OS X (10.4.7) iTunes 7.0

Multiple users/same library

hi!
i'm new to the mac world and i'm just wondering about different accounts on my imac and sharing the same iphoto library.
By default, do pictures that are imported end up as separate iphoto library files or can i get them to go to one "common" library.
Thanks, T

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
By default each user account has it's own library, but there are ways to share...
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.
Regards
TD

Sharing an iTunes Library across multiple user account and a network.

Sharing an iTunes Music Library across multiple user accounts.
Hello Everybody!
Firstly, this was designed to be run in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. It will not work with earlier versions of Mac OS X! Sorry.
Here's a handy tip for keeping your hard drive neat and tidy, it also saves space, what in effect will be done is an iTunes music library will be shared amongst multiple users on the same machine. There are advantages and disadvantages to using this method.
• Firstly I think it might be worthwhile to state the advantages and disadvantages to using this approach.
The advantages include:
- Space will be saved, as no duplicate files will occur.
- The administrator will be able to have complete control over the content of the iTunes library, this may be useful for restricting the content of the Library; particularly for example if computer is being used at and education institution, business or any other sort of institution where things such as explicit content would be less favorable.
- The machine will not be slowed by the fact that every user has lots of files.
The disadvantages to this system include.
- The fact that the account storing the music will have to be logged in, and iTunes will have to be active in that account.
- If the account housing the music is not active then nobody can use the iTunes library.
- There is a certain degree of risk present when an administrator account must be continually active.
- Fast User Switching must be enabled.
Overview:
A central account controls all music on the machine/network, this is achieved by storing iTunes files in a public location as opposed to in the user's directory. In effect the system will give all users across the machine/network access to the same music/files without the possibility of files 'doubling up' because two different users like the same types of music. This approach saves valuable disk space in this regard and may therefore prove to be useful in some situations.
This is a hearty process to undertake, so only follow this tutorial if you're willing to go all the way to the end of it.
Process:
Step 1:
Firstly, we need to organize the host library, I tidied mine up, removing excess playlists, random files, things like that. this will make thing a bit easier in the later stages of this process.
Once the library is tidied up, move the entire "iTunes" folder from your Home directory to the "//localhost" directory (The Macintosh HD) and ensure that files are on the same level as the "Applications", "Users", "Library" and "System" directories; this will ensure that the files in the library are available to all users on the machine (this also works for networks)
Optionally you can set the ownership of the folder to the 'administrator' account (the user who will be hosting the library.), you may also like to set the permissions of 'you can' to "Read & Write" (assuming that you are doing this through the user who will host the library); secondly you should set the "Owner" to the administrator who will be hosting the library and set their "access" to "Read & Write" (this will ensure that the administrator has full access to the folder). The final part of this step involves setting access for the "Others" tab to "Read Only" this will ensure that the other users can view but not modify the contents on the folder.
Overview:
So far we have done the following steps:
1. Organized the host library.
2. Placed the iTunes directory into a 'public' directory so that other users may use it. (this step is essential if you plan on sharing the library across multiple accounts on the same machine. NOTE: this step is only necessary if you are wanting to share you library across multiple accounts on the same machine, if you simply want to share the music across a network, use the iTunes sharing facility.
3. set ownership and permissions for the iTunes music folder.
Step 2:
Currently the administrator is the only user who can use this library, however we will address this soon. In this step we will enable iTunes music sharing in the administrator's account, this will enable other users to access the files in the library.
If you are not logged in as the administrator, do so; secondly, open iTunes and select "Preferences" from the "iTunes" menu, now click the "Sharing" tab, if "share my library on my local network" is not checked, the radio buttons below this will now become active, you may choose to share the entire libraries contents, or share only selected content.
Sharing only selected content may be useful if their is explicit content in the library and minors use the network or machine that the library is connected to.
If you have selected "share entire library" go to Step 3, if you have selected share "share selected playlists" read on.
After clicking "share selected playlists" you must then select the playlists that you intend to share across your accounts and network. Once you have finished selecting the playlists, click "OK" to save the settings.
Overview:
In this step we:
1. Enabled iTunes sharing in the administrator's account, now, users on the local network may access the iTunes library, however, users on the same machine may not.
Step 3:
Now we will enable users on the same machine to access the library on the machine. This is achieved by logging in as each user, opening iTunes, opening iTunes preferences, and clicking "look for shared music". now all users on the machine may also access the library that the administrator controls.
This in effect will mean that the user will not need to use their user library, it will be provided to them via a pseudo network connection.
As a secondary measure, I have chosen to write a generic login script that will move any content from the user's "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" directory to the trash and then empties the user's trash.
This is done through the use of an Automator Application: this application does the following actions.
1. Uses the "Finder" action "Get Specified Finder Items"
1a. The user's "~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" folder
2. Uses the "Finder" action "Get Folder Contents"
3. Uses the "Finder" action "Move to Trash"
4. Uses the "Automator" action "Run AppleScript"
4a. with the following:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Finder"
empty trash
end tell
return input
end run
IMPORTANT: Once the script is adapted to the user account it must be set as a login item. in order to keep the script out of the way i have placed it in the user's "Library" directory, in "Application Support" under "iTunes".
Overview:
Here we:
1. Enabled iTunes sharing in the user accounts on the host machine, in effect allowing all users of the machine to view a single iTunes library.
2. (Optional) I have created a login application that will remove any content that has been added to user iTunes libraries, this in effect stops other users of the machine from adding music and files to iTunes.
Step 4:
If it is not already enabled, open system preferences and enable Fast User Switching in Accounts Options.
Summary:
We have shared a single iTunes library across multiple user account, while still allowing for network sharing. This method is designed to save space on machines, particularly those with smaller hard drives.
I hope that this hint proves to be helpful and I hope everybody will give me feedback on my process.
regards,
Pete.
iBook G4; 60GB Hard Drive, 512MB RAM, Airport Extreme Mac OS X (10.4.6) iWork & iLife '06, Adobe CS2, Final Cut Pro. Anything and Everything!!!

how to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Multiple users sharing one itunes library

i have multiple users on my mac, but i'd like us all to be able to access the same itunes library. when i go to itunes prefs on one of the other users accounts and redirect their music library to my folder, it says it is doing it, but itunes still goes to their own music folder instead of mine. i can share my library with the sharing pref, but while they can now listen to my music, they still can't use it in imovie. is there any easy way around this problem??
thanks for your help.

I wrote a simple shell script that executes each time a user logs in (well, actually, each time I log in, coz' it's not really applicable to other users). It syncs my work and home addressbooks and iCal calendars to one another.
I named it "sync". Then I read somewhere that if you wanted to make it double-clickable (to launch it from the Finder), I appended a ".command" filename extension (so it's now named "sync.command"). I also did a chmod 755 to that file so that it had execute privileges. Depending on whether you give each user their own copy of this thing, or keep a single copy in, say, the /Users/Shared directory, you may have to play around with chmod. Whatever, just so long as the user that has just logged in has execute permissions to the file, and to the entire path to the file, you should be good.
Then, in SysPrefs > Accounts > Login Items, I added that "sync.command" file to the list. So, really the only difference is I'm not wrapping mine inside an Automator script like you are.
I had tried adding it to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and make a launchd plist for it, that would kick it off at login. But I didn't get that to work. Don't know why. But just adding the double-clickable executable unix script to the Login Items list did the trick. Whether the plist has to hang out there with it, I don't know. I still have it there, though, in case I ever get motivated to figure out what's wrong with my launchd plist file. So, if just adding it to the Login Items list doesn't do it for you, you could try making a (functional?) launchd plist for it and plopping them both in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, too. That's how I am now, and, like I said, it launches at user login as that user's process (not as a root process like the above referenced article said how login hooks worked -- although, you may want it to run as root since you want this to work with multiple users...in which case, you might want to listen to Cole and not me...).

Multiple users on multiple macs sharing iPhoto Library

How can different family members (using personal logins) all access the same iPhoto library, regardless of which of our two iMacs they happen to be logged into?
I thought the solution would be as simple as:
Plug an external hard drive into the Airport Time Capsule.
Copy our iPhoto library onto the external hard drive.
Log in as each user, open iPhoto and point to the iPhoto library on the external hard drive.
I've searched the support forums and can't find a successful example of this. Does it work? If not, is there another elegant solution?
I'd also be interested in how to back up the 'networked' iPhoto library. I plan to use iPhoto's "publish to Flickr" capability for this as it also solves how to share photos with our family's many iOS devices.
Ps. I'm new to the Mac environment so am still learning my way with OSX (be gentle please).
Equipment
x2 iMacs (<12 months old) running the latest OSX and iPhoto software versions
2TB Airport Time Capsule (brand new) with a 1TB USB external hard drive plugged-in (not sure of the formatting).

How can different family members (using personal logins) all access the same iPhoto library, regardless of which of our two iMacs they happen to be logged into?
I thought the solution would be as simple as:
Plug an external hard drive into the Airport Time Capsule.
Copy our iPhoto library onto the external hard drive.
Log in as each user, open iPhoto and point to the iPhoto library on the external hard drive.
This cannot work, unfortunately, for several reasons:
iPhoto is strictly a single user database. Only one user at a time can open it.
An iPhoto library needs to be on a locally mounted volume. It cannot be on a network share.
The file system of the drive needs to be MacOS Extended (Journaled).
Apple's only recommendation to share an iPhoto library is this: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
If you want to share photos and not the library, see this: iCloud: iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ
Trying to put the iPhoto or Aperture library on a network volume, will result in library corruption or data loss:
Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library

HT1198 If I share an iPhoto library between multiple users, will the Faces, Events, and Places be automatically usable by all users, or will each user have to tag all the photos (e.g. if a user tags a face, will a different user have to do it in their own

If I share an iPhoto library between multiple users, will the Faces, Events, and Places be automatically usable by all users, or will each user have to tag all the photos (e.g. if a user tags a face, will a different user have to do it in their own iPhoto application??

Have you read this Apple document regarding sharing a library with multiple users: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users?
OT

How to share itunes library with multiple users, and keep organised

Hi,
I'm using iTunes (v12) on Windows 7 and am trying to set myself up so that multiple users on this PC are sharing the same library. I've followed the guidance mentioned on a couple of other threads, and put the library in the Users\Public\Music location, and on each user account have pointed iTunes to this location. This has worked OK, as both users can see all the music.
However, problems arise when User A deletes a couple of files (duplicates for example) - User B logs in, and the song is still listed in the library, but with an alert stating the original file cannot be located. They then have to go through the library and also delete these entries. Equally, if User B adds some music files (as opposed to iTunes downloads), they are not visible to User A until they "Add file to library..."
Are there any further steps that I can take to keep both users views of the library identical, without manual intervention by the second user whenever the first makes a change?
Cheers,
Matt

The way you've set it up each user has a distinct library, but is accessing a common set of media files and folders. To accomplish what you want, you need to have a complete iTunes library (database + media) in a common location - typically this would be C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes. See turingtest2's notes on Make a split library portable for the steps that may be needed to bring your library into a suitable structure. Based on your description, you'll need to select one user's library (C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl) to act as the shared "master" and move this to the Public folders.
Then, for each user, hold down SHIFT while starting iTunes - when you get this prompt:
click on Choose Library..., navigate to C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes, select the iTunes Library.itl file you'll find there, and click Open (you'll only need to do this once for each user account).
Note, though, that iTunes is inherently a single-user application - any attempts to run iTunes at the same time will cause errors (and, in the worst case, possible corruption). For this reason, its a good idea to disable fast user switching in Windows so that only one user can be logged in, and running iTunes, at the same time.

Any improvements in sharing an iPhoto Library between multiple users?

It is possible and Apple Approved to share an iPhoto Library between multiple users, but the Library must be stored on a drive or disk image that ignores permissions:
http://tech.kateva.org/2008/10/apple-supports-multi-user-iphoto.html
This doesn't work for me. Has Apple changed anything with iLife '09 to make it easier to share a Library? For example, have they changed from the prior Package format?
Message was edited by: jfaughnan

Alternatives to a trip to the Terminal:
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. The problem here is that OS X works very hard to keep your data safe and secure from the other users. You're trying to beat what's built in to the system. So, to beat the system
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. 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.
Lastly: This method seems a little clunky at first, but works very well. Most importantly, it uses the System to do the job for you.
Create a new Account on your Mac, call it Media. Create an iPhoto Library there. (BTW: This will work for iTunes too.)
Enable Sharing on the Library:(Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other accounts. In those accounts, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. The Library will appear in the other source pane.
This means that both users will be able to see the pics. If you want to use a pic then simply drag it from the shared Library to your own in the iPhoto Window. This means that each user can have their own edits.
If you want to add photos to the Library: Log into the Media account for that purpose.
To make it all seamless: Set your Mac to log into the Media Account automatically. Set iPhoto to launch on log-in. Then switch to your own account using Fast User Switching.
Net result: a Library that's permanently available to all users but also protected. Each user can have their own versions of the pics if they want.
No partitioning, no permissions issues. Uses no extra disk space. What's not to like?
Regards
TD

Sharing one iphoto library between multiple user accounts

I hav an extensive photo library and would like to share this across multiple users on the one computer. Am I able to do this without having to move the library to an external hard drive?

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. The problem here is that OS X works very hard to keep your data safe and secure from the other users. You're trying to beat what's built in to the system. So, to beat the system
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. 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.
Lastly: This method seems a little clunky at first, but works very well. Most importantly, it uses the System to do the job for you.
Create a new Account on your Mac, call it Media. Create an iPhoto Library there. (BTW: This will work for iTunes too.)
Enable Sharing on the Library:(Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other accounts. In those accounts, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. The Library will appear in the other source pane.
This means that both users will be able to see the pics. If you want to use a pic then simply drag it from the shared Library to your own in the iPhoto Window. This means that each user can have their own edits.
If you want to add photos to the Library: Log into the Media account for that purpose.
To make it all seamless: Set your Mac to log into the Media Account automatically. Set iPhoto to launch on log-in. Then switch to your own account using Fast User Switching.
Net result: a Library that's permanently available to all users but also protected. Each user can have their own versions of the pics if they want.
No partitioning, no permissions issues. Uses no extra disk space. What's not to like?
Regards
TD

Question/Problem Sharing iTunes Library between multiple users

Hello all,
I have a question (potential problem) regarding sharing an iTunes Library between multiple users.
In the past, I had placed the iTunes folder in /Users/Shared, and created an alias to it in the "Music" folder of each user, and it worked fine. However, with a recent upgrade to Mac OS 10.5, only the Home user account can access the library.
I read the Apple Support Document http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1203 uner Mac OS X which specifically states *not* to move the iTunes folder, just the iTunes Media folder (which I don't have, would that be iTunes Music?).
Any recommendations? Should I delete the different alias, move the iTunes folder back to the home user, and then follow the instructions in the support document?
We're also looking to sync music purchsed on our iPod touches, as well as apps (which weren't supported in our privous Mac OS X version.
Any advice is appreiciated.

David Guay wrote:
... iTunes Media folder (which I don't have, would that be iTunes Music?).
yes.
specifically states *not* to move the iTunes folder
*do* keep the entire iTunes folder in /users/shared, however, instead of creating aliases, launch iTunes while holding the option (⌥) key, click choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder in /users/shared.
obviously, only one iTunes at a time can access the library !

ITunes library synchronization across multiple users on one computer

I've got a PC running MS XP/Home, with a separate user account for each family member. I also repointed all the iTunes library file pointers to the SAME file on the "D" hard drive (taking all that pressure off the "C" drive, which is filling up!)--so each iTunes incarnation for each user points to the same (master) file.
But when I download music from the Music Store into the library from my user account, it doesn't show up in the iTunes library listing when my daughter logs in using her account--and she can't download it to her iPod.
Why? I bought it for her; why should she have to download it? It's all on one computer!
Is it that iTunes really can't handle multiple users on one computer??????? I don't get it...this isn't any copyright or license issue.
I'd appreciate any tips to get the iTunes on one user's account to "restudy" the library to see if it's been changed by another user. We're all one family on our one computer!
--DaveTh
VAIO Windows XP
VAIO Windows XP

See this thread for answers: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1285867#1285867
Post back here with questions if you have any.

ITunes library on one computer with multiple users

Mom, Dad, and kids each have their own log-in to this computer. Mom is the main administrator and when we downloaded all the CDs to iTunes, it went to Mom's iTunes Library. Dad has logged in under his name and purchased items from iTunes store which are now in his library. We now have 2 separate iTunes Libraries. How can we make the iTunes library the same for both Mom and Dad?
Dad just got iPhone and wants to be able to sync his apps to his computer login as well as having access to Mom's iTunes library - it would seem to me that the easiest way to do this is to copy the library from Mom to Dad or somehow be able to have Dad share the itunes library. Can't figure out how to do this. Any help would be appreciated.

To share an iTunes library among multiple users, put the iTunes library in /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes, and for each user, make an alias from ~/Music/iTunes to /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes. Set permissions on /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes (and everything inside it) to give each user read and write permissions, and you're all set. My wife have been sharing our iTunes library this way since 2005, without a hitch.
Also, you'll have to import the contents of one library into the other, to make one big library, which is an extra step, but there's no way to avoid this now that you have two libraries.
Here are step by step instructions:
1. Figure out which library is larger, and start with that one. I'm going to guess it's Mom's. Log in as Mom.
2. In the Finder, make a folder called /Users/Shared/Music.
3. Move the folder ~/Music/iTunes (that's your iTunes library) to /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes.
4. Select the folder /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes, and make an alias of that folder. (In the Finder, click on File->Make Alias.) The alias will be called "/Users/Shared/Music/iTunes alias".
5. Move "/Users/Shared/Music/iTunes alias" to "~/Music/iTunes alias". Rename the alias to ~/Music/iTunes.
6. At this point, check your work: start iTunes while still logged in as Mom. Mom should see her iTunes library, just as before, as if it had never been moved.
7. While still logged in as Mom, go to /Users/Shared, select the Music folder, and give Mom and Dad read and write permissions on that folder and all its contents.
8. Log out as Mom, and log in as Dad. In the Finder, move Dad's iTunes library from ~/Music/iTunes to the Desktop.
9. As Dad, repeat steps 4 and 5.
10. Now Dad should check his work, by starting iTunes. Dad should now see Mom's library instead of his own.
Congratulations! You now have a shared library. You not only share content, but all playlists, artwork, etc. As Dad, create a playlist, fill it with romantic music, and call the playlist "To My Beautiful Wife". Log out as Dad, and log in as Mom, and Mom will see the same playlist. Crack open a bottle of champagne.
But Dad's content is still in ~/Desktop/iTunes. You'll have to add it to your shared libary:
11. Log in as Dad, and in iTunes, turn on the preference iTunes->Preferences->Advanced->Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.
12. Still in iTunes, choose File->Add to Library and start adding all the files in ~/Desktop/iTunes. They'll be copied from Dad's desktop into the shared library. Try importing a couple of tracks, and log in as Mom and confirm that both Mom and Dad see the imported content. (I myself have never done this, so I can't give you much guidance about importing, since I started our iTunes library as a single shared library from the very beginning. For all you know, you can just select every folder in ~/Desktop/iTunes and import everything at once. I would imagine you might have to futz around re-organizing everything nicely once you've imported all Dad's stuff, but once that's done, it's done.) Once everything is imported you can trash ~/Desktop/iTunes.
That's it. Any content you add will be instantly available to both users without having to sync or copy anything ever, because both users are always looking at the same library. (If one user deletes something it's gone for both users too, so be careful!) The only trouble you could possibly have are permissions issues, depending on how your system and users are set up. On my computer, after setting it up once, we never had to think about it again. However, we set up a separate account to be the administrator, and neither my wife or I have admin privileges. Since Mom is an administrator and Dad is not, you might find that OS X treats you differently when you create new files in your library. You'll have to try it and see. Good luck!
Message was edited by: dgauthier

Multiple Users....One iTunes Library

I am looking find a easier solution to a iTunes multiple user problem I have encountered.Firstly I have followed the steps outlined on numerous articles here to move the music content out of the home folder and move it to the first level of the harddrive and to link all users to this library through the advanced option within iTunes. This I can do no problem and works fine for using the on music content between two users.
Now here is where I am looking for assistance...At the moment when I link the second user to this music library, I must input all playlists and song ratings from scratch. I would like to move my iTunes preferences from one user to the other.Basically I have one music library that is many playlists broken down by artists and also this music is rated. I would like to be able to have this info move across to the other user also.
I have tried a few things to solve this but the end result was moving playlist/song ratings from the main user to the second user....which would have been perfect, but the main user lost this info when I attempted this.
Is this possible....sorry for the long winded explanation and I do hope you can understand the problem that I am trying to explain

Brent, A key is to understand the difference between a library and the music folder. The iTunes Library file is a file that acts as a directory or catalog for a music collection. The Music Folder is where the actual holdings, or files, of the music collection are stored. When you set the music folder location in Preferences:Advanced, you tell iTunes where to store future music files you add to your holdings. Apparently, you have iTunes set up so different user accounts are saving new music files to the same music folder. However, those different users are each using their own library file, and that's why you're not sharing the same directory information across different user accounts.
What you have to do is get each user account to use the same library file, which for at least all but the first user is not going to be the default iTunes Library file that is automatically created in each user's iTunes folder. That is what the instructions in the previous post involving launching iTunes with the Option key accomplish.
iMac G4 17; iBook G4 1.33 Mhz 14; iPod 3G 20GB Mac OS X (10.3.9)

One iTunes Library, Multiple Users

Is it possible to have one iTunes library (say the Administer's iTunes library) and share it with multiple users on the same computer?
Thanks.
Mick

See if this helps: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Multiple Users - 1 Library

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