One iTunes library for multiple accounts, iPhones, laptops and PCs.

First off, I'll apologize up front for asking a question that has probably been asked a million times. I've searched the intarwebs and these forums but I've seen so many different answers and read so many different threads pertaining to my question that I think I've over-informed myself to the point of confusion.
OK, for the longest time I've had one iTunes library running on one Windows PC in my house. I used that for updating all our iPods. That was fine for the last however-many-years we've had iPods.
We just picked-up a couple iPhones last night.
All I want to do is move the iTunes library to our NAS so that we can both access the library from any laptop or PC in order to update the music on our iPhones using our different accounts.
Is there a definitive way to do this, or do I have to follow one of these sideways, shady and round-about ways to get this done.
Having to run upstairs to the PC seems to be completely needless with all this technology we have!
Any help would be appreciated.

After reading this and several other related threads, I am becoming thoroughly confused about all of this. I have a situation similar to the one that pokerpal described in the post dated January 7 at 8:06 pm, except that the music files on my system are located on an external hard drive. Everything else is pretty much the same though - I am the admin user (and the main iTunes user and maintainer) and my girlfriend is a standard user who has no music in her own iTunes library. She can see and listen to and make playlists from and sync her iPod with the music in this library from her account, and I can do the same thing, independent of her, from my account. And if I make a change to information within a song, she doesn't see it, and vice versa, and I understand that. What I don't understand is why when I add a song or an album to the music files by importing a CD or downloading something from the iTunes Music Store, she has no way of knowing that unless I tell her, and then she can add it to her library by using the "Add to Library" function. Is there no way of automatically updating her library files to add the new song(s)? We have almost 15,000 songs and videos in that library, and I don't even want to think about what might have to happen if the answer to my question is "no." Interestingly enough, if I put an update to a Word document in the same exact location (on the hard drive), we can update that and pass it back and forth all day - why is that such a difficult task for iTunes to accomplish?
Sorry I went on so long, but this has been building up for some time, and none of the solutions I've read about here have really been of any help, so I'm a bit frustrated and, as I said at the beginning, confused.
iMac G5, MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Similar Messages

  • Sharing one iTunes library across multiple accounts on the same Mac

    Hello, I've poked around at some of the posts dealing with sharing one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac but it seems like this can only be done if the libary is moved to a shared folder. I realize this can be done but I was trying to share it the way it is described in a post on Apple support (See link below.). That post seemed to imply that you don't have to move the library from its original location (owned by account A, e.g.), rather just make a couple preference changes in the accounts, use fast user switching and voila. That doesn't seem to work. So my question is this: Is the only way to share one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac to move it to a shared folder? I'm running 10.4.8 on an Intel iMac. Thanks in advance!
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195

    After reading this and several other related threads, I am becoming thoroughly confused about all of this. I have a situation similar to the one that pokerpal described in the post dated January 7 at 8:06 pm, except that the music files on my system are located on an external hard drive. Everything else is pretty much the same though - I am the admin user (and the main iTunes user and maintainer) and my girlfriend is a standard user who has no music in her own iTunes library. She can see and listen to and make playlists from and sync her iPod with the music in this library from her account, and I can do the same thing, independent of her, from my account. And if I make a change to information within a song, she doesn't see it, and vice versa, and I understand that. What I don't understand is why when I add a song or an album to the music files by importing a CD or downloading something from the iTunes Music Store, she has no way of knowing that unless I tell her, and then she can add it to her library by using the "Add to Library" function. Is there no way of automatically updating her library files to add the new song(s)? We have almost 15,000 songs and videos in that library, and I don't even want to think about what might have to happen if the answer to my question is "no." Interestingly enough, if I put an update to a Word document in the same exact location (on the hard drive), we can update that and pass it back and forth all day - why is that such a difficult task for iTunes to accomplish?
    Sorry I went on so long, but this has been building up for some time, and none of the solutions I've read about here have really been of any help, so I'm a bit frustrated and, as I said at the beginning, confused.
    iMac G5, MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

  • Sign out of one itunes account and sign into another seperate account on same macbook.  Cannot access itunes library for 2nd account

    Sign out of one itunes account and sign into another seperate itunes account on same macbook.  Cannot access itunes library for 2nd account.  How do I do this?

    iTunes account is not the same as iTunes library.
    iTunes account is what you use to purchase from iTunes.
    iTunes library is what is on your computer.
    You can have items from multiple iTunes accounts in one iTunes library.

  • Can I share one iTunes Library with multiple computers on a network?

    Can I share one iTunes Library with multiple computers on a network?
    note: one library universally shared, not Home Sharing (one library each, shared to each.)
    I want to share one library stores on my server and access it through various local computers. When I buy a song from a computer (non-server), I want it to be added to the library (stored on server). I want it to auto copy to my server, for organization. I want to be able to sync my phone from any computer.
    Most of this I can do, if i figure out how to use one universal library for all my computers.
    Any ideas how I can do this?

    eyeinit,
    You can authorize your iTunes account on up to 5 computers at a time.
    However, purchased music is downloaded to the first machine to download it, but these articles have more information on moving your music between authorized computers:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93063
    This one is for moving all your music using an iPod as a storage drive
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173
    Hope this helps,
    Nathan C.

  • One Itunes library for Ipod and touch

    I have a 5th generation Ipod and plan on upgrading to the Ipod touch. Can I keep my one itunes library for both devices or does each device have to have its own itunes account/library?

    You can't do that.
    And before you decide to store any music that you own on a computer at work, talk to your IT department. Many organizations do not permit it for legal reasons. Standard policies are that anything stored on company owned computers is the property of the company. It could not be legally stored on their machines unless you transfer the licenses and all copies, physical and digital, to the company, meaning you no longer own the music. If they were to be audited and could not prove that they own the music, they would be subject to copyright violation penalties. Just use your iPod when you're at the office if you want to listen to music.

  • I have one apple ID for both my Iphone 4S and Ipad. My Ipad was stolen from me and when I checked the iCloud, it can only locate the Iphone 4S. How can I locate the Ipad device?

    I have one apple ID for both my Iphone 4S and Ipad. My Ipad was stolen from me and when I checked the iCloud, it can only locate the Iphone 4S. How can I locate the Ipad device?

    Welcome to the Apple Community.
    You can only locate your device when it is logged into iCloud and 'Find My Phone' is enabled, additionally the device will need to be switched on and connected to a wifi or cellular network.
    Unfortunately, you cannot activate iCloud or 'Find My Phone' remotely.

  • I got a new pc and I am getting this message: The ipod 'harms ipod' is synced with another itunes library  Do you want to erace this Ipod and synce with this itunes library?  An Ipod can only be synced with only one itunes library at a time.  Erasing and

    The ipod 'harms ipod' is synced with another itunes library.Do you want to erase this ipod and sync with this itunes library?  An ipod can be synced with only one itunes library at a time.  Erasing and syncing replace the contents of this ipod with the contents of this itunes library.
    I don't know what to do?  I should save my library before I replace the contents, but I don't know how to do that! HELP!!

    See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
    B-rock

  • I want to sync the songs on my Mac to my iPod, but it says An iPod can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. Erasing and syncing replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of this iTunes library.' Will this reset my iPod completely?

    I want to sync the songs on my Mac to my iPod, but it says, 'An iPod can only be synced to one iTunes Library at a time. Erasing and syncing replaces the contents of this iTunes Library.' Will this reset my iPod completely (my iPod is 4th gen)?

    Was your iPod associated with a different mac or pc previously is all. And was it backed up or sync'd on this mac with iTunes previously.
    http://www.apple.com/support/itunes

  • How to share one iTunes library with multiple computers AND Apple TV? Help?

    It seems like my dilemma may not be easily solved. Hopefully it isn't as complicated as I think it will be. Here's the situation:
    My wife hates that, in order to see or do anything with the images she takes, I need to have iPhoto open on my computer (Mac Pro), and she then has to connect to it over sharing.
    By the same token, I don't like that she buys iTunes content on her MacBook, which is sometimes a duplicate of content I already have. Now that the App Store is out, that is going to start getting really expensive.
    So instead, I want us to be able to:
    1) Have ONE iTunes library on the network, and ONE iPhoto library. Both of these would be accessible to any computer on the network. When you launch iTunes, you would get all the media that is in that library.
    2) Both be able to access iTunes at the same time to listen to / watch content.
    3) Both be able to purchase iTunes content, and when it it purchased, it updates that single library. If I buy a song, the next time my wife fires up iTunes, that song is there for her to listen to.
    4) Have our two Apple TV units be able to play content from this library.
    So, I know that we need something on the network. I have a Drobo with DroboShare, so that is one option. I also have a spare Mac Pro laying around, along with a copy of OS X Leopard Server.
    I just don't know what route we should take with this. All I want is for us to share a library, to be able to both use that library, for us to be able to sync content from that library to our portable devices, and for our Apple TVs to also see that library.
    Possible?!

    I'm sort of in the same boat. We've got an iMac with separate User Accounts set up and are currently sharing the same iTunes and iPhoto libraries along with streaming them to our Apple TV.
    Right now I'm the only one with an iPod, however she'll be getting one in a couple of weeks.
    We also just picked up a MacBook yesterday and I'd like to be able to sync certain libraries like iTunes and iPhoto so that no content gets duplicated on either the iMac or MacBook and so that we both have access to the current libraries for each program on our iPods and AppleTV.
    I have an external hard drive that I back up the iMac on and I assume I could manually keep things current with that but there's got to be an easier way...that's why these are Macs right?
    Bill

  • Using single iTunes library for multiple computers

    With the new Airport Disk utility, can I attach an external hard drive with my iTunes library and have multiple computers point to that library as the library for each?

    BKRonline wrote:
    neptune2000 wrote:
    A BIG WARNING (...) If you are a good guy and use ONLY one computer to read/write (i.e., to copy music to it) and all the others are read only (which cannot be enforced in software), then you're OK. Consider yourself warned.
    just to clarify...
    Use ONE computer and ONE COMPUTER ONLY for purchasing / adding new content to the 'master' iTunes library area. Use ANY OTHER COMPUTER that's looking at that 'master' iTunes library for reading (playing back).
    Yes. If you can enforce it by "persuasion", not software
    Would there be a conflict if someone rates songs from other computers etc?
    Yes. If they both rate at the same time.

  • Using One iTunes Library on multiple computers.

    Hey guys,
    I've currently got my iTunes library saved on a Time Capsule and use it with my mac mini.
    I want to be able to use the same library on my macbook pro. have set up iTunes on both computers so that it looks for the library on the Time Capsule so at the moment both machines can play all the media.
    However if i buy track using the mini and add it to iTunes it saves it in the right place and plays fine but how can i update the library on the macbook as so it can see the new songs that have been added?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated
    Kind regards

    Another detail with this setup is that if you've got an iPod or iPhone that you want to load music to, you'll need to connect it to the computer that is the 'host' offering the music library for share. If you use the 'client' computer, then it won't let you install your mp3s to your iPod from the 'shared' library on the other computer.
    In my setup, which is similar to what you're describing, it looks like iTunes lets me connect my iPhone to either computer and install mp3s.
    Seth

  • Can I share my iTunes Library for multiple Apple TVs?

    I have an Airport/Time Capsule, 2TB harddrive. I have Apple TV. I have a Mac Book Pro. Can I point multiple Apple TV devices to the same iTunes library on my Mac Book Pro? Or, even better, can I move my iTunes library to my Airport/Time Capsule and have the Apple TV devices look at the library there?
    I don't have Airport Extreme, if that is the only device that will allow this.

    I have been looking into this further and I notice that the "Base Station" menu selections are grayed out. Apparently I did something wrong in my set up. I'm reading through my set up booklet to see if I can find it. If I get it configured as a base station, that might help me.

  • How do I use one iTunes library for several user accounts?

    This is definitely a question!
    I have several user accounts for my osx. One I use at home, one at work etc.
    What I never have been able ta manage is a way to use the same iTunes library (the same music files) for the different accounts.
    When a new user profile is created, everything in it is set to scratch.
    I have tried all kinds of tricks:
    - Direct iTunes to look for It's library on the other users folder (wich doesn't really work, cus even if you are Admin you don't have access to other users folders through another user).
    - Creat an alias for the other library-folder and refere to it.
    etc. etc. You name it...
    Anyone?

    Hi,
    This will help you - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195
    Regards

  • Use 1 itunes library for multiple user accounts

    Is there a way to use 1 library for multi-user accounts on mac osx? I have 4 iphones and was previously using the main account only. I'm getting tired of having everyones contact lists downloaded into my main phone. I can't seem to figure out how to sync the music to the same library.

    Hi There,
    I sync 2 iphones with the same library, and to stop the other iphones contacts adding to mine I have two groups in the address book, one has my contacts in and the other my friends. I then just sync the appropriate address book in the info pane when the iphone is plugged in.
    Hope this helps.

  • Problems sharing iTunes library across multiple accounts on one imac

    I have followed the Mac OS instructions in this article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 to share music accounts on the family iMac by putting the iTunes Media folder in a public directory. When I go to connect to this library the I cannot see the actual iTunes Media folder but the following file path is available: ~/Public/Automatically Add to iTunes.localized. Selecting this folder does not appear to make the library available.
    Has anyone had this problem?

    iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189
    Chris CA's instructions on sharing one iTunes music library between multiple user accounts - https://discussions.apple.com/message/8974074 - Multiple users using a single library file - similar post at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3753008

Maybe you are looking for