One library, multiple users

I am relatively new to mac. I have a laptop, a library of close to 300GB of music/podcasts/movies/TV shows, a macmini connected to a TV/Monitor and a 1TB NAS by la cie connected to an Airport Express router. I would like my NAS to store my iTunes content and to have both the MACMINI and MACBOOK access the library wirelessly... first question is: Is this possible. Second question is, should the NAS be set up with the Apple Server or the windows server. Right now for some reason I cannot access the share I created on the NAS if i only enable the Apple Server. Next question, after upgrading to iTunes 7, I noticed that when I download new music, a folder with the name of the album is created, the new music download is not stored in the artist folder, or the existing album folder that is stored in the Artist folder, is this correct. And lastly, when I moved all of the music to the new NAS Share, and then deleted the library on iTunes and reset the iTunes storage preferences and dragged/dropped the library from the new location, a bunch of songs now appear with an exclamation point. I am not sure if my system is working, and now I have to go and individually indicate to iTunes where songs are located, and I am afraid I lost music in the migration. How do I best use my network and music? How was iTunes intended to be used in a house with multiple computers and one account... HELP I am in over my head!

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Windows 7, one computer, one library, multiple users

I installed iTunes 10.0.1 (64 bit) on a new computer running Windows 7.
1. I copied my old iTunes library from an old computer.
2. In iTunes, I changed my iTunes media folder location to C:\users\public\music\itunes\itunes media
3. I selected th copied files, then dragged and dropped them into the itunes window.
All good so far. Now I can see and play my old tunes on my new computer. But... this is a home computer with multiple users. When I change users, I can start itunes, but when I change the iTunes media folder location to the same location as the install user's location, I get nothing. It's like iTunes can't see the data at that location.
Can anyone help with this? Is there a different way to do this? My goal is to have all users on this computer share one iTunes library (we all use the same store account). What am I missing?
Thanks in advance,
Dave

+... but when I change the iTunes media folder location to the same location as the install user's location, I get nothing. It's like iTunes can't see the data at that location.+
When you change user B's itunes preference to use C:\users\public\music\itunes\itunes media as their itunes media folder, that part worked, right?
You need to add the "C:\users\public\music\itunes\itunes media" folder to their itunes database file (itunes Library.itl). Each windows user has their own database file.
The itunes library content is not the same as the itunes library database.
Make sure everyone's preferences for "Copy files to itunes folder" is NOT checked, or you'll end up with duplicate files.
Message was edited by: Katrina S.

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

One Computer, Multiple Users, Multiple iTunes Libraries

Hello
My family shares a single Mac via Fast User Switching. We all have separate iTunes libraries. I had some difficulty getting TV to be able to use all of the iTunes libraries as alternate sources for streaming music. I'm posting this here as I've noticed a couple of questions here about it with no solutions.
The symptom is that you are able to add the multiple libraries to TV by entering the passcode in iTunes but when you try to the new source, it fails to load the library. 'Loading <library> name ...' goes on forever or eventually gives up and then the library appears grey in the source list and you have to go through the registration process again. Music sharing appears to work between copies of iTunes running on the same computer.
It's a firewall problem.
It seems that iTunes choose a new TCP port to share each different library. For me it seems to allocate ports in the 4915x range. I can't find any documentation about this. The ports are not listed in the well known list for Apple products. I discovered it because the Windows version of iTunes has an informative error message that tells you to check that a particular port is open in the firewall for the particular library when it fails to load it.
To fix it you just need to open these ports in the Mac's firewall. After that, provided all the users remain logged in with iTunes running, you will be able to stream their libraries.
I hope this helps others to get it working more quickly than I did.
I see that there are some Apple employees participating in these discussions. If you see this, maybe you could modify the documentation? Or add the solution to the How-To pages? I'll submit some feedback anyway.

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...).

One domain, multiple users

I use iWeb with MobileMe/iDisk to host www.mydomain.com with no problems. I use the custom domain feature in MobileMe and the domain is registered with GoDaddy. I would like to set up a subdomain for my brother so that he could use iWeb from his own computer to publish to hisname.mydomain.com using whatever method would work best. I know how to set up the subdomain forwarding but the thing that I can't figure out is if there is any way for him to publish his web site to my iDisk. The only thing I can come up with would be to give him my password and then have him publish the site to a folder in iWeb.
I also have a MobileMe family pack with an unused account. Is there some way that this could help me? I could give him his own account and he could publish it to his own iDisk but then the URL isn't going to look right? Any suggestions are appreciated. Has anyone else come up with a good solution for letting multiple users publish to the same domain from different computers with iWeb?

Hello Chet,
MobileMe only supports one personal domain per MobileMe login.
If your goal is to give your brother his own personal domain (www.example.com) for use with his own iWeb site then assigning him his own MobileMe member name from your family pack would be the way to go.
If you are both using the same computer, make sure he is using iWeb and publishing from a separate user account. Publish from one user login to two separate MobileMe member names can get confusing.
Hope that helps
~ Mr. Madison
Do you have a backup?
Mac OS X v10.5, v10.6: How to back up and restore your files

Best Practice: One Library, Multiple Macs ?

Despite searching, I've yet to find a definitive answer to this one - so any advice would be appreciated....
Having downloaded the trial, I very much like Aperture, but my decision to purchase and continue using it hinges very much on whether or not I can access the same library from multiple machines.
Here is the scenario:
My 'studio' currently has a Quad G5 (soon to be upgraded to a MacPro), with ample Firewire storage, including 2 new 500Gb Western Digital MyBook drives. I now also have a MacBook Pro to allow me to work away from the studio.
So far, I'm using one of the 500Gb drives to hold everything I need - 'work in progress' documents, images etc. etc. with this being SuperDuper! smart updated daily to the second drive. This allows me to take drive 1 away at night and work from home, our go out of the office with the MacBook Pro and have all my media to hand, and 'synchronise' upon return the next day or whenever.
I think what I'd like to be able to do, is set up Aperture on the G5 and get all my images sorted and stored into a new library (out of iPhoto and various Finder folders etc) stored on FW Drive 1 along with the rest of my stuff. This would semi-automatically be backed up to FW Drive 2 as mentioned above.
However, I want to be able to access this library with Aperture on the MacBook Pro when I'm not in the office - will this work? I appreciate that I'll need 2 licenses of Aperture (one for the desktop, and one for the laptop) but my concern is whether or not both copies of Aperture can use the same library....... I wonder if the Aperture prefs would prevent this from working or screw it up completely.
If this ain't gonna work - what other options do I have !?
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Not sure this will help but this is what I have decided to do.
System: MacBook Pro and a G5. Storage: 2 Western Digital 160 GB USB 2.0 Passport Portable drives, 1 OWC 160 GB Firewire 800 (for back up of my internal drive on my MacBook Pro), and 5 500GB Western Digital MyBook Pro FW drives (attached to my G5). One Aperture library resides on my MacBook Pro internal and a yearly (like 2006) Aperture resides on 1 500 GB WD MyBook Pro
In studio, I shoot wirelessly and transfer by ftp to the MBP and using Aperture Hot Folder move the images into Aperture to show the client at the end and during the shoot. They are managed, but sadly the files are not named by studio convention. Once the client leaves, I delete the temporary project, and reimport the pictures, renaming the pictures using the studio format and they are managed. At this point the picture reside on my internal drive of my MBP.
I do the majority of the clean up of the images at this point (contrast, exposure, saturation, sharpening, leveling, blemish corrections, etc, keywording). Once done, I export the project to my primary WD Passport drive and then using the old fashion network strategy of walking, take the WD Passport drive to the G5 and import the project in G5 library converting them to referenced files so I have Finder based architecture for all my RAW files.
Once I know the the files are on the G5, I go back to my MBP and convert the managed pictures to referenced pictures in the process moving them off my internal drive and on to the WD 160 USB 2.0 drive in a Finder based architecture. This keeps my library on my MBP pretty small and allows me to carry 160 GB worth of pictures that I can work on at any time or place. [Actually, I will probably pick up a 3rd 160GB Passport soon, like this weekend, so I will be able to carry 320 GB of pictures with me.
Now it gets nasty because I have two sets of pictures, one on my MacBook Pro and one on my G5. Again using old fashion strategies, I decided that the work flow could only go one way... from MBP to G5 and never (or very rarely) the opposite direction. The other nasty is how to deal with changes made after the first transfer of the project to the G5. The vast majority of those changes go through Photoshop and by default they become managed files. So for a particular project when I start to do additional editing, I bring those images into an album (let's say "Selected pictures") for that project and edit away. Once I am really done, I generate a new project (Original project is 070314 and the new project would be 070314 Update) and I drag the album to the new project. The nice thing is the primary pictures remain in the original project when I move the album. I then export Project Update consolidating images and import that into the library on the G5. Lastly, I relocated masters of the managed files to the WD Passport drive. I pay the penalty of having a few replicates of a couple of pictures and the architecture of my G5 library is not identical to my MBP library, but I have all of my primary images plus CS2 changes available to my MBP and my G5.
OK..... my library on my MBP internal is backed up to the OWC drive using Superduper so I always have a current replicate of that library. The library and pictures on the 500 GB WD Mybook Pro are backed up 2-3 times per week to a second 500 GB WD MyBook Pro.
In case my GS fails, I can address the library by simply attaching my MBP to the firewire chain and double click on the library icon. This forces Aperture to open the library on the 500 GB WD Mybook Pro drive. In case my MBP fails, I can boot my MBP or G5 off the OWC drive.
Principles: A one library solution will never work, because eventually, even with referenced images it will become too large for a single drive. So start now with a strategy of smaller libraries structures. I use a yearly system, but others are possible. My yearly system consists of my library plus referenced images on one 500 GB drive plus a second drive to which I back up. If I run out of space, I will buy two more drives, perhaps moving TB drives.
Don't try to store very many images on your internal drive of any computer. Develop a methodology of keeping the images on external (FW or eSATA) drives where capacity can be readily expanded.
Keep your MBP library pristine by regularly moving managed files over to referenced files on a bus powered portable drive.
Make sure you regularly back up both systems.
Hope this helps.
steven

One library; multiple Apple IDs (used to purchase)

I am sure this has been answered in the forums, but I have looked and looked and can't seem to find a definitive answer, so I thought I would ask.
To simplify (as it's a little more complex than this, but for this question, it doesn't matter), we have one iTunes library which is shared between me, my wife and my two sons (four Apple IDs total), all on one account on a machine. We each purchase things on our iOS devices and sync them to the one library. We are all authorized to use everything across our devices from the library.
My question revolves around adding iTunes Match. I am interested in adding this to my Apple ID so I can have access to my music wherever I am. The others don't really need this.
If I were to subscribe, would it affect their abilities to sync with and use the music and media already in the library? What other pitfalls may I find?
Thanks in advance!

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(45337)

One libraries multiple users

So I have Vista om my dell inspiron 530 and I got the instructions on how to move the iTunes library to the public folders but it is kinda confusing. Can some one explain it for me?
Also, when I download new music on the main owner account will it update all libraries?

You can only use one library at a time in an Aperture slideshow, so I'd suggest to simply collect the audio that you want to use in a folder (export the songs from both iTunes Libraries) and then import this folder to Aperture. Now you have a project containing the audio files; you will see it in the Aperture Audio section of the audio Browser, right above the iTunes section.
You can use the Apperture audio just like the audio in iTunes to drag to the timeline of your slideshow.
Regards
Léonie

One iTunes Library, multiple user accounts?

Hi,
I recently purchased a new iMac 21.5" for my Family and want to share my iTunes library with my wife's OS X user account so we can both access the same music/media on both accounts. Is there an easy way to do this? Maybe place the files in a "shared" folder?
Also, What's the best way to move my iTunes media to my new Mac from my old PC?
Thanks,
C

The Apple store will move everything from the pc to the mac or you can call Apple Support and they will help you do it.
If you type "share itunes library" into the search bar at the top of this page next to "Support" and find articles to show you how to do this.

One Mac, One Library, Multiple Accounts.

I recently introduced an iMac G4 into my family as their new primary machine (Mine is still my trusty PowerBook), and I have a bit of a problem.
The prior computer (a Windows XP PC) had a fairly large (14.5 GB) music collection. All the files are simple mp3 files, so there's no DRM to worry about in this equation. I copied them over onto an external drive and then imported them into iTunes (my user's Library). The thing is, this is a consortium of everyone's music, and each person in my family has their own user account. Is there any way to make one central iTunes library that can be accessed no matter what account they're using?
Or do I have to copy over these 14 gigs onto each person's individual accounts? I'd rather not, because then as music is added, it would be a pain to keep everyone's music synced across multiple libraries on the same machine. Plus, it would be a huge waste of space.

Click here and follow the instructions.
(40173)

One library, two users

Can I have one iTunes library and two users with separate music on their ipods?

Yes. How to use multiple iDevices with one computer.

One library, Multiple Windows Accounts. Help Please!

I have two windows user accounts on one computer. Each user has a separate ipod. I want to keep all music files in one place if possible. Currently all music is in iTunes music folder located in shared files. Each user has their own iTunes folder, iTunes music library, and the iTunes library in their directory. I thought each user account would be able to access the shared music files and rate the songs, etc., without disrupting the other users iTunes. Everytime one user uses Add file to library or use Add folder to library, the other user gets a ! next to the song and gets an error saying the song cannot be found do you want to search for it. I cannot figure out how to fix this or if it is even possible. I thought it was by the instructions on the iTunes website: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer. Any information would help thanks.

Turn off 'keep iTunes folder organised' and 'copy to iTunes folder' in Edit\Prefs\Advanced in both accounts, and see if that helps.

One iMac - Multiple user accounts - Can iTunes music be moved b/t accts?

My family (wife, son, daughter, and me) share an imac but we all have our own user accounts. Our entire itunes music library is in one user account and is getting to the point of being unmanageable.
Can I move some of my itunes library (e.g., my son's music) to another user account on the same iMac?
It's my understanding that an ipod can only be synced with one itunes library at a time, but I thought Apple also restricted the usage of music bought from itunes to a finite number of computers. If this is true, I think I would be able to transfer a group of songs from one user account to another so long as the user accounts were on the same computer.
I think if I place the songs i want to transfer to my son's user account on an ipod, log into my son's account, plug the ipod in, start up itunes, then I should be able to transfer the purchases from one user account to the other.
Will this work?

Thanks, this will work.
One somewhat related follow-up question. After I have dragged the .M4P files into the shared directory, and logged into the other user account, they appear as "protected". After clicking the "more info" button, i can change the access to "read and write" for each m4p file, and then I can drag it into itunes.
How can I make this change (read and write) global so I will not have to unlock and enable each m4p file?

One Library - Multiple Computers

I searched a little bit on here, but couldn't find a good solution. Hopefully you can help me out.
Here is what I currently have:
- iMac
- 2 MacBooks
- Time Capsule
- Apple TV
- iDisk
- Drobo
I want to store my iPhoto library and iTunes library in a single place where all the computers and Apple TV can access them.
I thought the Time Capsule might be the best place, but I can't figure out a way to backup the Time Capsule. I tried SuperDuper and CCC, but the Time Capsule isn't mounted (even though I was able to make it show up on my desktop) so it isn't an option for the source disk.
I've read on here that iDisk will be too slow.
I thought about connecting the Drobo to the Time Capsule via USB and storing the files on there. The benefit to this is the Drobo doesn't need to be backed up b/c it duplicates the data itself.
I thought about getting a Mac Mini as using that as a media server to store the files and then I could use SuperDuper to backup the Mini.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

BG:
If you have the library on an external HD that has ownership set to be ignored you should be able to reliably have all users use that library. The only caveat is that *only one can open and use it at a time*. It's explained in this Apple document: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198
I don't know if you can daisy chain a FW hard drive off of the Time Capsule, have it formatted for OS X Extended (Journaled) but if you can you might be able to have the library on such a HD. If the Time Capsule has a port for another drive to be connected and you have the drive you could test it out while keeping your original copy of the library on your own Mac until you're sure it works OK. Also ask in the Time Capsule forum on this.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There's now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

One library, multiple MACs.

Hi everyone,
I wonder if there is a way to "share" a library among multiple computers. I know I can share a librasy and see it on another comuter but that is not exactly what I mean. I'll explain:
I have three MACs. My MacBook Pro, the wife's iBook and a Mac Mini. We have out library of photos on the Mac Mini and we can see it from any machine, but to upload new pictures we have to do it on the Mac Mini.
I am wondering if I could have the library on a "server" and have all three MACs use that library as the local library, so I can upload pictures to it from any machine.
The Mac Mini resides in a closet and has no display right now, so it is kind of inconvenient to upload new pictures, and I would like to have the photos on an IP Drive that I have hard wired to my network so that out Tivo box can see the pictures fast, right now it is all wireless and rather slow to display.
Thanks,

I'm thinking that you would need either a FW drive attached to the mini OR a partition on the mini's internal drive. This additional drive (or partition) would need to be set to "Ignore Ownership" (from Finder, highlight the drive and choose File/GetInfo). Put the library there.
The reason that I'm suggesting this solution is because that's what I do to provide total and complete equal access among several users on the same computer.

One library, multiple users

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