Playing music across accounts?

I asked this question last March when I first got my Mac, but no one had an answer. I'm posting again, since it's starting to become a point of contention between my wife and me.
We've set up accounts for each of us on the Mac. Is there any way to configure iTunes so that when I'm playing music and she logs into her account, the music continues to play? I've put all our music files in a shared folder.
On my old Windows computer, we were able to do this with Windows Media Player, but I can't figure out how to do it on the Mac. Thank you.

I'm not sure what you're asking. Are you asking whether you can start iTunes playing, switch to your wife's account in Mac OS X, and have iTunes continue to play the same track(s) from your user account? If that's what you're asking, then no, to the best of my knowledge you can't, even with Fast User Switching. I haven't been able to confirm absolutely, but everything I've read indicates that iTunes will pause automatically when you switch to another user and I haven't found any way to keep it playing.
If that's now what you meant, please post back and clarify what it is you want to accomplish.
Regards.

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Sharing music across accounts on one machine without moving files to Shared

I have read other posts about sharing iTunes among different accounts on one Mac, but so far I haven't solved my particular problem. Up until a couple of weeks ago - without reading any background material - I was just treating the two accounts as two different machines. I would open iTunes on one "source" account (which had music sharing enabled), switch to the second account, and be able to see the source account's music as a playlist, just as if it were being shared from a remote machine. I didn't have to worry at all about physically moving the files anywhere. As long as iTunes was open at the source account, I could play the source's music.
I've begun having a problem, though, recently, with the source account "cutting out," as if there were some kind of interference over a network. Which seems strange, given everything's all on the same machine.
I began reading the forums for answers, and did see the idea of moving the iTunes Music folder to users/Shared. The problem is that when I try to choose the the folder at the second account, the folder is blocked from access. I don't understand why this is so for the Shared folder.
If anyone has any ideas about A) the interference, and B) the blocked iTunes Music folder in users/Shared, I'll be very grateful.
Rob

Sorry,I don't have any idea about the interference.
Your Shared folder might have the wrong owner. It should be 'system'.
Here's a picture of the 'Get Info' of my Shared folder:
You probably want to use the shared folder as described in the second method (not using Fast User Switching) in this article:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Yosemite no longer plays music across Airport

Since the upgrade to Yosemite, Airport+iTunes no longer delevers music reliably to a remote Airport Express.
The music flow works reasonably well when it works, but then it terminates, and most often stays unconnected until I
deselect the Airport Express unit in iTunes, and reselect it. Only then will the music flow resume.
The average duration of the music flow is around 3 minutes, which makes iTunes completely useless.
Is there a fix for this, other than moving on to a more reliable platform?
It should be noted, that the Airport network as such has not changed at all, the only real change is the OS upgrade.

Yosemite has pathetic networking.
You need to do a lot more for Yosemite to work.. If you upgrade installed.. I would have to say there might be no fix. Especially if this is over wireless.
Otherwise try the normal stuff.
Yosemite.. script the mount
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6747833
That was a post from Tesserax I saw.. nothing works for everyone.. because Apple have made it buggy as anything.. I doubt we have got to the bottom bug layer.
Where you see TC (time capsule) substitute AE in your mind. Ignore the disk info.. as I use the same set of options for everyone.
A factory reset of the TC is the start.. it is required so you can find it again.
Factory reset universal
Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.
N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.
Setup the TC again.
ie Start from a factory reset. No files are lost on the hard disk doing this.
Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.
1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.
eg TCgen5 and TCwifi for basestation and wireless respectively.
Even better if the issue is more wireless use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense. But this can be tried in the second round.
2. Use all passwords that also comply but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.
3. Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking. If the TC is main router it will not be an issue.
4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.
5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.
In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,
Type in SMB://192.168.0.254 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).
You can use name.. SMB://TCgen5.local where you replace TCgen5 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.
However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.
6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only.
There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.
You might need to do some more work on the laptop itself. eg Reset the PRAM.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.
Tell us how you go.

How do we share music across Vista accounts?

I have Windows Vista. Each person in my family has their own account. We all want to have access to all our music, so I have put it in Public\Public Music.
When I copy a CD onto our PC, it is automatically saved in the My Music folder of the person who is logged on. So when other people log on, they don't have access to it. It is a real pain moving the music manually into the Public\Public Music directory. I have looked for a default directory for when CDs are copied into iTunes, without success.
Is there a default directory that I can set to Public\Public Music?
Is Public\Public Music the best way to share our music across multiple Vista users?
Thanks
JohnRR

I have looked for a default directory for when CDs are copied into iTunes, without success.
Is there a default directory that I can set to Public\Public Music?
iTunes preferences -> Advanced - iTunes Music folder location
Once that's set, all future imports and purchases will be saved in that location. Note that since iTunes has no folder-watching capability, each user other than the user who does the import or purchase will have to add the tracks to his/her iTunes library manually unless a third-party solution is used. Here are a couple of potential solutions from other developers:
http://albumbrowser.klarita.net/iTunesFolderWatch.html
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/itunes/hack-attack-automatically-sync-itunes- to-any-folders-175161.php

Hello there - I am sharing an iPhoto library across two accounts on the same computer - it works fine EXCEPT for Quicktime movies - they play on one account and claim I don't have the rights on the other - all permissions are on and ok?

Hello there - I am sharing an iPhoto library across two accounts on the same computer - it works fine EXCEPT for Quicktime movies - they play on one account and claim I don't have the rights on the other - all permissions are on and ok?

It should be in the Users/ Shared folder.
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Note the option to check and repair Library Permissions
Regards
TD

Hi, we have two iphones with two accounts. The apple tv automatically syncs with one account to play music from the iphone to apple tv. How can I use my iphone to do the same?

Hi, we have two iphones with two accounts. The apple tv automatically syncs with one account to play music from the iphone to apple tv. How can I use my iphone to do the same?

Our experience is a little different, we have different iTunes accounts for different family members, each family member has their own iTunes library on their own mac, each mac uses my Apple ID for homesharing and we are able to play purchased content from each library on the Apple TV.

Continue to Play Music, in Both Accounts

I'm working on two separate user accounts constantly and combining them is not an option. It's irritating when I switch to the other account and my music stops.
Any way to enable access to the playing music on both sides?

I'm working on two separate user accounts constantly and combining them is not an option.
Why not? Most of the time, when I hear someone doing something like this and they say doing something different is "not an option," it's because of a failure to understand something. That could easily be wrong here, but humor me and provide details.
It's irritating when I switch to the other account and my music stops.
Are you logging out and logging in to the other? If so, that's just the way it works. All apps stop when you log out. You could try using fast user switching instead (System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Options). If you're already doing that, and the music still stops, then you're probably out of luck.

TA22652 How many computers are authorized to play music from my account?

How can I tell how many computers are authorized to play music from my account?

No one here could possibly tell you that.
This is a user to user support forum.
Try reading the article from which the question was posted.

Trying to authorize my iTunes to play music from another account

I was trying to play music from another account in my iTunes. I got the message that my computer isn't authorized. I entered the email address and password of the account with which the music purchased and got another message that says "This computer is already authorized. Including this one, you have authorized 4 computers out of your available 5." Yet, I am still unable to play the music in my iTunes. Suggestions? Thanks.

There's a couple of ways to get through to the authorisation controls in the 11.0.x versions.
The control is still in the Store menu, but first (if you're using iTunes versions 11.0.x) you might need to bring up the menu bar to see the Store menu.
If you're using 11.0.x, click on the wee boxy icon up in the top-left corner of your iTunes to see the "Show Menu Bar" control, as per the following screenshot:
Then you'll find the control in the Store menu:
Alternatively, if you don't want to bring up the menu bar, it's still possible to get into the authorise controls via nested menus accessible from the wee boxy icon. Here's a screenshot of where to find them:

"You are not authorized to play music from this account on your computer"

***? I upgraded to Vista. I try to play Music and I get this. I have music from 2 different Apple Account on my comp. I deauthorize them both from all computers, then I authorize this computer on both accounts, yet everytime I attempt to play a song/sync music to my iPod, it says I'm not authorized.
Help anyone?! Quickly too? I'm going on a trip at 3 AM, which is in like 6 hours.

Oh my god..
Help or I'll kill.

"One machine is authorized to play music purchased with this account"

Hey Guys,
I just made my Apple ID my iTunes account, and I just reviewed the account info. For some reason it says: "One machine is authorized to play music purchased with this account"
I thought up to five computers are authorized to play music downloaded from iTunes?
Did I do something wrong, is this normal?

Up to 5 can be authorized but you have only authorized 1 machine.
If you have another machine you want to authorize, fire up iTunes on it and authorize it. You don't need to authorize it unless you have iTunes purchases on it.

HT1473 How do I play music/playlists from another iTunes account without having to transfer the purchases to my account?

How do I play music/playlists from another iTunes account without having to transfer the purchases to my account?

Get copies of the song files and add them to your iTunes library.

Playing music purchased with apple id from closed email account

i can't play music purchased with an apple id from another email account that no longer exists
Please Help!!!

Is it an old Apple ID of yours? If so, then whether the email is still valid or not, the Apple ID is still there. You need to authorize that ID to your computer by signing it onto iTunes and then clicking on Store on the top menu, then Authorize this computer.
If you don't remember the password to that old ID, you can change it here: Apple - My Apple ID
If you don't remember your Security Questions, you can have them reset by iTunes Support:
ACCOUNT SECURITY CONTACT NUMBERS
Cheers,
GB

I was downloading music to my iTunes account and playing music from my I tunes library when all of the sudden it stopped playing and the control panel won't let me restart the music.....why

I was downloading music cd from my PC to my I tunes library and playing music on the I tunes player at the same time when all of the sudden my music stop playing and I can't get the I tunes player to restart playing music from my library again. The I tunes equalizer / player box with timer shows the song ready to play but the controls won't restart the song.......why not, and how to I get it to restart playing my library?

- You need to restore the iPod to factory defaults/new iPod and start anew. Is the restore button visable in iTunes? If it is they restore the iPod.
- If it is not visible try resetting the iPod:
Reset iPod touch: Press and hold the On/Off Sleep/Wake button and the Home
button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- If the restore button is still not visable, try placing the iPod in recovry mode. See:
iPhone and iPod touch: Unable to update or restore

Google Play Music and SD Card not possible?

Good morning,
Google launched the Play Music All Access in Germany last night, also the newest version of the Play Music App. On the Xperia Z1 there is the new "Save to SD Card" option, but not on the Tablet Z. Is this a only a problem on my Tablet Z or can you also not access this option on your tablet?
Thanks for your help!
Greetings,
SirRobin

This service is not available in Sweden so i can't test this but Tablet Z also has the move to SD-card option under Settings -> Storage. Make sure you're using the primary account though. If you have more then one user account, only the primary can access the SD-card.
- Official Sony Xperia Support Staff
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Playing music across accounts?

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