Put iTunes libraries on home network

Question

This seems like a simple request, but I can't find any posts that offer a
simple solution.
My wife and I each have an iTunes account. Naturally, we also each have our own iTunes library, our own songs, podcasts, etc.
We also have two PCs in our house, connected by a home network. We use both
PCs, and use the same Window's user account.
My wife and I would like to be able to sit at either computer, open iTunes,
choose either of our iTunes libraries, and then download, transfer, play, rate, etc. the songs, podcasts, for that library.
All the posts I've read suggest that you need a computer engineering degree to
set something like this up. Or perhaps I'm missing something.
I was hoping I could just put my iTunes library (the itl, xml, and mp3s, etc.) on a network folder, like Public Music\His_iTunes\...
And do the same with my wife's iTunes library:
Public Music\Her_iTunes\...
Then when we open iTunes (on either computer), we just hold down SHIFT and
chose the library we want.
Will that work? I can't use iTune's Home Sharing feature because it requires using one iTunes account.
Thank you.

Answer 1

Yes...this is all possible. Everything you want to do with this can be done with a little patience. Here's one setup, which is close to what we have here.
Two computers, each with iTunes installed. Desktop computer contains the one large folder full of mp3s. One iTunes library on the laptop for her, one on the desktop for me. Both libraries have been built using File>Add folder to library, choosing the (desktop computer) folder and selecting desired mp3s. Both libraries do not have to contain the same stuff. Just build each library with appropriately desired stuff. After libraries are complete, search each computer for "*.itl" files. Most likely it will be in "Computer>Local Disk>Users>*whatever user you are>Music>whatever you named your library*.
When each user opens iTunes using the shift key, they will need to choose the library they want to work with. Make sure both computers are networked and connected before you attempt to open iTunes. You can make playlists and sync and do whatever. When you close then reopen iTunes without using the shift key, it will default to the last library that was open on that computer.
I haven't experimented with what happens if you open one library on both computers at the same time. Not expecting that to go well. Also, I would hesitate to modify info such as album art, song title, artist, etc while both iTunes libraries are open on both computers. (I don't even recommend using iTunes to update that info...look into getting a program called TagScanner from cnet.com.)
That was alot, real fast...if you have any questions, I'll be monitoring this thread. We have 2 computers, 3 iPods, 5 libraries. I can probably help you with any configuration on this issue.