Separating itunes accounts and libraries for different users

We've owned Apple portable products since the early iPod generations... But things are starting to get complicated. We started with just one device (an 80GB iPod) and then got another (an iPod shuffle)... After that we purchased our first iPhone, then another, then 2 more as they upgraded and got better. Now in recent weeks we've also added an iPad 2 for my husband and an iPod touch for our son... The problem is we're still only using our original single itunes account...
Now over the years we've amassed a huge library of songs and applications which everyone shares but with the creation of iCloud we've run into problems. For example, recently when I synced my iPhone 4, I ended up with all my husband's contacts on it... So I deleted them from my phone the following day. iCloud then kindly also removed them from my husband's iPhone 4S without him so much as plugging the phone into the PC :-/ He was less than impressed.
My 10 year old son has been given an iPod touch for his birthday and wants to 'facetime' and send imessages to his friends and to us... But because we only have the one account, he's using my email address to do it. And because my email address is also linked to my itunes account and my phone, I also receive copies of all his text messages on my phone... and copies of the ones I send to him... Security wise I suppose this could be a good feature to have as a parent... But if it means he's also receiving all the imessages sent to me, we may run into problems in the near future!!
So my question is, is there a way to separate and duplicate our library so that we can divide and share the music and apps we all use, whilst still creating separate itunes user accounts so that iCloud doesn't interfere with our individual syncing preferences?
We only have 1 PC in the house so using seperate computers is not an option for us at the moment... And I've also tried the shift and open function to create a new user for itunes but nothing happened!! Itunes just opened as per normal :-/

Well I thought we had done that, but we still ran into trouble with icloud firstly adding my husbands contacts to my phone then deleting them all from his phone!!
I have solved the problem of the cross texting by adding my son's email address as his in and outgoing server so that's all good now.
I still have the issue of having him on our itunes account... He's been given itunes gift cards for his birthday and he doesn't want to just add them to my account... Nor do I want him to have my password for security reasons!
Any idea how I can navigate that situation? I suppose creating him his own itunes account is the best way to go but again, I tried following the instructions listed online and nothing happened. My itunes account opened as normal. No option to create a new account was given to me... It also means the first time he syncs his iPod, all the applications he has on it now (from the single family account) will be erased and I suppose, he'll have to purchase them all again which would be ridiculous!! :-/

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My wife and I are going to share a PC,, W7,, can we have seperate iTunes accounts and libraries on the same PC?

My wife and I are going to share a PC,, W7,, can we have seperate iTunes accounts and libraries on the same PC?

Configure your PC for an addtional user account.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495
Windows users:
Look in your computer's Help documentation to learn how to set up additional user accounts. To locate this information:
Click the Start Menu, and then click Help or Help and Support.
Enter "new user" in the Search field.
Press Return.
If you create multiple user accounts on one computer but want the same media to be available in iTunes for all users, see iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer.

Is it possible to have 2 icloud accounts on one pc? My wife and I have 2 separate itunes accounts and we have different music stored on our iphones. She just recently got an IPAD and I will be getting one soon. We would like to share ibooks purchased f

Is it possible to have 2 icloud accounts on one pc? My wife and I have 2 separate itunes accounts and we have different music stored on our iphones. She just recently got an IPAD and I will be getting one soon. We would like to share ibooks purchased from itunes. If she stored it them on icloud, can I download it onto my ipad?

How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495
How To Best Use and Share Apple IDs across iPhones, iPads and iPods
http://www.nerdsonsite.com/blog/2012/06/07/help-im-appleid-confused/
 Cheers, Tom

Can you view multiple iTunes accounts and libraries on the same computer

Can my wife open her itunes account on my computer and view and play her libraries on my computer

she has her own account. when we put in her account info a screen opens on the right - it says welcome to her and provides several opttions but none to see her libraries. all of my libraries continue to appear on the left side of the screen

Sharing two iTunes Libraries for different user accounts on one Mac

How can I upload or share my wife's iTunes library? She is listed as a different end user on the same Mac as I use but we have different libraries. If I sync my iphone to her account, will it erase my existing applications and downloaded songs? Also, she only uses the iTouch. And yes, I have a mobile me account if that matters. (The $99 package)

See if this support article provides what you need: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203

Can I combine two itunes accounts and libraries?

I recently moved in with my girlfriend. I have an ipod and itunes library on my computer.
she's kept her ipod sync'ed to her work computer. we have copied her library off of that computer to put it on mine.
However, how do I do that and keep the libraries separately?
Thanks

You will probably find this Apple article on multiple iPods on one computer helpful.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300432

What is the best way to manage multiple devices with one iMac - different users with seperate itunes accounts or one mac user with different itune logons and libraries?

Hello
I have just purchased an imac which I am very happy with. In our household we also have two iphones (one mine and one husbands) and one ipod (my sons). We all have individual itunes accounts set up on our previous computer (not a mac). We have sepereate apps and music, although there may be the odd occasion where we would like to share a song (if this is possible) across devices.
I am just wondering the best way to manage these devices using the new imac. Should I create individual accounts to logon to the imac, then from within these launch our own itunes accounts and sync our devices with these. Or should I be using one version of itunes, logging on to this with our different itunes usernames and storing things in libraries.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I am presuming that we cannot share downloaded apps and music between accounts because of the copyright issue,
Though I'm no copyright lawyer, as long as it's within a household, you can share content among users. Such sharing is, absent specific language preventing it not present in the iTunes Store terms of use, generally considered to be "personal use". So you can share apps and music amongst your users on your computer and with their devices. You just can't give any of that content to friends or relatives who don't live with you.
What I am not clear on, it making sure that this appears in each itunes account - is it easy to find the file storage folders that match the itunes accounts and what would these be?
The iTunes library and files are by default in a user's Home/Music folder. But you don't have to find the folder; in fact putting a file into the folder yourself won't add the file to iTunes. Just drag the file into the iTunes window. iTunes will copy it to the correct location.
Regards.

I want to use 1 itunes account but with 3 different iphones 2 for the kids and one for me, what is the easiest way to do that?

I want to use 1 itunes account but sync 3 different iphones, 2 for the kids and 1 for me. So I would like to have different programs, songs, apps etc for each phone. What is the easiest way to do that

Agreed heather. Also, if you have three users on the same account how do you keep phone calls and messages from going to all three phones?

I have 3 different itunes accounts and would like to combine them into just one for all my devices, a macbook pro, an iphone 4S, an older IPOD, and a ver sion one Ipad. how can i do this on all devices ?

i have 3 different itunes accounts and would like to combine them into just one for all my devices, a macbook pro, an iphone 4S, an older IPOD, and a ver sion one Ipad. how can i do this on all devices ?

i had one for a long time, then when i got the ipad i didn't realize they would all still work under one so i set up the second one on that
then when i got the new iphone i put in the info for the first and main one from my mac pro and it would not work at all, and i knew it was right, then it asked me to create a new one or i couldnt finish the setup
hence why i have 3 now
hard to believe you cannot combine into one
oh well, i will just make them all accessible for all 3
thanks

HT204053 Can I have 2 different iTunes accounts? One for UK and one for US?

Can I have 2 different iTunes accounts? One for UK and one for US?

Assuming you are physically present in each of those countries when you wish to use the iTunes Store for that country, and that you have a payment method issued in each country with a valid billing or mailing address in that country, then yes. You'll need two Apple IDs, which will require two email addresses.
Regards.

How do I share photos and music between different user accounts on the same macbook

How do I share photos and music between different user accounts on the same Macbook? i.e. I want all to be able to access family photos when logged into their respective accounts. Same goes for the iTunes library. Hope this is possible...
Thanks!

To give other users read-only access to your iTunes library, use the Sharing features of iTunes. Sharing works over the local network as well as on the same computer. See the built-in help for details.
To give others selective access to your iPhoto library, you have the option of using iCloud Photo Sharing, if the privacy implications don't bother you. The images will be stored temporarily on Apple servers.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support articles linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
There is a way to share the library without moving it to a secondary volume. If you really need to do that, ask for instructions.

Since years, my wife and I are sharing one Apple computer. On this, we both have an individual user account. Each of us has an own iTunes Account and an own individual media library. Why is this setup now blocked by Apple? Cannot download purchased music.

Since years, my wife and I are sharing one Apple computer. On this, we both have an individual user account. Each of us has an own iTunes Account and an own individual media library. Each of us is using an own individual iPhone, which we frequently update with our iTunes Accounts. We have had this setup for years. It was convenient, reliable and user friendly, since we both could download what we wanted, create playlists, etc. without impact on the other. Exactly this convenience has made me and my wife real Apple fans, so that we also wanted to convince our daughter to move from Android and PC to our easier Apple setup.
Since a few weeks, this setup does not work anymore. From Apple Support (online chat on Apple.at) I was not told that this is not supported any more. Every computer is only allowed to be connected to one iTunes account. From one perspective (sharing music across other users as an act or media piracy, etc.) I can somehow understand this. However, since we are using different user accounts on this computer, I do not have access to other user´s iTunes media and could not play, download or copy it. So what is the point in this?
This now means, that my wife and I are only allowed to download individually purchased music with our personal iTunes accounts only with an interval of 90 days, so every on of us 2 times a year!
Was I incorrectly informed by the Apple support? If so, how can I solve the problem? Or is this really a new policy by Apple? If so, what is the reason? Am I expected to purchase a Mac for my wife, my daughter, myslef and for the three smaller kids to follow soon?

Welcome to the Apple Community.
Unfortunately, if Apple simply allowed people to log into different accounts and download content, everyone would be using everyone could share everyone else's content and bypass the need to purchase anything. To protect against this, they limit you to logging into a new account to once every 90 days.
If two or more of you, have different accounts and use only one computer, you should each have your own user account on the computer, to avoid the need to log in and out of iTunes.

I just got the iphone 4 and my husband already had on. we share an itunes account and i signed up for i cloud and now ALL of my husbands contacts are on my phone ... so I started to delete them (because i thought it would just be off my phone) and he cal

i just got the iphone 4 and my husband already had on. we share an itunes account and i signed up for i cloud and now ALL of my husbands contacts are on my phone ... so I started to delete them (because i thought it would just be off my phone) and he called screaming ..." please stop deleting ... they are coming off my phone!" so two things ... how can i get the contacts back ( i got up to j) AND is there a way to get them off just my phone

Unfortunately there's no way to get back the contacts you deleted unless he backed them up somewhere else. He'll just have to recreate them. This happened because you are both syncing contacts with a shared iCloud account. When you do this, the synced data is merged and any actions you take on one phone (such as deleting contacts) is also reflected on the other. To fix this you both need to have separate iCloud accounts (you can continue to share the same Apple ID for purchasing from the iTunes and app stores). To do this, on your phone go to Settings>iCloud and turn all data that is syncing with iCloud (contacts, calendars, etc.) to Off. When prompted choose to keep the data on the iPhone. After everything is turned off, scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Account. (This will only delete the account from this phone, not from iCloud. The other phone will not be effected by this.) Next, set up a new iCloud account on your phone using a different Apple ID and turn iCloud data syncing for contacts, etc. back to On. When prompted, choose Merge. This will upload your data to your new account. At this point you will have two different iCloud accounts, one for each phone, with identical data on them.
You will then have to go to icloud.com on your computer and sign into each iCloud account separately and manually delete the unwanted data (such as deleting the your husband's contacts from your account, and vice versa). These changes will be reflected on each phone. When finished you will have individual iCloud accounts with just your own data on them.

Can I use 1 computer with 2 different iTunes accounts and devices? We're afraid we're going to wipeout one library or the other if we do??

My son got an iPhone and wanted his own iTunes account. Now his computer died, and he wants to connect to his iTunes account on my computer. When it asks to sync the computer, a message comes up and we're afraid either his or my library are going to be wiped out by trying to do this. Is it possible to use 1 computer with 2 different iTunes accounts and devices without wiping out one of the libraries? Thanks for any info.

If the content was not originally purchased/synced to the device from your computer it will erase and replace the content from the device with that of the computer. If you have content that you want to backup you can transfer purchases http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1848 check this link out

HT2978 I have 2 different itunes accounts and want to combine them. How do I do that?

I have 2 different itunes accounts and want to combine them. How do I do that without loosing prior purchases on either account?

Open the Mac App Store and try purchasing Mountain Lion 10.8. If you get told it's incompatible, choose About this Mac from the Apple menu, check if the computer has at least a Core 2 Duo(not Core Duo) or better CPU with at least 2GB of RAM, and if it does, phone the online Apple Store and order a download code for Lion 10.7.
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Separating itunes accounts and libraries for different users

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