Sharing an Itunes library with Iphones...

My wife and I each have our own laptops that our iPhones sync to. Our music is on a separate Mac on the same network. Is there anyway to share the one library so that it can be used on both laptops and sync with both iPhones without making multiple copies of the music library?

you may find this read helpful.
also, there are some apps you can take a look at:
TuneRanger
Sonzea
PowerTunes

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Sharing an iTunes library with another user

My wife and I both got iPad2's recently. I would like to add some of my photos from iphoto and some of my music from iTunes to her iPad.
I have one iTunes account. I have built it over the years and it recognizes my iPhone and my iPad.
Can she sync content (photos, music, movies) from my iTunes account on to her iPad?
I am really confused about how iTunes deals with multiple users on the same iTunes library.
Hopefully this is enough information for someone to give me an iTunes 101 lesson on multiple users (with different Apple ID's) and sharing of one iTunes library, and syncing photos, movies, etc.... with each user's devices.
Both my wife and I are in the cloud, but we really haven't done anything for her to access content in the cloud. I am fully set up for the cloud with my iMac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV2.
Appreciate any help offered or references to help me understand the link between one iTunes library and multiple users.

how to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Sharing one iTunes Library with Fast User Switching

Last year, I started using one MacBook Pro for Office use and Personal Home use, by creating two user accounts on it, and enabling Fast User Switching. I did this when I gave up using two separate desktops macs.
Now I have two rather similar music libraries, taking up too much hard drive space. Once I enabled Music Sharing in my Office iTunes Library, I realized that I could gain access to that Office Music Library when I am on my Personal Home User account. Since my Library on my Office account is the most complete, can I eliminate the iTunes Library on my Personal Home User account, to save hard drive space?
If so, how should I do this?
MBPro17, Pbk17 G4 1.67, Pbk G4 12 1.5, iMac G4, various G4&G5's Mac OS X (10.4.8) Airport Extreme & Express

Glen
Since my Library on my Office account is the most
complete, can I eliminate the iTunes Library on my
Personal Home User account, to save hard drive
space?
Yes.
If so, how should I do this?
Move the iTunes folder in Home/Music on the Personal
Home User Account to the desktop.
Launch iTunes. Unable to locate a library file, it
will create a new one, empty one in a new iTunes
folder at Home/Music.
Connect to your shared library as usual. If
everything is working as expected, trash the iTunes
folder on your desktop.
Regards
TD
My iTunes was created under an admin. user profile that I would like to delete. I created a second profile also with admin privlages but I want to delete the first because I messed up the shortname on the profile. So, if I delete this first profile, will I lose all of my music? Will I lose access to the music?

Sharing my iTunes library with other computers on the network

Hi Everybody,
I have an external hard disk with about 125 gigs of music on it, and I've spent a year going through it and categorizing it, and rating the songs. The hard disk is plugged into my Aiport Extreme, and communicates with my iMac just fine. My plan was to use my old windows laptop w/ iTunes, plug it into my stereo in the other room and have it pull music off the hd through the Airport, so I could have a jukebox for my stereo.
I have the windows machine communicating with the Airport and hd, so I have access to the music. I thought I might be able to get the library information if I Exported the Library to the external hd, but it did't work. Next I Exported my playlist from the Mac's iTunes, and Imported it on to the pc's. This shows my playlists, but they are all empty and there is no My Rating information.
What I would love it to do would be to have mirror playlist information on each computer, and any changes in the playlist would automatically get updated on the other computer's iTunes. for this I would think you would need your Library information at the source of the music, so on the external hard disk, and it would be shared by each computer. It'd be great if all the album covers did this too. I really don't want to have to go through all that music again on the pc, and would probably just use my iPod with my stereo if this is not possible. Any suggestions?
Forgive me if this has been written about already. Seems like someone else would have run into this too, but I couldn't find any searching through the discussions.
Thanks, -Victor

Chris CA wrote:
Move the entire _iTunes folder_ located in *My Documents/My Music*/ to a Shared directory. Make sure to set this folder for read/write permissions for all users.
I set my permissions as follows OS 10.4.X:
first under the original owners login, change all permissions to read & write, then change 'group' to wheel. Then change the owner from the user to system (I applied to all within ~ may not be necessary).
Start iTunes holding the Shift key and select *Choose existing library* then pick the iTunes library file you moved into the Shared directory.
In iTunes 7.5, you'll need to hold the Option key and then pick the /Users/Shared/iTunes/iTunes Music
Quit iTunes and log out of your user and let her log in.
Start iTunes holding the Shift key and select *Choose existing library* then pick the iTunes library file you moved into the Shared directory.
Now she needs to File -> *Add folder to library* and pick *My Documents*/My Music*/*iTunes*/iTunes music*.
This will add all her music to the common library.
Once this is complete, she can delete *My Documents*/My Music*/*iTunes.
Do this for all users. Any changes made by one will be seen by all.

Sharing my iTunes Library with other Users on my computer?

...hi guys! Nice to find this friendly commumity!
I wonder if any of you have worked out how to share the library across other users on the computer yet?
I share a PC with my girlfriend, and all of our downloads on iTunes are from our CD collection. But as I installed iTunes on my user account, she can't get the songs now!
When she opens iunes from her user account, it's a blank library!
Please help!
Thanks chaps,
Kerr
Message was edited by: heinzeman

Chris CA wrote:
Move the entire _iTunes folder_ located in *My Documents/My Music*/ to a Shared directory. Make sure to set this folder for read/write permissions for all users.
I set my permissions as follows OS 10.4.X:
first under the original owners login, change all permissions to read & write, then change 'group' to wheel. Then change the owner from the user to system (I applied to all within ~ may not be necessary).
Start iTunes holding the Shift key and select *Choose existing library* then pick the iTunes library file you moved into the Shared directory.
In iTunes 7.5, you'll need to hold the Option key and then pick the /Users/Shared/iTunes/iTunes Music
Quit iTunes and log out of your user and let her log in.
Start iTunes holding the Shift key and select *Choose existing library* then pick the iTunes library file you moved into the Shared directory.
Now she needs to File -> *Add folder to library* and pick *My Documents*/My Music*/*iTunes*/iTunes music*.
This will add all her music to the common library.
Once this is complete, she can delete *My Documents*/My Music*/*iTunes.
Do this for all users. Any changes made by one will be seen by all.

Sharing Mac iTunes library with Windows PC (I want to be able to read/write)

Greetings from a new Mac user. I recently purchased a 27" iMAC running OS X 10.7.3. This iMac is now connected to my home network/workgroup.
- I want to build a new iTunes Library on my 1TB internal Mac HD.
- I want my 3 non Mac Machines (1 XP Prof and 2 Windows 7 Home) to be able to view the contents of my new (not yet built) iTunes Library resident on my iMac and of course be able to
- play that content.
- have play counts from my Windows-based be saved back to my iTunes Library.
- be able to rate a song from any computer (Mac or Windows) within this iTunes Library and have that rating saved back to this iTunes Library.
I don't want to have to rely on iTunes "Shared Library" function. In other words I want all PCs to be able to read/write to the same iTunes Library file.
Before I purchased my iMac, my iTunes Library existed on one of my Windows-file system external drives. The pre-requisites for allowing multiple Windows PCs to access/share/write to the same iTunes Library was to:
- share the Windows folder on the external drive in which the iTunes Library file was stored (allowing network users to be able to change the files), and
- make sure all Windows-based PCs ran the same iTunes software version.
Assume: I don't want to change the version of Windows iTunes software from the currently installed 10.5.0 version.
Question 1: Can my Windows PCs access and utilize the same iTunes library file that I plan to build on my iMac hard drive?
Question 2: What older version of Mac iTunes software should I install on my iMac in order to allow the Windows PCs to access and use the iMacs iTunes library file?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hmmm... thanks for the reply. This of course, yields another question. When you say 'you could format to FAT32 which both can use'; do you mean format the iTunes Hard drive on which my iTunes music now resides? If so, this would mean I would need to copy the music off the internal iMac hard drive, then format the drive to FAT32, then copy the music back.
Is this what you meant?

I am having trouble sharing my itunes library with my apple TV.

I can see my computer in the list on the apple TV however when i click on it I get an error message saying that it cannot connect to my library. I have a new mac book pro, new time capsule and a new apple TV 2. I had the apple TV working perfectly with my old windows PC and netgear router but since buying the mac book and the time capsule I have been unable to get it to work.
I have tried powering everything down and powering back up
I have turned all of the sharing off and set it all back up again
I have updated the apple TV software and reset the factory settings
I have updated the time capsule firmware
etc.
any help would be great - very frustrating
Brad

I have a friend who had this issue. She tried on
Multiple computers finally she had enough and went to the Genius Bar and they gave her a new phone they said 1 pin in the dock connector was broken

Sharing an iTunes library with multiple user accounts

I have a large music library (>200GB) and I want to have the library accesssable to myself and my 2 sons. We each have our own Windows account and I set there iTunes instances up to not copy files to their iTunes music folder. Music is working ok, but podcasts are a problem. When I log into iTunes, there are exclamation marks next to all moyt podcasts now.
Is there a way to do this that will allow us to share all the music, and have our own podcasts? If not, how can I at least have a common podcast directory for all 3 of us.
TIA

how to share music between different accounts on a single computer

I have recently got an iphone 4s, I share a itunes library with a family member, i didnt realise but by sharing icloud our phonebook contacts would merge, well I have hers and mine have gone, I have restored it but it still hasnt worked.....any ideas.

I have recently got and iphone 4s, I share a itunes library with a family member, i didnt realise by sharing icloud our phonebooks would merge i now have her contacts she did have mine but deleted them from her phone, how do I get mine back I have just done a restore but it hasnt worked......gutted if ive lost them, any ideas.

I have recently got and iphone 4s, I share a itunes library with a family member, i didnt realise by sharing icloud our phonebooks would merge i now have her contacts she did have mine but deleted them from her phone, how do I get mine back I have just done a restore but it hasnt worked......gutted if ive lost them, any ideas.

Can I share my iTunes library with my iphone

I thought it might be possible to share my iTunes library with my iphone. I turned home sharing on in my iTunes, but apparently my laptop needs to stay on yo share. How can I share my music with my iphone from my laptop without physically putting them on phone?

1. Your iTunes on computer must be running and Home Sharing is activated.
2. On iPhone's Settings > Music > under HOME SHARING : the same Apple ID as on computer.
3. After the above are done, start iPhone's Music app > More... (bottom right) > Shared > select your computer iTunes Library.
4. After the circle completed, tap Music and choose whatever music you fancy.
Message was edited by: ckuan

Sharing Itunes library with another User Account & Fast Switching

Hi. I recently purchased a new iMac G5 and am in the process of setting it up to be used by 2 separate users (girlfriend and me). I apologize in advance if this is more of an Itunes issue and not solely an Administration issue.
My question deals with creating a new user account on my Mac (with Fast Switching) and allowing my girlfriend to share my iTunes library with the ability to transfer music to her ipod when she is logged into her own unique account. I will be the Administrator on the Mac.
We are trying to avoid loading our music two times into the Mac under each of our logins. Is there a way that we can share the music I have already loaded into my Itunes library when she is logged into her account so that she can transfer to her ipod and create her own distinct playlists? If so, any advice on how to enable this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Seth
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Unfortunately, baltwo's solution will not allow your girlfriend to create any playlists or copy songs to iPod.
The easiest thing would be to share the entire music folder, so anyone of you can listen to your music.
You'd have two options.
If you want to be using the exact same library, so any playlist you created can be edited by your girlfriend and vice versa:
1. Go to yourusername/Music/iTunes. You'll find two files called "iTunes library" and "iTunes music library" Copy them to your desktop, so you'll have a backup just in case.
2. Move your yourusername/Music folder to computer/users/shared. (The folder will be copied ONLY in case your using FileVault, so you'd have to delete the original User/Music folder after making sure you'd got a functional copy at computer/users/shared) Select users/shared, press "apple+i" to get the info window, go to "Ownership" change all permissions to "read & write" and hit "apply to enclosed items"
3. In case you're using FileVault, either delete or rename the original Music folder within your own account. Again, not necessary as long as FileVault isn't enabled.
4. Select computer/users/shared/music, hold down "ctrl" while clicking on it and choose "create alias" from the contextual menu. Copy that alias into your homefolder as well as your girlfriend's account (need to log in) and rename it to "music" without the "alias" at the end.
5. Launch iTunes. Done.
6. Don't worry, in case you don't see your music. I've used a slightly different approach, yet this one should work totally fine.
If you want to listen to the same music, yet be able to set up your own playlists, ratings etc.:
For your account:
- go to yourusername/Music/iTunes, move "iTunes Music" to computer/users/shared and change ownership according to #2.
- If FileVault is enabled, check #3. Of course, you want to rename the original "iTunes Music" in this case.
- create an alias for computer/users/shared/iTunes Music and copy the alias to yourusername/Music/iTunes. Rename it to "iTunes Music" without "alias".
- Launch iTunes. Should be working the way it used to. Quit.
For your girlfriend's account:
- log in, copy alias to username/Music/iTunes, rename alias.
- Launch iTunes, go to File-> Add to Library, select username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music, choose.
That's it.
The only downside is, only one user at a time can access the music folder, so if you're logged in and running iTunes, you're girlfriend, logged in via fast user switching, won't be able to open iTunes until you quit it for yourself. Haven't found a way around this yet.
Fell free to report any issues.
huhh...rather long posting...

Does home sharing allow me to share my iTunes library with other users on the same imac

Does home sharing allow me to share my iTunes library with other users on the same imac?

Apparently so (as long as each user operates out of a different Mac User account).
After setting up home sharing in the various different user accounts on the Mac, you need to have iTunes open in the account that you want to Home Share from.
Now use fast User Switching to get into the account that you want to Home Share to. Launch iTunes in there. The library in the other account should appear as shared for you.

Can I share my ITunes library with another ITunes account on a different device? (i.e. IPhone to IPhone)

Can I share my Itunes library with another itunes account on a different device? (i.e. Iphone to Iphone)

Can I share my Itunes library with another itunes account on a different device? (i.e. Iphone to Iphone)

HT1209 My Itunes Library and iPhone have fallen out of sync on music over the yearsare - how can I compare my itunes library with my Iphone to see what songs are missing from my library so I can then bring my Library up to date

My Itunes Library and iPhone have fallen out of sync on music over the yearsare - how can I compare my itunes library with my Iphone to see what songs are missing from my library so I can then bring my Library up to date

Hello Solid Buck,
Thank you so much for providing the details about the duplicate song issue you are experiencing. It sounds like you would like to remove the duplicate songs that will not play on your iPhone, but when you connect it to iTunes, iTunes only shows you one copy of the song on your iPhone.
In this situation, I recommend deleting the individual songs that do not play directly from your iPhone. I found the steps to do this on page 61 of the iPhone User Guide (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf):
Delete a song from iPhone: In Songs, swipe the song, then tap Delete.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

Updating itunes library occurs with sharing an iTunes Library

Hi,
I have two macs, one of the macs has the iTunes library on a hard drive connected to it, lets called it "Mac1". I have another mac called "Mac2" which I mount the hard drive from "Mac1".
So I go about and make sure iTunes is not running on "Mac1", then go ahead and start iTunes on "Mac2". After I'm done and shutdown iTunes, if I restart iTunes on "Mac1" I get the message "updating itunes library" which takes a while since I have a large iTunes library.
Any ideas? I'm very careful to shutdown on iTunes on one computer before starting it up on another.
Thanks for any input, this is driving me crazy

iamjedi wrote:
I think I may take your suggestion and just have separate libraries.
you can use _*Home Sharing*_ to keep them in sync.
also, there are 3rd party tools such as
PowerTunes
TuneRanger
Syncopation
however, a "one-iTunes-library-with-multiple-computers" approach is doable. click here for information.
JGG

Sharing an Itunes library with Iphones...

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