Sharing itunes between accounts.

Hi there, first time discussions user here.
I have my iphone synced with itunes no problem, I now wish to sync my wife's iphone, so have set up her own account on our mac,up until now she's just used mine, so that she can have all her own settings, mail, addresses etc.
Problem is, when we open her itunes it's completely empty. Do I have to reload all the albums she wants again , or is there a way to share/transfer the itunes content, without her getting all my address book, safari bookmarks etc?
Thanks.

Hi Chris,
The itunes window is blank. If I open the shared folder, where the music is now & double-click on a track, that track starts to play immediately & it also then appears in the itunes window, but only that track. click on another track from the shared folder, same thing happens, now there are 2 tracks visible in itunes window, etc.
Does that make sense? I've tried quitting itunes & restarting, but no luck.

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Sharing iTunes between accounts on a single Mac

Hi
I had this working a while back... but (I can only think it's since I upgraded to iTunes 8) this has now stopped working...
1. I have moved my iTunes Music folder to /users/shared...
2. I go into iTunes preferences and change the location of the Music Library...
3. Restart iTunes...
4. Then I go into iTunes and it works - it's reading songs and movies from the shared location fine...
When I login as a different user (any admin user), repeat steps 2 and 3 and nothing - the library is empty when it's restarted
I also tried this hack from another site around 18 months ago...
http://www.macworld.com/article/5857...eslibrary.html
The instructions are pretty much the same, although this involves creating aliases of the iTunes music library.xml file - but didn't seem to make any difference to the outcome
Anyone got any ideas please?
thanks!

did you check
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203
(see the last part, about accessing files)
Telly

Sharing iTunes between user accounts no longer works in iTunes 10.4

I recently upgraded to iTunes 10.4 (80). Still running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
I have two user accounts on my MacBook Pro and my iTunes Media folder is shared i.e. /Users/Shared/ITunes/iTunes Media
This has always worked with no problems but since upgrading to iTunes 10.4 I can no longer see my iTunes content from both accounts.
First time I opened it after the upgrade it just presented me with an empty library. I eventually managed to see my iTunes content by deleting the iTunes library and xml files and relaunching iTunes. However when I quit and switch to the other user account I can't open iTunes - it keeps telling me that the library is locked or I don't have access to the files.
I have to keep manually resetting permissions on the iTunes folder & subfolders in order to be able to launch it but even when I manage to open it from the second user account I just see an empty library again.
I always used to be able to just quit iTunes in one user account and then launch it from the other; no permissions changes required. Now it just doesn't work.
Please can someone offer advice or is this a known issue with the 10.4 release?
Many thanks in advance.

I've been trying to do this same thing. My wife and I share one computer and she has her own login account to check email etc. I moved all the music, movies, videos to the shared folder. We can now "share" that music without having two iTunes media libraries. However, I want to remedy the situation of adding music from different accounts, adding and deleting playlists. How do I have that type of library data automatically get updated from account to account? I've asked this question in it's own thread about a week ago and it got buried with no responses or solutions.

Sharing iTunes between users on same MacBookPro

Hi,
I have a a MacBookPro working on Mountain Lion. I have just moved my iTunes library and media to the 'shared' folder in finder and repointed iTunes on my user id at the new location. Everything opened up as it should and looked as it did when it was in my personal music folder. Step 1 acheived!
Step 2 was to create a new user where I would have no password for entry. Step 2 acheived!
Step 3 I tried to open the 'shared' iTunes library on this new user account, so that I could leave the mac on when friends are around, and anyone can play with my iTunes library without worrying about personal data files being accessed. This is where I am having trouble. It tells me the iTunes library is locked so I cant access it. I have tried to set all folders in the 'shared' heirachy as read and write for both users ('main' and the new 'shared music' user) and I have exited out of iTunes in the main user. I dont understand why my second user cant open the library. Can anyone advise what to do or where to look?
Thanks
Rich.

Hi Simon,
Any clues in this link?
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
Regards
Colin R.

Not able to get Sharing iTunes btw accounts on a single computer to work

I read the Apple support post on how to do this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203
I followed the instructions. I even went back to the iTunes Music directory in the original account where I had the music and changed permissions so that Everyone has read/write access.
When I am in iTunes on the new account, all the songs in the directory: Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/iTunes Music do not show up.
I've done the iTunes/Preferences/Advanced/Change Folder Location.
I hope that somebody can help.

You need to click on File > Add to Library and wait a few minutes for iTunes to organize the files.
Your music will not be copied, just referenced from the new location.

Sharing iTunes between users - problem

When sharing iTunes (6.0.4) between users on the same mac some of the mp3 files I have show up in the remote iTunes within Get Info as QuickTime movie files (remote). They will not play. In my home folder they are mp3 files. They are inaccessible to the remote user to change. Any ideas anyone?

The files probably have the wrong creator.
Discussions member Charlie Minow wrote a script to fix it and explains what could be the cause on this page
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Sharing folders between accounts

How do I share a folder between accounts in the same iMac without having to move the original folders to public folders or without having to connect via AFP/SMB? I want another user to log in to his account and being able to see a shared folder in his desktop.

FIrstly create a folder in the root of you hard drive (generally Macintosh HD is the name of the system drive so you would double click on Macintosh HD then hold control on your keyboard and click within the White space in the window and you should see the option to create a new folder once you select new folder give it a name I would call it share but the name can be anything) once that's done again hold control on the keyboard then click on your new folder and you should see the option for get info click on that and than click on the arrow next to sharing and permissions and then click on the padlock and enter your admin password to unlock it after that click the plus button and add the users you want the folder shared with and then make sure each user has read write permission and then click on the aarow pointing down and select apply to enclosed items and that should be it ( you don't have to place the new folder in the root of the hard drive but if you place it anywhere within your home folder it will most likely cause issues somewhere down the line) the other option you have is to section off a part of your hard drive to use for data using a process called partitioning but i would recommend just to create a folder as partitioning can have undesirable results such as data loss and issues booting your Mac hope this helps

Sharing Itunes between user accounts

Hi all,
I just came back to the mac and set up user accounts for myself and my wife. She tends to do most of the photo editing and I do most of the music stuff on itunes. I heard that I can set it up so that she is actually using my itunes or library even though she is on her login in. And we could do the same with the iphoto in reverse so that if I download photos it goes into the iphoto on her login. We would like to avoid having some music and pictures separated by the different logins. So my question is, is this the best way to set things up in our situation and how do I actually do it? Are there any hiccups when I sync with my iphone and she syncs with her itouch? Thanks for you help.

I've been trying to do this same thing. My wife and I share one computer and she has her own login account to check email etc. I moved all the music, movies, videos to the shared folder. We can now "share" that music without having two iTunes media libraries. However, I want to remedy the situation of adding music from different accounts, adding and deleting playlists. How do I have that type of library data automatically get updated from account to account? I've asked this question in it's own thread about a week ago and it got buried with no responses or solutions.

Sharing iTunes between different iTunes accounts on different computers with different operating systems

I have an iTunes account on my home pc (Windows XP) that I sync with my iPhone. My wife has an iPhone with a different iTunes account that she syncs with her Mac at work. Is there any way to share my iTunes library with my wife's iPhone even though she has her own iTunes account and syncs her phone with a Mac?

thanks, zevoneer. apparently, I gave up too early in my own search. I'm trying it now - the copy process is taking some time. Well, I had hoped to narrow the access down to only one other account but at least this should provide the access that is needed.

Sharing iTunes Between 2 Users On 1 Mac - Unique

Hi,
I've only recently gotten round to trying to figure this out, but I remember some of the stuff I tried to fix this issue previously:
I currently share my iTunes music between my user account (admin) and my girlfriend's account on the same iMac by having the iTunes Music folder located in the Users>Shared folder, and aliases in each of our Home Folders (in the Music>iTunes folders) pointing to that single location. iTunes is set pointing to the aliases in both accounts. We both have individual iTunes Library files (for our own playlists, ratings etc.) So far, so good.
The problem: increasingly, we have both noticed less & less songs would play via the Media Browser palette in iLife & iWork apps. Most of the time, the play button would not go blue when clicking it after choosing a song to play in the palette (e.g. in iPhoto when choosing music to play on a slideshow).
After chatting with an Apple Support agent via Apple's Web Chat Support, i tried a troubleshooting step of letting iTunes copy music to a new location.
This solved the problem in my account - all songs would play in the media browsers, but after moving the folder back to the Users>Shared location and updating aliases again, the music would still not work in the media browser for my girlfriends' account.
I've tried changing permissions on the folder and applying them to all subfolders…
I really want to be able to continue sharing the music itself, but also for both of us to have full usage of the music in iLife & iWork apps.
Can anyone help?
iMac G5 (iSight) Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Sorry to bump this, but I've searched all over the place (on other sites too) and I just can't seem to solve this issue…
Can anyone suggest somewhere else I could try posting / asking the question?
Thanks.

Sharing files between Accounts?

Hi,
Just bought a MBP and setting it up. Myself and my partner will be using it, so i've set up accounts for the both of us (both as administrators). So i copied my itunes tracks over and loaded office for mac - all good so far. But when i go into my partners account - nothing is there. No itunes tracks and no office? Do i need to load each account with the source data or files? Is there no way of sharing between the two from the harddrive itself?
Cheers!

Congratulations on your purchase!
Let's tackle the easier of the two: Office. There's two places where you can put applications and I believe you placed Office in your User's Applications folder (hard drive>users>username>applications). In order for the program to be accessed by everyone, it needs to be placed: hard drive>applications.
For iTunes music, it has to be also placed in a neutral territory. My suggestion is to place here: hard drive>users>shared. Now you have to go to the iTunes preference panel and redirect where your music library is. When you open up the preference panel, click on Advanced and change the iTunes Music folder location. Both of you will have access to the files but your playlists will be different based on what you choose. Some files may appear to be missing but again that's because of your individual playlists, etc.
Mac Plus, PM 7100/80, PM 500MP, PB G4 17", iMac 20" G5, MBP 17" C2D 2.4 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.9) iPods: 1/3/5G, mini 1G, shuffle 1/2 G, nano 1/2G; Westone UM2, PIXMA iP6600D

Sharing itunes between users on one computer

Hi,
How do you share one itunes library between multiple users on one mac? At the moment each user on our computer has their own library which has lead to a lot of music being duplicated. Is there any way to have this all in one library?!
Many thanks

Hi Simon,
Any clues in this link?
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
Regards
Colin R.

Sharing iTunes between wired and wireless Macs

Hi,
I have a Mac laptop connected wirelessly to an Airport Express -- which is wired to a desktop Mac Mini. I'm trying to share music but cannot. I've done all the proper settings in the iTunes preferences and the same in System Preferences -- I think -- on both computers, but on neither computer is anything showing in the Sources window. It says that there are no users online.
Is there something in the System Preferences box that I'm missing? Should I turn the firewall off (I shouldn't need to, since I've checked the iTunes Sharing box)? Is the main problem here that you can't share music between a wired and wireless computer? (This would be a bit strange to me, but you never know.)
One other thing. I was trying out the network and I can only get access to the wired Mini's Public folder as a Guest, not as a Registered User. Is there something very badly wrong here?
Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Thanks for the rapid response. All of those preferences, however, are already set properly (i.e., as you said) on both computers. When I try to go to the Network, I can access the wired desktop Mini's hard drive, but when I try to do it on the mini to get into the laptop's it can't find the afp. It just keeps searching but then says it doesn't exist. Not sure if this network-connectivity problem is relevant or not for this particular issue of iTunes sharing. Grateful for any advice.

Sharing Iphoto between accounts on a single macbook

My wife and I share a MacBook and it is set up so that we each have our own account. I set up Iphoto on my account as I primarily do the photo work for our family. How would you go about setting up Iphoto on my wife's account so that it could share the photo library that is in my account? For space reasons I don't want to duplicate the library. Is there a simple way to do this?

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Using iPhoto 6
What you mean by 'share'.
If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
Any user can drag a pic from the Shared Library to their own in the iPhoto Window.
Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc. The problem here is that OS X works very hard to keep your data safe and secure from the other users. You're trying to beat what's built in to the system. So, to beat the system
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.
Lastly: This method seems a little clunky at first, but works very well. Most importantly, it uses the System to do the job for you.
Create a new Account on your Mac, call it Media. Create an iPhoto Library there. (BTW: This will work for iTunes too.)
Enable Sharing on the Library:(Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other accounts. In those accounts, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. The Library will appear in the other source pane.
This means that both users will be able to see the pics. If you want to use a pic then simply drag it from the shared Library to your own in the iPhoto Window. This means that each user can have their own edits.
If you want to add photos to the Library: Log into the Media account for that purpose.
To make it all seamless: Set your Mac to log into the Media Account automatically. Set iPhoto to launch on log-in. Then switch to your own account using Fast User Switching.
Net result: a Library that's permanently available to all users but also protected. Each user can have their own versions of the pics if they want.
No partitioning, no permissions issues. Uses no extra disk space. What's not to like?
Regards
TD

Sharing Folder between accounts

I have two users (two separate accounts) on my machine, both with admin privileges. How can we share a certain folder so all can access it? For example, if user A creates a word document in his account A, he'd like to drop it into a folder still under account A, and when user B logs into his own account (B), he can access the shared folder and word document created by A.
We tried using the Public Folder and Drop Box inside, but when A drags the word doc to his Drop Box, it doesn't appear in the account B Drop Box.
How to share work across user accounts? TIA!

The /User/Shared folder contains (read/write) files shared between all users, and a user's ~/Public folder contains (read only) files that they want to share with others. The ~/Public/Drop Box is used to pass files between users - for example, user A drops a file on the drop box of user B.

Sharing itunes between accounts.

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