Sharing itunes library on 2 macs

Hi. I have an iMac with an external HD connected. I also have a mac mini on the same network. I want itunes on the mac mini to use the same library as on the iMac (the library is on the external HD). I gone through the process of holding option whilst opening itunes and directing it to the library i want to use but it says - disk may be locked or no privalages or something like that. I have made sure on the host computer that the files are enabled for sharing, are not locked and that everone can read and write but it makes no difference. Anybody any ideas?? Thanks.

try this:
on the iMac, go system preferences > sharing and add the iTunes folder on the external to the "shared folders" by way of the little "+" sign. add the user on the Mini to "users" and give it read & write privileges.
now try again to select the iTunes folder on the external from iTunes on the Mini.

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Sharing iTunes library between two Macs on Time Capsule

Hi there
I've just about persuaded my fiancee to get a MacBook, which would give us a mac-only household. If I got a Time Capsule, could we share an iTunes library? We each have an iPod and it would seem like a pain to have to recreate two entire libraries on the Time Capsule, much of which would be the same music.
I'm also assuming we could both use the TC as wireless Time Machine backup for our Macs - is this correct?
Finally, does anyone have a view on the likely range of TC relative to a standard Linksys 802.11g wireless router? The Linksys doesn't quite reach to the other end of my apartment and I'm wondering if the TC is likely to be better.
Very many thanks in advance.

Hello
You will run into pain. I just tried every found solution on Internet. Whatever you will do, it ends up in a hack. Fact is: iTunes administer your library only local. You CAN share your iTunes library on one Mac by menu settings in a network, BUT the Mac sharing its iTunes library MUST run all the time you want to listen to music from shared iTunes library even if the shared library (music files) is on the Time Capsule. It even wont work turn on "Wake up on LAN activity". The shared library will only be available as long as the Mac sharing its iTunes library is up and iTunes opened. That way it makes no big sense to have the music files in library physically on your Time Capsule. Another problem might come up when you stop listening shared iTunes library: As soon as the sharing Mac goes into StandBy mode (time depending) you can't access its library again. Standby must be stopped.
The other "solution" is also to have the whole library on a shared drive (Time Capsule) and to import it on both Macs. You will run quickly into Sync problems, beside its a pain to administer the song library that way: You have to import further songs twice, on both Macs to hear them on every one.
And of course, there are third pary hacks around nobody really wants to use.
After implementing Time Machine into Lepoard Apple wanted to make money out of it and offered Time Capsule mainly for storing data and backups (what both works great, also WLAN works fine).
I hope Apple will find a way in iTunes not to handle the music libraries so restrictive, so it can be accessed f.e. on Time Capsule while the Mac sharing its library must not run all the time.
Hope I could help.
Message was edited by: Tayger

Sharing itunes library on 1 mac with multiple accounts

I have got my daughter an iphone for xmas and created a new account on my wifes mini mac for her and want to share the main itunes account - i found this explanation (see below) but it still wont work?
I logged into my daughters newly created account then into the itunes account - prefs - look for shared music and....nothing!!!
i moved the "iTunes Music Folder" to the shared folder on my wifes account as described below.
Quit iTunes.
Locate your iTunes Music Folder. It is stored by default:
~/Music/iTunes or ~/Documents/iTunes/.
These folders cannot be accessed by other accounts on the computer. In order for other users to be able to access your music, you must move it to a publicly accessible location.
The Public folder in your home directory (~/Public), or to another folder outside your home directory that other users have access to, such as /Users/Shared. Tip: The tilde "~" refers to your home folder. For more information see Mac OS X: Using Your Home Directory.
Drag the iTunes Music Folder to a publicly accessible location. Important: Do not move the iTunes folder, the iTunes 4 Music Library file or the iTunes Library.xml file.
Open iTunes.
From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences.
Click Advanced.
Click the Change button.
Navigate in the Change Music Folder Location dialog to the location of your iTunes Music folder.
Click Choose.
Repeat these steps for each account that is sharing music with other users.
Note: If multiple users of a computer are storing music in one folder, duplicate song files are generated when a user imports music from CD that has already been imported by another user.
See the "To listen to another account's music files" section below.

Is your wife's iTunes account still seeing all the music ok in iTunes after you moved the music folder?
So what you need to do in your daughter's account is open iTunes, preferences, change the folder location to the same location as the shared folder so when she adds music it will be added to that folder if you want to keep everything in the same folder. To add all that music to her library you have to go to File -> Add to library... then navigate to and pick that iTunes Music folder on the shared directory.
iTunes will now add all the titles to the library. Since the preference is to use that same location for her library and the stuff is already there and organized, iTunes shouldn't make any copies or duplicates.
Keep in mind that what you have done now is you have two iTunes libraries accessing the same media folder. Meaning, that each account can have their own ratings, playlists, etc. but more importantly, each account does NOT know what the other account does, so if your daughter adds a CD to her account, it will go into the shared folder, but it will NOT automatically go into your wife's iTunes library. She would have to add it manually. Likewise, if one account deletes music from their library and tells iTunes to remove it to the trash, the other account will not know and iTunes will still try to access the file from the shared location even though the file is now trashed,
Patrick

HT4557 how do i copy a shared itunes library (from a mac) to another mac

I have activated home sharing on both macs. I pick up itunes library from mac 1 on itunes of mac 2, but i can not seem to compy the songs from mac one to mac 2's itunes.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

Question about sharing itunes library with another mac acct user

I have set up my itunes library to be accessible from an external HD and have it set up to where a second acct user on my mac can access it. My goal is to be able to sync my wife's and my iphone to the same itunes library/playlists, since we share that music. I followed the instructions to set this up and can see the original library showing up in the itunes acct of the second user. What I dont understand is haw to sync my playlists to the second accounts user's iphone? When I connect and pull up itunes, and select to sync specific playlists, it only gives me the option to select new playlists created on her accounts, not the ones I am sharing with the second account? All of the songs are showing up in her library as well as my visible shared library. Is this how it should work...in other words, it I add a new song to my library, it will also show up in the second accounts library, along with the one that is visible as my shared library. Does the second account just need to make their own playlists, vs being able to select specific ones on my account to sync?

I have set up my itunes library to be accessible from an external HD and have it set up to where a second acct user on my mac can access it. My goal is to be able to sync my wife's and my iphone to the same itunes library/playlists, since we share that music. I followed the instructions to set this up and can see the original library showing up in the itunes acct of the second user. What I dont understand is haw to sync my playlists to the second accounts user's iphone? When I connect and pull up itunes, and select to sync specific playlists, it only gives me the option to select new playlists created on her accounts, not the ones I am sharing with the second account? All of the songs are showing up in her library as well as my visible shared library. Is this how it should work...in other words, it I add a new song to my library, it will also show up in the second accounts library, along with the one that is visible as my shared library. Does the second account just need to make their own playlists, vs being able to select specific ones on my account to sync?

Sharing an iTunes Library on one Mac?

I've one Mac on which Bob would like to use the
iTunes Library of Alice with Alice agreement.
Alice has already enabled the sharing on her account.
But Bob doesn't see anything when looking for shared
Libraries.
How is this possible?
dan

Josef Kowalewski wrote:
hI,
Tell Bob and Alice to follow Apple's advice - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195
Thank you for this great piece of documentation
which help to find a path to stop stupid duplication
of huge libraries. A search within the Apple Support
with the string "Sharing iTunes Library same computer"
gave no useful information.
Now I have a mostly similar problem I don't find a
word about in the Apple web support.
Bob is able to add to his Library any number of
piece of musique from Alice. But when he wants to add some
albums, the albums aren't imported. The pieces
of musique included in all the albums are included
in the "Library" but the albums contents definitions
are lost.
How is it possible to access to a large set of
well organised albums from another user's account?
dan

How can I share my iTunes library on my mac with Harman Kardon 151?

Simply put: How can I share my iTunes library on my mac mini with Harman Kardon 151?

Drag your \Music\iTunes\ folder to the Shared directory.In the Finder, right click - get info.
Go to *Sharing & Permissions* tab and make sure everyone has Read/Write permissions and click the Gear and *Apply to enclosed items*.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library* and select the _iTunes library file_ in the \Shared\iTunes\ folder.
Log out and your wife logs in.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library* and select the _iTunes library file_ in the \Shared\iTunes\ folder.
If hse has music in her iTunes library that was not in your , sh eFile -> Add to library and select those items in her \Music\iTunes\iTunes media folder.
Then she can delete \Music\iTunes\ folder.

Backing up a shared itunes library

Hi, I want to back up my shared itunes library and most importantly my purchased music onto an external hard drive. When I use backup it can't find the purchased music in the shared file (I have two users on one mac sharing the itunes library). What is the best way of getting around this. I have noted the help pages on support but they are mainly for burning to a CD/DVD and don't discuss the issue of sharing!
Many thanks
Matt

No-one responded!

Shared iTunes library gets "sticky"

Hello,
I'm currently running iTunes on my MacBook Pro & PC computer (running Windows 7 Release Candidate 2). The libraries of both machines are shared over the network & can be played from the other machine just fine. I've just noticed a few weeks ago that sometimes, the library from the PC computer still shows up in iTunes on the MacBook Pro, even when the PC computer is turned off. I didn't connect to the PC library so when shutting down the PC computer, I don't get a message saying that users are still connected to the library & asking for confirmation of quitting iTunes.
Furthermore, when the PC computer is powered on again & iTunes is launched, a second library with the same name now shows up on iTunes on the MacBook Pro.
I've recently upgraded to Snow Leopard (10.6) but I had noticed the problem already before that. It might have even started with the previous version of iTunes (both machines are running the latest version of iTunes right now). I can quit & relaunch iTunes on the Mac & it disappears, but it's a bit of a chore.
How could I go about fixing that problem for good ?

margemynx wrote:
We have this great shared ITunes library at work. I'd love to grab some songs from people's lists but I'm hitting a wall and Itunes won't let me do it. Is there anything I can do to get around this (short of asking people to burn them for me, which I really don't want to do)?
Sorry, that would be piracy. You do not own those tracks and your co worker does not have the rights to distribute them to you either.

Shared iTunes library, store purchases by more than one user

I'm after some advice about a shared iTunes library. The folder is on an external hard drive. There are two user accounts on the Mac and they both make iTunes store purchases. I have had permissions errors for user #2 when trying to add downloaded songs to the library. I noticed the 'Ignore permissions' option was unchecked, but enabling it does not fix the problem (probably should've done it first).
So user#2 has some downloaded songs in a different directory. I'm at the point where I need to bring everything into one shared library folder, on a permissions-ignored drive, making sure both users can download their individual purchases to the same library. Both users also have an iPhone that they would like to add music from this library to. Am I running into any potential problems - even if I backup the music data and begin from scratch?

Use separate Windows user accounts, or press the Shift key when launching iTunes and create a second library.
(48667)

Could not connect to " home shared iTunes library name "

I'm having an issue with iTunes/ Apple TV. Actually it has been ongoing. I have a particular iTunes library shared on a private subnet (together with the Apple TVs) from a Mac Mini. I can connect and play content any time with iTunes on another computer 100% reliably. But around 60% of the time when I try to connect to it from any of my four Apple TV (2's) an error comes up saying "Could not connect to "<home shared iTunes library name>" ", "Make sure the computer is on the same network as your Apple TV. the iTunes version is up to date and iTunes is running". The answer to those questions (as always with such messages is obviously 'yes':
Yes of course we are on the same network. If I wasn't, the library wouldn't have even shown up in the first place before selecting it
Yes iTunes as always is the latest version thanks to Mac Software Update
Again 'dah'. See response #1
If I restart the offending iTunes library the error is resolved (although sometimes it does require reboot of the Apple TV) but could reappear as early as within the next 24 hours. This issue has been occuring for a very long time however appears to be increasing in frequency. It occured as well on the Apple TV (v1).
Anyone with clues on what's going on here?
Thanks
Greg

I agree that the first debug point should be the network. Though like Greg, I use a Mac Mini to serve up movies to a couple of Apple TVs. From the 'problem' Apple TV, I could see other iTunes movie libraries on other Mac(s), and those would work/play fine. It's only when I try to connect to the iTunes Library of the Mac Mini that I have this issue. It's almost like it's asleep, and doesn't respond. Though I can mount the library folder, and play movies from other Macs w/o a problem while the Apple TV still has the problem.
As Greg mentions, closing and re-opening iTunes on the Mini solves the issue (though only temporarily).
The only difference that I have (non-consistency) is that my Mac Mini is an older model, and cannot be upgraded to run Lion (10.7.x) like my other Macs. The Mini is running 10.6.8, and iTunes 10.6.1 (32-bit). My Macs are running 10.7.3 and the 64-bit version of iTunes 10.6.1.
Is it possible it could be a 10.6 vs. a 10.7 issue? Greg, which version of OS X are your Macs running?

How can I do to transfer all iTunes library from my Mac book Pro to Time capsule without to lost the alphabetic sequence of songs

How can I do to transfer all iTunes library from my Mac book Pro to Time capsule without to lost the alphabetic sequence of songs & artists? What is the correct way to transfer my 3000 songs to Time capsule, to free the memory of my Mac? Thanks a lot. Carlo Molinari (Rome - Italy)

How can I do to transfer all iTunes library from my Mac book Pro to Time capsule without to lost the alphabetic sequence of songs & artists? What is the correct way to transfer my 3000 songs to Time capsule, to free the memory of my Mac?
The following are the basic steps to transfer your iTunes Media folder from your MacBook Pro to the Time Capsule (TC). Note: You will leave the iTunes Library, and its associated files, on the MacBook Pro as you will only be moving the media files.
Be sure to shutdown iTunes before starting.
Next, move the "iTunes Music" folder, located in ~/Music/iTunes/, to wherever you want on your TC's internal hard drive. Remember to leave the Album Artwork folder, as well as the three individual library files where they are on the MacBook Pro.
Wait a while. If you have a large library, this will take a bit of time.
Once the iTunes Media folder has been transferred, open iTunes. Note: It will still be looking at your local iTunes Library on the MBP. As such it will think that the iTunes Media folder is still on the MBP as well. However, we just relocated it to the TC. If you attempt to select any song, you will get an error that the song is "missing." Not to worry, we will correct this in the next step.
We need to tell iTunes the media has moved to the TC's internal HDD. To change where iTunes "looks" for the media, open iTunes and go to the Advanced > General tab and use the "Change..." button to tell it where your new "iTunes Music" library is located.
Once this is done iTunes will likely pop up a progress window telling you that it's re-analyzing your library. Let it complete this step.
As a final check to make sure everything when as planned, click on any library file from within iTunes and press cmd + i (or View > Get Info). At the bottom of the Summary tab in that window is a "Where:" section that tells you the actual file path to that piece of media; be sure that path begins with the name of your TC's drive, and not "Macintosh HD."

How can i move my iTunes' library from one mac to another without losing playlist etc???

how can i move my iTunes' library from one mac to another without losing playlist etc???

Use migration assistant, email it to the other computer or transfer the file using iChat.

4 people in our family have an iphones or ipod on the same apple id ..so that we can all share the itunes library. however this means that we all get each others imessages. is there a way of sharing itunes library with 4 separate ids?

4 of us in the family with iphonesor ipods share the same apple id so that we can share the itunes library . However , this means we all receive each others imessages, unless we disable imessaging. Is there a way of sharing itunes library (ie.g with 4 separate ids) that avoids the sharing of imessages? .

Thanks, Terence, but if she was inclined to upload things, I wouldn't need access!
Here is an example: we go on vacation, she takes 250 photos, edits twenty of the best shots, and uploads three to facebook. I want to make an album including some of the edited shots and some of the less perfect but still fun shots - so I need all 250 photos - uploading that many photos to a photosharing site takes forever even if she did it - but she won't. I used to just hijack her computer for a day, but I'd like to be able to hijack her iphoto library without stealing her computer...if possible!
Thanks for any help you can offer!
- A

I accidentally synced my mum's brand new iPad to my mac book air. A few days later I realised that my iTune library on my mac is completely gone. So is my iPhone 4s after I synced it with my mac. How do I get my old iTunes library back? Please help!

I accidentally synced my mum's brand new iPad to my mac book air. A few days later I realised that my iTune library on my mac is completely gone. So is my iPhone 4s after I synced it with my mac. How do I get my old iTunes library back? I tried using icloud on my iphone but it stated that I have never back up my phone before. So I guess my iCloud data is gone too? But I have back up my mac in my harddrive using time machine. So how do I get my old itune library back? Please help! Thanks!

1) ensure iTunes is authorized for your iTunes store account(s)
2) connect your device and right-click or control-click it in the iTunes Source list, then choose transfer purchases from the shortcut menu that appears.
3) sync the device
iTunes will wipe the iPhone but, since you transferred your purchases in the previous step, your content will be in your library and you can re-populate the iPhone with it.
above works for purchases from the iTunes store. for everything else, check out this post by Zevoneer.

Sharing itunes library on 2 macs

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