Sharing iTunes music between two User accounts

hey all,
my mom and i share an iMac G5, each with our own user account. we both listen to a lot of the same music and it seems silly to use double the Hard drive space by each maintaining separate iTunes libraries. What is the best way to share music between user accounts? is there a way to make it so that when she opens iTunes, it will open as if it is opening iTunes on my account, giving her immediate access to all my music? any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanx much!
David

This article describes two methods:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
If you want only one library, use the second method.
There are some disadvantages:
If one of the users deletes a song, the other can't play it no more.
If one user adds a song, the other has to add it to his/her library too.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

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How do I share iTunes music between two user accounts?

We have two (admin) user accounts on our iMac. My husband has downloaded tons of music from CDs to his iTunes library. How can I get some of his music to my iTunes library without having to re-download from CDs? If anyone can give me simple instructions it would be appreciated.
Thanks Jeanette.

Look at this article: iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203

Sharing iTunes music between two users (two logins) on one Mac

Hi,
I have a Macbook with the latest iTunes. My I have a lot of music in my library which I want to be able to share with my wife when she logs in under her own ID. How can I get my library to show up in her iTunes library? I tried >Prefs>Sharing, but this did nothing. There was no change. I also tried setting the files to allow all to Read/Write in the "Get Info" window - no joy. There must be a way. Please advise.
Thank you
Kyur

Zevoneer,
I talked to a mac cust rep and he game me the same article. I did everything step by step but when I open up itunes in my acct or my wifes acct, I can only see music bought with each acount respectively. Do I need to import libraries? I just want to be able to share our music on itunes.
Thanks in advance.
Justin

Using the same photos and music between two user accounts in the same Mac

Hi,
I think this question might have already been asked in the forum.
1. I have one MacBook Pro and two user accounts (One for me and one for my wife)
2. We are having two seperate iPhones with seperate AppleIDs
3. We want to maintain the apps / calendar / mail / reminders / contacts as seperate - Through iCloud (Seperate Apple ID approach) - All this is fine
4. All we want to have it shared is the Music files and the Photo library without duplicating
I have tried the shared folder approach for the music and having the iTunes point to that directory for the libary location in the preferences but unfortunately if she adds a folder to the library mine does not get updated unless I do a add folder to library and vice versa.
Whats the best way to deal with the Photos / Music sharing between two user accounts on the same mac
Thanks
Shas

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.

Sharing iPhoto Library between Two User Accounts

Is there any way to fully share a single iPhoto library between two user accounts on one machine (iMac 2.0GHz dual core Intel, 10.5.1, iPhoto '08), without using an external drive (because I don't have one)? By share, I mean each user has full rights and priveledges to the entire library, regardless of who uploaded the pics. Holding down the option key on iPhoto startup does not work because my wife can't access the pics I loaded even though she's pointing to the shared library in a shared folder.

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. then:
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. *You could also use a dmg*.
(Some people have had success putting the library in the Users/ Shared folder. If you do this make sure the file permissions are set to allow read/write access to everyone. But that's unlikely to work on 10.5 because of the way that the permissions have changed with the new OS.)
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.
Regards
TD

Share iTunes purchases between two user accounts on the same Mac?

I have a Macbook Pro, for my bride and I, and a Macbook, for our kids. Both Macs are authorized on my iTunes account.
So, how can I share an iTunes Store purchased song on my account with my wife's? I understand how to turn on sharing and she can see my songs in iTunes on her account, but she cannot synch them to her iPod.
Now, I'm allowed to authorize an iTunes account on up to five Macs. I have two. But I have four accounts. Either way, I won't be exceeding five copies, but can't find a way to get a song I bought in my iTunes to my wife's iPod.
We use the same iTunes account but don't want to have to buy things twice to get them on her iPod. Just seems weird that I could put it on five machines but not two user accounts on the same one.
Message was edited by: Sky Guy

On my Mac Pro I moved the entire library to "Macintosh HD/Shared/iTunes". Changed the Folder location in iTunes Preferences->Advanced->General to point to that location. Then in each user change the Music/iTunes folder to be an alias or link pointing to the Shared/iTunes folder. You will likely need to change the permissions on that folder to give everyone the ability to read and write. Do that via "Get Info" on the iTunes folder using Finder. I'd suggest backing everything up before you do this.

Sharing iTunes library between different user accounts

I recently purchased my imac and made the leap from the PC world. I set up another user account aside from the general administrator and followed the steps of having itunes folder go to the users/shared folder in an effort to be able to share files between users. I am able to now share the library between users but find that when I load new songs onto one user I then need to go into the other user's account and manually copy the new songs from the shared folder into itunes.
Anyone know how I can have it so when I load songs into one users itunes they will automatically appear in library of the other user's itunes without having to take the step of copying/importing?
Also when I was downloading and importing over 4000 songs my imac had the transparent black box which informed me I needed to shut down my computer at least twice. Should I be concerned? I'm assuming this notice is very similar to the "blue screen of death" known in the PC world so that can't be good especially when I paid the extra $ for fully loaded imac.
Thanks for the help!

DANMAC808, Welcome to the discussion area!
See KB 93195, iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer.
Also when I was downloading and importing over 4000 songs my imac had the transparent black box which informed me I needed to shut down my computer at least twice. Should I be concerned?
That is not normal at all.

Sharing iPhoto library between two user accounts on the same Mac

My wife and I each have an iPad and we share the same iMac. We each have our own user account on the iMac. She syncs with her account, and I sync with mine. This works fine in general, but we store all our photos within iPhoto on my account. She is therefore unable to sync the photos to her iPad. The same is true with the music that we keep on the iTunes in my user account.
Is there a way for her to sync so that the photos and music sync with her iPad also?

I have used a program called iPhoto Library Manager (http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/) for years and it has worked like a charm. The program handles all of the permission/subfolder aspects transparently. Our iPhoto library is stored in my wife's default location, but I have seamless read-write access to it. When I open iPhoto, I see the same thing she does, and I have complete control.
To answer your question about music, there are a couple of approaches. If you turn on Sharing in iTunes, and your wife's iTunes is set to look for shared libraries, she'll be able to have complete access to play anything in your iTunes library (as long as you have iTunes open). I believe she also has rights to copy files from your iTunes library into hers.
That's great for playback on a Mac, but what you can't do is sync an iPod/iPad/iPhone with someone else's shared library, so here's how I do it:
1) My iTunes library is our "primary" library, located in my Public folder (where other users have read-access).
2) In my wife's iTunes, library, I hit keystroke Apple-O to add content to her library, and navigated over to my iTunes Library in my public folder to select it. Once I did this, her iTunes library looked like mine.
3) The key thing is that under her iTunes Advanced Preferences, I ensure that "Copy content to iTunes library" is deselected. Otherwise, it would make a copy of my entire library on her side, and that would chew up a ton of disk space.
Note that I don't think it's entirely necessary to have the iTunes library in the Public folder. It could stay in the default location as long as you changes your music folder to have read-access by other users. I moved mine before I knew any better.
When I add new content to my library that my wife wants, we hit Apple-O from her side and add it to her library. This setup is kludgy, but a) both users can sync the music to iDevices and b) it doesn't require having two copies of everything. Note that unlike the iPhoto Library Manager solution, this is a static thing. You have to manually update the "satellite" library to keep it up to date with the main one.
I'm not in front of my Mac, so some of my notations may not be completely accurate.
Good Luck!

Sharing iTunes library between two users on the same Mac

I recently bought my parents a new MacBook Pro (they switched from Windows). I was able to get all of their songs over and into my dad's iTunes library. My mom and dad each have separate accounts on the MBP, but they'd both like to be able to see (and listen to) the same iTunes library, not at the same time, obviously.
Is that possible? If so how? Is it enough to point my mom's iTunes to the same folder? Do I need to put special permissions on that iTunes folder while logged into my dad's account?

brown_sm wrote:
I recently bought my parents a new MacBook Pro (they switched from Windows). I was able to get all of their songs over and into my dad's iTunes library. My mom and dad each have separate accounts on the MBP, but they'd both like to be able to see (and listen to) the same iTunes library, not at the same time, obviously.
Is that possible? If so how?
the easy way is to use itunes sharing. start itunes in your dad's account and enable sharing in itunes preferences->sharing. then other users including your mother will be able to listen to the songs from your dad's itunes library but ONLY while your dad is logged in. so in order for this to work both of them should be logged in at the same time. to make that possible enable fast user switching in system preferences->accounts->login options. However, this is not terribly convenient.
it's possibly (but surprisingly tricky) to use the same itunes library without having both users logged in at the same time.
Is it enough to point my mom's iTunes to the same folder? Do I need to put special permissions on that iTunes folder while logged into my dad's account?
yes. not just permissions. you need to put inherited ACLs on your dads Music folder to give both of them read+write access to all current and future files in it. so log in as your dad and run the following terminal command (copy and paste please)
chmod -R +a "username allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,\
addsubdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directoryinherit" ~/Music
instead of username put the short user name of your dad's account. it's the same as the name of his home directory in /Users. then repeat the command with your mother's username instead of your dad's. after that log out of your dad's account, log into your mom's account and point her itunes library to his itunes library. to do that start itunes while holding option.

How do you share music between two user accounts for multimedia purposes???

I am working with iDVD and am running into a slight snafu. My girlfriend has most of the pictures in her iPhoto account, while I have most of the music in my iTunes account. (she works on maintaining our over flowing pictures, while I handle paying for all our music... works out nice. <wink>)
Anyways, we were both working on a new photo DVD for family using iDVD and were frustrated that we could not pull in music from my iTunes account to use with her pictures in iDVD. I am uncertain if we are doing anything wrong and just do not know how to do it, or if it is not possible. We also have a few pictures on my iPhoto account we wanted to add to the DVD, but cannot access those either from her account while in iDVD.
Is it possible to share this data back and forth without making two copies of all of it?
Thanks for all your help!!
- jonathan

Follow the steps after the section that says "If you have an earlier version of Mac OS X", Quintalis. It explains how to do it without the Fast User Switching/iTunes Sharing which is indeed limited only to playback.
Note that when it says "publicly accessible location", it needs to be a place where everyone has read and write access. The most common such place is the Shared folder in the Users folder.

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Thank you Joe - I tried this but it's only showing a teensy amount of music - the stuff on the second users account as opposed to the giagntic library on the 'main' account. I actually went to a Genius Bar and they said that apple doesn't really want you to share music between accounts - parents don't want to hear their kids music etc. Which seemed strange, but it might be the case sadly Thanks anyway!

TS3981 After migration files are now shared between two user accounts. How can I combine them into one account?

After migration, from PC, files are now shared between two user accounts.I have to switch users to access files. How can I combine them into one account?

See Pondini's Transferring files from one User Account to another, for starters

I would like the share an iTunes library between two different accounts on one Mac. How do I do this?

iTunes no longer works properly (aka at all) while using one of the user accounts set up on my iMac. It does, however, work when logging in under another user account on the same iMac. (if any of you can help me solve this issue that would be perfect). If there is no solution can anyone help with my request to share an iTunes library between two different accounts on one Mac. How do I do this?

jc_hering wrote:
that works for anything he purchases after he creates the new account. What about his current music that currently resides in my itunes library? How can I get his current music out of my library into his new account/library?? Thanks..
Copy it to his computer into his iTunes library and authorize his computer with the iTunes account used to purchase them..
You cannot tranfser items from one iTunes account to another. Purchased items remain part of the iTunes account is was purchased with.
iTunes account - used to purchase items
iTunes library - where purchases (and CD RIPs) go on the computer

Sharing one library with two user accounts.

I want to share one iTunes library with two user accounts on the same iMac.
I've followed the tutorial where you move the iTunes Music folder to a shared location HD/Shared/iTunes and then pointed both iTunes to that location via the advanced menu, but only the admin account has the music. The other user account iTunes shows nothing.
Also, I've now moved the music folder back to my area on the HD (not shared any more) and now the iTunes music folder shows all the album folders where before I guess they were hidden. Why and how do I get it back to how it was...?
All we're trying to do is share one mac. My wife and I have our own log in user accounts, but want to have the same music and iPhotos accessible on our own set-ups.
Thanks for any help.

Out of interest I got this to work.
I made a folder called 'All Music' and put all the album folders in it.
Moved this folder to User/Shared/ and then clicked on the file, and Get Info.
In Get Info added my wife to Sharing & Permissions as Read & Write.
In iTunes / Advanced found the folder on my user account, and then did the same on my wife's account and hit add to library.
I hope this was the right way to do it..... It seems to have worked.

Syncing iTunes Library between multiple user accounts

Is it possible for iTunes to automatically sync music libraries between two user accounts on Windows XP?

If I understand your question correctly , you can have identical libraries (contents, playlists and all) if you set each user's account to reference the same .itl file.
Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base for details on how to do so.
By using the Choose Library option and linking the accounts to the same .itl file, the libraries will be the same and changes made to one will be reflected in the others.
Post back if you need any further details.

Sharing iTunes music between two User accounts

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