Sharing Itunes on same computer

My husband and I just bought our Mac and we set up two different accounts on the one computer. I've set the music to "share" but if I purchase music online while I'm logged in, he can't sync it onto his Ipod and vice versa. Is there any way we can share eachother's music without completely wiping out our own ipod playlists and having to re -purchase tunes while logged in as the other person? Does this make sense?
THanks

Try this... (swap husband and wife in this. I had it already typed in somewhere else)
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Drag your entire *iTunes folder* from /Username/Music to /Users/Shared.
3. Log out.
1. Log in on your Wife's account.
2. Click on the iTunes icon to start it, then immediately press an hold the Option key.
3. iTunes will ask to *Create new library* or *Choose existing library*. Select *Choose existing library*.
4. Select the *iTunes library* file in the *iTunes folder* in /Users/Shared.
5. iTunes will open and all the music in your account will be there.
6. Now, go to iTunes prefs -> General -> Import options.
7. Make sure *Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library* is ticked.
8. Go to File -> Add to library and select the *iTunes music folder* in /Wife's username/Music/iTunes. This will add all the music in her account.
9. Go to File -> Library -> Import playlist and select *iTunes library.xml* in /Wife's username/Music/iTunes. This will import all her playlists. There may be some duplicate playlists but just delete them.
10. When done, quit iTunes.
11. Go to /Wife's username/Music and drag the iTunes folder to the trash. Do NOT empty the trash yet.
12. Restart iTunes normally (don't hold Option).
13. Everything should be there.
14. Quit iTunes and log out of her account.
1. Log into your account, start iTunes normally and all music should be there.
2. Quit iTunes and go back into her account and make sure iTunes works okay. If it does, empty the trash.
Any changes to anything will be seen by the other user when they run iTunes.
If you are logged in and he plugs in his iPod, it should sync just his playlists and vice-versa.
Note that iTunes can be opened by only one user at a time. If you are using Fats User switching and not logging out, the user must quit iTunes before switching.

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Macs: iTunes Store- About authorization and deauthorization.
Windows: How to Authorize or Deauthorize iTunes | PCWorld.
In iTunes you use the Authorize This Computer or De-authorize This Computer option under the Store menu in iTunes' menubar. For Windows use the ALT-S keys to access it. Or turn on Windows 7 and 8 iTunes menus: iTunes- Turning on iTunes menus in Windows 8 and 7.
More On De-authorizing Computers (contributed by user John Galt)
You can de-authorize individual computers, but only by using those computers. The only other option is to "de-authorize all" from your iTunes account.
1. Open iTunes on a computer
2. From the Store menu, select "View my Account..."
3. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.
4. Under "Computer Authorizations" select "De-authorize All".
5. Authorize each computer you still have, as you may require.
You may only do this once per year.
After you "de-authorize all" your authorized computers, re-authorize each one as required.
If you have de-authorized all computers and need to do it again, but your year has not elapsed, then contact: Apple - Support - iTunes - Contact Us.

Confused about multiple iTunes on same computer

Hiya- I've read as much as I can on multiple iTunes/libraries/accounts and I'm even more confused.
I have one drive partition with all my music which I use as my iTunes library. My wife and I each have our own Windows logins/accounts and access iTunes from each account (sharing the same music folder). This is what I want to do: when I add newly-acquired music to iTunes on my Windows account (i.e. drag new albums onto iTunes and have it copied to iTunes library), I want my wife's iTunes to automatically update its library to see the new albums I've added.
I hope that makes sense. I'm either over-complicating this issue and there's an easy/obvious solution or it can't be done (?) Thanks for any help.
.

Hi, welcome to Apple Discussions.
As I see it the scenario is this:
An iTunes Library at C:\Users\<User1>\Music\iTunes
An iTunes Library at C:\Users\<User2>\Music\iTunes
both of which point to media at some shared location which for the sake of argument we shall call <Shared>\iTunes Media.
(I've assumed <Shared> is not either of the first two folders, neither of which contain a media folder. If the assumption is false post back and I'll give different instructions)
In this case choose one of the two libraries to be "the one" which both accounts will use from now on. Copy the contents of the iTunes folder from that account into the <Shared> folder. Click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press and continue to hold down SHIFT until asked to choose or create a library. Choose the library file in the <Shared> folder. Test that all works well. Close iTunes. Since your <Shared> folder is unlikely to be called iTunes, the main iTunes window will probably have had a weird title just now. Create a new folder called C:\iTunes and move everything iTunes related from <Shared> into it, i.e. the library files called *iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel* and the *Album Artwork* and *iTunes Media* folders. You can delete any .xml files as one will be recreated automatically. Now use the SHIFT-start-iTunes method to open the library at C:\iTunes. Test that all is still well. Close iTunes, switch profiles, use the SHIFT-start-iTunes method to open the library at C:\iTunes. Hooray, both profiles are now using the same library. Any updates you make using one profile will be visible when you open the library with the other.
One possible drawback. If you use the fast user switching method to flip between accounts then you have to remember to close iTunes before swicthing otherwise the second user will find the library is locked.
You might also find the following tip useful:
*How to use multiple iPods with one computer*
The Apple support document How to use multiple iPods with one computer suggests a number of ways. I use method two (Sync with selected playlists) with a slight twist. Rather than regular playlists I set the grouping field to indicate which users should receive which tracks and create smart playlists based on the content of this field.
e.g.
"Alice's Tracks" is "Grouping contains Alice" + "Kind contains audio"
"Bob's Videos" is "Grouping contains Bob" + "Kind does not contain audio"
Tracks that both Alice & Bob want on their iPods have the grouping set to "Alice/Bob"
etc.
I currently manage our family's five iPods using this system, each getting a different selection to suit their tastes and the capacity of their iPod. An advantage of using the grouping field is that it is stored in file tags (for non-wav audio files anyway) so that it is relatively easy to recreate the playlists should the iTunes library get trashed. Also useful if you move files about manually as playlist membership is preserved when you delete & re-import the tracks.
tt2

Sharing music on same computer, different accounts

I am the administrator of my computer, and would like to share my music files with my kids (and vise versa), who log in under different account names on same computer. How do I create a "common" set of music files that all of us can access under different accounts?

I have never done this, but what I would recommend is...
Get your kids to Duplicate their iTunes folder in their own account, and append their name to the duplicate, before moving (not copying, or you may soon run out of space) this to the Shared folder.
Then follow the advice above, except for the bit about not trashing the kids folders, as they will still have their main iTunes folders in their own accounts. After you've found that everything works ok, you can then ask your kids to clear out their own iTunes libraries to free up space.
Two things before starting:
- check there is enough space on your hard drive
- BACK UP all the iTunes folders to an external hard drive, or to DVDs
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Front row & shared libraries on same computer

Hey
My girlfriend and I dont have the same music taste, which is why we like to keep our music on different accounts. However recently I've bought a Mac Mini intended to work as a mediacenter. I've planned to use Front Row along with the remote control, but I still like to keep 2 different music lists for me and the girlfriend.
So far I've tried with 2 accounts on the Mac mini each of them with shared Itunes libraries. I can access the 2 different libraries on other computers fine, but not through Front Row on the Mini itself.
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Ohhh it's easy... just get a new girlfriend ? <G>
So I see your problem.
Just to be clear, you seem to be aware that using Fast User Switching, as opposed to logging out is the only way to half way make this work. But you are right, it doesn't seem possible to share different iTunes user accounts on the same computer thru Front Row.
As a matter of fact, I was playing a shared song in iTunes from another user on my computer, and when I clicked the remote to engage Front Row, the song stopped....
I would like to point out that it IS possible to share two different user's iTunes on another computer..... so if you set up your first computer with you and your girlfriend's accounts, set iTunes to share on both, then keep both accounts active by using Fast User Switching, THEN on your Mac Mini, you can access both of those shared accounts... just not at the same time.. This is done under the SOURCES menu...
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My sister and I have our own iPod nanos but we share the same computer. Is there a way to have two itunes on the same computer? Or are there any suggestions on how to manage our music separately, since we have no intentions of sharing music with eachother (we have very different tastes in music)? Thanks!
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There are actually a few methods for using more than one iPod on a single computer: How To Use Multiple iPods with One Computer
Just to summarise what's in the link above:
Method one is to have two Mac or Windows user accounts which by definition would give you two completely separate libraries.
Method two is to set your preferences so that either one or both iPods get updated with only certain playlists within one library: Loading songs onto iPod automatically
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NTFS is a Microsoft file system. How would Apple "fix" access to NTFS? If you must share data between OSx and Windows, use a drive formatted exFat.

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Hi, my macbook pro 2008 crashed, just before it crashed, I backed it up via time machine. I had a Iphone 3g, it was backed up to both icloud and that computer. It didn't crash but the battery life was so short after two years it was useless.
So I buy a new 2012 macbook pro and an iphone 5
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Will i lose my icloud backup of the iphone if I do this? I have bought apps for hundreds of dollars.
I use the same APPLE ID, never done anything sneaky, why is apple punishing me for buying new things?
Where can I yell at someone?
Thanks for all your help

SharkBoy wrote:
Where can I yell at someone?
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Sharing itunes on one computeR??????

hi, me and my sister use the same computer so we have to use the same program of itunes, but we have different tastes in music... so is there anyway you can have two seperate libraries on itunes so we don't have to worry about having eachother's music on eachother's ipods?
thanks in advance!

Hi Marty,
Welcome to Apple Support Discussions!
There is actually a very simple way to do this that Apple has added in iTunes version 7. Before you open iTunes, hold down shift. If you held shift and then hit enter when the iTunes icon was selected, a dialog should come up that says, "iTunes needs a library to continue. You may choose and existing iTunes library or create a new one." And it will display three options. If this is your first time doing this, select "Create Library..." Now you can create a library for yourself separate from your sister's.
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Sharing Itunes on same computer

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