Sharing music between two users

I share a Macbook with my wife. I have a great music library on my account and would like to share it with her on her account. Where should I put the files so we both have access without doubling our hard drive space? Thanks to all who reply!!

If you put the iTunes Library folder anywhere outside of the protected folders in your home folder (Document, Music, Pictures, Movies, Desktop, Library) she can access it directly by pointing her iTunes to it.
To do so, in her account, hold [Option] while opening iTunes until the dialog window pops up with the options to 'Create New Library' and 'Choose Library'. Pick Choose and navigate to your iTunes folder and hit OK.. Now iTunes in her account will open your main library just as if it were in your account.

Similar Messages

  • Sharing music between two users of the same computer

    My husband and I both have i pods and use the same PC, running Windows XP. We have different user names in XP, but have the same e-mail address and apple account. We can't have both our iTunes open at the same time and can't share music without creating playlists in each others library and then burning them to CDs. More than half the time the CD's fail to burn and we get error messages. We have tried the sharing settings in Preferences, Exporting and Importing files and folders, etc. but nothing works. Are we destined to have to buy the same songs twice?

    1 Quit iTunes.
    2 Drag your entire iTunes folder from \My Documents\My Music\ to a Shared C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music.
    3 Log out.
    1 Log in on your other account(s).
    2 Start iTunes and immediately press an hold the Shift 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 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music\iTunes.
    5 Now go to File -> Add Folder to library and select the iTunes music folder located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music\iTunes.
    6 - iTunes will add all the music in from this account to the main iTunes music folder/library.
    7 Delete the iTunes folder in \My Documents\My Music\.
    8 Restart iTunes normally (don't hold Shift). Everything should be there.
    9 Quit iTunes and log out of the account.
    10 Do the above steps for all users. Don't do the first 1-3 steps. Start at the second series.
    Log into your account, start iTunes normally and all music should be there.
    Whenever any of you do anything in iTunes, it will be seen by all since you are using one and the same iTunes library file.
    Create a "main" playlist for each user with their own music. Create a smart playlist and set it to Playlist is not the playlist you created above. Select this and it will show you everything NOT in your playlist. Do the same for the others. This will help when adding only the music you want your own playlist.
    Note that iTunes can only be opened by one user at a time.

  • Sharing music between two users in the same computer ?

    I want to share my music library with an other user on my computer. I have try for hours without success HELP ME
    Thank you for answering

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195

  • Sharing music between two users on the same iMac?

    Can anyone tell me how my husband and I can share music in iTunes when we have individual logins for the iMac and iTunes accounts without having to store the music twice therefore taking up twice the amount of space on the hard drive?

    click here for information.
    JGG

  • 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.

  • Confused about sharing music between two ipods

    I have a 30GB ipod video, and I bought my husband an 8GB nano for Christmas. I have been searching the threads trying to figure out how we can share music, but I seem to get conflicting information. I understand how to create separate libraries and I think I understand how to allow him access to my library (move itunes music folder into public folder?) but am still unclear about sharing music between ipods. Because in some of the posts, I have read that while you can share music and listen to it via multiple itunes libraries, you can ONLY listen to it on the computer--you cannot get it onto another ipod due to anti-piracy measures.
    I know I could create a playlist for him in my library, but I like to autosync my ipod and I don't really want his music on mine, because the songs we BOTH like I've already imported into my itunes library. I was hoping to set up a separate library for him, import my music files into it, then let him delete the artists he's not interested in and add the music he wants that I don't. But I don't want to go through all that if he won't be able to play the shared songs on his own ipod.
    I hope all this makes sense. Can someone who shares songs in this way give me some advice? Again, I would like for us to maintain separate libraries but I would like to make mine available to him so he doesn't have to reimport all the CDs I've already imported (and I don't want to waste computer space by having multiple copies of the same songs).
    Any help would be appreciated!

    I know I could create a playlist for him in my library, but I like to autosync my ipod and I don't really want his music on mine, because the songs we BOTH like I've already imported into my itunes library.
    Ver easy to accomplish.
    I have one library, two 4GB iPods and ~20GB of music.
    Rather than duplicating libraries or creating separate user accounts/sharing music you can't load, etc. which simply takes up space on the disk drive, use the same library and use sync only what you want.
    Create playlist(s) of your own music from the library.
    Add/remove from those playlists as you want.
    Connect your iPod, select it in iTunes and select the Music tab.
    Select Sync music, Sync selected playlists and choose what you want.
    The way I do it is I create a main playlist (Chris's Music) of music in the library that I like.
    I also create a smart playlist (Not Chris's Music) and set it to Match Rule - Playlist is not Chris's Music.
    This helps to manage my music by showing all music not in main playlist so I can browse for music I may have missed or now want to add.
    I do the same for my daughters iPod except she gets to pick her own stuff.
    This way whenever any music is added by either of us, it is available to the other with no problems.

  • Sharing iCal between two users

    Problem: Need to know how to share calendar (and address book) between two users. We both have iphones that we'd like to sync to so we'll have 'home' calendar. It seems like it should be an easy process but so far, no luck.

    Right, seems the answer is 'Not really'. You can publish an ical calendar - but that is read only.
    Which is really quite terrible. Not what we expect from an apple solution.
    2 adults with 2 iphones can share one life and one mac - why can't we build a shared calendar?
    BUT.........
    There is an alternative that isn't TOOOO hard to set up.
    Google calendars will sync with ical, so if you both have gmail addresses you can create a calendar you can share in iCal.
    It's a bit faffy but not too taxing
    1 open your gmail and set up a calendar
    2. look under My calendars/settings
    /share this calendar
    and add the gmail address of your sharee
    select "make changes"
    this means they can add to it when they accept the invitation.
    3. go to the first tab and select
    /calendar details
    look for
    /Calendar Address: ICAL
    copy this address and mail it to the new user.
    when they log in they can then use that ical url to add to their calendar list.
    Phew...
    This may not be the exact way to do it, and some steps may be superflous - but i now have a shared calendar between 2 people's ical diaries on one mac and visible on two separate iphones as a google calendar (the iphone ical however will only update when you sync)
    Boo:
    1. having to use googlecal to set up or edit events - iCal will treat the shared calendar as 'read only'
    2. iphone ical not updating automatically - you need to use the calendar in google to see if any new dates have been added since your last sync
    Yay:
    1. as its google - it will ACTIVELY share any new events on your iphone - at least in the google calendar (see 2)
    So - all in all, a flawed 'pc-style' workaround sticking out conspicuously in an otherwise 'apple standard' experience.
    At the moment it seems google calendars are a better bet than ical - this will not do.
    Apple! Deal with it please - shared calendars between users first - then you can worry about 'push' updating later.

  • 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)

  • OSX iPhoto App: Sharing Library Between Two Users

    Despite the limitations of the new Photos app I am considering migrating our iPhoto/Aperture library to it so that I can take advantage of the iCloud Photo Sharing facility. However the library, which is stored on a suitably formatted ext HDD attached to our iMac, is shared between two Apple IDs, mine and my wife's.  This enables us to add photos via either Apple ID and view the entire library on all our devices (we both have iPhones and iPads as well as sharing an iMac and MacBook Pro).
    How do we continue to share a joint library using the Photos app and iCloud Photo Library?  Trying to keep two libraries in sync is too much hassle and would also require both of us to buy additional iCloud storage.  We need a solution that enables both of us to view and add pictures to the library on all devices but only requires one of us to buy additional storage space to store it.

    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 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

  • 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.

  • Sharing Music between two Itunes accounts

    I bought my father a nano for Xmas and want to load music from my I tunes account on his nano. But he has his own Itunes account. How can he keep the music I loaded and sync his own Itunes with his nano without deleteing songs? We both have PC with XP.

    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)

  • Sharing Photos between two users

    How do I set up a shared situation where my husband and I can both see our iPhoto pics when we are logged into our own accounts. B/c right now we can only see the pics in my account and not his.
    Thanks.

    KL2
    There are two ways to share, depending on 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.
    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. 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.)
    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

  • Sharing files between two users on one computer

    I have two user accounts on my Macbook so that I can use two different .Mac accounts. I want to be able to access files from both users accounts. Is there a way to do this without having to copy files into the "Public" or "Shared" folders?

    You could create a new folder at the root "/" level. Put the file in there. More than likely each of you will have to modify permissions after editing the file.
    OR you could put the file on an external drive.

  • Sharing Music between two Apple IDs

    My son is buying and iphone for the first time today. The problem is that he has fill his old ipod with music he purchased using my Apple ID. Is there a way to share the iTunes music between both IDs? Can I duplicate the itunes music folder so that his ID has it own music and my would continue to have all of my music? Any assistance would be great.
    I have seen some articles, but unsure if they will accomplish this task. Thanks!

    Yes. Read:
    Family Sharing - Apple Support
    Sharing purchased content with Family Sharing - Apple Support
    Family Sharing and Apple IDs for kids - Apple Support
    Start or join a family group using Family Sharing - Apple Support
    iCloud: Family Sharing
    OS X Yosemite: What is Family Sharing?

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