Sharing Music Between Users Accounts on a Single Computer

I know that you can listen to music belonging to another user account on the same computer (as long as that user remains logged in), however, is there a way to COPY (drag and drop) music from one user account to another user account (on the same computer) similar to how it is done between multiple computers with Home Sharing?

iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189

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Sharing music between different accounts on a single computer

I have read the instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 , but I'm still having a problem.
Scenario: Two Ipods, one PC (WinXP), one big music library, originally created and stored directly in C:\My Music, which is accessible to all users of the PC. From my non-admin account, I add folders and files to my itunes library, modify songs and artwork, no problem. Now my son has an iPod, and I would like to be able to share out portions of the C:\My Music library with him. It kind of works. He adds files and folders to his library, on his account, in his itunes. The music is there, but it is somehow protected. No artwork, in fact I get the "artwork is not modifiable" message. Nor can he modify any info in the songs. In a few cases, the artwork comes with the songs, but mostly not. In either case, no info in the songs are modifiable. Neither of our Windows XP user accounts are admin, but why does my account seem to "own" the songs? He's not going to be happy without any artwork in his library or on his ipod.
Any ideas? Thanks!

iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189

HT1203 iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - I tried to use the instructions to configure 2 different windows users sharing the same iTunes library. I could not get this to work per the instructions.

I tried to configure 2 windows users accounts using a single library per the instructions in HT1203. My iTunes library is on an external drive. I cannot get this to work. Any suggestions?

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.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support article linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
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.

How do I share music between user accounts on the same computer?

My wife and I have separate user accounts on the same MacBook Pro so that we can both sync our phones to this computer. My account is the primary user account, and my iTunes library is stored in this account. My wife would like to put music on her iPhone so she can run, but I can't seem to access the music library thru her account. I know the files are all on the hard drive regardless, so I just need to know how I can make iTunes on my wife's account access the library that's there. I've tried the steps I could find on Apple's website, but I can't seem to make it work. I'm running the latest versions of everything - even tho the post says I'm running 10.9.1, I'm actually running 10.9.4

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.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support article linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
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.

How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

I am trying to share music on my Mac between two different iTunes accounts. Can this be done?

iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189

HT1203 i have tried this 6+ times to "How to share music between different accounts on a single computer" on my wifes mac and can not get it to work!! On my PC no problem but on the MAC it will not work, follow the instructions to the T but no go????

i have tried this 6+ times to "How to share music between different accounts on a single computer" on my wifes mac and can not get it to work!! On my PC no problem but on the MAC it will not work, follow the instructions to the T but no go????

It is almost as if the program does not exist on my computer. If I search for it, the only thing that comes up is the installer. I cannot find it anywhere despite the fact I have installed it numerous times, uninstalled it and conducted a fresh install, and the Adobe website checks says that it is installed.

Sharing Music between User Accounts

Hello,
I've been trying to share a single itunes music folder between two accounts on the same computer. I've read dozens of threads on this topic in these forums, and still can't seem to get this to work.
Right now, I'm going back to basics and simply trying to put the iTunes music folder in a Public folder, which can be accessible by both user accounts. I've followed the instructions documented in the following article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195
When I do this, I have a problem with permissions. If I move or copy the music folder on one user account to a public folder - when I switch over to the other user account, and access that public folder, some of the individual music folders within the itunes music folder are accessible, and then on others, I am denied permission. There does not seem to be anything unique about the folders that I don't have permissions on, compared to those that I do.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
ML
iMac G5, Mac Mini Intel Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
I did a copy paste of the iTunes Music folder into a new iTunes Music folder under Users/Shared. When I switch over to the other user account, I get the same results. Some folders are accessible and some folders I have no access. It's strange as about 25% of the music folders are No Access, and the others are readable.
Any further thoughts? Thanks,
ML

Once again! Sharing Music on different accounts on a single computer ?

Somewhere in this forum i got a hint on sharing playlists and music among different (family)users on a single computer.
(How to share music... from "Buegie")
But it didn't help!!!
I have most of my music stored in folders and mp3-format long before i bought iPod and installed iTunes.
Do I have to copy all THOUSANDS of files into iTunes Music folder, to make the sharing work ???
Or how do I solve this BIG problem ?
I can't accept that such a great program doesn't have that function!
Thanx for any help!!!
Custom Windows XP iTunes 6

If you want to share the music between users using iTunes, then the song references must be IN iTunes. Somehow that makes sense, no?
You can leave the MP3s in their current folder arrangement, or you can have iTunes copy them into its own folder organization. Sounds like you want the former....
- Open iTunes
- Edit=>Preferences=>'Advanced/General' tab
--- ‘Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library’: unchecked
--- ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organized’: unchecked
- Click OK to accept changes
- File=>Add Folder
- Browse to the main folder of your MP3s and select it
- iTunes will add a reference for all your MP3s you have under that folder
- Repeat for additional folders you may have
This will only add a song reference within iTunes, not physically copy the song file to another folder of your PC. If you do not have a song reference within iTunes, you can't use/play/sync the song from iTunes.
Any questions, post back.

How to share music between different accounts on a single computer. Using this, I can out one account into a shared public folder, but when I want to put a second one there, it says it already exists and do I want to replace it?

I followed the instructions, but when I got to move a second folder to the new shared folder, it told me it already existed and did I want to repalce it? Not prepared to do this, and lose my wife's itunes songs. I am still in trouble from losing her play lists when I went to IOS 5!

Hi, remember to set the ownership & permissions for files/folders if you want to be able to amend files or change them from both accounts. If a file is created in one account. it may only be viewed in the other account. but if you change the ownership & permissions from "read only" to "read and write" then files can be amended from both accounts. To get the info, simply click once on the folder or file then command-i to get the file/folders info. you can change things there. Permissions can only be change from the account the file/folder was created in.
MBP Mac OS X (10.4.7) iMac G4

Sharing music between different accounts - is this how it works?

The way iTunes shares music between different users seems a bit poor.
I have two user accounts set up on the same PC, with music files accessed by each from the same folder (as described here: How To Share Music Between Different Accounts On A Single Computer).
My main issues are:
1) I have to manually add new music added by the other user instead of it just appearing in iTunes.
2) iTunes doesn't recognise if a music file is already in the joint library, so we end up with two copies of things (particularly tiresome for podcasts).
Am I doing something wrong - maybe there is an easy way around this?
... or do the people at Apple need to do a bit of work here?
Pentium 4 Windows XP

By default, any new file or folder created is set to be read+write for the creator, and read-only for everyone else. The file creator can grant write access to other users by changing the permissions on a folder and its contents, as Neil suggests. But you'll have to repeat that process every time a new file is added.
Fortunately, there is a way to automatically grant read+write access to all files created or copied to the folder. First go to System Preferences -> Accounts. Click the + button under the users list. Then, make a new group; calling it "sharegroup" or something similar. Add the users you want to the group.
Then put all the files you want to share into a commonly-accessible folder, such as a subfolder in /Users/Shared.
Then log in to an admin account and open Terminal. Paste in the following two lines:
sudo chmod -R +a "sharegroup allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,\
addsubdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directoryinherit" \
Press return, then drag the folder into the Terminal window, and press return again. Enter admin password when prompted and press return. That should do it. Everything there now should be fully writable by all users in sharegroup. New files that are *created in* or *copied to* the folder will be the same way.
Files that you *move in* from a different location on the same hard drive won't be, though. So make sure you copy previously existing files into the sharefolder instead of moving them (hold down option key while dragging to copy) so that they get the custom permissions applied.

Sharing music between diff accounts on 1 computer - what am i doing wrong?

Hi,
Can someone please help me out? I've just bought an iPod shuffle for my daughter and already have iTunes set up for myself using my own iPod (using Windows XP). Now I want to make all the music I've previously set up in iTunes available to her account.
So I followed the instructions in "How to share music between different accounts on a single computer" (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195) but when I log on to the other account and start up iTunes, I can't see the music I've copied over. Any ideas why?
I basically copied the "iTunes Music" folder to "C:Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music\iTunes\ then opened iTunes on the other account and changed the location via the Edit menu, Preferences, Advanced, Change button. When I do this I can see the underlying folders of music, it just doesn't show up in the iTunes Music Library within iTunes. I've also tried copying the iTunes library files in desperation, but that made no difference.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Adam.

If you copied these files to her iTunes directory, you certainly should have seen music in her library when opening iTunes. I suspect that even if you copied these files, when you launched iTunes it was using a different copy of these. Where did you put them? By default, they would be in her ..\My Music\iTunes folder. You can put them anywhere you want, but you have to tell iTunes which one to open. Try this:
1- Re-copy your files to a known folder that is accessible from her account.
2- Log into her account, press and hold the Shift key while you start iTunes.
3- At the "Choose Library or Create Library" prompt, select "Choose Library".
4- Navigate to where you put the "iTunes Library.itl" file from step #1.
This forces her iTunes to use the specific iTunes Library.itl file and should now display the same library that you see in your own iTunes.

Sharing music between users

Hi.
My wife and I just bought a new macbook pro and we want it to be our media hub. We've set it up so we both have seperate logins as her stuff is hers and mine is mine. Can we share some of the same music in iTunes? Not the "purchased" stuff, but the songs we've ripped in from our personal collection. She would still like her own iTunes library to sync on her phone and I do too. But can we just load all of the music in and then share from the same library? I just don't want to have to have the input the same songs twice. I actually have the same question regaring photos in iPhoto. Any help?
Thank you.

Don't know about photos but for music look here and see if it does what you are after: "How to share music between different accounts on a single computer" http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195

I have one imac. my wife and i each have our own user accounts and itunes library. How do we share selected music between user accounts?

i have one imac. my wife and i each have our own user accounts and itunes library. How do we share selected music between user accounts?

To give other users read-only access to your 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.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support article linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Can you share music between iTunes accounts on the same computer

Can you share music between iTunes accounts on the same computer? My kids iPods are under my account now with all of our shared music but they want their own iTunes accounts. I would like to transfer the music and apps that they purchased under my account to their new accounts... Is this posible?

Anton M wrote:
This really isnt good. there isnt even a .tmp file on my pc.
Did you enable the display of system files and hidden files and folders?
by the way, how can i stop this from happening another time.
Make a backup!
i had music there for over 6 years.
Well you must have updated iTunes once or twice in that time. Do you have some sort of "tidying" app that is supposed to clean "unnecessary" files. If so perhaps it is too aggressive.
tt2

Sharing libraries between user accounts question

After many years of having one user account on our iMac, I have decided to segregate user accounts for me and my wife. I'm doing this because I have an iPhone and she is going to get one soon. When we sync our respective iPhones, we want to keep iCal and and Address book information unique to each user account. What I'm trying to figure out is how to share iPhoto and iTunes content between user accounts. I know there is a share preference that will allow the master libraries in these applications to be shared, but the photo albums and playlists created on the original user account are not "shared". Would it be possible to have playlists from iTunes and albums/events from iPhoto to be shared between user accounts? This would enable my wife to sync all her iPhone data from her user account. Thanks in advance.

I have an idea that uses a different approach. I haven't done this for this purpose, so if you decide to try, please do it one step at a time so you can undo it. I'll explain it for iTunes.
Instead of using the Sharing preference in iTunes, put the iTunes Music folder in a location that can be accessed from both accounts. You might use an external drive, or the <hard drive>/Users/Shared folder.
iTunes should NOT be running. Go to /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes folder. In that folder is the iTunes Music folder. Copy this folder to a location on the external drive or to the Shared user folder. Rename the original iTunes Music folder another name, such as iTunes Music Old. Make an alias of the new iTunes Music folder (in the shared location) and put it in the user's iTunes folder (where iTunes Music Old now resides). Rename it "iTunes Music" if necessary (you are making the alias take the place of the actual iTunes Music folder). * It is very important that the name be exact.
Start iTunes. All of your music and other media should be accessible as if the iTunes Music folder is where it used to be. To prove to yourself that the files are being accessed from the new shared location, do a Get Info on a couple of songs in iTunes. "Where" should show the file to be in the new location. To prove to yourself that you can add new content to the new location, download a free song from the iTunes Store (or a Podcast) or rip a CD. Then do a Get Info on the new item.
Up to here, I'm confident it will work, because I have done it. The rest is "theory"...
Copy the old user's /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes folder (except the now duplicated iTunes Music Old folder) to the shared location. You are only doing this step so that it will be available when you log in as the new user (your wife's account), which is the next step.
Log out and log in to the new account.
Copy everything in the old user's iTunes folder (that you just put in the shared location) to the new user user's /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes folder. Replace any duplicated items. You want the new user's iTunes folder to look exactly like the old user's iTunes folder (except for iTunes Music Old). Hopefully, that iTunes Music alias will connect to the actual iTunes Music folder at the shared location. Try it. Run iTunes as the new user. Hopefully, everything looks like the old user's iTunes. Do the tests like before to prove it.
At this point, the two iTunes "looks" will start to diverge. But at least the starting point will be the same.
If something does not work as expected, log in to the old user's account. With iTunes NOT running, go to /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes folder. Delete the iTunes Music alias. Rename the iTunes Music Old folder back to iTunes Music. Everything should be back to the way it was.
If it works to your satisfaction, you can eventually delete that iTunes Music Old folder.
I don't use iPhoto, but if iTunes works, you can do the equivalent steps for iPhoto.

Sharing Music Between Users Accounts on a Single Computer

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