Sharing Music files on the same Mac among user profiles

How can I share music among user profiles on the same Mac? I have an itunes account for me but I don't want my kids to have one yet. So, I want to download music but then share some music files for their itunes on their profile. The Home sharing feature only discusses sharing among different computers on the same network.

Check out:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1203
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090219133314985
and:
http://steve-on-sakai.blogspot.com/2009/07/really-sharing-your-itunes-library.ht ml

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I have music files by the same artist but they are listed in itunes in more than one album hod can i add then to just one album pf that artist

I have music files by the same artist but they are listed in Itunes in more than one album hod can i add then to just one album of that artist I am using windows 8.1 .

iTunes will group songs into an album when:
All songs have the same value for the Album and Artist field, or
All songs have the same value for the Album and Album Artist field
All songs have the same value for the Albumfield and the Part of a Compilation flag is checked.
If you want to group all the songs by one artist into a single "album" you can do so by following one of these rules. However, it may be more useful to create Playlists to group music like this and retain the original release information. One Smart Playlist for each artist you're interested in would meet this need without over-writing information about the source albums.

How do i keep the addons the same for different users on my xp pc? (without re-installing them for each one)

windowsXP. I have several different user accounts on the pc. How do I make firefox the same for each user profile (instead of having to install new plugins for each user)?

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Installing_extensions#Global_installation -
The information provided here about command line global installation is not applicable to Firefox 3.6+ versions, the code for that particular command line parameter was removed.
You can still do a "global installation" of extensions by placing the XPI package in the \Program Files\Firefox\extensions\ folder, when Firefox is closed. As each Profile is launched the extension will be installed in that Profile.

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 one iTunes library across multiple accounts on the same Mac

Hello, I've poked around at some of the posts dealing with sharing one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac but it seems like this can only be done if the libary is moved to a shared folder. I realize this can be done but I was trying to share it the way it is described in a post on Apple support (See link below.). That post seemed to imply that you don't have to move the library from its original location (owned by account A, e.g.), rather just make a couple preference changes in the accounts, use fast user switching and voila. That doesn't seem to work. So my question is this: Is the only way to share one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac to move it to a shared folder? I'm running 10.4.8 on an Intel iMac. Thanks in advance!
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195

After reading this and several other related threads, I am becoming thoroughly confused about all of this. I have a situation similar to the one that pokerpal described in the post dated January 7 at 8:06 pm, except that the music files on my system are located on an external hard drive. Everything else is pretty much the same though - I am the admin user (and the main iTunes user and maintainer) and my girlfriend is a standard user who has no music in her own iTunes library. She can see and listen to and make playlists from and sync her iPod with the music in this library from her account, and I can do the same thing, independent of her, from my account. And if I make a change to information within a song, she doesn't see it, and vice versa, and I understand that. What I don't understand is why when I add a song or an album to the music files by importing a CD or downloading something from the iTunes Music Store, she has no way of knowing that unless I tell her, and then she can add it to her library by using the "Add to Library" function. Is there no way of automatically updating her library files to add the new song(s)? We have almost 15,000 songs and videos in that library, and I don't even want to think about what might have to happen if the answer to my question is "no." Interestingly enough, if I put an update to a Word document in the same exact location (on the hard drive), we can update that and pass it back and forth all day - why is that such a difficult task for iTunes to accomplish?
Sorry I went on so long, but this has been building up for some time, and none of the solutions I've read about here have really been of any help, so I'm a bit frustrated and, as I said at the beginning, confused.
iMac G5, MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Subscribing to ICS file on my own (the same) Mac

I have a task management program that outputs an updated ICS iCal file periodically. In iCal, I want to be able to "Subscribe" to that ICS file which, obviously, is located on the same Mac I'm using to subscribe. Is there a way to subscribe to that ICS on my Mac without going through the internet? (I don't want to use Importing since that will create duplicate entries of old events.)
Ideally, the ICS file (periodically outputed by my task manager app) would be read automatically (without importing duplicate entries) everytime I open iCal.

Found this on the FAQ for the program I was using, which by the way, seems to be a good, cross-platform java-based GTD app called Thinking Rock. (Don't let the java descriptor dissuade you. This is a fairly speedy program as java apps go.)
Don't know if WebDAV is the same as setting up Personal Web Sharing (also involves slightly modifying a hidden file using Terminal to limit public access). Here's the link to the Thinking Rock FAQ posting that, I hope, when followed (by me) will provide the needed solution. All credit for the described solution (below) goes to the author of the FAQ posting. Thank for it!
http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/faq.php
The text of the link is below...
PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:37 pm Post subject: How to Subscribe to your TR data in iCal and Sunbird/Moz Cal Reply with quote
If you're interested in seeing your scheduled items, Next Actions, etc. in iCal or Sunbird (Mozilla Calendar), but don't know how to subscribe to a calendar you publish yourself, here's a few notes:
* One easy way to do this is simply to create a calendar, and then Import into it... this works fine in both iCal and Sunbird.
The only caveat is that you have to delete this calendar and then re-import when you want to see the updated calendar.
Note that the file you are importaing is "thinking-rock.ics"... it's probably in the same folder as your "thinking-rock.xml" file unless you've set a different path in TR's preferences pane.
Why would you want to do this? If you're using Sunbird/Mozilla Calendar (which, btw, is a great program, is open-source and free, and is available for OSX, Windows, and Linux -- give it a whirl, you might like it) then there's no reason to (see notes below).
If you're using iCal, then you might want to do this if you don't want to go to the trouble of setting up or turning on your personal web server.
* To really subscribe the calendar, you need to put it into a webserver's root... unless you're using Sunbird.
For Sunbird:
Choose the Subscribe Calendar menu option (under Files), and then choose Remote calendar.
Name the calendar, give it a color, and then enter something like this for the URL:
File://users/myname/thinking-rock.ics
Note that you have to specify the full path to the file, from root... on OSX, if you store your calendar in your Home folder, and your name is "myname", the above path would work. Or if its in the Documents folder, it would be:
File://users/myname/documents/thinking-rock.ics
Note that this same approach will work under Korganizer in Linux.
Here's the key point with this method: you DO NOT have to enable Personal Web Sharing (i.e., Apache) on OSX or Windows or Linux... there is no web server involved, because Sunbird is just reading the file directly.
And this is true subscription calendar... it will update itself with any changes at the interval you specify, and it is not necessary to delete and re-import anything, as in the first example I gave above.
For iCal (OSX only):
Unfortunately, OSX is "too smart" (or too stupid... take your pick Smile ) to allow a File:// URL.... it requires an http:// url.....
So, you MUST enable your Personal Web Server to Subscribe to a calendar. You do this in your System Prefences panel, under Sharing.
Once you've done this, set TR to put your ICS file in your /users/myname/sites folder.... then give iCAL this as the url:
http://localhost/~myname/thinking-rock.ics
That will subscribe the calendar, as described above.
IMPORTANT SECURITY WARNING:
For iCal users, please note this very important point... if you do the above, you have posted your Scheduled Items, Next Actions, etc. to a PUBLICLY acessible location.
For most people, I would think this is an unacceptable situation, so there are some things you need to do to prevent others from accessing this information:
- Edit your httpd.conf file to DENY ALL and then setup a single ALLOW for just your internal machine name. (If you don't know what I mean, just google "Apache config httpd allow deny" for more info... or email me privately).
- Stop and the re-start Personal Web Sharing after you make this change to have this take effect.
- Double-check yourself.... if you can, use another computer on your network to go to http://your-ip-address/~username/thinking-rock.ics ... make sure you get an error that indicates you are denied access.
Once TR 1.2.2 is finalized, I'll write a more detailed FAQ and post it in the hopes that this will be useful for other users.
In closing, once again I have to really thank the developers for doing a great job with this one specific feature.... and also I hope my ramblings haven't dissuaded anyone from trying this.... especially under Mozilla Calendar, this is totally easy to do, and gives you an immensely powerful tool. And even under iCal, with some tweaking, you also get a powerful capability... definitely worth the small time and effort needed to set this up.

How do I share music from different itunes accounts in the same Mac, in different users account on that Mac with different iPhones?

Hi
My wife and I share the same Mac.
She has her session and I have mine thus each of us has our iTunes session with our own music and settings.
She has her iTunes account and I have mine too.
And..;)...she has her Iphone and of course I also have mine.
So, the big question:
Both like music that the other has bought but we do not want to buy it twice! (through her account and mine).
Is there a way to share music I purchase so she can have it in her iTunes session and therefore have it also on her iPhone when she syncs..and of course viceversa for me too?
It goes without saying that although we like music the other one has, we do not like all of the music, so basically we want to have the possibility to share those special songs we like so we can have them both in our phones and individual Itunes sessions.
Was that clear or I lost you???
Any answer will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

First of all if you havent done it yet i think u shold authorize the mac on both accounts on itunes. You also can switch the accounts on your Iphones at itunes while you are in the internet adn download the music.
This is just an idea you should think of. For sure there are other ways I dont know.

Sharing photos across accounts on the same Mac

Hi
Is there any way to import photos into my account that have been loaded my daughter into her own account. Both using the same Mac. I know about sharing but this seems to require her to have logged on so that I can see the library. I seem to remember that windows allows for an automatic search of recently loaded photos and imports them automatically if required. Anything like that for Iphoto?
thanks
Norrie

For iPhoto 09 (version 8.0.2) and later:
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.
Any user can drag a pic from the Shared Library to their own in the iPhoto Window.
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.
Quit iPhoto in both accounts. Move the Library to the Users / Shared Folder
(You can also use an external HD set to ignore permissions, a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.)
In each account in turn: Double click on the Library to open it. (You may be asked to repair the Library Permissions.) 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

I need to sync my iPhone to new user id on the same mac. How do I keep my iPhone contacts and music library? I tried to sync and iTunes wanted to erase both.

I need to sync my iPhone to new user id on the same mac. How do I keep my iPhone contacts and music library? I tried to sync and iTunes wanted to erase both.

When you say a new user ID, are you referring to your Apple ID that you use to make purchases in the iTunes Store, etc? Or are you talking about a new user account on the same Mac?
iTunes alternatives
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/index.php
http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
http://www.copytrans.net/

I would like to transfer music from my account to my wife`s on the same Mac but different users, i want her to have her own i tunes account but now that she has downloaded all of her stuff in my account , she has to "erase and sync" how can i troublshoot

I would like to transfer music from my account to my wife`s on the same Mac but different 2 users (hers and mine), i want her to have her own i tunes account but now that she has downloaded all of her stuff in my account , she has to "erase and sync" all of her stuff when she opens her account which has nothing in it!, how can i send stuff from my i tunes account to hers? same computer different users, how can i trouble shoot please help!!??

how do i share then? can she upload music if we share it somehow?
If so how??
i am also having the same problems now with IPhoto, she has all of her/our pics in my IPhoto library.
I have told her that now i have bought her the Ipad she would have to log into her user, the only thing is there is no music in her itunes account nor photos in her I Photo library, i have spent all day trying to find a way to "share" but no luck,
Please help i`m going mad!
Surely we could just share these...?
I need step by step instructions please someone send me a link on "how to share pics and music!"

Sharing Pictures on the same Mac

My fiancee and I are the happy (new) owners of a MacBook Pro and find the iPhoto 6 fantastic except that we would like to share the photos in the same library ie when she opens her account we have the same photos available. Can anyone help ?
Regards/Glenn

Glen
iPhoto is meant for one user, really, and to do this can bend the edges a bit. But here goes:
Back Up The iPhoto Library Folder - Just in case...
1. Quit iPhoto in each account.
2. Move the iPhoto Library Folder from your Home/Pictures folder to the Shared folder.
3.Hold down the Option key and Launch iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to navigate to the new location of the Library. (Do this in both accounts.) Now both instances of iPhoto will point to the same files and the same pics, but your fiance will not be able to access them as she will not have the file Permissions.
4. Download BatchMod
http://macchampion.com/arbysoft/
and use it to set the correct Permissions on the iPhoto Library Folder, and it's contents.
Regards
TD

How do i share my itunes library with other users on the same mac

I'm trying to share my itunes library with other users on the same mac. I have tried moving my library to a public folder but when the other user logs in they can't see it in the public folder?

Presuming you moved the entire iTunes folder to the shared folder the other users need to start their iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and select the iTunes Library.itl file in the shared folder. Only once should be necessary. Note that any changes anybody makes will be seen by everybody, so you have to trust each other a lot.
If all you moved are media files each user will have to add those files to their iTunes library.
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 Chris CA's instructions on sharing one iTunes music library between multiple user accounts - https://discussions.apple.com/message/8974074 - Multiple users using a single library file - similar post at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3753008 Suggestion by Turingtest for multiple users and one library - http://discussions.apple.com/message/9117622 - use smart playlists and tags to isolate groupings.

Move an iTunes library between users on the same mac

How do I move an iTunes library between users on the same mac?
I accidentally created a secondary user on my mac some time ago when using the migration tool and am now going back and transferring all my files from the secondary to the admin user profile.
I wanted to know which itunes files/folders need to be copied over.
Is the process as simple as replacing the itunes folder on admin with the copied itunes folder from my secondary profile or do I need to delete the admin folder first and then copy the old folder over or do I delete the contents of the folder and replace with the copied contents?
I am using shared folders to move between users, but want to make sure that I am picking the right files to transfer.
Thanks in advance.

Assuming you have left iTunes to default settings so everything is still in the iTunes folder the way iTunes likes it to be, copy the whole of the iTunes folder to the new location. If it is in the default directory (Home > Music) for iTunes the application will automatically use it there for the new account. If you put it elsewhere you will have to start iTunes and immediately hold down the option key to direct it to the new location.
It is just possible you will have to change permissions. If you encounter those issues read the part about changing permissions on the iTunes folder in: https://discussions.apple.com/message/11583914
This is all a slight variant on: iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

How can I sync the same iTunes 11 library between 2 users on the same Mac?

With iTunes 10 I was able to have one main iTunes library under one user and have a second user (on the same Mac) access it by putting an alias of the iTunes Libray.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml files in the second user's iTunes folder. This ensured that the library remained synced regardless of which user added or made changes to it. With iTunes 11, I am no longer able to do this. If I try I get the following error pop up: 'The iTunes application could not be opened. An unknown error occured (13014)'. If I delete the aliases in the second user's account the error message goes away but nothing shows up in the main iTunes window.
I've been able to at least access the iTunes library (which is stored on an external drive) with the second user by changing the iTunes media folder location in advanced preferences to the main iTunes library and then selecting file/add to library and selecting the iTunes media file which (eventually) pulls up all the song/movie/apps etc. information. However, the 2 libraries do not remain synced (i.e. a change in one does not show up in the other).
Anyone know of a way to get one library to remain synced between 2 user accounts on the same machine with iTunes 11 or am I going to be forced to delete and recreate the second user's iTunes info frequently to 'catch up' with the original?
Any help would be appreciated.

I'm surprised the alias method worked, and it certainly isn't the prescribed method.
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
Chris CA's instructions on sharing one iTunes music library between multiple user accounts - https://discussions.apple.com/message/8974074 - Multiple users using a single library file - similar post at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3753008
Suggestion by Turingtest for multiple users and one library - http://discussions.apple.com/message/9117622 - use smart playlists and tags to isolate groupings.
Discussions on using purchases from multiple AppleIDs in one iTunes library - https://discussions.apple.com/message/19543804

How can I share the home folder with different accounts on the same mac?

Hi, here's a question:
How can I share the home folder with different accounts on the same mac?
The whole point being not to have to install all my apps, and move all my files each time between users.
The second thing would be to be able to modify one document on one account, and have it changed on the other account without having to copy it.
I would like to have a pro and a private account on my mac.
Thanks for you answers,
Doug

Your apps should not be installed in your home folder--they should be in /Applications where every user can access them.
If you want to share things between users on the same Mac, use the /Users/Shared folder. Keep your home folder private. Trying to defeat the protections on the home folder subfolders just gets messy. I've never bothered to figure out all of the problems associated with it so I can't explain how to do it.
Even with using Shared, you would need to alter the ACLs on the shared folder in order to allow both users to modify the documents.
You must create a Group in Users & Groups and put each user in that group. Then create a folder inside /Users/Shared where you want to share the various files.
Then, add an ACL to the shared folder that gives the group special permissions. on that folder.
sudo chmod -R +a "<sharinggroup> allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,add_subdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directory_inherit" /Users/Shared/<sharing folder>
Replace <sharinggroup> and <sharingfolder> with the name of your group and your folder. Then, run the command in the Terminal.
With that ACL, each user in <sharinggroup> will be able to alter the files created by any user in the group in that <sharingfolder>.
Essentially, the client OS is not designed for true file sharing among the individual users. It is designed to isolate each user account from the others.

Sharing Music files on the same Mac among user profiles

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