Sharing Music: using one iTunes account for two users on one MacBook Air

I'm trying to set up my parents on their new MacBook Air and I have set up an account for each of them. To keep their music collection simple & compact I want them both to use one iTunes account on the one machine. Can two separate users work off the same iTunes account on the one machine?
I have tried the Home Sharing function but this seems to be for separate machines rather than accounts.
I have also tried putting the music into a shared folder but this hasn't worked properly for me as the secondary account is able to purchase (but not download) the music correctly from iTunes.
Any help appreciated. Thank you.

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You would need to move the itunes folder to a location that both users have permissions to access such as the Shared folder or any folder on the root level of the macintosh HD.
You can find instructions here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 This method allows you to share the content without sharing the same library.

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Deleting an iCloud account only deletes it from the Device, not from iCloud. In iOS 8, the name of this setting changed to "Sign Out" as that is a better reflection of what actually happens. Your iCloud data remains on the server, available to devices still signed into the account, but the device you sign out of the account on is disconnected from the account, and as a result, the iCloud data from that account is removed from the device. It will redownload to the device should you sign back into the account.
The only issue you'll run into when you switch between accounts is with my photo stream photos older than 30 days. When you delete (or sign out of) and account, your photo stream photos are deleted along with the other data from the account in question. However, unlike other data which remains on the server and can redownload to your device when you sign back in, my photo stream photos only remain in iCloud for 30 days. When you sign back in, you will only get back my photo stream photos added in the last 30 days (as older photos are no longer in iCloud to redownload). Like other account data, any my photo stream photos on your other devices signed into the account are unaffected by this. If you want to keep older my photo stream photos on your device as you change iCloud accounts, save them to your camera roll before deleting (signing out of) the account.

Using the same itunes account for two users on the same macbook pro

Hi all. I purchased a macbook pro in september (which I have absolutely adore), but because my semester was so jam packed with work, I wasn't able to take it in for my data transfer until the Christmas season. Everything was transferred correctly, but for some reason the transfer leaves me with two different users on the same macbook. I don't really have any problem with this, except I want to access the music from the "old user" with the new user that I have been using since I purchased the macbook. Is there any way that I can move my music from one user to another? Bear in mind that I only have one itunes account, and almost all of this music was purchased legally through itunes (I had some old cd's that I transferred back when I first bought the original macbook back in 07). Thank you!

I'm assuming that you want to get both your purchased music AND your ripped CD's back into the New iTunes Library. If you use iCloud to re-download all your purchased music, TV, apps and books you wont get your CD's or movies back; and you'll use up a lot of internet bandwidth and time to re-download everything. So, I'm going to give you a way to get the music and everything else off the hard drive into your new iTunes Library.
But, I need some clarification here. I'm assuming that you recently used Migration Assistant to move your old Mac's user account to the new Mac, so when you turn on the new Mac you have a choice to log in as either the "Old_User" or the "New_User", or something like that. And both user acounts are using the same iTunes music store Apple ID, right?
And, I'm assuming that you have both accounts set up with your iCloud or MobileMe information, so they have the same info in the contacts, calandars, bookmarks, and notes. If you didn't use iCloud to load this info to the new user, then importing your old contacts, calendars, bookmarks and such will require an extra few steps, and is a different process entirely (composed of exporting the data from each of those apps while logged in as the Old User, and then importing them while logged in as the New User).
I'm assuming that the main differences in the two accounts will be that your old documents, old downloads, old email, old iPhoto and old iTunes library are not merged with the new ones, right? Apples Migration Assistant would have merged the Mac Apps folder and copied over all the Shared Users documents if it was done right. I'm also assuming that you kept your old iTunes Library in your Old User account and not in the Shared Users folder, right?
If that's the case, first decide which account will become the primary account that you you will use all the time from this point forward. You may want to choose the account that has the most recent work that you have done with the computer over the past semester since it's set up the way you like it, or the account that has the largest amount of data and history that you don't want to move. The next step will be done by first logging into whichever account you wont be using in the future (except to access old info that can't be moved).
If you are happy with how it's working now and just want to move your old documents, photos, and music over to the new account, then it seems to me that it would help things if you first log in as your "Old User" name" and move (or copy) your old documents, downloads, iPhoto Library, and iTunes library to the Shared Users folder.
I would basically move everything important in the Old User's home folder to the Shared Users folder, keeping the files in the proper subfolders like "Music" "iTunes" "Pictures" "Movies" "Documents" "Downloads" etc... However, if your New iTunes Library or New iPhoto Library and such are already in the Shared User's folder, make sure you don't replace them with the old ones, by renaming the old ones first (maybe add the word "old" to the name.
Mind you, when you have moved everything, and you log out of the Old User acount, and then log in as the New User, you will usually have to enter any administrator's User name and password whenever you want to make changes to those old documents while logged in as the New User. Before going forward you should first change the User Permissions of those files to let the New User "own" them, so it will stop asking you for a name and password every time you want to access them in the future.
EVERYTHING from this point forward assumes that you are now logged in as the New User, and you should not ever need to log in as the Old User, except to access your old email archives or old Keychain Access to find stored passwords (which I think are stored in the Old User's "Library" folder which is invisible and inaccessable in Lion). I don't know how to merge old saved emails or keychain passwords into the new account (mobile me can sync the keychains or mail rules/accounts, but iCloud can't, and mobile me doesn't sync the actual emails that were downloaded since 2007).
First, to change the "Sharing & Permissions" to the New User just select "Get Info" for any old document or enclosing folder that need their permissions changed to the New User, click on the little lock icon at the bottom right of the Get Info Window, authenticate with any Administrator's Name and Password, and click okay. If it shows your New User name as "Read Only" change that to "Read and Write". If your New User name is not in the list, click the "+" icon on the bottom left and select the New User name, and set it for Read and Write. Sometimes you have to do this "+" user step more than once to get it to stick.
Then, after your New User name shows it's set for "Read & Write", with your New User name still selected, click on the little "cog-wheel" icon next to the +/- buttons, and choose "Apply to Enclosed Items". The computer could take a long while to finish changing the permissions if there are a lot of files in the folder you changed, so be patient. When it's done you should "own" all the files in that old folder as the new user. You are now ready to proceed with importing the old music into the New iTunes library.
First launch iTunes (still as the New User), and go to File > Preferences > Advanced. Make sure iTunes is set to "keep itunes media folder organized" and "copy filkes to itunes media folder". Click okay. It may open a small window showing that things are being moved and organized, with a progress bar, and then it's done. It wont do that if you are already organized and copied.
At this point, you could simply locate your old iTunes music folder in the Finder and drag the Finder folder onto the open iTunes app window and let go of the trackpad button when the cursor changes to a green "+" sign, and it will import and copy everything into the new iTunes Library. When it's done you can delete the old Music folder in the Finder (not in iTunes). However, you may not have enough hard drive space to make the copies, and it will be much slower than if you move the files in the finder before you import them. You may still have duplicates of your ripped music that you added to the new iTunes Library, and can delete those from within iTunes.
My step to get the old music to show up in the New iTunes Library by moving them instead of copying them will be done in a particular way, that will avoid having the entire old music folder left behind to take up space on your hard drive, and it will make the import process significantly faster. You are basically going to use the Finder to move the old music folder into the New iTunes Media folder, but you need to do it in such a ways as to not overwrite the new stuff.
So, before you move your old iTunes Music folder into the new iTunes media folder, rename the old Music folder with the word "old" in it, then move that folder into your current iTunes Media folder. Move it, don't copy it. If the Mac forces you to copy it, once it's done you can delete the old music's original folder, after you confirm it's all there in the copied folder. This sometimes happens when you move files from Shared Users that you haven't changed the ownership properly before the move. Now when you drag the old music folder onto the iTunes App window, since the files are already in the iTunes Media Folder it will not copy the files but will simply move them around and organize them inside the new iTunes Music folder.
You can repeat these steps with the old Movies, TV shows, Apps and Books, or whatever you want to move to the new iTunes Music Library.
I don't know how to "merge" the old iPhoto Library with the new one, but when you click on iPhoto in the dock while holding down the option key while you click, it will let you choose which iPhoto Library to open. From a dialog box you can choose the old one, which you copied to the Shared Users folder earlier. It's possible that a similar technique of dragging the old iPhoto library older on top of the iPhoto App window would import things, but you'd need to research that first.
I wish I had more time to proof-read this answer, but I have to go to a meeting, but can check back later for questions.

One iTunes Library for two users

You guessed it. I'm wondering if it's possible for two users to share a single iTunes Library. I tried moving one user's existing Library to HD/Users/Shared which allowed the other user to select the files as a Library, but now I may only add files to the Library by individually Authenticating each one, while the other User can't change the Library at all.
I have Administrative authority on the computer and the other user has none. Is there a better way to share one music library and save space?
Thanks.

Aaron, my roommate and I have shared a Mac for close to 3 years now. We each have our own account names and each have our own iPods. While it is possible to share the same library, we have never found a way to mirror the two iTunes libraries EXACTLY.
To start, you need to create your default music folder location on a shared drive. Make sure that in both user's iTunes Preferences, you identify the same shared music folder!
Once that is done you can then import all of your music into that directory location, but after User#1 is finished importing music, User#2 needs to File/Add to Library and select the iTunes music folder location (once you do this it should not need to be changed again).
Keep in mind one important thing: If either user deletes a song or makes edits, you will need to immediately switch to the other account and remove the song title (if the first user deleted it) or click on the edited song's name to refelect the edit.
Does this sound cumbersome? It sure does, but it's the only way we have been able to "live in harmony."
Email me anymore of your questions.
Chris

HT1203 how do I share some music on same itunes account without changing music using same itunes account, but two different ipod touches

I need to know how to stop losing / adding music I like/ dont like to my and my brothers ipod. I gave him my older ipod(2nd Gen) with music on it already. I bought a ipod (3rd Gen) also. Both devices are registered to me; but I gave my brother the older one. Now when either of us add / delete music it affects both ipods when either one on us sync. We use the same computor(windiws7), he uses his own account on the computor, butit accesses the same itune/ library. How can we split the itunes music between the two ipods?

Hi gail,
Thanks for the quick reply! The music part makes sense, good to know I don't have to duplicate the lot. The big question stillr emains as to whether iTunes can cope with two different iPhones, running different versions of the iOS, and therefore different app versions.
Currently all the apps in iTunes are years old, and many haven't updated in months (years?) because the 3G is running iOS 4.2.1 (and can't be upgraded). Many of these have since been updated in the iTunes store (for the various incarnations of iPhone since) and the old versions that my 3G requires have been replaced.
I'm worried that syncing the 4S running iOS 5, and running the most recent updates for same apps, will cause iTunes to overwrite the old 3G compatible ones when I sync. Unless iTunes is smart enough to know which version of the app is for which OS, without updating the legacy version when I update the apps on the 4S?
You guys shouldn't face that problem, as iPad and iPhone apps don't replace each other (I believe? Not sure about this) as new updates are released for each app, you'd have a copy for each device (for example Evernote for iPad, and Evernote for iPhone). I can't figure out if iTunes can handle keeping separate iPhone versions for Evernote iOS 4.2.1 and Evernote for iOS 5. My gut feeling is no, but I want to amke sure before I lose the legacy versions of each app.
Of course, maybe I'm just paranoid and iTunes is in fact perfectly capable of keeping old and new apps in the same library?
Cheers

My wife and I have shared one iTunes account for 6 years. We want to create our own Apple IDs, so when we sync to our new iMac we won't see each others contacts, photos, calendar, music, etc. Is there a way to move music/apps from one ID to a new ID?

My wife and I have shared one iTunes account for 6 years. We want to create our own Apple IDs, so when we sync to our new iMac we won't see each others contacts, photos, calendar, music, etc. Is there a way to move music/apps from one ID to a new ID?

JoeyV325 wrote:
Is there a way to move music/apps from one ID to a new ID?
No.
One of you create a new AppleID and one use the existing AppleID.
But you can still use the items in each iTunes library.
Create separate computer logins for each of you.
This will give you each your own data. Contacts, calendars, photos, etc. (and your own iTunes library).

HT1203 Can I share one iTunes account for my iPad and two I phones? If so, how can I get the purchased apps and music on all three devices? Do I need a home computer,

Can I share one iTunes account for my iPad and two I phones? If so, how can I get the purchased apps and music on all three devices? How do I sync all the devices to have the same music and apps?

You can set up an iCloud account on each one (the SAME iCloud account using the same AppleID on each) and then sync via iCloud.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5262\
However, an iCloud backup nor sync contains purchased content - that is available for redownload from the iTunes and App stores (so no need to waste iCloud space storing it for you).
So, for purchased content, you will have to download it on each device - just use the same AppleID and download each item on each device.
Without a computer to aid the sync'ing, downloading the purchased content on each device is the only way.
P.S audiobooks cannot be re-downloaded once purchased (all other content can be), so without a computer to save, store and move the audiobook files around, you will only be able to put those on one device - the one you first purchase it on.

Can I use one iCloud account for two phones without sharing contacts

Can I use one iCloud account for two phones without sharing contacts

If so how do I unmerge the two phones?

HT204053 My husband and I share music in one itunes account for both of our iphones. We just got the new iphone 5s's and iin ttryinngto back up our old phones I have realized we SHARE one icloud as well. Can I create him a new icloud for pictures, cont

My husband and I share music in one itunes account for both of our iphones. We just got the new iphone 5s's and iin ttryinngto back up our old phones I have realized we SHARE one icloud as well. Can I create him a new icloud for pictures, contacts etc

You can have one icloud account and a different itunes account on the phone. I have my icloud account and a shared itunes account. He does not have to use the new icloud account as is ID in itunes and app store. He can keep using the old one.

HT204053 The entire family has used one itunes account for years. How do we all set up separate iCloud accounts now?

The entire family has used one itunes account for years. How do we all set up separate iCloud accounts now? Or should we? 5 macbooks, 2 ipads, 4 iphones, 2 itouch, 2 imacs. How does one decide what to sync, share and what not to? Green Jeans.

You need to start by understanding the distinction between iTunes and iCloud - Apple confuse the issue by referring to 'iTunes Match' as part of iCloud. It isn't.
You don't have to have the same login (Apple ID) for iTunes and iCloud; many people don't and there's no problem about it.
Your iCloud ID gets you email, calendars, contacts, iWork documents and PhotoStream syncing between devices.
Your iTunes ID gets you the iTunes Store, the App Store for iOS, the Mac App Store for OSX,, 'iTunes in the Cloud' (downloading of purchased items to any logged-in device) and 'iTunes Match' (uploading of songs not purchased in the iTunes Store).
Your family members can easily each get their own iCloud account to keep email etc. separate - in each case they will need a different non-Apple email address (a free one from Yahoo etc. would do) to set up the ID. If they are sharing a Mac they need to be using a separate user account.
They can have their own iCloud accounts and still all sign into the same iTunes account: or they can open their own iTunes accounts using their new iCloud Apple IDs.
BUT they cannot transfer items purchased under the present iTunes ID to different iTunes IDs.

Both me and my wife have ipads and iphones. I want to use one itunes account for both of us. Is that possible.

Both me and my wife have ipad minis and iphone 5. I want to use one itunes account for both of us. Is that possible.

Plug one idevice in, choose what you want, sync.
Plug the other idevice in, choose what you want and sync.
Continue for all idevices.

Use one store account for two I pads. Get request for security code

Trying to use one store account for two I pads. One works fine, the other is unable to download a free app, window asks for security code.?.......
What security code?

Probably the security code on your credit card

HT204053 can I use 2 different apple id's and one itunes id for two seperate I-phones?

can I use 2 different apple id's and one itunes id for two seperate I-phones?

Welcome to the Apple Community.
Yes.

Sharing Music: using one iTunes account for two users on one MacBook Air

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