Sharing one music library between two users on a mac

I want to set my wife up as a separate user on my mac and share my music file with her so we no longer mix up our iPhone apps. I don't want a second copy on my hard drive. I've tried one method on here HT1203 but it makes a second copy and fills up my hard drive. I do not want to share the whole media library just the music. There must be an easy way to use two iPhones with separate user ids on one Mac so we don't mix up our apps. I would have though that the great Apple would have just sorted this out when you plug in a different device.

First, back up your computer in case it does things you don't like. I'm not testing this on my computer.
You'll have to deactivate iTunes managing your music (deselect in preferences having iTunes organize your music and copying it to your media folder when adding to iTunes). Do the same for iTunes in her account.
Go to your iTunes folder and drag the music folder in Media to the Shared Users folder at the top level of the drive. You may also need to get info on the music folder and change permissions on it and all enclosing items so she has permission to use it too.
It is just possible your copies of iTunes may track all the moves. It would be good if it does. I know I have manage music disabled on my computer and iTunes is good at tracking when I move things around in Finder, unlike when iTunes is totally terrible at tracking when you let it manage music. If it doesn't track then you may have to face rebuilding your libraries using the music in the new location.
You will have to come to an agreement in deleting music. Fortunately in the manually manage mode you are using if you delete a track in your iTunes it will not delete the actual file. You have to manually delete it in Finder which is good because she may still be using the file.
If one of you renames the file, it will affect both. Haven't tried this but in theory you would each retain your individual ratings and last played.
Let us know if it works.
Edit: Found this; compare with my concept piece above:
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

Similar Messages

Problems using one music library between two users

I followed to a T the instructions listed under here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 . This was echoed by a Macworld help topic and after several attempts I was able to get the primary user account to recognise the new location of the music files in the Users/Shared folder. I then switched over to the other user account and again tried changing the location and still no luck.
I would like it that all the files are in one location but the two different user accounts for my wife and I maintain separate playlists and ratings so that she can sync her new nano and I can sync my older iPod photo separately.
I tried the alias deal, but it does not keep separate listings and playlists and because I synced my ipod photo first it only shows her nano as a playlist.
Please help, I'm at my wit's end.

Under her account I then started iTunes to do the same. I pointed the app to where the files could be found, but it never populates her library with the songs.
That's normal. Resetting the location of the iTunes Music folder in the iTunes preferences, by itself, only sets where future purchases and imports go. In and of itself it won't reset where iTunes looks for tracks already present. What you need to do now is use the Add To Library command in iTunes and select the iTunes Music library in it's new location. That will then get the tracks into iTunes.
Note for the future that iTunes has no "folder watching" feature, so any new tracks you add from one account will have to be manually added in the other. There is a third-party utility called Hazel that says it can watch a folder and add new content to iTunes automatically, but I haven't tried it myself.

How do I share one music library between multiple users on windows 8

we just got our first windows 8 latop for the family. I'd like to have one drive that has the sum of all the music for the house, so I'm looking to cosolidate the itunes purchases, a few laptops, three shuffles, an iphone, and an ipad.
i'd also like to be able to let the kids manage their own lists in itunes from thier own user accounts, but not have duplicate music libraries.
Any good consolidation / multi-device strategies?

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.

Sharing one iphoto library between multiple user accounts

I hav an extensive photo library and would like to share this across multiple users on the one computer. Am I able to do this without having to move the library to an external hard drive?

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. The problem here is that OS X works very hard to keep your data safe and secure from the other users. You're trying to beat what's built in to the system. So, to beat the system
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.
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.
Lastly: This method seems a little clunky at first, but works very well. Most importantly, it uses the System to do the job for you.
Create a new Account on your Mac, call it Media. Create an iPhoto Library there. (BTW: This will work for iTunes too.)
Enable Sharing on the Library:(Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other accounts. In those accounts, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. The Library will appear in the other source pane.
This means that both users will be able to see the pics. If you want to use a pic then simply drag it from the shared Library to your own in the iPhoto Window. This means that each user can have their own edits.
If you want to add photos to the Library: Log into the Media account for that purpose.
To make it all seamless: Set your Mac to log into the Media Account automatically. Set iPhoto to launch on log-in. Then switch to your own account using Fast User Switching.
Net result: a Library that's permanently available to all users but also protected. Each user can have their own versions of the pics if they want.
No partitioning, no permissions issues. Uses no extra disk space. What's not to like?
Regards
TD

Sharing one iphoto library between 2 user accounts

Hi all,
I know there are lots of questions on this, so thank you for your patience and assistance. I have spent so many hours on the phone to Apple care with no joy
I made the jump to Mac from PC several months ago, and I really like it, except for this issue. Please forgive me if my Mac tech talk is not up to scratch. It's like learning a new language (kind of).
My wife and I are using iPhoto 11 with one shared library. Computer shipped with Snow Leopard and I set up the shared folder/library using Apple article HT1198. It worked perfectly. We could add, edit, delete photos with the change being visible and fully accessible by the other user.
The day Lion got released, I upgraded. That's when all the problems started. If I add photos or videos, the thumbnails are visible, but you can not open them/view them (Permissions error) and the problem occurs vice versa as well if my wife adds photos.
So, trying to work out a solution, both with the advice of Apple support and from research:
have tried repairing the library
have changed permissions settings on hard drive and on iphoto library file
moved the library to Shared and also to the root directory of the hard drive
I have deleted the mounted virtual disk volume and now have the library file on the Macintosh HD
I have reinstalled Lion (repaired)
I have formatted the Hard Drive, reinstalled Snow Leopard, updates & then Lion - same problem!
I have used Batchmod
I have considered taking too many sleeping pills
So what does work?
When I hold down Command & Option when opening iPhoto I have the various repair options. When I select the Repair permissions option, ALL of the previously non-viewable content becomes viewable. Problem solved? Nope. When I add new material and go to my wife's account, only thumbnails visible again (if I rename an event that shows perfectly well). Close iPhoto, hold down CMD & Option, repair permissions, and again, all content accessible. So I'm assuming the permissions of what we are adding is for some reason being changed to a different setting to that of the library and the hard disk (both set to read write everyone & for each user account).
Is this my only option now? Add content and then repair permissions everytime we open iPhoto?
I'm so suprised that for what is marketed as such a user friendly computer that sharing photos is so difficult, or convoluted at least.
Anyway, I look forward to any suggestions.

Time Machine prefers to have a disk to iself, you'll find. You could, however, partition the disk.
That said, having the Library and it's back up on the same disk is unwise. If the disk fails - and that's one of the more common issues - you have no library and no back up.
Regards
TD

Sharing one Aperture Library between multiple users on the same machine

Is there a way of setting up Aperture so that two different users on the same machine have full rights to do everything?

Ian,
Thanks for the suggestion. It certanly better than nothing, but in my case there is no partition with permissions off and there are other users to whom I wouldn't want to give full rights to the library. As an alternative I thought of simply creating a special user and do all editing from it.
At any rate, it would have been useful if Aperture had something like that built in - like a preferences option, where one could specify a MacOS group name, and Aperture would do all its file/folder create operations within a given library with setgid()/setegid() of that group and corresponding umask() to give rw permissions to that group. Not too hard to do, either.

Sharing single iPhoto library between 2 users on a single computer

Hello,
I am currently using iPhoto 5 on a Mac Mini with 2 total users on the computer.
I know that it is easy to share iPhoto pictures over a server with other computers, but does anyone know how to share a single library between 2 users on the same computer?
I would like my wife and I to share a single library of pictures so that we can each upload pics from our digital camera of our family and friends and both have access to them. Currently, we each have to have separate libraries and it is difficult to share photos even between us. If this is not possible on iPhoto 5 or 6, this would be a great upgrade for the next version.
By the way, I was able to work a similar problem out with music out so that all users share a single iTunes library of songs by placing the library in the "shared" folder, but this is not possible with the iPhoto library.
Thanks for your help!
Mac Mini - G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi mconnor,
Here are all the links I have for sharing an iPhoto Library.
I think you would be interested in the ACL link for your situation. Hope it works for you.
SHARING IPHOTO LIBRARIES
Sharing libraries between users on the same local network
You can also share a library on the same machine between users the same way.
Sharing libraries between users on the same machine...
-both users must have sharing enabled in their iPhoto Preferences
-both users must be logged in and have iPhoto running
-Remember that you can only view the other library. You can't edit the photos or play the saved slideshows or view the made books or burn them to CD or DVD. The books and slideshows will show up as an album. You can play that album as an "on the fly" slideshow. You can drag images from the sharing library to your library in the source column to import them to your library. You can then edit, add to albums, books, slideshow, etc.
Sharing links from Apple....
Sharing your photos between computers
About shared photos
Turning off photo sharing
Looking for shared photos
SHARING ONE IPHOTO LIBRARY BETWEEN USERS ON SAME MACHINE
You can try one of these three methods:
1- Use iPhoto Library Manager-the paid version
The documentation page will give instructions on how it is done.
2- Sharing one iPhoto library between several users on one machine
3- Share an iPhoto Library in tiger Using ACL's
4- I have also read about ShareAlike
There is no other info on the site about how it works.
I strongly urge anyone wanting to try any of the methods for sharing one iPhoto Library folder among more than one user to backup all iPhoto Library folders before attemptin anything.

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Thank you Joe - I tried this but it's only showing a teensy amount of music - the stuff on the second users account as opposed to the giagntic library on the 'main' account. I actually went to a Genius Bar and they said that apple doesn't really want you to share music between accounts - parents don't want to hear their kids music etc. Which seemed strange, but it might be the case sadly Thanks anyway!

Sharing iPhoto Library between Two User Accounts

Is there any way to fully share a single iPhoto library between two user accounts on one machine (iMac 2.0GHz dual core Intel, 10.5.1, iPhoto '08), without using an external drive (because I don't have one)? By share, I mean each user has full rights and priveledges to the entire library, regardless of who uploaded the pics. Holding down the option key on iPhoto startup does not work because my wife can't access the pics I loaded even though she's pointing to the shared library in a shared folder.

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. But that's unlikely to work on 10.5 because of the way that the permissions have changed with the new OS.)
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

How do I share one itunes account between two users on the same computer

How do I share one itunes account between two users on the same computer without taking up twice as much space on my hard drive?

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.

Share a library between two users on the same mac?

It is possible to share a library between two users on the same mac?

It's doable. As it's been pointed out Aperture has no provisions for file locking so you can't have two users accessing the library at the same time. This includes having one user having the library open only for browsing. Aperture doesn't have a +Read Only+ mode, when it opens the library, even if you make no changes to any images, the library will be written to.
This also means you can't have one user open the library and then stop using Aperture but still have the library open and then have another copy of Aperture open on the library.
Of course if you have two copies of Aperture running even they are on different libraries you'll be in violation of the license and you'll have bigger problems to worry about then a toasted library.

Is there a way to share one music library with two seperate icloud accounts?

Is there a way to share one music library with two seperate icloud accounts? I have over 12,000 songs in my library and my son likes the same music, but recently his ipod touch is picking up the texts from my wife's and my phone? I was told the only way to stop this is by giving him his own icloud account which would mean he wouldn't have access to my music library. Any ideas?

He can still use your Apple ID for iTunes content, no issues. He just gets a separate ID for everything else.

Sharing I tunes music library between different user logins on same PC

Due to my computer crashing I recently bought a new PC running Microsoft Vista. I am attempting to set the PC up so that different members of the family can have their own login. I have downloaded I tunes 7 and it shows on each desktop. My problem is that I cannot figure out how to share the music library between each login.

the following document may be of some assistance with that:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Any improvements in sharing an iPhoto Library between multiple users?

It is possible and Apple Approved to share an iPhoto Library between multiple users, but the Library must be stored on a drive or disk image that ignores permissions:
http://tech.kateva.org/2008/10/apple-supports-multi-user-iphoto.html
This doesn't work for me. Has Apple changed anything with iLife '09 to make it easier to share a Library? For example, have they changed from the prior Package format?
Message was edited by: jfaughnan

Alternatives to a trip to the Terminal:
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. The problem here is that OS X works very hard to keep your data safe and secure from the other users. You're trying to beat what's built in to the system. So, to beat the system
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. You could also use a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.
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.
Lastly: This method seems a little clunky at first, but works very well. Most importantly, it uses the System to do the job for you.
Create a new Account on your Mac, call it Media. Create an iPhoto Library there. (BTW: This will work for iTunes too.)
Enable Sharing on the Library:(Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other accounts. In those accounts, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. The Library will appear in the other source pane.
This means that both users will be able to see the pics. If you want to use a pic then simply drag it from the shared Library to your own in the iPhoto Window. This means that each user can have their own edits.
If you want to add photos to the Library: Log into the Media account for that purpose.
To make it all seamless: Set your Mac to log into the Media Account automatically. Set iPhoto to launch on log-in. Then switch to your own account using Fast User Switching.
Net result: a Library that's permanently available to all users but also protected. Each user can have their own versions of the pics if they want.
No partitioning, no permissions issues. Uses no extra disk space. What's not to like?
Regards
TD

Sharing One iPhoto Database Between Two Accounts

Below is a reply to a question I have regarding sharing photos with my wife on the same Mac. I would like for us both to able to upload, edit, and use photos from the same iPhoto database. Do all of the buggaboos listed in the reply below still apply?
Thanks,
Jim
Re: Sharing Photo's on the same iMac between two user accounts
Posted: Jun 2, 2009 8:27 AM in response to: Thomas Harrigan Solved
Tom
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

No. All the folks who post here are just Users, like you.
Regards
TD

Sharing one music library between two users on a mac

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