Sharing one organized music folder with different computers

I have one mp3 folder which is organized by itunes running on, lets say, computer 1. the mp3 folder is on the computer 1.
now there is a second computer, computer 2, running itunes and is connected via ethernet.
how can i use itunes on both computers now?
I want to import music on computer 2 and then see the imported files on computer 1 and vice versa.
I see all the files on computer 2, but silly me.. i said computer 2 to also organize the same folder, now computer 1 doesn't find any files any more. how can i fix this elegantly? all the files are still in the very same place, but itunes on computer 1 doesn't find them.
thanks for some help!

please let me know if this is an impossible thing for itunes or not.
if it is not then i don't know the key word or the name of the function.

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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.
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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.

I've update my music using an external disk; now I uploaded agin the music but it doesn't appear in Itunes. How can I synchronize the music folder with Itunes?

I've managed my music downloading and uploading it from an external disk; I put the music into the Finder MUSIC folder and copyed it into Itubìnes but it does't appear. What Do I have to do? How can I synchronize the Musice Folder with Itunes?

Chris, thanks for the reply.
That's what I'm confused about. I did exactly what you said. I copied the entire music folder from the old computer and put it in the music folder on the new computer. I've tried that two or three times now. And, I've checked, and all of the files are there (that's what I meant by 'clicking on Itunes Media'--when I click on the iTunes media folder in music/itunes in Finder, all of the files are there). But, when I open iTunes, nothing shows up--no movies, no music, no tv shows. It seems like it should be so simple, but it won't work for me.
Any ideas?
Thanks so much.

How to share the music folder with multiple libraries efficiently?

Hi,
Me and my husband use the same computer, but have our own seperate user account on it. We have setup iTunes such that for each user account iTunes points to the same central music folder (on a seperate large disc). So effectively we are sharing the mp3/m4p/m4a files, but not the library.
So each user account has it's own iTunes library file with playlists, ratings etc. This is all fine, but if either of us adds something to the library (by importing a CD or by purchasing music), it is not automatically reflected in the other library.
The workaround we found for this is to drag the iTunes folder to the library every time you know that the other user made changes... It works, but it is not very efficient.
Any suggestions are welcome!
As a sidenote: for photo's we use Picasa from Google in a similar fashion (shared storage, different libraries) and here it works. When starting, Picasa automatically detects changes in the photo folder and updates the library accordingly.

You are doing the same thing I do at home. Except we just add the files that have been newly added rather than the whole library each time.
What we did is decide that all importing from CD will be with one account. This is just to make things easier keeping track of new adds. What we do is CDs that have been added are kept in a rack next to computer. If my wife wants the files all she has to do is add the files from the common storage drive then put the disc in storage.

Having one iTunes music library for multiple computers via TimeCapsule

Hi there,
I'm just wondering how to best set-up my iTunes library. I want the library on my TimeCapsule wireless hard drive, and to be able to set this as the library for multiple computers at home. It's a waste of space to have duplicate libraries on both computers.I had this working with an earlier version of iTunes, but its not working now.
I also want to know how I can get the wireless device to fire up simply by pressing the iTunes icon. If I do this without, iTunes says it can't find the library.
Thanks.

Frank, yes. Only one library of the songs and content if it's stuff from the Music Store.
If the music is your own CD rips, then you can put all the music on a central server and have all the computers connect in on your home network.
You do NOT set your iTunes to share their libraries, or look for shared libraries, you manually do the drag-and-drop with your networked music folder into the iTunes library window and each copy of iTunes behaves as if the network volume is it's own.
The only shortcoming to this is if you add music with one machine, the others will NOT have the new songs added to their own library lists unless you drag and drop the songs into the iTunes library manually for each computer.
I have enough music that I have broken down the library list into five folders, A-E, F-J, K-O, P-T, and U-Z. When I add new songs, the folders they're in will be added at the root Music Library folder level, so I can refresh the libraries with the new music THEN manually file it into one of those five correct folders.
This is what my network library looks like:
http://home.comcast.net/~foodandart/Network%20Library.jpg - you can see that I haven't added the Clapton, BBC, Roxy Music, etc, to the library lists for the entire house.
The G4 frankenbeast computer in our living room, is the media server for the house and has the stereo system rigged through it and is used to rip vinyl and watch the video. I still have to refresh the libraries in my husband's laptop, and on my main internet computer, so those albums haven't been filed yet.
Of course the caveat here is that I haven't a single item that's purchased through the Music Store and thusly locked down, since I rip my own LP's and CD's, so everything is much more flexible in how I can handle it.
Deb.

HT1202 Manually Manage Music/ Videos with multiple computers

I recently got a new iphone 4s and when it was set up I made sure the manually manage music part was on, I added my music and everything worked fine.
I'm abroad now and wanted to delete and change some of my music but the manually manage box is no longer ticked and I get the warning saying "Your phone is Synced with another iTunes Library do you want to erase this iphone and sync with this itunes libary". How can I get around this I dont want to lose all my music!!!!
Please Help!

Lukek07 wrote:
"Your phone is Synced with another iTunes Library do you want to erase this iphone and sync with this itunes libary".
As the message infers, you can only sync your iDevice to
a single iTunes library. The only way around this, which is
of no real use to you now but for future reference, is to have
your iTunes library (entire iTunes folder) an a separate hard
drive and carry it around where ever you go. Any computer
you have will need to be set up to connect its iTunes to that
library.
The one caveat of this is that is backups of the iDevice.
Each computer will have a different backup file depending on
when you synced to the computers (backups are stored
in ~/Library/Application Support/Mobile Sync/ Backup on
the computer not in iTunes library). Where this is problematic
is if you need to do a restore and you only have a computer
available with an old backup and not the most recent.
The other problem will be if you manage Address Book, Calendars,
etc. different on different computers. Things can get jumbled, lost,
or just plain add duplicates.
As for your current situation, there really isn't much you can do.

Manually manage music on 2 different computers

I have different music libraries on my home iMac and work Mac Pro. Before, when I have the "manually manage music" check off, I am able to dump music from my home computer... and then when I get to work, I am able to delete music and dump music from my work computer to my iPhone.
But it seems that ever since I updated itunes to 10.6, it wont let me dump music from my home and work computer. When I'm at work, and check off the "manually manage music", it erases my library on the iPhone. So I dumped stuff from my work comp to the iPhone. But then when I get home, and check off "manually manage music", itunes erases my work music. I'm not able to just add on music, unlike before where I could do that.
Whats up with that?

Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
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When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entires and import the local content you have on that box.
tt2

Two user accounts one Itunes Music Folder, How do I keep the Libraries sync

Okay let's see if I can explain my dilemma properly. My girlfriend shares my computer with me, so I gave her a seperate account to keep her stuff in. However I keep all our music on an external hard drive in the iTunes music folder. The problem is everytime I upload new music or delete something on my account/ iTunes library, It doesn't update the iTunes library on her account. Therefore I have to sign in to her account to update her library with new music or delete tracks that have been removed from the Music folder. Kinda a minor thing until you upload 5 new CD's and remove like a 100 old tracks/podcasts, then it gets to be very annoying and time consuming. So is there anything I can do to sync our libraries to the music folder when changes are made? Hope I explained that well, and thanks for your help in advance!
powerbook G4 1 Ghz 12.1 inch Mac OS X (10.4.7) iTunes 6.0.1
powerbook G4 1 Ghz 12.1 inch Mac OS X (10.4.7)

open749
As both libraries are the same you're wasting disk space, so have only one library - yours and enable sharing on it.
You need to be looged in and iTunes running, she will enable 'look for shared libraries' in her Preferences... and your library will show up.
Regards
TD

How do I access my music on two different computers?

I have the latest version of iTunes on my external hard drive, which I thought would make it easier to use iTunes on different computers. I have purchased quite a bit of music and have ripped several CDs, but I can't access any of it when I use my external hard drive with my laptop. I even downloaded iTunes directly onto my external hard drive to avoid this problem, but I can only see everything that I have purchased/downloaded into iTunes when I use the computer that I originally downloaded iTunes onto.
So my basic question is why can't I access everything I have on iTunes when I use my external hard drive with my laptop instead of my desktop computer?
Thank you in advance!!!!

Mate, I have been having exactly the same problem, but found the answer a page back.......
I have installed latest iTunes onto my external HD but when I copy my music into it (also held on external drive), it gives an error saying not enough space on C:
It seems that although it is setup on the external, it automatically creates the library on C: rather than your external.
So, if you hold down shift whilst launching iTunes, it allows iTunes to look elsewhere to set up a new library.
Do this and choose create new library then select your external drive for the destination and hey presto!!
I am in the process now of having dumped my original music folder into iTunes and it is busy copying all into new library.
Presumably going to have 2 copies of all music once done but my drive is 320gig so no issue and will just delete the original when done.
Hope this helps.

How do I Sync my itunes music between two different computers

Can anyone tell me the step-by-step instructions for how to Sync my itunes music between two different computer.... one Mac at work and a second at home. I want to bring over all my work music onto my home Mac, some of which is the same but much of it is different.

Are you able to connect the two computers in any way? For instance is the work computer a laptop that you can bring home and network with your personal one? If the two devices are connected in some away there are a few utilities that can help you sync iTunes across different computers. You could begin your research by having a look at these for instance:
TuneRanger
SuperSync
syncOtunes

"Purchased Music" folder shows different music on different macs...

All the music was purchased with the same ID. But over the years, they were purchased from different authorized machines in my household. Some mac some windows (I am under the authorized computer limit of 5).
Recently, I consolidated all the purchased music as a single backup and restored them onto all my macs. On these macs, all the purchased music is viewable in the Library->Music. However, if i click on the "Purchased Music" folder, each mac shows a different list of purchased music. It "sort" of corresponds to which machine was used to purchase the music, but not exactly.
I would like, on each mac, for ALL protected AAC music downloaded from iTunes Music Store, to show up in "Purchased Music" folder. How do I make this happen?

The 'Purchased' playlist behaves just like a normal playlist.
You can add and delete items in it like in any other normal playlist.
Why it contains other items than purchased ones, I can't tell.
I can only guess you dragged those items in it by accident.
To correct this, select the non-purchases and delete them.
Hope this helps.
M

Multiple users on home LAN sharing both the Music folder and library

Hi there,
I've been hunting around the web and not found anything that helps me with this specific situation though various articles come close but I've not actually succeeded yet, I was wondering if anyone can help.
I have a Windows XP home PC, 2 user login profiles, both share the same music folder but have different librarys.Using Itunes 10.
I've recently purchased a NAS, I have successfully moved the music folder to the NAS and now also have a netbook (windows 7) seeing the same music folder.
What I want is to have any users/PCs to have the same music folder and the same library on Itunes.
Where I come unstuck is the library as I want the library from the primary user on the PC to be the master, I want this located on the NAS and I want any machine/user to share this same library. I know it's the Itunes folder in My Music, I can easily move that but most forums suggest starting Itunes holding down shift andselecting a new library but I do not get this option.
Instead, I go into the library options but the library command to compile (can't remember exactly that command) seems to retain the local library store.
Is there a way I can just add my NAS located music folder and point Itunes to a different itunes folder for the library?
Separately, I'd like to know if there is an option to keep a local copy of the music and photos folders, I'd like the netbook to be able to this as a backup of the NAS.
Really appreciate any help on this.
Thanks.

It is not really practical for multiple users on different PCs to use the same library database. This is because the iTunes database is not multiuser, the can however share the same content files.
So each PC will need it's own library database (iTunes Library.itl) which in this case is best located on the users own PC.
Utilities such as Tune ranger can keep libraries in sync:
http://www.acertant.com/web/tuneranger/
For backup, some people find synctoy a free utility from Microsoft works for them.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a 7c5-98d0592d8c52

Organizing Music Folder is adding multiple track numbers

When "Keep Music Folder Organized" is checked in Preferences, file names are prefixed with track number. I think there used to be a way to prevent that but I can't find it in the current version (8.2). I could live with the track number prefix, but I now have several cases of the track number being repeated. Here's an example: "1-02 1-02 1-02 Where Did Our Love G". Note that the song name was truncated when the prefixes were added. It hasn't happen to all my tracks, but seems to have happened mostly to those that were imported from .WAV files that I copied from vinyl. Is there a way to prevent this? Is it an iTunes bug? Is there an easy way to remove the prefixes in bulk?

Success! From this thread...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9267705&tstart=0
see turingtest2's note.
The part missing that I know works on Macs and may work on Windows, is AFTER you perform that hack, open preferences click on the Advanced tab and then UN-check "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized", then click OK which dumps you out of preferences. Now open preferences again, and reselect (check) the box for "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" and click OK to get out of preferences. On a Mac, at this point iTunes will go through your whole library and fix all the file names to remove the track numbers in front of the song titles in the media files themselves.
Patrick

Why is Itunes cluttering my music folder with system files?

Ok i was using windows 7 before this and it was fine. Then i reformatted my drive and put windows 7 again. Downloaded latest itunes v9 and installed. Copied my entire music library backed up on my external hd and copied it to the music folder under the libraries section. In windows 7 the "my music" folder under user>documents and settings is actually the same as the "music" folder in the libraries on your pc. The music folder in libraries simply can compose of multiple folder so it simply displays all the contents of the "my music" folder and can also include other folders.
Anyhow itunes screw up indexing my library but thats a whole problem of another sort. The main issue is that after it sees my music library and after I have downloaded something it does this. http://img169.imageshack.us/i/65030372.jpg/
In that link as you can see in music under libraries it just leaves all those system and downloaded files.There actually ends up being hundreds after it gets album/song artwork since each artwork picture comes up as a ict2 file.
However if i go to the my music folder in documents and settings it neatly tucks away all those files into their respective folder in itunes media or artworkd, despite the few core library files. http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/5956/55950795.jpg
AT the moment i have deleted all the music in my library. Deleting those system files simply makes itunes no longer see an library. I have tried reinstalling with no avail. Why is it putting everything in folder in my music but not doing the same in music-libraries which is the same identical folder.

This is just a thought, because I've not played with Windows 7, but near the top of your 1st image it says *Music Library, Includes 2 Locations*. I think you're looking at a view there which will display the contents of all possible music storage locations and the contents all of their subfolders, i.e. like a search result box. The other image corrsponds to a regular folder layout. iTunes stores an Album Artwork folder inside the main iTunes folder along with it's main database and a number of other supporting files. These files are required for iTunes to work so you can't just delete them. If you want to look at your media folders the use Windows Explorer to look inside *iTunes\iTunes Media*.
tt2

Solved. Travel router WTR54GS sharing one wireless hotspot connection with multiple devices

Hi, Passing on info I've learned.
The manual for the WTR54GS mentions being able to "...use multiple devices on a single hotspot account in a coffee shop or airport lounge...". See my original posting, "How to set up a wireless private bubble at paid hotspot? WTR54GS?", which ended in a dead end. I subsequently had a Linksys live chat session and the representative provided the solution. Perhaps worthy to be included in the Wireless FAQ?
Situation: you have access to a paid hotspot (hotel room, meeting room, etc.) and you want to share the connection with several devices, also wirelessly.
Solution: the WTR54GS can accept an incoming Internet connection wirelessely and re-broadcast that connection to form your own private bubble or network. (Note the WTR54GS can also accept an incoming Internet connection via Ethernet cable).
Linksys Live Chat pointed me to these web pages.
Go to the Linksys Easy Answers page: For a schematic of the concept of "associating the travel router to a hotspot (wirelessly)" search for Easy Answer ID# 4831
URL for above is http://linksys.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/linksys.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=4831&p_created=1167963305&p_sid=GmLnq3Zi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NjImcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0xNzIxLDE3MjMmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0yLjE3MjMmcF9zY2ZfbGFuZz0xJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9V1RSNTRHUw**&p_li=&p_topview=1
There is a "configuration simulator" that shows the options for selecting a wired or wireless incoming Internet Type.
http://linksys.com/ui/files/WTR54GS/1.0_15/Setup-Wireless.htm
The hotspot has to be "open", that is transmitting an SSID and with no WEP or WPA key. It may have a log-in page accessible via a web browser, this is okay as this will be passed onto the connected device.
My personal application is to be able to connect a PDA that has a 801.2b wifi to a 801.2g wireless network. I haven't tried it but if this works, it will extend the useful life of my PDA in a "g" environment. Will report back once I find a "g" only environment. Comments?
-Tony
Dang, the long URL is making for a really wide message. Is there a fix?
Message Edited by tony_vancouver on 02-28-2008 02:08 PM
Message Edited by tony_vancouver on 02-28-2008 02:12 PM

There are two conditions which must be met in order to use your WTR54GS to "extend" an incoming, wireless internet connection:
The incoming connection must be unsecured. You have already covered this point;
The security settings on your WTR54GS can only be set to "WEP," or to "Disabled." If you choose "WEP," then you can use either a 40/64-bit, or a 128-bit key.
If those two conditions have been met, then it works fine -- says the guy who is sharing one paid internet conneciton in his hotel amongst three devices, and with co-workers in nearby rooms.

Sharing one organized music folder with different computers

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