[HOWTO] - Share iTunes Libraries on the same computer

[tony]

I brought this up in this same forum a long time ago. Since iTunes allowed sharing libraries on the same net, I wondered why I couldn't share libraries on the same computer. My G4 has 4 user accounts, and I knew there was some duplication in our iTunes libraries.

The answer to my question of why library sharing didn't work on the same computer was that in order to share your library, you had to be logged in with iTunes running. Since only one person could be logged in at a time, there was no way to share.

When fast user switching came out, we could all be logged in at once, but it would still only allow one person at a time to run iTunes.

Now, with the latest version of iTunes, we can all be running iTunes at the same time, and iTunes library sharing works great between all of the accounts!

Of course it only works as long as everyone leaves iTunes running, but that's not a big deal.

-tony

[mfidiothead]

I've just bought a new iBook, whcih both my wife & I will use. We'll also both be using our iMac from now on. I've come up with the following solution:

Copy the "Music" folder from the Admin account to the Shared directory under "Users". Update the permissions on the Shared directory, ensuring that "apply to enclosed items" is selected. Then simply create an alias to the Music directory, and copy it back to your user account (make sure it's simply called "Music"). Then login to the other user account, delete the existing music folder, and copy the alias from the shared directory, again making sure to call it "Music". Hey presto, shared iTunes library.

The beauty of this is that it works for photos (just do the same for the "Pictures" directory), and if you invest in a good sync product like Folders Synchronization ($40), you can keep the iTunes library up-to-date across all your Apples.

I just received the iBook this week, previously the iMac was my wife's & I used a PC, so I'm not a Mac expert or anything, and if I can set this up, I think your average mac user could too.

PS I'm finally getting rid of the PC now that the mac can do everything it could (& more) without running Virtual PC... Yaay!

[danfan521]

Or you could just change the location of your iTunes music folder, and have all users put in in /Users/Shared/

Scruffy, that's what I did. Only issue is that same thing applies to adding an deleting music that was mentioned above.

[aicul]

I brought this up in this same forum a long time ago. ....When fast user switching came out,...Of course it only works as long as everyone leaves iTunes running, but that's not a big deal.

Thats exactly what I do, added advantage, open airport and you can zip iTunes between machines through the air WITHOUT the need to grant OSX login access to your "base" iTunes library.