fast user switching and iTunes sharing

M

moosepiss

Registered
hi,

I'm trying to come up with the best strategy for sharing iTunes music among multiple local users.

Assume that 2 users always simultaneously run iTunes. Pointing iTunes to a common - shared - iTunes directory works some-what, but what happens if the ID3 Tags for the mp3s are updated in one user's iTunes? And how about importing new music and deleting music? I'm unable to come up with a solid solution.

Another thing I'd like to see is Rendezvous music sharing (of playlists) from one user's iTunes to another ... unfortunately, basic iTunes sharing doesn't allow for this.

Any ideas on either of these?
Thx
MP
 
You can let everyone use the same user prefs, too is the only solution to your 'problem'. Because either you choose that every user has their own prefs - or they don't.

ID3 tags, btw, are saved in the files themselves, not in prefs, so maybe that's your solution already. However: If you give write access to your other users so they can delete files, then you have to expect the "unpossible". The only solution is to _not_ give them write access.
 
What I, and a few other users, have done is just simply share the music directory of one user across the rest of the machine.
If I understand correctly, one user has the mp3's on the machine although you're wanting all users to have access to them. All you'll really need to do is set read/write access for all users on the machine on your main "music" folder (in their home directory). This is where iTunes stores it's database for the mp3's.

All you'll have to do is delete the individual users music folders and create a symlink named "music" to the folder that contains all your mp3's and itunes data.
You'll also have to have read/write access to any other folder (for all users) that have any mp3's in the iTunes database stored in them.

I'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense. I'm kind of in a hurry right now but thought I'd post a solution. Let me know if you don't understand some of it.

EDIT: This will share the entire iTunes database. There is nothing in the prefs that stores what mp3's are stored in itunes.

As was said before. ID3 tag info is stored in the file itself, not the database. That will inherently propagate to all users.
 
I've tested a couple of different scenarios, both of which have problems. For both of these, assume that user1 and user2 always have iTunes running.

Scenario 1)
- user1/Music/iTunes AND user2/Music/iTunes are symlinks to shared/Music iTunes
- shared/Music/iTunes contains database, xml, and music

Problem:
- user1 changes the id3 data for an mp3 (yes, this is stored in the .mp3 file, but is also mirrored in the xml and optimized iTunes DB). user2's iTunes will not see this change until iTunes is restarted. (You can imagine the mess that could occur if both users change mp3 info before either restarts iTunes.)
- there also appears to be some locking of the iTunes DB. iTunes likes to complain when starting and stopping if another instance is running (even though the permissions are 777)

Scenario 2)
- each user has their own iTunes xml and database. The actual mp3s are shared (symlinked to shared dir).
- In this scenario, there are no locking problems that occur. However, one user adding/deleting/changing mp3s will never be reflected in the other instance of iTunes, even after a restart. The only way to see changes is to blow away and rebuild that user's DB - which of course will result in losing your playlists. Or to shut down iTunes and copy over the other user's updated db...

<sigh> I imagine that some clever developer will whip up some shareware or applescript that will take care of this ... just have to wait.
 
Well, the XML file in your music library is what actually tells iTunes what music you have in your library, and this file is completely editable via a simple text editor. For scenario 1, you can have the user (if he/she is sufficiently savvy) open the XML file and alter the appropriate information.

In scenario 2, the two users are only sharing the MP3 files, not the actual iTunes database. Changes to the library of one user will not reflect in the other user's library because they have different libraries (different XML files). You might try looking on Macupdate or Versiontracker for something to help you, but I don't know of anything myself.
 
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