Quitting another user's iTunes process?

[MDLarson]

The quest is to easily manage the same body of music on multiple accounts; mine and my wife's. The solution thus far is to place the entire iTunes folder (which would normally be located in each user's Music folder) into Users > Shared > iTunes and replacing each user's iTunes folder with an alias pointing to this new iTunes folder. This appears to be a common solution based on some internet search results.

However, the downside is that when switching accounts via Fast User Switching, iTunes is often left open. Opening iTunes on the second account (when it's already open on the first account) results in the following message:

The iTunes Library file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file.

Basically, the two iTunes processes are fighting over the same iTunes Library file. I can switch back to the first user account and quit iTunes, then come back and open it, but it's a little inconvenient.

I can open the Activity Monitor, select Other User Processes from the popup menu, select iTunes and select Quit Process... but that's a little unweildy. So, I'm wondering if I can develop a little Applescript that can safely quit the first user's iTunes process. I could even save this script as a stand-alone application and paste the iTunes icon onto it so it appears nearly seamless.

Any problems with this approach? I am basically asking for the script steps for quitting the other user's process.

 

[sirstaunch]

The solution is, get rid of those Alias's and open up iTunes Preferences, select sharing, check Share My Library On My Local Network.

In the other user accounts check Search For Shared Libraries

 

[MDLarson]

That solution would be the simplest perhaps, but I wouldn't have complete control of my music library. I can't purchase music from the store or create playlists, for example. We both have our own iPods and it would be handy to manage them on our own accounts.