HT202190: Use Home Sharing to share iTunes content with other devices

Learn about Use Home Sharing to share iTunes content with other devices
SBlue

Q: How to share music between different accounts on a single Mac?

How can I share a single iTunes library with two users on the same Mac properly? We both have a lot of imported songs. I moved my iTunes library into the users/shared/shared music folder and set iTunes on both accounts to use it and save newly added songs to that library. But somehow the second account switches to an own library from time to time and we end up having different libraries. Maybe its when there is a new iTunes update? Anyway, is there a better way to share libraries? And how can I merge the different libraries into one single library?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Mar 20, 2016 8:23 AM

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Q: How to share music between different accounts on a single Mac?

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Mar 20, 2016 9:25 AM in response to SBlue
    Level 9 (53,622 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 20, 2016 9:25 AM in response to SBlue

    Are you using a shared library (an entire iTunes folder) or shared media (each user with their own library file)?  This will start completely different chains of advice.

     

    It should not automatically create a new library unless you are using multiple  drives in the computer and one goes to sleep.

     

    Do you truly want to merge the entire libraries into a single library?  It is easy and hard. Easy in that you drag the media from one library to an iTunes window in the other. Hard in that if both libraries have a lot in common you will end up with tons of duplicates, will lose ratings on the moved items as well as play count and date added.