How To Create One Itunes Library For Multiple Mac Users

2020-4-3  Many people have music in two iTunes libraries, on two different computers, and eventually decide they want to combine or merge those libraries. Here's how to do it. First, some background. ITunes stores your music and other media, and maintains several files that contain information about this content. They're found in /Music/iTunes/ ( is a. How do you use multiple iTunes accounts on one laptop or computer? Create a separate iTunes Library for each of the different users,. Exit iTunes completely. If you are a Mac user press. How to Move Your iTunes Library. You can move your iTunes library to a different folder, computer, or drive. Here's how to do it, even in macOS Catalina, which ditches iTunes for the Music app. Tweet Share Post I recently set up a Mac mini in my living room to act as a media server. Instead of trying to update separate music libraries every time I added songs to my collection, I was just adding the music to the Mac mini’s iTunes library and streaming it my laptop.

If you have multiple computers with iTunes installed then chances are that the music on them isn’t in sync, and you’ve separate songs on each of them. Maintaining separate music collections doesn’t make sense if you listen to music on these different computers frequently. Why not either combine the iTunes libraries or maybe sync/share them through other methods? Saves time and effort, no?

We’ve listed four methods you can utilize to get your iTunes library on more than one computer. There’s no need to have duplicates spread across your computers, so pick up one of these methods below to get all your favorite tunes from one location.

1. Move the iTunes Files Manually

We’ve covered how to transfer the iTunes library to a new computer using CopyTrans TuneSwift, here.

Basically, the procedure involves backing up the necessary folders and then restoring the backup on a different computer.

This may be what you’re after, but the unfortunate result of using this method is that you must keep backing up the library for every new change, and then restoring those changes to the other computers, so the music is always updated.

2. Sync Two iTunes Folders with BitTorrent Sync

Instead of doing a backup and restore of the library, which requires a constant reproduction of the procedures to keep the libraries up-to-date, you could use BitTorrent Sync to keep the two libraries synced, effectively reflecting every change with one another.

Begin by downloading BitTorrent Sync here.

Once opened, click the button called Add a Sync Folder and then choose Browse in the resulting popup window. Browse for the iTunes folder where you music is contained. Now click the Generate button to create a new secret key. This is completely unique and will be used on the other computer to sync the music. You can copy this key now or later – it doesn’t matter.

Now on the other computer, browse for the iTunes folder like above, but this time paste the key you created into the top text area. Don’t generate a new key here, just paste the already generated secret here.

Both computers should look similar to this screenshot below. The folder path should be the same for most iTunes setups.

Now that both systems are using the same folder for music, any change made to one will be reflected on the other. If you rename a song on your laptop, for example, then the same library on your desktop will have the change performed momentarily. The rate of change among the synced computers is dependent on network speed and the application’s response time.

Check the Transfers and History tab in BitTorrent Sync if the changes don’t seem to be functioning. These sections can help identify a slow network (if the transfer is hanging) or lack of transfer (if history doesn’t reflect changes).

3. Turn on Home Sharing in iTunes

If you don’t have the disk space on both machines that the previous method requires, you can turn on Home Sharing in iTunes. Do this from the File > Home Sharing > Turn On Home Sharing menu option.

The result is that another computer on the same network can view the media you’re choosing to share, whether via a password or not.

Cool Tip: You can even use Home Sharing on an iOS device. Follow this guide to learn how.

4. Stream Using Subsonic

If you’re limited on disk space or would like to broaden the Home Sharing method to accommodate connections outside the network, maybe Subsonic is for you. Just install the program, choose the iTunes folders, set up port forwarding for access outside the network, and you’ll be able to grab your music from any computer.

Transfer icloud photos to mac. Mar 30, 2020  Photo Library uploads all photos to iCloud and keeps them up to date across devices and you also can get access to them through iCloud.com. To transfer photos from the iCloud Photo Library to Mac, please refer to the two methods below. Transfer Photos from iCloud Photo Library to Mac Through iCloud Preference Panel. Jan 05, 2020  If you want your Mac's photos to wirelessly sync to all your other iOS devices and computers, you want to set up iCloud Photo Library: Apple's photo sync service lets you back up your images on all your devices, as well as access them — online or offline — on said devices.If you're willing to pay for the extra iCloud storage space, you can store an incredible amount of photos and videos. Mar 18, 2020  Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows, and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Photo Library and use Optimize Mac Storage, or move your library to an external drive. Before you start, be sure to back up your library.

Step 1: Start by downloading the program here.

How To Create One Itunes Library For Multiple Mac Users

After install, nothing will prompt or show you that the server has started, but if you open the program from the notification area, you can find the settings that we’re looking for.

Step 2: The Status tab controls the server’s active state – whether it’s on or off. Choose the Settings tab and take note of the port number value: 4040. You can change this value to anything you like, but we’ll keep it as is for this example.

Step 3: Take note of your local IP address by entering Ipconfig in a command prompt, like this:

Step 4: Using the Default Gateway address from the above step, enter the address into a browser.

We’re looking for Port Forwarding, which, in our Linksys router, is under Applications & Gaming.

Now we’ll enter the port from Step 2, alongside the IP from Step 3, like so:

Step 5: Open a browser and point the URL to this: localhost:4040

You’ll be asked for credentials to sign on. The default username and password combo is admin/admin.

Before continuing, change this password from the Settings > Users > Admin page.

Itunes Library Download

Step 6: Click the Settings menu at the top, then choose Media folders. Type out the folder you want to use for streaming from Subsonic. We’ve chosen the default music folder:

Ensure to save at the bottom of the page before continuing.

Step 7: To access this library from another computer, simply input the external IP (which you can find here), followed by the port number of 4040. The result should be IP:Port, like this:

All the music that the folder from Step 6 contains will be displayed and available for immediate streaming.

Conclusion

If you want to listen to your iTunes music on another computer, use one of these methods above. You should find one of these guides can accommodate your situation – whether you like to stream or actually sync the files.

Also See#itunes #Lists

Did You Know

Since its launch, Shazam has been used more than 30 billion times to identify songs.

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This doesn't apply to being able to *launch* iTunes, it is how to *share* the music from one library to all users.

This tip works best if you set it up BEFORE you start adding music to anyone's library. This will share the music files and Library XML file, but it won't help resolve the iTunes Music Store ID conflicts, nor will it let you launch iTunes without using the tip at the top of this thread.

1. Pick one of the User's Music folder to be the Master Music Library.

2. Set the priviledges of that Music Folder to read/write for All Users and move it to a shared location such as /Users/Shared/.

3. Create a symbolic link (not an alias) of the /Users/Shared/Music folder within each User's folder /User/[theusername]/Music

4. Repeat symbolic link for each for the remaining users so that every user has a symbolic link, i.e.: /Users/Shared/Music folder -> /User/[theusername]/Music for all users.

How To Create One Itunes Library For Multiple Mac Users Download

This will not require any changes to iTunes' Preferences and it will let each user access the same music library. There won't be any duped music because iTunes will check for dupes when you import music while logged in as any of the users.

It gets a bit messy if you want to combine all the various users' music libraries into the single library. The principle is that you'll have to drop the second, third.. users' Music folders into the master library, but it will discard Star Ratings, etc.

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Jonathan Q. Woolson
Louisville, CO 80027