How to share iTunes libraries between user accounts in OS X
Now use your mouse to highlighted the path text in blue, and then right-click the selection and choose "Reveal in Finder" from the Services contextual submenu. This will show the iTunes media folder in the Finder, which you can move to a common location accessible from all user accounts. Some options for this include the "Macintosh HD > Users > Shared" folder, or a secondary hard drive (external or internal).With the folder moved to this location, click the Change button next to the media folder path in iTunes, and select the media folder in its new location. Update the iTunes preferences similarly for other accounts, and now all should use the same iTunes folder.Keep in mind that iTunes may report some songs missing for some user accounts after changing their iTunes media locations, so in these cases you will have to re-import the songs by dragging them from these accounts' old media folders to the iTunes window or to the new media folder. Alternatively you can manually drag the contents of each user's old iTunes Media folder to the new one, to consolidate it in this new location (you will have to manually manage duplicate files when doing this).A second approach to this is to decentralize your iTunes media folders, so you can maintain a separate private music collection, but also include music files from public folders, external drives, and other commonly accessible folders. To do this, instead of changing your iTunes Media folder location, leave it as-is and uncheck the option to "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library file" that is located under the media folder path.With this setting unchecked, new songs you import from CDs or download from iTunes will be placed in your private collection in your user account; however, you can also drag a music collection folder from a shared drive to your iTunes window, and iTunes will add the files to your library but keep them in their current location instead of copying them to your private collection. Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
