We’ve been meaning to get some home pics now that we’re settled in and I was finally reminded of all this when I saw Sarah’s photos the other day. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Things here are trucking along just fine. It’s good to have things unpacked although we swear a box or two is still hidden somewhere because there are a few random things we can’t find. Bottom line though, not bad at all.

Update 11May2009: I’ve posted a screencast demonstrating some basic aspects of how iTunes manages your music library and how to then share the library with another user. Consider this iTunes Library 101 for those looking for a visual way to follow along!

Well it doesn’t have to be the Mrs. really. Just any other person with a separate user account on your Mac.

You see, Apple’s done a decent job of giving each user a separate workspace (it’s called your Home Folder) for all your pics, docs, tunes, flicks, email, passwords, and the list goes on. Normally it’s great. One login and you’ve got access to all your stuff, and you don’t have to worry about messing up the other persons. Need to switch back and forth? Fast user switching has you covered. The problem arrises for those special cases where you don’t want two (or more) separate iTunes libraries for example. Or maybe you want to share your iPhoto Library or Address Book in the same way.

Apple should definitely make this easier on folks by flipping a preference somewhere, but in reality, with a little know-how, you too can share a single iTunes Library across multiple users.

Let’s get started.

Hang on a sec… time out. Before you go messing around with your pristine music collection you do have a backup ready just in case? Right? Bueller?… Bueller? Oh right, of course you do. You’re using Time Machine. Carry on.

Step 1) – First things first. You really want to have all your iTunes content (music, TV, movies, etc) in a single library. I suspect for most folks this will mean needing to copy a few tracks from one user’s library to another so I won’t dwell on it. If you get stuck, just hit up the comments below.

Step 2) – You need to move your iTunes Library to a folder on your computer where all users can access it. I use /Users/Shared but you could also use an external firewire or network drive.

Apple has a detailed article on Moving your iTunes Music Library so check that out for specifics. Essentially you’re going to tell iTunes where you want your new library to be, and then use the Consolidate Library option to move it all there.

Step 3) – So far so good. Now, for each other user account. Hold down the Option Key while launching iTunes. Instead of opening directly, a dialog will ask you to ‘Choose iTunes Library’. Hit Choose Library and browse to wherever you saved your library in Step 2. Rinse and repeat for each user that needs to access it.

Step 4) – It’s worth double checking the permissions on the new folder just to be sure you all have access. Browse to the iTunes Library folder and hit get info. For me this is /Users/Shared/iTunes. In the sharing and permissions section at the bottom you’ll want to add all of the users using the library with Read & Write Privilege.

Well, hopefully that helps. I’ll go into a bit more detail on how we’re sharing the iTunes library and syncing multiple iPods, contacts, calendars, etc to it later. In the meantime, let me know if you’re stuck.

Assumptions: Everyone’s setup is different so if you’ve fiddled with your library in the past and have some special circumstances, take extra care to ensure your music is backed up. If you get stuck, plug away in the comments below.

Also, note that sharing a library means sharing playcounts, playlists, ratings, tags, metadata, etc. If the you absolutely need to rate Fergie’s My Humps a 1 star while the Mrs. gives it a 5, prepare for a rate-off. For us the benefit of having a single library and not needing to worry about syncing purchases between the two accounts is a better proposition.