Permissions in OS X for iTunes library with multiple users

Posted by John on Super User See other posts from Super User or by John
Published on 2012-06-18T02:24:44Z Indexed on 2012/06/18 9:19 UTC
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I currently have a lot of music on an external drive and my iTunes set up from there. However, periodically, when the external drive isn't connected, iTunes will default back to the library location of my home directory user path.

I don't want to mess with an external drive, as my Mac's HD is large enough to house the music collection.

However, I have 4 family members – all with their own logins – using this same gob of music. I don't want four copies of the library, only one with all libraries referencing it.

So, what I want to do is:

  1. Move all music files to a shared directory at /Macintosh HD/users/music. I created this directory and adjusted permissions, so all four users can read and write to this directory.

  2. Get all four accounts to reference this library instead of the external or local home locations

I am hoping I can just check the box to keep library organized in my account, which is the admin and let iTunes move it all. Then delete current libraries for each account and re-add from the new shared location.

Will the iTunes organization process cause permissions issues either by setting permissions to all the files access to my account only or write permissions or any other 'gotcha'?

I am having a hard time coming up with a smooth solution that won't break everything and cause me to have mega duplicates or access issues.

I would prefer not to do any XML library file editing if possible.

Am I dreaming?

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