Sharing a library
To share a library, select the library you would like to share and select "Share Library" from the Library menu. If you don't want to share one of your existing libraries, but would rather start with an empty library to share, first create a new library as you normally would, then use the "Share Library" command. If you are sharing a library that is located in your home folder, PowerTunes will give you the option to make a copy of that library in /Users/Shared and share the copy instead. This is the recommended way to do things, since sharing a library in your home folder will likely give other users access to some portions of your home folder besides the library itself (specifically, other users will be able to read, but not modify, the contents of any folders in the path to the library file). However, if you wish, you can also choose to share the library where it is.
You will be presented with options to choose whom you would like to share the library with. The options are:
- Nobody. This is the default state, where the library is only accessible by you. If you have shared a library and wish to un-share it, you can check this option and click "OK" to revoke access to the library by other users.
- All users. This will make the library available to all users on the machine, included new users that you create after you've already shared the library.
- Specific users. This will make the library available to only the users you specify by checking the boxes next to their names. If you want to add more users later on, you will need to return and add those users to the list.
Once you've selected the users you want to share with, click "OK". If the media folder for this library is in your home folder, PowerTunes will give you the option to move your media folder to /Users/Shared, to prevent other users from being able to browse the folders inside your home folder that lead up to your media folder.
PowerTunes will proceed to change the permissions on both the library and media folder as necessary so that the selected users can read and write the library and its music. Once this is done, all you have to do is login as one of the other users that you've shared the library with, and that library will automatically appear in their list of libraries in PowerTunes.