Using multiple iTunes accounts on the same desktop
I’m trying to use multiple iTunes accounts on my mac. Some things, like music, I want to purchase with my personal iTunes account. Other things, like work-related apps, I want to purchase with my business account. I only want one desktop, so these two iTunes accounts must work on the same desktop / mac login. Some googling found conflicting advice on how to do this, but I think I’m close to arranging it. Here is what I have so far.
iTunes only allows one account to be associated with a library. However, if you hold down the alt key when starting iTunes, it let’s you select or create a new library. I created one library for personal and one for work.
The next step is to associate each library with a different account. This does seem to work. However, my initial finding is that itunes tends to stick with one or the other. So, for now, one has to logout as the first user and then login as the other user.
I’d like to see if I can get it to remember the association of library->account. However, the situation does seem workable.
One caveat is that an iPod can only be associated with one account. If you leave it plugged in and open the other iTunes library, it offers to nuke the contents and sync with the other library. You can make the message go away, and I’m guessing you could undo the erasure by syncing with the original iTunes library. In fact, that might be handy - if it works that way. I’m not quite ready to try this, as I’ve only had the iPod touch for a couple days, but it’s on my list for experimentation.