08-25-2011, 05:32 PM

My wife and I have different tastes in music and she doesn't want my stuff sync'ed in to her iPod. So I thought I would create two libraries.

I pulled up the relevant help thread and it told me to press and hold the Options key and click on the iTunes icon in the dock.

First, I struggle to find the Options key until I phone my son who tells me that the Options key is actually marked Alt - I thought Apple were better than that, that's a PC sort of trick.

Anyway having found that Options is really Alt, I tried doing as instructed and all it did was open the iTunes application. On my son's Mac which is running the same operating system he gets a little dialogue box come up which offers him the option to create a new library - I don't.

My son is baffled and so am I - does anyone out there have any ideas?

Rgds Ian

08-26-2011, 03:52 AM

Ian:

I'm sitting in front of a Mac with three keyboards handy: the one on my laptop, the Bluetooth one I'm typing this on, and the one my wife uses on the table behind me.

All three of them CLEARLY have the word "option" printed on them on the appropriate key.

I must conclude that you are not, in fact, using an Apple or third-party Mac-compatible keyboard, and that therefore this inability to find the Option key is entirely your own fault. This is probably also why holding the option key to create the new library isn't working.

Update: checked two other Apple keyboards I had in storage -- IOW, every keyboard model Apple has released in the last 10 years. Every one of them says "option" on it, though I should note that some versions of the original iMac keyboard from 1998 did NOT say "option" on them. But that's how far you have to go back to find an Apple keyboard that doesn't have the word "option" physically printed on it.

08-26-2011, 02:13 PM

'Fraid not. Its a genuine Apple wireless keyboard complete with Apple log on teh back and a (c) 2009 Apple inc. insignia. My son also has a genuine Apple keyboard - he Skyped me and held it up to the camera to show that it was the same and that it had Alt on it.

Maybe the new ones have Alt and the old ones had Options

08-26-2011, 02:16 PM

Just read to the end of the previous post and realised that your keyboards are the same vintage as mine if they are Bluetooth.

Maybe the European ones have alt and the N American ones have Options.

Rgds Ian

08-26-2011, 02:20 PM

I don't claim to know all there is about Apple hardware and history, but FWIW the current Wireless Keyboard has "Option" at the bottom of the key and "Alt" above it.

Apple Wireless Keyboard - Apple Store (U.S.)

08-26-2011, 02:28 PM

Mine has the Alt but no Options. At least I now know where the Options key is.

Thks Ian

08-26-2011, 02:30 PM

Ditto here. I have an Apple wired keyboard and a new BT keyboard. Both have "alt" in small letters on top and "Option" in large letters on the bottom.

Could be that the OP has a European keyboard which may be different. Perhaps one of our members from the UK can confirm?

08-26-2011, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Iankv

Mine has the Alt but no Options. At least I now know where the Options key is.

Thks Ian

Something you may want to do, since I assume from your post that you and your wife are sharing the MacBook but don't want to neccessarily share music. If that is the case you can give your wife a seperate login by setting up another User Account.
Then, you can share or not share music, photos, files etc as you choose.

08-26-2011, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

Ditto here. I have an Apple wired keyboard and a new BT keyboard. Both have "alt" in small letters on top and "Option" in large letters on the bottom.

Could be that the OP has a European keyboard which may be different. Perhaps one of our members from the UK can confirm?

I have the European apple keyboard, USB type and it has just got alt on it. I'm in the UK.

08-27-2011, 03:25 AM

Ah, okay, my mistake sir. I do apologise. I was assuming you were in North America.