newbie question: multiple users on my iMac

1. Yes it does make copies, as far as I know the only way to avoid that is to store the songs in a location you both have access to (i.e. external HD), then uncheck Keep iTunes Folder Organised, and Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder. That way should work for you
2. Put work in the shared folder - double click harddrive > double click users > shared. I think that will work, its difficult to test at work
3. There must be as you can do that with ones you download from the internet. I dont know how to do this, maybe someone else can help. :EDIT: from a couple of seconds of googling, it looks like the only way to do this would be with a .Mac membership.

:EDIT2: After a minute of googling i found this. - how to sync icals without .Mac

 

1. You have two options here. First option is to put the common iTunes Music Library in the Shared folder inside the Users folder in the root of the hard disk (/Users/Shared for you UNIX-heads). Second option is to put the common iTunes Music Library on an external drive that you leave connected all the time. First thing you do is move the folder(s) to the desired common location. Second thing is configure iTunes (Preferences -> Advanced) so that it knows where to find the music files. You'll keep your individual playlists/playcounts/ratings/etc. with this method, too.
2. This can be done with the Public folders each user account has. If you ("User A") want to send a file to your wife ("User B"), you can drop the file (or a copy of it) in User B's Drop Box folder inside User B's Public folder. Similarly, if your wife wants to send a file to you, she can drop it in User A's Drop Box folder, where you can then retrieve it.
3. .Mac can handle the iCal scenario if you have Tiger (using the sync feature). I don't know about Entourage, though.

 

The iTunes Music Library file needs to be writable by all the users sharing it.

 

1. iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
2. Just use the /Documents folder directly on your HD. Should be accessible from all accounts (you may have some permissions issues when other tries to edit files you've created and visa versa, but if so just use the Get Info for that file and set permissions to Read and Write for all users.)
3. I think .mac is the best option without some serious hacking, but there might be some 3rd party software on VersionTracker, something like this (which is made for syncing over a network and might not work in your case).