Whats the Best Method For a 2nd iPod on my Macbook with totally different music?

[HappyDude20]

I have a Macbook Pro, and my iTunes account has about 10GB's of music, movies, apps, etc.

My mom just got an iPod Touch for herself, though she has no computer of her own. She wants to sync up all her music to her new iPod touch, of which I've already ripped her CD's.

I'm wondering whats the best route to take here:

I'm thinking, I can obviously add her 5GB's of music to my iTunes library, but then syncing would be a hassle from now on, on each iPod and not to mention my iPad...and of course the added frustration of her music playing randomly in between mine.

Then I thought, I could create a new library in my iTunes on my MBP; but before doing this figured i'd ask here on MR to see if anyone suggested against this seeing as i've never done this before, nor know how to go about it.

Finally, I thought...why not just create a new user account on my MBP? That way she'll have her own account on my MBP and can sign into it whenever she needs to browse the web or sync her iPod Touch. Here's a mental roadblock I came across though: Wouldn't she need her own iTunes account though? I know she doesn't have it...but I know its not that taxing of an issue.

I await your responses.

 

[pdjudd]

Finally, I thought...why not just create a new user account on my MBP? That way she'll have her own account on my MBP and can sign into it whenever she needs to browse the web or sync her iPod Touch.

As long as you don't mind the hassle of using multiple accounts on your Mac, that is what I would recommend. You get the benefits of a completely separate music library that is easy to use and different syncing to boot.

Here's a mental roadblock I came across though: Wouldn't she need her own iTunes account though? I know she doesn't have it...but I know its not that taxing of an issue.

That would probably be the best route no matter what - she can purchase her own music and not be dependent on having you around to give you your account password.

 

[sashakla]

As long as you don't mind the hassle of using multiple accounts on your Mac, that is what I would recommend.

Having tried different approaches, this one is the best, cleanest and the most straightforward. Again, from experience, music is the least of the problem here. Music can be easily controlled by creating device-specific playlists. But she will, eventually, want to have her contacts on the iPod, apps, some pictures etc. Besides, you DO want her to have a separate iTunes account. If she know what she's doing, she would want to visit the AppStore and buy apps on her own. You don't want to share your passwords etc. And if she doesn't, it would make sense to configure her account to use an invalid payment method so she can't purchase anything by mistake. That's what I ended up doing for my wife's iPhone which she uses exclusively for phone calls and SMS. I bet she doesn't even know that AppStore exists