Q: I have zero idea what this message is telling me.  I signed in but I was not given any on-screen instructions. Please have a non-nerd write this again.

What type of account have you signed in with ? The instructions only apply to AOL username accounts, if you've signed in to an account that's an AOL email address then you don't need to do anything with it, it's only usernames (e.g. account id's without the '@aol.com' part) that are affected.

If it is a username account then when you sign in via the Store > View Account menu option on your computer's iTunes you should be prompted to change it an email address (you can't use an email address that is already the primary email address on an iTunes account)

King-Penguin,

Thank you for explaining the difference between the aol username and the aol email address accounts. I have both, but had only logged in and out using one of them.

Thanks for clarifying this, not sure why I've been contacted on this as I don't use the AOL username only the e-mail address, so they are creating confusion where they don't need to!!

If you are using your AOL email address to access iTunes then that iTunes account is not affected.

It's only if you are logging into iTunes with your AOL username and have purchases and/or a balance on that account that you need to convert it be an email address instead (with the email address not currently being the primary email address on an account). If you don't convert it then from the start of April you will lose access to the account and any purchases / balance on it