Merge apple id's, me.com and itunes account?

Willliam M Moldrup, I would be very grateful if you would read my long post above and tell me what my older son can do, if anything. If I understand correctly, once he moves to ICloud, he will still have songs from both ID libraries, but if he ever loses the earlier library, he will have to wait 90 days, twice, to get it back? Or when he sets up iTunes in the Cloud, can he start off somehow with "automatic downloads" disabled, so it will only be one period of 90 days? Do you get my question?

My only suggestion is to make sure that all music purchases reside on a desktop/laptop computer and is backed-up regularly. Despite any current problems with wi-fi syncing purchases from multiple accounts, you can circumvent these problems right now simply by syncing the previous way--connect any device (iPod, iPad) to iTunes and syncing via USB cable. Nothing will be lost except the iCloud iOS 5 wi-fi syncing.

I'm sure you'll have seen this already, but I'll post it anyway http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4627

I know people have been on at them for ages about managing multiple IDs but in my case it has to do with IOS5 because it was with IOS5/Icloud that they messed everything up for me. Did these people not realise that users who bought .me accounts had an app store account before they bought the .me? how do they suggest we use the same ID for icloud adn app store and how can we use purchased apps in icloud (iwork) if the accounts r dif.

Yes, I have seen that. It does not answer my question.

William, nothing will be lost except the ability for new iCloud features to be in any way meaningful. So very un-apple-like.

And if somehow, something is lost, the iphone will already be associated with only the newer ID, correct? And it would be 90 days before he can switch back to the old one, then another 90 days back to the newer one? Just to see if I understand this correctly.

Not to quibble or split hairs, but before iOS 5 the merging of accounts was never a problem (even with 4 accounts) because when syncing with USB everything in iTunes (no matter from which account it was purchased) would smoothly sync to any of my devices. The wi-fi, iCloud no longer allows this so the issue is no longer avoidable for those who wish to sync via wi-fi.

Indeed, you are right--very un-Apple-like. But, please, keep the faith because I believe that help is on the way. CEO Tim Cook is fully appraised of the 'new' merging Apple IDs issue and said he is working on it.😐

So, anyone who has purchases from two ID's must sync with a cable, despite iCloud, to avoid a potential 180-day wait in the event they need to replace lost songs from one or both ID's?

I believe, with 2 accounts, the lockout on one account is 90 days. So, from one account you can now sync all music and apps via wi-fi and iCloud. After that initial 90-day period, you could then login/use the second account's ID and sync that account via wi-fi. I would encourage that all new purchases be made from the second account that cannot now be synced. But I really think/hope that merging will be possible before the end of the year and before the first 90-day lockout expires.

boysmom wrote:

Yes, I have seen that. It does not answer my question.

Oh well, just trying to help.

William M Moldrup wrote:

Not to quibble or split hairs, but before iOS 5 the merging of accounts was never a problem (even with 4 accounts) because when syncing with USB everything in iTunes (no matter from which account it was purchased) would smoothly sync to any of my devices. The wi-fi, iCloud no longer allows this so the issue is no longer avoidable for those who wish to sync via wi-fi.

With all due respect, it WAS a problem before iOS5 for many people including myself. I have been campaigning to get Apple IDs merged for a long time now.

This thread is going nowhere, just turning into one big long moan, so I'll leave you guys to it.

I hope you get a resolution soon.

William, if Apple WERE to allow merges, that would still leave our family with the issue of which two accounts to merge. If son one gets all the earliest ID purchases and merges that his own ID, then son two is out of luck. If son two merges the old account with his me.com address, son one is out of luck. I'm the only one willing to say bye to my meager purchases.

Again, with kids that grow up and one day must pay for their own purchases that parents used to pay for, even allowing one merge does not solve the family problem.

Apple, you have us raising our kids with iTunes. Give us a way for (more than one of) them take their music with them!

Boysmom,

I have like 30 thread emails from when I visited last so I am coming in late and won't be able to read all the posts to catch up, but I did skim through your original post.

I am not sure this will be helpful to you, but when you mentioned re-purchasing songs you already purchased on your kids' account, I thought I would make sure you know something.

You can authorize all of your computers for each of the iTunes ID's in your family and then transfer all the purchases to each computer and your whole family including you will then be able to use all the music your family has. No need to re-purchase anything!

To authorize, go to iTunes on each computer and click on the "Store" menu and then select Authorize this Computer. Then authorize every ID your family has on each computer. Each ID can be authorized on up to 5 computers. Next, transfer the purchased music to each computer to iTunes and you can then use those songs on each computer and sync with iDevices. You can even sign into each ID in iTunes on each computer and download the purchased music that way.

Hope that helps in some way. :O)

Hello in Cornwall--wish I was there! Agreed. At this point I think silence will be golden--enough has been said in this thread for Apple to take action. Thanks for your contributions.