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

Apple Forever, I hoped you would see my queston. Yes, I do know about authorizing multiple computers. If you could do me the honor, please read my first post on page 15 of this thread. There I outline what I'm confused by.

This is a great post and a great question...one that Apple should be proactive on, would be yet another great selling point to make people's lives better and simpler. For example, why not allow a one-time process where a library can be divided and selected songs moved into a new library for a new Apple ID. Obviously not fair to leave the same song in both...if parent and the kid both want a certain song, then another copy should be purchased. In any case, this is likely a seperate issue in some ways from being able to combine Apple IDs/accounts, but I think Apple would be smart to consider how this could be done.

How sstrange I cant se my posts about my Icloud/.me problems in the last two pages

this is what it says:

I was abusive? why cant I see the posts

EDIT: its gone back to normal...strange

THERE ARE NO VISIBLE MESSAGES IN THIS DISCUSSION. THIS CAN HAPPEN IF MESSAGES HAVE BEEN HIDDEN BY A MODERATOR, OR HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS ABUSIVE.

Apple Forever, I was hoping you'd come on this thread and see my original post on page 15 (yes, I do know about authorizing different computers - my question is much more complex than that), but now I can't see ANY OF THE POSTS. It says it was removed or moved. Just when you came along! Help?

I will post it again (it's really two different issues, merging and let's say "dividing"):

We started out with one Original iTunes Apple ID for the whole family. My oldest was then 8 or so. Now he's 19. A couple of years ago, wanting to pay for his own music, he made a Oldest Son Apple ID with his own credit card. (He also, like the rest of us, has a me.com email. We will use those for non-purchase related iCloud functions.) But now his music library is attached to two iTunes IDs, each with thouseands of songs, and his computer is authorized to play both. That never seemed like a big issue before. But as he upgrades to ios5 and iCloud, it's a conundrum. It would be great if he could merge those two accounts... (because, as I understand it, then everything is backed up together, and if he were to lose everything, he could get it back without waiting 90 days, twice, or 180 days, correct?)

So glad I found this thread. I have a related problem that branches into yet another related problem.

We started out with one Original iTunes Apple ID for the whole family. My oldest was then 8 or so. Now he's 19. A couple of years ago, wanting to pay for his own music, he made a Oldest Son Apple ID with his own credit card. (He also, like the rest of us, has a me.com email. We will use those for non-purchase related iCloud functions.) But now his music library is attached to two iTunes IDs, each with thouseands of songs, and his computer is authorized to play both. That never seemed like a big issue before. But as he upgrades to ios5 and iCloud, it's a conundrum. It would be great if he could merge those two accounts... (because, as I understand it, then everything is backed up together, and if he were to lose everything, he could get it back without waiting 90 days, correct?)

But... even if he COULD combine those two accounts...

Myself and my other son, now 15, STILL use the Original iTunes ID. Already looking ahead, I would like for him to one day also use his own credit card... which means he'll have to create Youngest Son Apple ID. And here we go again.

But surely even if Apple allows merging of two accounts, they will not ever allow songs from one account to split in half... or thirds... and each of those "married" to that person's mobile me account.

Do you see where I'm going?

Eventually kids grow up and, hopefully, PAY FOR THEIR OWN stuff. And that means a new Apple ID associated with a new credit card. My kids are first generation iTunes kids. But more and more people will have this issue. When I made a family account (and by the way, thankfully I have only purchased about 200 songs on that account. I might actually re-buy those just to be excised from my kids.)

Is there something I'm missing? Is this not another future problem that our family is obviously amongst the first to contend with?

I hope this makes sense.

Boysmom,

I am getting your messages. Discussion boards have been buggy the last few days. Sometimes it takes an hour or so before current posts show up on the thread. Looks like Apple is working on it as we speak.

I am pretty busy right now with a project, but I will read your original post again (this time in depth) a little later today and post my thoughts. Hope I can be helpful, but it does sound like you do indeed have a conundrum.

Until then.

Humm I dont know who you are but why would you think that silence is golden (I am not certain the problems reported on these threads are viewd by the right people) and why are you thanking people for their contribution are you Steve wozniac or Tim cook LOL come on... I would like to think it will be sorted fast but i also doubt it will be sorted before some major update and this will take quite some time. Its nothing major but its still annoying especially for .me paid users.

William M Moldrup wrote:

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.

boysmom wrote:

But surely even if Apple allows merging of two accounts, they will not ever allow songs from one account to split in half... or thirds... and each of those "married" to that person's mobile me account.

Do you see where I'm going?

Boysmom,

Okay, trying to get you a quick answer and I think I have a solution for you that just might work. Burn your purchased music onto a CD (200 songs is not too bad, maybe use a DVD to burn) which should remove the ID tags...this music can be played on anything. Then re-load the songs into your iTunes on your computer like it was a new CD. It should then be treated like a regular song that you did not purchase through iTunes and you will be able to use it in iTunes Match.

If the ID tag transfers, you might have to burn it in a different format like mp3 instead of AAC so I would do a test run with like 5 songs and see how that works.

Worth a try? I think so.

I'll ponder it more though today.

Hi everyone, I did raise this with Apple Support. Here's the official answer .................... wait for it!

Jason

*******************************************************

Hello Jason

This is Shawn from iTunes Store Support. I understand that you are frustrated because you cannot have the 90 counter reset and merge multiple IDs. I can certainly understand your concern in this matter and I am happy to assist.

Jason, I know the result that we gave you that this is probably the last thing you want to here when expecting a result. Here at Apple,we like to take the suggestions from our customers when we make changes that make our products better. As an iTunes customer myself, I encourage you to go to Apple's feedback link. You can use this link to make suggestions that you think would make our products better. What you want matters. Also, encourage your friends and family to go there and make the same suggestion if they agree. The more the merrier. For example, customers have begging for the ability to remove or hide purchases from their purchase history, and through the power of Apple feedback, we made it happen.

Please follow the link below. It will lead you directly to the Apple's feedback site. I have personally voiced my concern on Apple's feedback page, as well as directing my customers to the feedback page to ensure this is heard loud and clear. For your convenience, I've provided a link below to the feedback page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, and please know that your business is greatly appreciated to the iTunes Store. In addition, I want to inform you that this feedback page has contributed to the enhancement of various products and software offered through Apple. It has been more than a pleasure assisting you Jason. Please take care, and thank you for being the best part of the iTunes Store!

Thank you for a valued member of the iTunes Family

Sincerely,

Shawn

iTunes Stores/Mac App Store Customer Support

Please Note: I work Sat-Wed 8:30am-5pm

Your opinion matters. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide will help us serve you better

Yes, I only have 200 songs. No problem. I'll even repurchase some, if I have to.

The bigger problem: My older sons has 2000 song from an old ID and probably another 1500 from the new ID. That's the biggest issue.

And burning the songs means retyping all those artist names/tracks, no?

You won't have to repurchase them if you burn them to a CD and then re-load them to your iTunes via the CD. Then they won't be tied to your FAMILY ID. This way your youngest son can take the Family ID with all of the songs and you can start a new ID and still retain use of the 200 songs that are yours. Got it?

With respect to your older son, 2000 songs is too much to burn. So, he will still be able to manually sync with the USB cord as he has always done to his iDevices with all his songs. The question is if he doesnt have some songs on his device from a manual sync, he will only be able to get access to the purchased songs in the cloud from one ID at a time and that is where you get into possibly being quarantined for 90 days. To fix that, it brings us back to our original problem, which is that we need Apple to merge the IDs.

Sorry that you took offense and wonder who I am because I made a direct response to a specific individual [igmackenzie in Cornwall UK], who took no offense. And, yes, Apple personnel, including CEO Tim Cook are well aware of this issue and the problems underlying these postings. The "silence is golden" statement refers only to my comments, not to anyone else's. Thanks, in advance, for understanding.

That is the the longest written response containing NOTHING that I've ever seen...REALLY??

AND I mean the response to U from the apple guy...

Apple Forever, I am really hoping that Son 1 can somehow remove the DRM his first-ID purchased songs by burning them (or some other way), or I can foresee hassles down the line. (I don't see this as copyright infringement - we bought them for the family, and he has always had access to them.) And frankly, he shouldn't have to sync with a cable after iCloud, so that solution seems absurd and is "punishing" him for growing up and making his own ITunes account with his own credit card! Not having to sync with a cable is the whole point of iCloud, isn't it? Why give us a feature that only people with simple purchase histories can use?

Anyway, if Son1 can do that, then if merging is ever offered (however doubtful), but not "splitting" a library 2 or 3 ways (which is what we really need), Son 2 can merge the original family Apple ID with his mobile me ID, and I will also burn my 200 songs, freeing me from the original family ID as well.

So tell me, is there a way to burn them that retains the track number and artist/song info?

Also, still confused about whether the 90 thing affects Son1 if "automatic downloads" is turned off when he syncs wirelessly through the cloud. And there is a way to avoid turning it on on when migrating to iCloud on a new ios5 device. Your post where you told us all this wasn't really a big problem brought me hope.

to boysmom:

you can have up to FIVE accounts syncing quite happily through iTunes. However it can easily be higher; i had inadverently bought music as ME under 3 or 4 different email addresses!

yesterday i had ELEVEN accounts in my iTunes library, today i have FOUR.

regarding the idea of 200 songs ; you can move them to non DRM by ripping to CDs and re-importing to remove the account ID information.

if you have less than 6 accounts you should not have a problem other than authorizing all the computers within a year if you happen to lose track of which computers are authorized (easier to happen than you'd hope for; think upgrades/sold/stolen etc).

the question i don't know the answer to: does iCloud and iTunes match match to all authorized accounts or just the primary account? if it does all, (up to five) things should be gravy.

-awr