I have an Apple ID using a third party email address for my iTunes and an Apple ID using my MAC.com for everything else. I want to get rid of the third party Apple ID email address for iTunes and change it to my MAC.com email Apple ID AND make sure my iTunes music, apps and movies I've purchased over the years follows with it. I'm told I can't do this but that doesn't feel correct. How or can I do this?
Your @mac.com email nowadays is nothing more than an alias to your @icloud.com address (see iCloud: About your @icloud.com, @me.com, and @mac.com email addresses - Apple Support), so none of @icloud.com, @mac.com nor @me.com addresses can be used to replace the primary email address on an AppleID created with a third party email address. That is simply not possible.
So yes it is true, you cannot transfer the purchases made with the third party email address AppleID to the icloud address (nor its @mac.com or @me.com aliases). You would either have to re-purchase everything using the mac.com AppleID, or keep using both as you do now.
You can ask the same question as many times as you wish, but the answer will not change. Like it or not, the reality is you cannot transfer purchased content between AppleIDs. And you cannot use an existing AppleID address (@icloud.com and its aliases @mac.com and @me.com) as the primary email address with any third party email address AppleID.
Your @mac.com email nowadays is nothing more than an alias to your @icloud.com address (see iCloud: About your @icloud.com, @me.com, and @mac.com email addresses - Apple Support), so none of @icloud.com, @mac.com nor @me.com addresses can be used to replace the primary email address on an AppleID created with a third party email address. That is simply not possible.
So yes it is true, you cannot transfer the purchases made with the third party email address AppleID to the icloud address (nor its @mac.com or @me.com aliases). You would either have to re-purchase everything using the mac.com AppleID, or keep using both as you do now.
You can ask the same question as many times as you wish, but the answer will not change. Like it or not, the reality is you cannot transfer purchased content between AppleIDs. And you cannot use an existing AppleID address (@icloud.com and its aliases @mac.com and @me.com) as the primary email address with any third party email address AppleID.
Okay, I’ll tell you the same thing again.
You were told correctly.
You cannot transfer purchases from one Apple ID to another.
You can potentially use family sharing, and share the purchases.
But you’ll have to re-acquire everything you want to keep, if you want to transfer to another Apple ID.
Why did I use “re-acquire”? Not everything that might be associated with an Apple ID was necessarily purchased. Some apps and some downloads are free. You must re-acquire what you want to keep, if you wish to transition to a different Apple ID,.
You can transition the email addresses with the Apple ID, if this is your own Apple ID:
https://appletoolbox.com/lost-access-to-your-apple-id-email-you-can-still-change-it/
https://www.howtogeek.com/408142/how-to-change-your-apple-id-email-address/
etc.
Thanks Mr. Hoffman. "Re-acquire" means re-purchase I assume? Also, I've read that I can change the Apple ID for iTunes (say when I'm no longer associated with the third party email address) but just can't use my MAC.com address that is being as an Apple ID for everything else. Is that correct as well?
Thanks Michael Black. Gads. How frustrating is that?
Third party email address Apple ID for my iTunes - mac.com address for everything else
