merge two apple ids

There is no way to merge Apple IDs. Each user should have their own ID.

You can try setting up Family Sharing between the IDs if you want to be able to share purchases made with the IDs.

Family Sharing.   *

ASC YouTube for Family Sharing

Family Sharing - Set up.  *

And this is my *other* apple ID - tedious and annoying, because I can use either one now to buy apps, music, iTunes content etc but they don't share the rights, so one ID has all the subscriptions, the other doesn't, one can update apps, the other can't, the other ID controls access to iCloud, etc etc. Two half-overlapping accounts, need to be merged. But it can't be done, apparently.

Flippin nightmare.

Not really helpful for those of us who have had an Apple ID since 2008 or so and were FORCED to have a second ID by apple for iCloud alongside an ID for iTunes / Apps and would DESPERATELY like to merge them into one. I have to use two separate IDs to manage my single user (myself) and I'd really like to get that sorted out. Apple are really high-handed about how they manage users accounts.

P.S. Apple - your weird obsession with making a login ID be forced to be an email address is, frankly, pointless and annoying. By all means associate an email address with an account but why does it have to be the login? Why can't I use, oh, I don't know, my name? Or another login ID of my choice? Email addresses as login IDs are the work of the devil.

Any purchases on the account. Anything tied to the account; photos, podcasts, music, etc.

Yup. A lot of us have that set up.