can i merge two accounts

SuzanneML wrote:

That is the same thing I did my boss decided to be on my work/personal email and so I have been changing everything to my gmail and well I cant access gmail and I cant fn figure out how to combine the two account with Apple.....

Your post makes no sense.

This topic as about iTunes accounts (used to make iTunes purchases) and you cannot combine iTunes accounts.

I don't need the owner of my hotel to see what I purchase,

Why would they see personal purchases you make? Do they also have acces to your bank account?

If you make personal purchases, use your personal iTunes accounts. Don't give this info to your boss (why would you?)

Chris in CA said: "... and you cannot combine iTunes accounts."

I think, aside from Suzanne's logic or lack of it, that combining two accounts is what this thread is about. This has to be the longest thread, time-wise, i have ever participated in. The fact that it is still running means people have a real concern for combining accounts. And look at how many threads there are, on the right side of this window, with an identical subject! This is really ******* people off.

There are a lot of reasons, changing email addresses are only one reason. I have music that i bought and paid for long ago under a long dead email address. Apple customers purchase in good faith that they will own the rights to listen to the music as long as they want. If Apple recognizes customer concerns they will keep their customers purchasing. If they dont, we will go elsewhere to purchase music. Good companies have "conversations" with patrons. Bad companies ignore them.

I understand the difficulty of tracking the "hotel" metaphor, but combining accounts is reasonable since one "owns" both addresses and both iTunes accounts. I would encourage you to not be dismissive of reasonable expectations.

tmcdanel wrote:

Chris in CA said: "... and you cannot combine iTunes accounts."

I think, aside from Suzanne's logic or lack of it, that combining two accounts is what this thread is about.

Okay. Still, it cannot be done (for whatever reasons).

There are a lot of reasons, changing email addresses are only one reason. I have music that i bought and paid for long ago under a long dead email address.

There's no need to create a new AppleID/iTunes account just because you get a new email address.

You can simply update the AppleID to a good address and continue to use it.

We have just bought a apple PC

The retailer is setting it up for us e.g loading software and DVD writer/ printer/apple TV on it etc

They said they would just make up a dummy apple ID and password to do this

Then when we get it home we can sign in with our normal apple Id & password and we will be able to sync it through ICloud and iTunes etc. to our existing iPad and iPhone with our normal apple Id and password

I have been reading the info on multiple apple IDs and now I am worried that our computer/iPad and iPhone won't sync now that they have set it up using a different apple ID and password

What is the story?

As has been stated repeatedly throughout this thread, the answer is "no" and that is that.

The iTunes ID should be regarded as being as important as your bank account information. You would not change or mess about with this and merging two bank account IDs is simply not permitted.

What many people do not realise is the value of the iTunes library and I'm afraid that the complainers in this thread are simply ignorant of the issues that their demands imply. Typically each music download is $0.99 or £0.75 per track; multiply this by the number of songs in your library and you get your music library value. Do the same for video, TV shows, books etc.

Now if you have several thousand song titles, your music library alone becomes worth several thousand dollars (pounds, etc). Let us now assume that you have two people using the same computer, but they have different tastes and equally large libraries. So far, so good - they are separate libraries and have been paid for accordingly.

Let us now assume that the user's computer is stolen. Thief now has access to the user's iTunes libraries and decides to claim that these IDs are actually theirs and not yours, but they, "... made a mistake in their iTunes setup ..." or other excuse. Would you want your library being stolen?

There are hundreds of variants to this scenario, but this gives you an idea of the issue that petulant demands for "merging IDs" has and why it is not always possible - or even desireable - to accede to such demands.

iTunes is an incredibly valuable personal asset in which you invest potentially thousands of pounds, dollars etc. When you view it in this way, perhaps you can see why you should be as careful with your ID as you would be with your bank account data. Changing your ID should not be done unless absolutely necessary and only then with the knowledge of the implications. Read the prompts, check that you are doing the right thing if you are being asked for new or existing information. As I keep saying to people, "Lack of reading instructions on your part does not constitute a need for changing operations on mine."

I hope this makes matters a little more clear.

I dont think it will be a problem. You signout of the dumby and signin to your own account and everything loads accordingly, unless there were promised benefits (free music or such) associated to the purchase. By the way, i would recommend using Lastpass.com so that your account information is always available, its handy because it avoids situations like what you described.

I would respectfully disagree with Landshark2007. The "value" of the information is not the determiner here. We do not "own" this music. With a bank account you can transfer the ownership of it's contents. You cannot merge bank accounts because you dont need to, you can transfer the money. For Landshark's logic to hold this would be the argued alternative.

There are verifiable ways to confirm identity, including bank account & credit card access. I believe the real logic is not as complex as Landshark describes. Rather i think it is marketing strategy to sell more music, at the same time reducing overhead by limiting customer service.

I am wondering if there are other music subscriptions that offer better customer service?

It may all be a moot point if this kind of "ownership" service disappears because of Pandora and such.

I had my account compromised a while ago and created a new account, why then can't I transfer my old purchases to that new account?

Think of it from the copyright point of view. If anyone could just transfer their purchases to another account, then there would be no reason for anyone to buy anything.

white_rabbit_origins wrote:

I had my account compromised a while ago and created a new account, why then can't I transfer my old purchases to that new account?

Because Apple does not allow transfer of purchases. This was noted in the first post.

Contact iTunes Support -> http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/

A good reason to want to merge accounts is if you move countries.

I am Australian and have an Australian Apple ID account, but now I live in Canada and would like to create a Canadian Apple ID, but I don't want to until I know what effect it is going to have on all the purchases I have made since creating my Australian Apple ID (approx. 5 years ago).

Does Apple understand that people move and travel alot today? Is there an explanation out there of how to manage moving countries within your Apple ID account, and what this means to all of your app's purchased? Could someone please direct me to this explanation?

I appreciate your comment Landshark2007, thank you.

I have one questions regarding your statement:

iTunes is an incredibly valuable personal asset in which you invest potentially thousands of pounds, dollars etc. When you view it in this way, perhaps you can see why you should be as careful with your ID as you would be with your bank account data. Changing your ID should not be done unless absolutely necessary and only then with the knowledge of the implications. Read the prompts, check that you are doing the right thing if you are being asked for new or existing information.

Would you say moving countries is when changing your ID is absolutely necessary?

If so, I think it is one scenario where it seems to be necessary, and I am trying to find information on the implications of doing so before doing it. Can you please direct me to where I might find such knowledge relevant to moving countries, accessing purchases and changing IDs (all linked together, not as separate concepts). That would be very helpful!

I really do not agree with you. True, the total worth of songs, video, apps etc is huge. But all have been paid with the same credit card. At least in my case.

It is not that hard to check what has been paid with the same credit card, is it? Banks can do that, regular stores can do that and so should Apple be able to do that.

If the same credit card is registered under two Apple ID's, it should be possible to transfer those purchases between the two.

I, too, have two Apple ID's. I made one to use this forum. I was happy as a clam, bought stuff for the iPod I owned at that time and nothing was wrong.

At a certain point in time, I was getting mails about Mobile Me. I signed up, thinking the two were the same, or rather, the Mobile Me was an extension of the other ID.

Now I have apps I bought for my iPod Touch in one ID, and apps I bought for my iPhone and iPad on the other. I am using those apps on all devices. I have to enter all sorts of things just to get all the updates, e.g. re-entering Apple ID's and corresponding passwords.

I learned to live with it, but this shouldn't be happening in the first place!

It's a licensing issue and has todo witt he legal necessities of digital assets and privacy. Some of this is not within Apple's control as it crosses over into Federal privacy laws.

Changes are likely to require legislation.

Sorry, but that's not true. At least not where I live: in The Netherlands.

If you buy something like apps or songs, you buy the right to use them. Basically, that's all the stuff is. This right is separate from the account they are linked to, it's your personal right.

Personally, I think it's just too much effort to merge accounts.