iTunes & App sharing

Question

Level 1

10 points

iTunes & App sharing

I have bought multiple Apple products for our family over the years and would like to separate one of the iPods for my son to use exclusively. Of course all songs and apps are all under one account. We'd like to get him his own Apple ID so he can use FaceTime but then my understanding is that he wouldn't be able to access his current collection of songs and apps in our family computer. Also, we don't want to just move the songs/apps to his account as others in the family would like access to them too. Is there any way to make this work?!?

In summary, can two (or more) Apple IDs share music and apps? Can they share them from an external harddrive? And finally, will iCloud clear this up?

Thanks for your help.

Posted on Oct 3, 2011 11:32 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 5, 2011 9:00 AM in response to Meg826

I too am very interested in this. In particular how it will be affected or managed by the new iCloud. My wife and I share an itunes account so that we don't have to pay for apps and songs twice. However it means we can't sync calendars or contacts at this time since it messes up our personal lists. I hope there is an improvement to this and any and all advice is welcome!

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Answer 2

Oct 6, 2011 9:04 AM in response to Meg826

I am also interested in this as my daughter and i have a collection of 5 Apple devices between us and we would like to not have wasted any of our investment and lose access to apps, music and movies already paid for. Is there a simple answer? really appreciate some thoughts

Thanks

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Answer 3

Rangeley

Level 1

9 points

Nov 20, 2011 7:47 PM in response to Meg826

I think the answer is yes. These posts provides some guidance:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3398932?answerId=16466407022#16466407022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3374762?answerId=16397743022#16397743022

The key is multiple apple ID's -- one shared one for the iTunes Store (Settings -> Store), find my iPad, etc.; and another individual one (per device or per person) for facetime, mail, etc. (Settings -> Mail... -> Accounts).

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Answer 4

ckuan

Level 10

120,926 points

Nov 20, 2011 11:43 PM in response to Meg826

Remember different Apple ID cannot share apps, books and music which means you have to buy the same thing for every devices that wants it.

To make it works all devices' iTunes Store and App Store should have the same Apple ID (for purchased sharing, buy it only once) in a family for books, apps and music.

One of you should be in-charge (can also use the same Apple ID for every other things e.g. e-mail, FaceTime, iMessage etc...).

The rest of the family should have their own valid e-mail addresses (will be use to apply for a separate Apple ID) for iCloud (each will get 5GB free), e-mail, FaceTime, iMessage etc.

Apple ID FAQ

http://support.apple.com/kb/HE37

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