How to convert my aol account to an existing apple id account?

What do you mean by 'converting it to an existing Apple id' ? You should be able to convert it into an Apple Id so that the AOL login id is removed, but you can't merge it with an existing account (iTunes accounts can't be merged or combined). To change the AOL account : Convert your AOL Username to an Apple ID - Apple Support

To convert your AOL Username to an Apple ID, sign in to iTunes on a Mac or PC with your AOL Username. Then follow the on-screen instructions.

Your new Apple ID will maintain your access to the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store, as well as all of the content you bought using your AOL Username. You can also use your Apple ID with iCloud and other Apple services.

So you should be able to change it by logging into the account via the Store > View Account menu option on your computer's iTunes

You can't merge accounts, you will have to create a new account as part of the conversion

All I can say is….

Gee, thanks Apple…I now have to create yet another email account because your programmers don't want to give us a pathway to merge accounts.

I though the whole point was to be able to give the end user and seamless experience.

Apple must be recruiting to many folks from the Redmond area and bringing the Windows mentality with them.

This actually appears to be a legit Apple emailing. I have family members who have received the same and have been researching it for them.

I believe this goes waaaay way back to earlier days of the iTunes rollout when, if memory serves, an authentic AOL Username could be used as an Apple ID. Since then, it has become common (required?) that an Apple ID is an authentic "email address". The difference between a Username and an email address being the "@aol.com" designator.

It appears that Apple (and AOL) are requiring anyone that has or had an iTunes account using an AOL "Username only" Apple ID (without the @aol.com email designator) to update their Apple ID. I believe it to be as simple as designating an authentic "email address" as your new Apple ID.

If you already use an email address as your Apple ID, i.e. user-name@aol.com, then I believe there is nothing further you need to do.

If I am incorrect here, I'm sure someone will speak up and let us know.

I hope this is helpful.

d.i.

more info here... Convert your AOL Username to an Apple ID - Apple Support

THANK YOU!! This makes complete sense to me.

It makes sense, but it is not the whole story. Back in the early iTunes days, an apple id was limited to users of the Mac OS. An AOL username was required for the Windows version of iTunes. Once apple ids were available beyond the Mac OS world, many of us tried to do what apple is now requiring; that is, to convert our AOL usernames (username) to an apple id (username@aol.com). It didn't work then and a lot of people, myself included, ended up with two iTunes accounts with purchases spread out between the apple id (ironically my AOL email address) and AOL username.

Fast forward to today, and I am not able to change username to username@aol.combecause I already have an apple id using that email address (not that I ever wanted two accounts). I had to create another e-mail address, username@outlook.com, to park my second account as the AOL username no longer works with iTunes or the App Store on my iPad and iPhone. Why, you might ask? Because apple won't let you transfer your AOL username to an email address that has ever been an apple id rescue email!

Thanks for nothing apple, you've made this process as hard as you possibly could.

Thanks for the addition of your case as study.

I agree that Apple has dropped the ball when it comes to giving us users the ability to merge multiple iTunes accounts. It makes no sense to me why this cannot - or simply is not allowed to be - done.

I cannot guess how many users have experienced this problem, but I imagine the number is substantial. As a father of three, managing the various accounts for our household over the years has been a challenge. 😟

And it's hard to stress to other friends and family how important it is to keep track of Apple IDs and passwords to minimize this sort of thing, let alone all the other IDs and passwords for everything else we all need to access.

Have I mentioned I hate computers? 😉

The challenge is that if you ever created an Apple ID ending in @aol.com separate from your AOL Username, there's no way to merge the two. Essentially when an Apple ID is signed into the iTunes Store, a space in the iTunes Store cloud is created for you. There's no mechanism to resolve how the store would handle duplicate purchases and the combining of the cloud's worth of purchases into one.

You may actually have two Apple IDs that have been or are currently used with the iTunes Store: one may end in @aol.com and the other may just be an old school AOL screen name (no @aol.com at the end).

The email from Apple is referring to the old school screen name type. If you only use the one that ends in @aol.com, that one won't be affected by this phase out. You'll still be able to sign in with it after March 31st. The AOL screen name one is the one that needs to be converted though.

You might have purchases on both iTunes Store accounts unfortunately. So you'll need to go to a Mac or PC with iTunes and sign out of the @aol.com account and sign in with the AOL screen name account to convert that one.

The dumb thing is that you won't be able to rename the old AOL screen name one to something at @aol.com because that's already an iTunes Store account you're using! So you'll need to convert it into something like @gmail.com or @icloud.com. Stupid, I know.

Evan, you seem to know a lot about this, I'm hoping you have some advice for me. When I follow the instructions and try to convert my 'AOL screen-name' account to a new 'AppleID' account using a new, different email address, it won't let me do it. When I open the page to convert, it has entered my AOL screename followed by @aol.com in the email box as the default 'example'. But when I overtype it to a new, unused email address (it does permit me to overtype it), and enter new passwords, it reverts the email address back to the AOL email address (which I have already reused previously as an AppleID, as others have done), and tells me I can't use that one because it already exists as an AppleID. But, it will never permit me to enter a new one! Help!