I have my own Apple ID and account. My son shared his portfolio of iTunes purchases with me. Now I can't purchase music on my own account. How do I purchase using my own account without disabling the family sharing he instituted?

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I have my own Apple ID and account. My son shared his portfolio of iTunes purchases with me. Now I can't purchase music on my own account. How do I purchase using my own account without disabling the family sharing he instituted?

I have my own Apple ID and account. My son shared his portfolio of iTunes purchases with me. Now I can't purchase music on my own account. How do I purchase using my own account without disabling the family sharing he instituted? When I try to purchase an album of music, I am asked for his security code and if I had it, I would be using his credit card, not my own.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Dec 1, 2015 11:32 AM

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Answer 1

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King_Penguin

Level 10

334,144 points

Dec 1, 2015 3:17 PM in response to ptknight

Whilst you are using family sharing (and aren't the organiser) you can't use your own credit card - you can use your account's balance if you have one, if you don't then the family organiser's card will be used for your purchases : Family purchases and payments - Apple Support

After you set up your family, any time a family member initiates a new purchase it will be billed directly to your account, unless that family member has gift or store credit. First, their store credit will be used to pay the partial or total bill. The remainder will bill to the family organizer's card. As the family organizer, any receipts generated by the transaction will be sent to you.

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Answer 2

ptknight Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 1, 2015 3:22 PM in response to King_Penguin

My problem is not solved.

I have access to my previously purchased music and my son's large library.

But I cannot buy anything in the iTunes store without asking my son's permission and having his credit card billed. And I live much of the year in Brazil. So what do I do?

Do I have to somehow purchase store credit and in effect make a loan to Apple that I then draw down when I make a purchase?

Seems to me I should be able to buy music of my own to add to my collection -- and ideally that would be available to other family members. Surely Apple, with all its creativity and user friendliness can come up with a solution. I read all I could on the site and found no answer.

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Answer 3

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,144 points

Dec 2, 2015 4:44 AM in response to ptknight

Whilst you remain in family sharing and your son is the family organiser you can't use a credit card on your account for your purchases - with family sharing the organiser takes responsibility for purchases. You can either use gift cards (if they are available in your country) to put a balance on your account, use the card on your son's account and reimburse him, or leave family sharing.

You say that 'live much of the year in Brazil'. Whilst in Brazil you can only use the Brazilian iTunes store, when you are in a different country you can only use that country's store.

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Answer 4

ptknight Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2015 4:46 AM in response to King_Penguin

Thanks, King_Penguin. I guess so. It was wonderful for him to share with me, but he didn't even ask me about this. In any case we'll work it out. But now when i try to access his purchased items, all I get is a spinning pinwheel and have to force iTunes to quit. How do I handle this?

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Answer 5

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,144 points

Dec 2, 2015 6:06 AM in response to ptknight

There aren't any updates available for your iTunes ? I'm not an expert on diagnosing/fixing problems with iTunes itself, you may be better off asking in the iTunes For Mac forum on here : iTunes for Mac.

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Answer 6

ptknight Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2015 6:19 AM in response to King_Penguin

I finally got what I wanted after a few more tries. Perhaps because his library is so large, it takes a long time to load even over a FTTH connection. Turns out my prolific collector son already had exactly what I wanted to buy! So I downloaded and will now listen! Thanks again.

Peter

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