Combine iTunes Store Accounts

[billchase2]

After purchasing my iPhone 3G S and syncing it with my current account, I keep running into issues where it will tell me my password is incorrect when accessing the App Store. To try and fix this, I decided to make an iTunes Store account using my Apple ID rather than my AOL ID (which I have been using).

A few questions have come up regarding this. First, since this is a different account, will I lose any purchases I made using my AOL ID? Also, I still have some credits left on my AOL ID account. Is there a way to transfer these to the Apple ID account?

Perhaps this idea will be too much trouble. If there are any other ideas for me, that'd be great too. Thanks!

 

[Emulsion]

I am wondering the same also. I am in the exact situation as you. I have an old aol account that I don't use anymore. And since updating to 3.0 it seems to be giving me trouble. I just want to do the same and get everything updated and in one place.

 

[JediMeister]

You will not lose the purchases, however you will still have to remember the password for the account to authorize any purchases that have not yet been upgraded to iTunes Plus. The remaining credit cannot be transferred to my knowledge, but you may contact iTunes Store Support via email to see what they can do.

 

[dmb8021]

I too am having problems with my aol account. I am trying to update apps, but keep getting an error message that my aol account could not be found or my password is wrong.

 

[mathcolo]

I just happened to notice this on the 3.0 upgrade page for iPod touch in the iTunes Store. I don't know if it's relevant or not but it could mean you'll have no problem using multiple accounts.

 

[billchase2]

I contacted support but haven't heard back yet. I'll be sure to post an update when I do.

I'd really like to just get everything on to my new Apple Store account, so hopefully this will work out. They should just get rid of the AOL accounts altogether since they're so faulty.

 

[billchase2]

Just received this:

"Unfortunately it is not possible to join two or more iTunes Store accounts together, and it is not possible to transfer those previous purchases over to a new account. However, you can play the titles you purchase with two or more accounts if you authorize each computer on which you want to play those titles for each account. Also, you will not lose your purchases from your account.

You may download titles that you purchase from the iTunes Store one time only. All titles are marked with the account name that was used to purchase them. You may then authorize up to four other computers to play purchases made with that account. (You just can't authorize other accounts to play those purchases.)"

So does this mean I'm out of luck? I'm not worried about music, I just want to make sure the apps I've purchased still stay on my iPhone/iTunes. If needed, I can just use up the credit I have on my old account and then use the new account from now on. Thoughts?


UPDATE: I just switched the account via iTunes and synced. Upon loading the App Store on my iPhone, I found that installing new apps now works great with the new account. However, any previous apps I've downloaded that have updates, are still linked to my old AIM account, which means they are giving me issues. Deleting then reinstalling them with the new account seems to do the trick. The only issues I think I'll have are updating paid apps...