Apple Not Offering Apple ID Merging

pulp88 said:

And... Did it work?

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I very much doubt it will work.
We have not been able to edit MobileMe accounts like Aliases since June.
I tried - no banana.

So, what I did is used the AppleID that has the most purchased music attached to it (and is the one I am most commonly on the iTunes store) and used that for iCloud.
When you are setting up iCloud on your Mac you can set up the free synced iCloud email account and I will start using that from now on. The contacts and calendars will sync to the new account anyway, so no probs there and I mostly used Flickr and Facebook for photos - so Gallery wasn't a big loss for me.

Only problem is the MobileMe mail, which I have a lot of. I will keep using it until they turn it off as it still syncs fine, but I hope Apple will do something great with it.. as in merge the accounts!!

re: solution for converting music

Yeah... for people like him who own a lot of music, burning all of it to CDRs isn't necessarily real practical. Your computer guy is correct too... When you burn the music onto music CDs, you lose all the ID tag info that was on the digital versions, so you'll get stuck re-entering the artists/song names manually after re-importing.

I haven't tried this program yet, but it looks like a promising tool to make the process a lot easier:

http://mac.tuneclone.com/index.php

Basically, it looks like it creates a virtual CDR disc in the computer's memory and automates the process of ripping tracks to it and then back to MP3 files (preserving the ID tag info in the process).

boymom75 said:

Thanks for the solution, although that son is a musician now, so you can't even fathom the amount of burning. And won't he lose all the names of songs and artitsts (my computer guy told me this would happen)? And have to manually enter each and every one in again? Also, is there a way to see which songs were purchased with the first ID and just burn those? (He's a musician and has more music than anyone on the planet.)

Click to expand...

oh well

Apple fail. This is infuriating.

For what it's worth, I was on the phone with Apple Support tonight regarding a MobileMe issue, and I asked the advisor if there was a way to merge my Apple IDs. I have an older gmail account with 200+ iTunes purchases on it that I'd like to be able to access under my current @me Apple ID. The advisor told me to email iTunes support and that if I was persistent enough, sometimes they would port over previous purchases to a new Apple ID. Has anyone ever heard of this before? I had emailed iTunes support earlier in the week about merging Apple IDs (I figured the more they hear from frustrated users, the more likely they are to change the current policy). Of course, I was told I can't merge Apple IDs. So I sent a follow up email tonight, so we'll see what they say.

Firstly, it is poor security because half your credentials are your email address rather than a (random user defined) ID. Second, it is easier to maintain a single, consistent ID than trying to remember what email address for which it was registered. Third, as many have already pointed out, is the current fragmented nature of Apple's various services and ID that has created this mess. A non-email based ID could be used to link all the various accounts under a single account name.

manu chao said:

I have signed into iCloud with one Apple ID, have my iPad backup to iCloud but still have apps bought with a different Apple ID available on it. What am I doing differently from you?

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"Can I change the name of my Apple ID?

Yes. For example, if you get a new email address, you can change your Apple ID from your old address to your new address. For more information, follow the steps in this article. 
"
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895

Or is your beef that you want to keep the 'name' of your Apple ID but change the associated e-mail address? And what would be the value of keeping the 'name'? Why does it matter to you what 'name' your Apple ID has?

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Apple Will Solve Apple ID Merge Issue

This issue shows that Apple's mantra of "It Just Works" is often times complete BS.

Apple will have to solve this issue eventually for one simple reason... it's killing iTune sales. Tens of thousands of mobileme users are abandoning their iTunes purchases as they figure out that the albums they're about to complete are getting charged for the full album price rather than the completion price due to songs they purchased with a different apple ID.

My firm tracks p2p downloads (song theft); reformed Napster addicts are reverting to their old ways thanks to Apple's incompetence.

Petition

It appears as though there has been no traction on this issue.

Maybe this petition will help move things forward.

Mountain Lion

Tim Cook said Apple were "working on it".

I, personally, am still annoyed at having to juggle between two iTunes accounts.

Get it done!

Just wondering is it possible to combine Apple IDs yet ?

When using iPad, I created an ID for my son that can only download free stuff....

When iPad2 was out, I think he can handle some paid stuff, so I got him a "pre-paid" credit card and another apple ID.

Now iPad3 is out, can "we" combine all out IDs and use onto the new iPad so that we can donate the old iPads ?

zadrian said:

Just wondering is it possible to combine Apple IDs yet ?

When using iPad, I created an ID for my son that can only download free stuff....

When iPad2 was out, I think he can handle some paid stuff, so I got him a "pre-paid" credit card and another apple ID.

Now iPad3 is out, can "we" combine all out IDs and use onto the new iPad so that we can donate the old iPads ?

Click to expand...

It's still not possible to combine Apple IDs.

It's so annoying. We are in june, iOS 5 came out in october and we still don't have a way to fix this issue to merge 2 accounts.

Didn't Cook say that they are working on it many months ago..?

ya, they really need to offer this option...

Doctor Q said:

Maybe they've been working on it but have gotten lazy because they didn't have a deadline.

Apple: You have until June 30 to implement this feature!

Let's see if that helps.

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Why did you wait this long.... you could have saved us all a lot of pain!

When I first got into the iTunes ecosystem (2008), I created an Apple ID with my @gmail.com address. This hosts all my iTunes purchases from before 2012, and 95% of the apps I have bought for my iPhone, because we didn't have iCloud in Feb. 2011.

Then, when iOS 5 shipped last fall, I made an iCloud account, I ditched Gmail for my email, and moved all my email over to iCloud. Now, all the new apps and iTunes content I buy, is stored on my @me.com address! Whenever I download stuff, I have to bounce back and forth between two accounts!

This is repetitive, Apple! We pre-iCloud users want to take our pre-iCloud iTunes accounts with a Gmail address, an AOL address, an ISP address, whatever you have, and MERGE it with our iCloud account, so we can access the purchased content that is stored on BOTH Apple ID's, by just logging into our iCloud accounts.

This is crazy!

The perfect setup for Apple IDs

I do understand everybody’s frustrations and I am sympathetic to the situation people are in. Obviously, once you have made multiple purchases on multiple Apple IDs then it is to late, but if you understand the Apple ID system then it works out quite well. It is a little complicated and not the typical simple Apple way but what DRM is easy?

The way I have my Apple IDs setup is that when the iTunes store first opened I did not have a mobileme account so I used my old yahoo email as my Apple ID for song purchases. As Apple diversified, I continued to use my Yahoo email address Apple ID for song, movie, book and app purchases. My wife and I shared this Apple ID for all our iTunes purchases and Apple store purchases.

The iPhone 3G was released and both my wife and I purchased the phone and decided that moblieme syncing was worth the value to us. We purchased the family mobileme plan and used our new me.com addresses to sync our private data. My wife’s me.com email, contacts, bookmarks and calendars sync’d from her Macbook’s user account and my me.com email, contacts, bookmarks and calendars sync’d from my Mac mini. We kept my old yahoo email for purchases, which worked perfectly. This way our private data did not mix, but we could share our purchases. Then when icloud came out we moved our moblieme accounts to icloud and continued to have my old yahoo account for purchases. (I don’t know if people know that you can have two Apple IDs use on the same iPhone at once, one for purchases and one for iCloud.)

This solution allows individuals to have their own personal data (I don’t want to see my wife’s contacts, calendars and imessages) but still be able to share purchases with the family. I think where apple messed up is that everything is called an Apple ID. Apple should have created an icloud ID for personal data and then an Apple ID only good for purchases. You then use the iCloud ID for personal data syncing and the Apple ID for iTunes, Mac App store, iBooks, etc.

If properly thought out in advance, Apple’s current method works but could be much more elegant. I do believe that apple needs to find away in this new digital age to be able to combine and separate purchases. What happens when a couple gets a divorce or kids move out? In the old days they could just split the movies or CDs, now they have to repurchase them. Also when you get married or start a relationship with a person you should be able to combine the purchases. The hard part is that it isn’t just Apple that hasn’t figured this out, its all digital purchases with DRM. I’m no expert, but I’m will to bet that part of the hold up with combining Apple ID purchases has to do with content owners. What’s to say that you don’t purchase a movie on iTunes and then combine yours and a friend’s Apple ID so they can watch the movie and then after they are done watching the movie you then separate the purchase back on to your Apple ID.

Messy

rneglia said:

Tim Cook said Apple were "working on it".

I, personally, am still annoyed at having to juggle between two iTunes accounts.

Get it done!

Click to expand...

Yeah, when I got a 4S it would only accept a full email address as an Apple ID so I thought it was a replacement ID. Now, after years of using my Apple ID it's a mess to have two (there are purchases associated with both.)

Imagine if you could merge Apple IDs.. And someone got your password.. They'd be able to merge your account with theirs, and just like that, all of your digital purchases have been stolen. It would no longer be as simple as getting your password changed back. It may even be impossible.

Seems like using a couple different apple IDs/passwords may be a small inconvenience.. But a much safer way to go about things.

justinmancini said:

Imagine if you could merge Apple IDs.. And someone got your password.. They'd be able to merge your account with theirs, and just like that, all of your digital purchases have been stolen. It would no longer be as simple as getting your password changed back. It may even be impossible.

Seems like using a couple different apple IDs/passwords may be a small inconvenience.. But a much safer way to go about things.

Click to expand...

Wow, talk about doomsday warning! There are ways to implement something like this and still avoid all of that, you know? Like the very common "code" sent to a phone/email, etc… Oh, and how about a backend system where if a customer called reporting a stolen account, they would be able to simply reverse the merger and reset your password?

Seriously: either you have no idea how systems like these can/should work OR you're a paranoid security engineer, of those who think that "average joe" is a target for account theft…

levifig said:

Wow, talk about doomsday warning! There are ways to implement something like this and still avoid all of that, you know? Like the very common "code" sent to a phone/email, etc… Oh, and how about a backend system where if a customer called reporting a stolen account, they would be able to simply reverse the merger and reset your password?

Seriously: either you have no idea how systems like these can/should work OR you're a paranoid security engineer, of those who think that "average joe" is a target for account theft…

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I'm not even going to bother arguing any other points here.

iTunes purchases are non-transferrable. An account merge would have to transfer purchases. Apple isn't allowed to offer this under their various contracts with record labels and the like.

I'm not a security engineer. I understand how people would like the systems to work, but I also understand how they currently do work.

I think they don't allow this probably for security concerns. If someone hacks your iCloud ID which is probably less secured than Apple Id which does not carry any footprint of Apple associated domains.

That's my reasoning though it is annoying to have multiple accounts!

Remember people having common ids sharing Facebook account with any other systems(Bank or Credit card) were getting hacked.

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justinmancini said:

Imagine if you could merge Apple IDs.. And someone got your password.. They'd be able to merge your account with theirs, and just like that, all of your digital purchases have been stolen. It would no longer be as simple as getting your password changed back. It may even be impossible.

Seems like using a couple different apple IDs/passwords may be a small inconvenience.. But a much safer way to go about things.

Click to expand...

I tend to agree. This is exactly why we need to have multiple IDs.

Ramchi said:

I think they don't allow this probably for security concerns. If someone hacks your iCloud ID which is probably less secured than Apple Id which does not carry any footprint of Apple associated domains.

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Except for people newly signing up, their iCloud account is their AppleID.

Some people would like to combine them, as they've had iTunes under one email address, and want to consolidate now with iCloud. I know I goofed up and started purchasing apps on the Mac App Store with my (then) MobileMe account instead of my other-email-associated iTunes-linked AppleID. So now I've got Mac apps purchased on one AppleID, and iOS apps, movies, etc, purchased with a second AppleID. (Heck, when setting up a new iPod touch for my kid, I accidentally bought one iOS app on my MobileMe account instead of the AppleID every other iTunes purchase used.

It has nothing to do with "security concerns" since there is the same security between iCloud accounts and non-iCloud AppleIDs.

Merging iCloud Mail and Mac Mail folders

Is this possible? Is Apple working on it? My Mail is a mess.

Getting your account hacked is a problem regardless of whether account merging is possible or not and I think that needs to be addressed & dealt with and not merely an excuse for why better handling of accounts for users isn't possible. I'd personally just prefer either to merge my 2 itunes accounts or at least transfer content from 1 account into another.