Best way to manage multiple iTunes accounts (from different countries)

[Monomeeth]

Hi Everyone

My wife and I have two iTunes accounts, one originally from the United States, the other originally from Australia. Over the years content has been purchased using both accounts.

We currently reside in Australia and we primarily view our content on an Apple TV. So far we’ve had no problems logging into either account and accessing all our content.

Now, I have a fear (perhaps an irrational one) that at some point Apple may cancel/restrict one of these accounts. Since there is no way for me to merge all our purchased digital content into the one digital library, we’re now wondering the best way to manage this?

We have an iMac and a MacBook Pro (not to mention iPhones and iPads), but we mainly only access our movie/tv content on the Apple TV and our music/podcasts on our iPhones.

We also only have one iTunes library file (stored on a portable hard drive to save space on our internal HDs and to allow for portability when travelling).

At present we use home sharing to share all of the Australian content (because there are a LOT of subscribed/saved podcasts on this account, while there isn’t any on the US account). This way we can access all podcasts/music/movies etc from Apple TV regardless of which account we’re logged into.

This seems to give us the best of both worlds - logging into the US account gives us access to all US digital purchases via the Apple TV main menu and all Australian digital purchases via Home Sharing.

However:

• Is this the best way for us to continue moving forward?
• Is it still safe to continue purchasing content on either account?
• Is there a better way for us to manage our situation?

Or am I worried about nothing and we can continue purchasing content on either account without fear of “losing” it later?

Besides rentals, for the past eight months we’ve been too scared to invest any more money on movies/TV shows out of a fear we won’t be able to continue accessing these in future if we remain in the one country.

Any advice would greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[2010mini]

Hi Everyone

My wife and I have two iTunes accounts, one originally from the United States, the other originally from Australia. Over the years content has been purchased using both accounts.

We currently reside in Australia and we primarily view our content on an Apple TV. So far we’ve had no problems logging into either account and accessing all our content.

Now, I have a fear (perhaps an irrational one) that at some point Apple may cancel/restrict one of these accounts. Since there is no way for me to merge all our purchased digital content into the one digital library, we’re now wondering the best way to manage this?

We have an iMac and a MacBook Pro (not to mention iPhones and iPads), but we mainly only access our movie/tv content on the Apple TV and our music/podcasts on our iPhones.

We also only have one iTunes library file (stored on a portable hard drive to save space on our internal HDs and to allow for portability when travelling).

At present we use home sharing to share all of the Australian content (because there are a LOT of subscribed/saved podcasts on this account, while there isn’t any on the US account). This way we can access all podcasts/music/movies etc from Apple TV regardless of which account we’re logged into.

This seems to give us the best of both worlds - logging into the US account gives us access to all US digital purchases via the Apple TV main menu and all Australian digital purchases via Home Sharing.

However:

• Is this the best way for us to continue moving forward?
• Is it still safe to continue purchasing content on either account?
• Is there a better way for us to manage our situation?

Or am I worried about nothing and we can continue purchasing content on either account without fear of “losing” it later?

Besides rentals, for the past eight months we’ve been too scared to invest any more money on movies/TV shows out of a fear we won’t be able to continue accessing these in future if we remain in the one country.

Any advice would greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

You just might be able to merge your accounts with the new family sharing plan in iOS 8.

https://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/family-sharing/

 

[Monomeeth]

You just might be able to merge your accounts with the new family sharing plan in iOS 8.

https://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/family-sharing/

Very interesting, that may solve half the problem. Now to try and find out whether we can continue to actively use both accounts if remaining in Australia.

Did call Apple to discuss, but I had to provide them with my details and wasn't comfortable doing that since it's just a general question.

Thanks for your help!

 

[2010mini]

Very interesting, that may solve half the problem. Now to try and find out whether we can continue to actively use both accounts if remaining in Australia.

Did call Apple to discuss, but I had to provide them with my details and wasn't comfortable doing that since it's just a general question.

Thanks for your help!

Apple asks because they want to verify you are who you say you are.

 

[macwatch]

Hi, we have exactly the same situation. What we do is consolidate all purchases/downloads/CD rips etc into a single iTunes library (a damaged iMac with 2Tb external drive) and have that as a central library for accessing from our ATVs. We don't make purchases from that library and it does not have Apps.

For purchases/syncing we have two MBPs, one for US and the other for AU. This prevents issues with associating a machine with each account once every 90 days. As you would know, purchasing is not the issue with the association, it is the downloading of previously purchased content. We use home sharing to copy content between the MBPs and the central library. This also means that the MBPs can be accessed by the ATVs if necessary.

We also do not rent movies through ATV, we had streaming issues early on and now simply download to an MBP and watch through ATV.

For syncing iPhones/Pads/Pods, we set up playlists on the MBPs and only sync the necessary content.

In the end, all devices contain and use content that has come from the US and AU stores, as well as other sources.

Hope this helps.

 

[charlituna]

You just might be able to merge your accounts with the new family sharing plan in iOS 8.

https://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/family-sharing/

Family sharing is NOT merging. Folks need to get that straight. You will not end up with one account, you will still have two.

And it might not work in this case as FS accounts are linked via having the same credit card number on all accounts and accounts generally have to have a card that bills to the country the account is linked to. One could try changing the card number but if a purchase is attempted it might fail if the card number and billing info doesn't match.

What we need is either for Apple to
Convince these studios etc to drop the borders and release things globally on first release. or
Create a way to validate multiple countries and cards on the same account. A Person can have dual citizenship, etc, why not an Apple account.

but i don't see the copyright holders playing along with either scheme

 

[twobelowpar]

My wife and I have purchased content and redeemed digital copies on both my Canadian account and her American account. I am longing for the day I can merge all content onto one.

 

[betman]

Very interesting, that may solve half the problem. Now to try and find out whether we can continue to actively use both accounts if remaining in Australia.

Did call Apple to discuss, but I had to provide them with my details and wasn't comfortable doing that since it's just a general question.

Thanks for your help!

There are no issues with having iTunes accounts from different countries, especially if you fund them using prepaid iTunes cards.

I have accounts from 3 different countries and access them all from the same computer, iphone, ipad, etc., just logging in and out each time. Overall they each serve a different purpose but there have never been any issues with any of them.

The only risk is with the prepaid cards - you need to make sure you purchase them yourself or from a credible source. If someone sells you a dodgy card then that can result in that particular iTunes account getting locked.

Other than that, you can use multiple iTunes accounts and have every right to do so. Btw, doesn't Apple TV allow you to switch seamlessly between them with just a few clicks?

P.S. My main concern with building up an extensive iTunes library is the possibility (or lack thereof) of passing on the collection to the next generation. With a physical library this isn't an issue, so I'm wondering how this would work with something like an iTunes account...

 

[qikaijile]

well,We use home sharing to copy content between the MBPs and the central library. This also means that the MBPs can be accessed by the ATVs if necessary.