I have a friend who recently bought an iMac which I guess was older stock - it still had Snow Leopard. Sure, he gets a free upgrade but it requires an Apple ID. An Apple ID requires a credit card (lame!). He doesn't own a credit card. Taking it back isn't an option. So how does one upgrade without a credit card? He's pretty mad that he needs one for a "free" upgrade. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Only Thing I Can Think Of Is to borrow a card from a relative to create the account. You could explain to Apple and they MIGHT give him a free USB copy of Lion to install. It's worth a shot.
Yes Yes!! Doh......Buy vouchers from any supermarket / retail outlet and off you go Good information there......SO used to living on plastic
If I remember correctly, the Apple ID works across the app store and iTunes store. In that case, setup an account on iTunes store by downloading a free app or going o a US start bucks and getting the app or song of the week, no CC is needed since the app is free; then go to the App store and log in. I have not tried that but I have helped people setup iTunes accounts without a credit card; it's at least worth a try.
I found a couple articles on how to create apple IDs without a credit card, but that's for the app store. When you upgrade to Lion there's a separate stage beyond the apple ID creation which asks for your credit card so the free app technique will not work in this situation.
I Still Think You can do it with iTunes gift vouchers, unless Apple have changed things you should be able to create an account and then "Redeem" the vouchers. I may be wrong, but I will do some digging around. ---------- You can do it with iTunes gift vouchers, unless Apple have changed things you should be able to create an account and then "Redeem" the vouchers. I may be wrong, but I will do some digging around. It seems you can still do it: http://www.macworld.com/article/159068/2011/04/itunes_no_credit.html
Can't you use a pre-payed debit card like the ones you can get from AAA or a major bank and create an account with it?
Again, including all the other prepaid things there's the prepaid iTunes Gift Card, works like a charm. You can buy the $50 one or a combo of $20 and $15, or just $15x2 and you've got the basic Lion. Two $20s and you have Lion Server.
There is a workaround, but it can not be done with an existing Lion machine. Do you happen to have another Lion machine?