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iCloud: Handling different MobileMe and iTunes Accounts
- Thread starter swiftaw
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I get:
"This domain name is reserved for MobileMe accounts."
You can't even add it as an alternate email as it said "Email address is already verified for another Apple ID".
If you can tell us how you closed the AppleID for your MobileMe that would help.
"This domain name is reserved for MobileMe accounts."
You can't even add it as an alternate email as it said "Email address is already verified for another Apple ID".
If you can tell us how you closed the AppleID for your MobileMe that would help.
I never did "close" it - I never set up an Apple ID for my MobileMe - everyone says it is automatically an Apple ID, which would make sense but I had zero problems whatsoever.
I registered my @me.com account and as soon as it had registered, went to the Apple ID site and changed my e-mail address before even logging in to anything else. Like I said, it went straight through with no errors or anything!
Although you could try this: login to the Apple ID site with your @me.com address. Change your e-mail address for your @me.com Apple ID to any other address you own that isn't already an Apple ID - make up a new one if you have to. So, login and change your e-mail from @me.com to a @yahoo.com or a @gmail.com one or something for that one Apple ID. Verify that e-mail address.
Your @me.com address should no longer be attached to an Apple ID, so should be 'free' to attach. So try changing your non @me.com Apple ID to your @me.com e-mail address now and see if it works.
Wait... When you make an iCloud account, will it force you to make a NEW Apple ID? I already have an Apple ID with all my purchases. I want to have the Apple ID be connected to the iCloud account. I'm probably missing something here, so if someone could explain that would be great 
When you log in with your @me.com it does not give you an option to change your Apple ID. No Edit to click.
Well damn, that sucks.
I can't understand why I was able to -- and still can -- change my e-mail address freely from @msn.com, to @me.com, to @gmail.com, and then I just tested again and back to @me.com Not a single error came up any of the times, only thing I had to do was click a verification link each time.
Really weird.
Although let's try and be kinda clever about it: if you are unable to change your Apple ID to your @me.com address:
I'm asking this, because as I said, I can switch to-and-from freely. My iTunes ID is about 4 years old (maybe 5) but I only registered my @me.com address in February of this year - maybe this makes a difference? Also, I have never tried logging in to anything with my @me.com address before I switched my Apple ID over. It was the first thing I did before relogging in to iTunes and app store, etc.
I'm sorry for getting people's hopes up, but it is worth a try - maybe this will work for newer accounts? Like I said, my MobileMe account was only set up in February and seems to be able to be linked to any old Apple ID.
I can't understand why I was able to -- and still can -- change my e-mail address freely from @msn.com, to @me.com, to @gmail.com, and then I just tested again and back to @me.com
Not a single error came up any of the times, only thing I had to do was click a verification link each time.Really weird.
Although let's try and be kinda clever about it: if you are unable to change your Apple ID to your @me.com address:
- How old is your MobileMe account?
- How old is your Apple ID you're trying to change?
- Have you ever tried logging in to iTunes, the app store or any other things that use your Apple ID, with your @me.com address before?
I'm asking this, because as I said, I can switch to-and-from freely. My iTunes ID is about 4 years old (maybe 5) but I only registered my @me.com address in February of this year - maybe this makes a difference? Also, I have never tried logging in to anything with my @me.com address before I switched my Apple ID over. It was the first thing I did before relogging in to iTunes and app store, etc.
I'm sorry for getting people's hopes up, but it is worth a try - maybe this will work for newer accounts? Like I said, my MobileMe account was only set up in February and seems to be able to be linked to any old Apple ID.
MobileMe is about 9 months old.
iTunes account is about 4 years old.
Never used my MobileMe account for anything but the me.com website and my iPhone. Never used it with any of the Apple stores.
I get the errors.
iTunes account is about 4 years old.
Never used my MobileMe account for anything but the me.com website and my iPhone. Never used it with any of the Apple stores.
I get the errors.
It will not work.
This is the page I get to change account settings for the AppleID that was automatically created when I got a .Mac account. Note to the right of the AppleID there is no "edit" selection available.
For discussion let's just say this is jsmith@mac.com
This second screen cap is the same page for the AppleID associated with all my iTunes purchases. Note it does have the "edit" selection available beside the AppleID. Let's call this AppleID plain "jsmith." If I click to edit the AppleID and change it from jsmith to jsmith@mac.com it predictably says I can't use jsmith@mac.com because that ID is in use on another AppleID account.
As you can see there is no way to free up jsmith@mac.com so I can use it on the AppleID associated with all my iTunes purchases.
With the current iOS / MobileMe setup this is only inconvenient, but not a problem. With iCloud it looks like a problem.
Apple needs to figure out a way to fix this.
just looked at this thread an it doesn't seem to be resolved
on live chat with Apple now
the official comment:-
I can understand how you would like to do that. But AppleID's are not able to be merged.
when I asked how will I be able to use icloud I was answered with:-
That info will be released to you when iCloud is officially released. We would not have any info regarding that until it get's closer to that time.
when I asked is it worth changing my itunes account to my mobileme email address I was told:-
I would suggest to leave everything as it is.
You will get to keep both email addresses and purchase history.
on live chat with Apple now
the official comment:-
I can understand how you would like to do that. But AppleID's are not able to be merged.
when I asked how will I be able to use icloud I was answered with:-
That info will be released to you when iCloud is officially released. We would not have any info regarding that until it get's closer to that time.
when I asked is it worth changing my itunes account to my mobileme email address I was told:-
I would suggest to leave everything as it is.
You will get to keep both email addresses and purchase history.
Last edited by a moderator:
I think people here are confusing the issue.
You can associate your mobile me email address with your itunes account so that email (e.g. store receipts) from iTunes go to your MM account. What you cannot do is merge the two IDs together - they are still different accounts.
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Example: My original iTunes account ID could have been ROBS@MYISP.COM, and the email address associated with that would also have been ROBS@MYISP.COM.
I then set up a MobileMe account. So lets say I am ****@ME.COM. I now have two AppleIDs, me.com, and the one ending @MYISP.COM.
I then want to change my iTunes account, perhaps because I no longer use MYISP.COM. I can login to iTunes, and change the email address to point to ****@ME.COM. However if I try to change the AppleID, it will throw up the duplication error, because it sees ****@ME.COM already being in use elsewhere.
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You used to be able to change that iTunes AppleID to anything else, though I believe now you have to use an email address. A few years back I changed it from being ROBS@MYISP.COM to simply being the **** part of my MM account. As I didn't put the @me.com bit at the end, it was happy to accept this. As I say, I don't think you can do this now, and ultimately the only effect of this was to make things look cleaner, and stop my iTunes account being called something related to an email account I no longer had access to.
The issue is caused by Apple automatically making all MM accounts Apple IDs, as opposed to when you sign up to MM asking you if you had an existing AppleID and "upgrading" that (if they did do this I certainly never remember seeing it!).
For those who are confused, the issue now is that at the service level, iTunes and MM are being effectively merged (from the information Apple have given so far). So if I set up my iCloud using my ****@ME.COM then it will work with all my emails, contacts etc. But it won't see my iTunes purchase history as that is stored in a different account, so the iTunes in the cloud won't work. Similarly if I set things up using my iTunes account, then it won't see any of my emails, contacts etc.
In an ideal world Apple will now allow us to merge the two. I worry however that they may not see this as a problem, and tell us to simply stop using the old iTunes account as the iTunes purchasing account, and sync by cable all the purchased content across. Thoguh I'm not sure if iOS lets you have content from more than one AppleID on the same device at once, so that could also get messy.
Either way, it's already an issue that has irked users for quite a few years (just google it and you find threads going back years!), and its something that Apple Support have previously agreed is an issue but have offered no solution to.
The only thing we can really do is wait, though in the meantime it wouldn't hurt to submit feedback to Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/mobileme.html and http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html.
You can associate your mobile me email address with your itunes account so that email (e.g. store receipts) from iTunes go to your MM account. What you cannot do is merge the two IDs together - they are still different accounts.
----
Example: My original iTunes account ID could have been ROBS@MYISP.COM, and the email address associated with that would also have been ROBS@MYISP.COM.
I then set up a MobileMe account. So lets say I am ****@ME.COM. I now have two AppleIDs, me.com, and the one ending @MYISP.COM.
I then want to change my iTunes account, perhaps because I no longer use MYISP.COM. I can login to iTunes, and change the email address to point to ****@ME.COM. However if I try to change the AppleID, it will throw up the duplication error, because it sees ****@ME.COM already being in use elsewhere.
------
You used to be able to change that iTunes AppleID to anything else, though I believe now you have to use an email address. A few years back I changed it from being ROBS@MYISP.COM to simply being the **** part of my MM account. As I didn't put the @me.com bit at the end, it was happy to accept this. As I say, I don't think you can do this now, and ultimately the only effect of this was to make things look cleaner, and stop my iTunes account being called something related to an email account I no longer had access to.
The issue is caused by Apple automatically making all MM accounts Apple IDs, as opposed to when you sign up to MM asking you if you had an existing AppleID and "upgrading" that (if they did do this I certainly never remember seeing it!).
For those who are confused, the issue now is that at the service level, iTunes and MM are being effectively merged (from the information Apple have given so far). So if I set up my iCloud using my ****@ME.COM then it will work with all my emails, contacts etc. But it won't see my iTunes purchase history as that is stored in a different account, so the iTunes in the cloud won't work. Similarly if I set things up using my iTunes account, then it won't see any of my emails, contacts etc.
In an ideal world Apple will now allow us to merge the two. I worry however that they may not see this as a problem, and tell us to simply stop using the old iTunes account as the iTunes purchasing account, and sync by cable all the purchased content across. Thoguh I'm not sure if iOS lets you have content from more than one AppleID on the same device at once, so that could also get messy.
Either way, it's already an issue that has irked users for quite a few years (just google it and you find threads going back years!), and its something that Apple Support have previously agreed is an issue but have offered no solution to.
The only thing we can really do is wait, though in the meantime it wouldn't hurt to submit feedback to Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/mobileme.html and http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html.
Except in your second screenshot, not only do I see the edit link too, I can click and change it to my @me.com account -- and have done before -- with no errors. :-/
Just to be 100% clear, are you talking about changing the actual Apple ID itself, and not just the email address associated with it? I'm not the person you're replying to above, but I find I can freely change the email address from my non-MobileMe to anything I want (including the @me.com address), but when I try to change the AppleID (which is basically the username) to the same username as the MobileMe (which, confusingly, has to be the email address!), it says no.
If you have managed to change that Apple ID, does this mean that you only have one AppleID? I.e you login to iTunes and Mobile Me with exactly the same details?
Just chatted with the support. Same answer: not possible. They said the separation would enable me to continue using iTunes whenever I cancelled MobileMe. This makes no sense at all, I can just enter a different eMail address and use that one as my appleID. I can change it from @myisp1.xy to @myisp2@xy, why can't I change it from @me.com to @whatever.com after I cancel MobileMe?
Let's hope this gets worked out, but I'm pretty sure of it. The problem is too obvious to ignore (at least I hope so)
Let's hope this gets worked out, but I'm pretty sure of it. The problem is too obvious to ignore (at least I hope so)
You are not reading what I said. I see in the second shot the AppleID can be changed. When I click edit and try to change it to jsmith@mac.com for example, it says I can't because jsmith@mac.com is already in use as an AppleID on the first account.
Yes. We are talking about changing the AppleID itself, not the email address associated with it. The idea being you would have only one AppleID to use for MobileMe and iTunes.
Sorry, my comment was not directed to you - I understand what we are talking about, but I wondered if BK was talking about precisely the same thing.
I worry that this will only cause bigger headaches as we move towards "fall".
I just made a thread with the feedback link:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1165338/
Let Apple know your frustrations. People!!
Ongoing issue, I guess
A thread on Apple's Support Forum with the same problems
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15356749
Lets hope Apple listens
A thread on Apple's Support Forum with the same problems
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15356749
Lets hope Apple listens
I agree we should voice feedback.
These same questions/issues have been ongoing for YEARS. One would certainly hope this is somehow addressed with iCloud. Hey, even a KB article for now would help.
No matter what
forum I visit, they all seem to be asking about how the apple ids will play together, work with iCloud, transfer from MoMe id etc.
So many questions, so few answers at this point.
These same questions/issues have been ongoing for YEARS. One would certainly hope this is somehow addressed with iCloud. Hey, even a KB article for now would help.
No matter what
forum I visit, they all seem to be asking about how the apple ids will play together, work with iCloud, transfer from MoMe id etc. So many questions, so few answers at this point.
Like an idiot, I decided to play around with it. I signed out of my iTunes account and signed in using my MobileMe credentials. A few minutes later my MM account received an email saying, "Your Apple ID has been successfully created." I thought my MobileMe stuff WAS an Apple ID? Now I probably screwed up any chance of merging info.
Regardless, I downloaded an app to see if it would sync while I was charging, and it didn't. I also subscribed to a new podcast hoping that would work (since "free" content should sync as well), and it did not. BUT an app I download on my iPhone did go to iTunes and grouped right with all the apps I had gotten with my original ID.
In other words, I have no clue.
Edit: I actually just got a notification telling me to turn on automatic downloads, which were already on. So screw it, I'm going back to my original ID.
Regardless, I downloaded an app to see if it would sync while I was charging, and it didn't. I also subscribed to a new podcast hoping that would work (since "free" content should sync as well), and it did not. BUT an app I download on my iPhone did go to iTunes and grouped right with all the apps I had gotten with my original ID.
In other words, I have no clue.
Edit: I actually just got a notification telling me to turn on automatic downloads, which were already on. So screw it, I'm going back to my original ID.
Like an idiot, I decided to play around with it. I signed out of my iTunes account and signed in using my MobileMe credentials. A few minutes later my MM account received an email saying, "Your Apple ID has been successfully created." I thought my MobileMe stuff WAS an Apple ID? Now I probably screwed up any chance of merging info.
I wouldn't think so, you're just in the same boat as the rest of us. Although I have never used my MobileMe account for purchasing or downloading anything (even free apps/songs). But I wouldn't think that even that would effect things - one would hope Apple couldn't make this mess even worse!
I'd stick with my original IDs for the purposes for which I am using them for the time being. Ultimately, it will be Apple's decision as to how they deal with this, and while we can offer feedback, its up to them whether they decide this is a big enough issue to act upon!
PEOPLE! STOP PANICING! Threre are hundreds of thousands of people like me who had Apple ID accounts for years and then one day decided to sign up for MobileMe with a MobileMe email address and have different Apple ID and mobile me accounts. Apple knows this and will come up with a solution. Apple is not gonna let people lose all their purchases. Get real people. It was just announced yesterday and still has months to go before going live. JUST HANG ON A BIT! SHEESH!
