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iCloud question ... signup and switch IDs?

essential

essential

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 8, 2008
255
153
I want to sign up for iCloud today, i'd like an @me.com email address, but i'd also like this @me.com to be my new iTunes account login/ID for my purchases. However, I have many purchases on my current ID that I want access too on the account I plan on setting up today with iCloud (when it goes live).

Does anyone know how this will work? I know Apple allows you to change your ID, so would I signup for iCloud, then log in under my current ID and change it to the iCloud ID I sign up for?

I just don't want to get to a point where the purchases are split between two different IDs.

Thanks.
 
You can certainly sign up for yourname@me.com to be your iCloud address and then start using that to manage all you music/app purchases. However, they will not be transferred over. You would have to call the app store and see if they will do that for you as the already purchased apps are tied to that account. I don't believe this can be automated.

But, let me ask you, why would you do that? Are you phasing out the other email? I know it might seem more clean to do this but many many people have separate ids as they share their purchases with other household members and it distinguishes the app store stuff from the iCloud stuff.

Its up to you but I would call them as I think this is your only option to unify everything.

Last option of course is to do nothing. You can download all the old content under the old address and then once thats done, change the login to the new @me.com address. When there is a future app update, when you go to download, it will simply ask you for the password on the old email address. I have 3 different app store/itunes store IDs in use on my phone (Mine, Wife, and my dad).
 
^^ The only problem is that Apple does NOT allow you ever to move purchases to another account (be it apps, music, movies, etc.).

You cannot unify your accounts at all. I have had MobileMe for 2 years now and called them to try and move over my purchases from my gmail apple ID to MobileMe only to find out you cannot. Such bs because you can go in and switch your gmail apple Id to any email BUT a MobileMe address. This is because when you sign up for MobileMe, a brand new apple Id is created with that @me email.

Many people have this same complaint, prayed for a solution from Apple but we were clearly told in iCloud FAQs you must continue to manage two separate accounts.

Oh well!
 
dhy8386 said:
But, let me ask you, why would you do that? Are you phasing out the other email? I know it might seem more clean to do this but many many people have separate ids as they share their purchases with other household members and it distinguishes the app store stuff from the iCloud stuff.
Click to expand...

It just seems cleaner to have all Apple related things at the @me.com email address. I was unaware I was locked to the email address when I original signed up (back with my iPhone 3G). My current Apple ID is a webmail (inbox.com) account that literally disables if I don't log in for 6 months. The @me just seems like it would keep things more organized. I assume Apple will have to do something to allow this because I assume there are going to be a ton of people wanted to do this as well.
 
While I cannot address how the iCloud part will work, I did change my Apple ID sometime back when signing up for the free Find My iPhone when I purchased my iPhone 4. At that time I had a number of purchases made with my original Apple ID, but it was not an email address so it would not work for Find My iPhone. Once I changed that, everything I had downloaded, including apps were available under the new ID. When it comes to updating apps now, it prompts with the new Apple ID and password. While I understand the difference between changing an Apple ID versus creating a new Apple ID, I believe this answers part of the OP's question. I also recall reading that given the iCloud rollout that there was supposed to be some consideration by Apple to allow the merging of accounts. I believe I read that on this site sometime in the not too distant past.
 
I am having the exact same problem, but slightly different.

My family uses one Apple ID under an @comcast.net email address. We all have shared it and I have all my songs on there (mostly mine). My family has bought some songs on there as well.

What I'm thinking I may do is just create another ID for myself, and if I ever need to use the songs on the family account, I'll download them as-needed to my device.

I think that makes better sense than changing the current family Apple ID to my new @me email, and having some songs that my family bought tied to my personal account. I would then create a new Apple ID for my family. But this is scenario #2. I like scenario #1 better after thinking about it.

Input on this would be appreciated.
 
HazyCloud said:
Are you serious? What kind of sense does that make?
Click to expand...

Because an @me account is a MobileMe account (now an iCloud account) which IS an Apple ID.

So it's basically trying to use one Apple ID as the log-in info inside another Apple ID which is apparently not allowed because it's confusing or something. Like...Russian Nesting Dolls, I guess.

I know I'm confused.
 
Small White Car said:
Because an @me account is a MobileMe account (now an iCloud account) which IS an Apple ID.

So it's basically trying to use one Apple ID as the log-in info inside another Apple ID which is apparently not allowed because it's confusing or something. Like...Russian Nesting Dolls, I guess.

I know I'm confused.
Click to expand...

I see. This sounds like it will be a headache for Apple. I know I'm not the only one that wants to change their Apple ID to their @me.
 
HazyCloud said:
I see. This sounds like it will be a headache for Apple. I know I'm not the only one that wants to change their Apple ID to their @me.
Click to expand...

Count me in!

BTW, this is only part of Apple that has soured the experience for me - organizing account-based stuff.
 
I'm currently juggling 4 (or 5?) Apple accounts and am trying to figure out how to consolidate all this stuff and make it work on my different devices.

I've been reading about it for 30 minutes and I'm now further away from understanding it all then when I started.

Such an un-Apple-like experience.
 
Small White Car said:
Because an @me account is a MobileMe account (now an iCloud account) which IS an Apple ID.

So it's basically trying to use one Apple ID as the log-in info inside another Apple ID which is apparently not allowed because it's confusing or something. Like...Russian Nesting Dolls, I guess.

I know I'm confused.
Click to expand...

That is very confusing. What if your a new user that no email address currently and you want to sign up for iCloud?
 
applefan289 said:
Count me in!

BTW, this is only part of Apple that has soured the experience for me - organizing account-based stuff.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree. I'm hoping that since @me's are now free, Apple will change their stance on changing your Apple ID to an @me.
 
HazyCloud said:
I would have to agree. I'm hoping that since @me's are now free, Apple will change their stance on changing your Apple ID to an @me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but there's still underlying headaches for someone like me.

The original Apple ID that I was contemplating changing to my own personal @me ID has been used by the whole family. So if I take this account for me only and create a new account for the family, I'm stuck with songs tied to my account that I would not have gotten in a million years!

Which is why I've decided to start from scratch. I'm creating my own @me ID from scratch, and leaving the family's ID alone. That way, if in the future I ever need some songs from the family's ID, I can just sign in as them and download what I need to (with an authorization taken, but who cares).

This is my one pet peeve of Apple.

It's funny how all these concerns are coming up when iCloud is released. This has been concerning me for a while.

Here's a thread I made a little while ago dealing with this exact issue:
Do you think it is a good thing that Apple's entire lineup relies on accounts?
 
Just an update, but you can't make your @me your Apple ID like Small said. It errors and states something like, "can't use a Mobile Me account for an Apple ID. If this is your email, it is already your Apple ID."

What a freaking headache.

So, let's assume you lose control of your current email address, like if you changed your ISP, what would you do then?
 
My Apple ID (for iTunes, discussions.apple, & store.apple) and my MobileMe are the same, an @me.com address (@mac.com also still works). Why is everyone having so much trouble?
 
HazyCloud said:
So, let's assume you lose control of your current email address, like if you changed your ISP, what would you do then?
Click to expand...
You change your email registered with your Apple ID to any email other than a .me account.

The problem is that my Apple ID predates my MobileMe account. So I have years and years of music purchases, and now years of app, tv, video, and (months of) MAS purchases tied up with my original Apple ID. If I want to use my .me address, I lose all that. I was hoping Apple would deal with this before iCloud went live. There are a fair number of people in this position, and they tend to be those dedicated enough to fork over $100 a year for Apple's meager MobileMe cloud offering. Which means they'll be as dedicated in causing a stink until this gets addressed.

More broadly, however; Apple needs to address the issue of the different use cases an Apple ID goes through in a human lifetime, and different relationships.

A friend of mine told me the story of how his mother knew his father wasn't going anywhere -- he combined their record collection. And indeed they never divorced. How does such a thing happen when two Apple ID's meet, fall in love, and decide to share their music collection? What happens when they birth a new Apple ID, with it's own musical taste that wants to listen to their music on the stereo? And what happens when that Apple ID goes off to college, or the couple separates?

Merging Apple IDs is only part of the solution here. What also needs to happen is that multiple Apple IDs need to be able to register with something like an Apple TV. Some kind of multiple Home Share deal.

I assume the stumbling block involves lawyers rather than technical issues.
 
Last edited:
mullman said:
My Apple ID (for iTunes, discussions.apple, & store.apple) and my MobileMe are the same, an @me.com address (@mac.com also still works). Why is everyone having so much trouble?
Click to expand...

Because most people who have MobileMe accounts probably started their iTunes accounts long before they joined MobileMe. They've got all kinds of purchases under their non-me.com address, but their iCloud account is their me.com address. They therefore have no access to their past iTunes purchases through iCloud.
 
spidertaker23 said:
That is very confusing. What if your a new user that no email address currently and you want to sign up for iCloud?
Click to expand...

I was one of these - when I upgraded my phone to ios5, it prompted me to create a .me account that replaced my non-email apple id. Logging in with my new .me account gives me full access to my old purchases and to the cloud.
 
HazyCloud said:
Just an update, but you can't make your @me your Apple ID like Small said. It errors and states something like, "can't use a Mobile Me account for an Apple ID. If this is your email, it is already your Apple ID."

What a freaking headache.

So, let's assume you lose control of your current email address, like if you changed your ISP, what would you do then?
Click to expand...

Gmail/yahoo/hotmail

To your point, way back when, i had a isp Apple ID. Had some purchases on there. Then new it was going away so switched to gmail. Then switched everything to MobileMe. I had only purchased a handful of songs so i didn't lose much.

I would switch your account to a free one now if you think you might lose your ISP one.
 
And what about the "old-timers?" All my itunes and app store purchases are under a mac.com email address as my ID. My Mobile Me sign-ins are associated with a me.com address. (The mac.com domain no longer functions for actual email, and hasn't for years.) It's my understanding that Apple won't even consolidate these two types of accounts!

Hopefully the cloud can be under my me.com login and it will recognize my purchased music as being owned by me by virtue of the fact is resides in iTunes on my computer, and having two different logins won't matter.

Any input?
 
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