Since one can't merge accounts, possible to find out cost of re-buying content?

[pullman]

This is an odd question perhaps.

Our family has two iTunes account from two different country iTunes Stores. I'm considering how to get all content onto one of the accounts. We only have music in the accounts, no movies.

As I understand it, one can't merge accounts. And Family Sharing is not an option since it requires accounts from the same iTunes Store.

The only remaining option seems to be to re-buy in one account the content purchased in the other account.

Is there an easy way to figure out what the cost would be? It would help me to decide if this is really worth the effort.

Thanks very much in advance
Philip

 

[mgroot]

If it's just music then you can just add it to the library of the other account, there's no DRM on the music anymore stopping you from doing that.

 

[pullman]

Thanks very much for the reply. That sounds almost too good (and simple) to be true.

So I understand: would I log in to account 2, go to File-Add to library, navigate to ~Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music, and select all folders?

Thanks in advance
Philip

If it's just music then you can just add it to the library of the other account, there's no DRM on the music anymore stopping you from doing that.

 

[mgroot]

Thanks very much for the reply. That sounds almost too good (and simple) to be true.

So I understand: would I log in to account 2, go to File-Add to library, navigate to ~Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music, and select all folders?

Thanks in advance
Philip

Pretty much yeah, you should back up stuff first for the rare case something goes wrong though

 

[Shirasaki]

I guess, unfortunately, you need to buy all of them again in the account you want to consolidate. You can use any account to log in iTunes and everything stored locally will remain unchanged. However, cloud content is not.
The best bet is choose the account with fewer contents to migrate.
You may try to ask apple support, and see what they will say.

I use my account purchase items from totally three different regions. Every time I want to change store, I will need to clean my credit in account before switching. I should not have any subscription directly from apple.

 

[Gav2k]

I looked into this before and iOS purchases stopped me. Music wasn't an issue as I could just switch iTunes Match from one account to another. I was actually shocked how much I'd spent on apps

 

[pullman]

Thank you so much for the further replies. I hadn't thought about the apps. Here's my setup.

Account 1:
- used on my iPhone
- Apps
- iTunes Match turned on
- Music (three kinds: bought in the iTunes Store, matched and uploaded)
- Nothing else

Account 2 which is the one I would ideally like to use because it is connected to the iTunes Store in the country we now live in, is connected to my wife's iPhone and has A LOT of music (unmatched).

If I understand it correctly, I could easily move the music from Account 1 to Account 2 since there's no DRM on the bought or matched tracks. But the apps may put a spanner in the works, depending on the total cost.

Have I got this approximately right?

What a mess..

Thanks for your help
Philip

 

[Shirasaki]

Thank you so much for the further replies. I hadn't thought about the apps. Here's my setup.

Account 1:
- used on my iPhone
- Apps
- iTunes Match turned on
- Music (three kinds: bought in the iTunes Store, matched and uploaded)
- Nothing else

Account 2 which is the one I would ideally like to use because it is connected to the iTunes Store in the country we now live in, is connected to my wife's iPhone and has A LOT of music (unmatched).

If I understand it correctly, I could easily move the music from Account 1 to Account 2 since there's no DRM on the bought or matched tracks. But the apps may put a spanner in the works, depending on the total cost.

Have I got this approximately right?

What a mess..

Thanks for your help
Philip

I know little about iTunes match because I hate putting all my data completely to the cloud. The second reason is my account is roaming between three different region. Once I have iTunes match, I will not be able to switch between three regions.

i am not clear what you say "have LOTS of music under your second account". If those songs are purchased from iTunes store, then i think you should take extreme care because you have paid for it once before.
but, if they are just music you matched, then you should be able to migrate two libraries, and match the final library.

just keep in mind: apple ID is able to switch between multiple regions, as long as you don't have any subscription DIRECTLY from apple. (such as your iTunes match).

hope this could help a little bit.

regards,

白崎つぐみ

 

[mgroot]

The apps definitely cannot be moved over just like that unfortunately but the music definitely can! Download all the music you have in account 1 and then simply add those music files to account 2 and they're now also in account 2.

Maybe apple support can help you in moving the apps over to your new country, no idea but it's worth asking them