Fair enough, but it does not allow me to make my primary iCloud (former MobileMe) account's email address an @gmail.com address that is the primary email for my iTunes AppleID. This may be because the iTunes account was originally connected to an @mac.com email address. So a workaround may be that if you are happy making @me.com your default email, you may be fine. Personally, I'm just not interested in using @me.com as an email address.
Despite what some have said, this is NOT a user problem-- people who have purchased MORE of apple's services throughout the years are at a DISADVANTAGE to those who refused to pay for MobileMe/.Mac because of having accounts orphaned multiple times. It's not a huge deal, but not having a choice as to whether or not you operate with separate iCloud accounts is pretty lame. Buying more apple products is supposed to simplify your workflow, not make it worse.
agree with all that... I think they should have a merge operation available for the many in you're predicament... I'm guessing the outcry will produce this solution - hopefully sooner than later;
although I'm not in this camp- I'm rooting for all those who are!!
Im not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you can use your mobileme id for all icloud stuff and use your store id for all purchase stuff. You still 'cloud-push' all you purchases. This is the solution. Apple already solved it. This is all a lot of noise about nothing.
This is how I set up one of the devices' in my household. They'll use their own iCloud/MM (new) account, but share the same Apple ID for purchases. I see it as the best of both, you're data is separate but you can share purchases.
Im not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you can use your mobileme id for all icloud stuff and use your store id for all purchase stuff. You still 'cloud-push' all you purchases. This is the solution. Apple already solved it. This is all a lot of noise about nothing.
What he said :-)
Took me a while to realise this though and it really should have been spelled out a bit clearer by Apple.
I have an ID for iTunes , then I got a .mac address , then that became a MobileMe address , so I have THREE ID's - only the iTunes one can purchase apps and music.
So when setting up iCloud I use the @mac OR the @me ID's , then set the store ID to my original iTunes ID. All works perfectly.
But yes , I agree fully that it would be much simpler to be able to consolidate my 3 ID's into one nice @mac or @me ID.
I am a former MobileMe Subscriber with two apple ID's as mentioned.
Both iOS and iTunes/MacOS Support the use of two separate ID's-- one for music and the app store, the other for iCloud purposes. You cannot have the same primary email address identified on both accounts, but iTunes and iCloud do not really need to talk to each other at this point. I had issues trying to use one ID for both, but have had 0 issues trying to use two separate IDs.
People who want to use iTunes match will likely run into issues, in the long run.
A simple one-time account merge would be preferable here, though.
I have actually found having two ID's preferable. It allows my wife to use her MobileMe Address for those functions it supports but, we share the Apple ID for Music, Movies, Books, Newsstand and Apps. This way we don't have to make two purchases, contacts and calendars are kept separate but, can be shared if we wish.
If combined, wouldn't that cause an issue with separate users sharing purchases for Music? You would also have to use the same Email, Contacts and Calendars...?
I consider myself quite the idiot when it comes to cloud services and integration. I had no trouble moving my .mac and mobile me services to my three computers and 5 iOS devices.
Took me a while to realise this though and it really should have been spelled out a bit clearer by Apple.
I have an ID for iTunes , then I got a .mac address , then that became a MobileMe address , so I have THREE ID's - only the iTunes one can purchase apps and music.
So when setting up iCloud I use the @mac OR the @me ID's , then set the store ID to my original iTunes ID. All works perfectly.
But yes , I agree fully that it would be much simpler to be able to consolidate my 3 ID's into one nice @mac or @me ID.
Maybe it's just but i kinda like this set up. I would rather have one ID for iTunes purchases which can be shared among family members and a separate iCloud ID tied to each individual account.
The inability of users to merge their Apple IDs has created a myriad of potential problems for some making the transition from MobileMe to its replacement, iCloud.
I had MobileMe with a different ID than my iTunes account. I also had a non-email address for my iTunes apple-ID, which is no longer allowed. And I made the transition to iCloud on the first day, while the servers were mostly non-responsive.
All of this resulted in me ending up with two iCloud accounts (one associated with my former MobileMe account), and after manually messing with settings in both I had duplicated entries in my address book, calendars turned on in both, etc. In the end I simply turned off all the syncing from both accounts (on all my devices), which erased my calendars, and manually selected all contacts in the address book on my Mac and erased them.
I then turned on only the syncing in the iCloud account associated with my iTunes Apple ID on all my devices and then restored everything from the backups I had made on my Mac before starting the process (which the transition Web guide had asked me to do before beginning). I don't need iCloud to sync mail or notes, since I used other accounts for mail and notes, so I left that turned off. I then deleted the extraneous iCloud account on my Mac (under Mail Contacts & Calendars) and all is happy.
I later made the transition for my partner, when the Apple servers weren't so stressed, using her MobileMe ID as her apple ID, and it automagically handled everything properly and she ended up with only one iCloud account with all the right data in it. We then authorized each other's machines for each other's iTunes Apple ID's (under "Store" menu item in iTunes) so we can use each others purchases, but don't automatically get them.
It's also arguably very dumb of users not to see this coming. How many sites or services or email providers of any kind allow you to use multiple ID's to access the service and yet be the same person? Almost none. Aliases yes, multiple accounts, generally not.
Actually, I'd say it's very dumb of Apple not to see this coming. They provided two seperate services which often resulted in people having different logins. Some of us had Apple IDs long before MobileMe ever existed, and then we later signed up for MobileMe. Apple is now merging their systems. This is as if you had two different companies who were now merging into one. How could they not have anticipated the need to for people to merge their accounts into a single account in the new company.
At the time we ended up with two different logins, I'd argue that neither the customer nor Apple knew the long-term consequences. But as Apple planned for iCloud, they should have at that time anticiapted the requirement. Blaming users for a choice they made years ago in the absence of a crystal ball predicting the future is pretty silly.
AppStore's account doesn't necessarily need to be the same as you iCloud account!!!
you share your apps with the rest of the family???
great...
let them use your appleid for the Appstore, and create iCloud accounts for them...
This is exactly what I have done and it works fine. My family uses their own me.com accounts for iCloud and the common email account for the AppStore and iTunes purchases.
It is not rocket science, at least it wasn't for my family.
Maybe it's just but i kinda like this set up. I would rather have one ID for iTunes purchases which can be shared among family members and a separate iCloud ID tied to each individual account.
This is the way I have it set up as well--and I'm not sure how else it would work better. I have 4 iPads, 4 iPhones and 3 Macs divided up between me, my wife and my kids. All of them use the same iTunes account for purchases and each has a separate iCloud account for individual stuff so we're not all sharing the same data. I can buy something in the app store and we can all share it without each having to repurchase it.
Took a while to get all of the settings right and everyone transitioned over, but it's all up and running smoothly now.
I kind of resent the way this article spins these problems as, well ... problems, when in fact Apple has been clear from day one that you can't merge your Apple ID's into iCloud.
It's unfortunate, but it's not a "problem" per se (one that has a possible fix), it's the way it's supposed to work and the way it's advertised to work. They may provide a method for merging ID's in future or they may not. Too bad for those that don't understand how these things work.
It's also arguably very dumb of users not to see this coming. How many sites or services or email providers of any kind allow you to use multiple ID's to access the service and yet be the same person? Almost none. Aliases yes, multiple accounts, generally not.
This sounds like blaming the user. The fact is Apple made it too easy to create multiple Apple IDs in the past, and so a lot of people have one for iTunes and one or more others that may have had the same e-mail address. I set up my parents' iPads this weekend and ran into this issue. Unfortunately, my mother had one set up in 2010 for iTunes, but two others set up in 2004 and 2008 that had the same e-mail address (I think one was related to an old .Mac account). Because of that, I couldn't "verify" the 2010 one (which is the one she actually uses) without changing the e-mail address.
It was very frustrating sorting this out. Fortunately things went smoother setting up my Dad's, but I think a lot of people are running into this issue.
Took me a while to realise this though and it really should have been spelled out a bit clearer by Apple.
I have an ID for iTunes , then I got a .mac address , then that became a MobileMe address , so I have THREE ID's - only the iTunes one can purchase apps and music.
So when setting up iCloud I use the @mac OR the @me ID's , then set the store ID to my original iTunes ID. All works perfectly.
But yes , I agree fully that it would be much simpler to be able to consolidate my 3 ID's into one nice @mac or @me ID.
This works well for me as well. My name@hotmail.com is tied to my iTunes which I set up about 9 years ago. This is the ID I use for all my store purchases.
I've got the same problem: I moved my Mobileme account to iCloud but, simultaneously, Apple created a new iCloud account when I set up my iPhone and iPad in ios5.
I believe I solved the problem in "settings" when I deleted my iCloud account issued from Mobileme and set up a new one with the loggin issued by Apple for ios5.
Yet, I do not know whether iDisk still exist in iCloud: I didn't find it.
Has anyone heard a good explanation for why they are not allowing accounts to be merged? I originally assumed that it was to prevent combining ownership of music, apps etc., that may originally have been purchased by different people (i.e. it's hard to verify that one person owns both IDs), but on the other hand, why would that actually matter?
Comments
Fair enough, but it does not allow me to make my primary iCloud (former MobileMe) account's email address an @gmail.com address that is the primary email for my iTunes AppleID. This may be because the iTunes account was originally connected to an @mac.com email address. So a workaround may be that if you are happy making @me.com your default email, you may be fine. Personally, I'm just not interested in using @me.com as an email address.
Despite what some have said, this is NOT a user problem-- people who have purchased MORE of apple's services throughout the years are at a DISADVANTAGE to those who refused to pay for MobileMe/.Mac because of having accounts orphaned multiple times. It's not a huge deal, but not having a choice as to whether or not you operate with separate iCloud accounts is pretty lame. Buying more apple products is supposed to simplify your workflow, not make it worse.
agree with all that... I think they should have a merge operation available for the many in you're predicament... I'm guessing the outcry will produce this solution - hopefully sooner than later;
although I'm not in this camp- I'm rooting for all those who are!!
ken
Im not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you can use your mobileme id for all icloud stuff and use your store id for all purchase stuff. You still 'cloud-push' all you purchases. This is the solution. Apple already solved it. This is all a lot of noise about nothing.
This is how I set up one of the devices' in my household. They'll use their own iCloud/MM (new) account, but share the same Apple ID for purchases. I see it as the best of both, you're data is separate but you can share purchases.
Im not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you can use your mobileme id for all icloud stuff and use your store id for all purchase stuff. You still 'cloud-push' all you purchases. This is the solution. Apple already solved it. This is all a lot of noise about nothing.
What he said :-)
Took me a while to realise this though and it really should have been spelled out a bit clearer by Apple.
I have an ID for iTunes , then I got a .mac address , then that became a MobileMe address , so I have THREE ID's - only the iTunes one can purchase apps and music.
So when setting up iCloud I use the @mac OR the @me ID's , then set the store ID to my original iTunes ID. All works perfectly.
But yes , I agree fully that it would be much simpler to be able to consolidate my 3 ID's into one nice @mac or @me ID.
I am a former MobileMe Subscriber with two apple ID's as mentioned.
Both iOS and iTunes/MacOS Support the use of two separate ID's-- one for music and the app store, the other for iCloud purposes. You cannot have the same primary email address identified on both accounts, but iTunes and iCloud do not really need to talk to each other at this point. I had issues trying to use one ID for both, but have had 0 issues trying to use two separate IDs.
People who want to use iTunes match will likely run into issues, in the long run.
A simple one-time account merge would be preferable here, though.
I have actually found having two ID's preferable. It allows my wife to use her MobileMe Address for those functions it supports but, we share the Apple ID for Music, Movies, Books, Newsstand and Apps. This way we don't have to make two purchases, contacts and calendars are kept separate but, can be shared if we wish.
If combined, wouldn't that cause an issue with separate users sharing purchases for Music? You would also have to use the same Email, Contacts and Calendars...?
I consider myself quite the idiot when it comes to cloud services and integration. I had no trouble moving my .mac and mobile me services to my three computers and 5 iOS devices.
So, do you know the other two guys?
What he said :-)
Took me a while to realise this though and it really should have been spelled out a bit clearer by Apple.
I have an ID for iTunes , then I got a .mac address , then that became a MobileMe address , so I have THREE ID's - only the iTunes one can purchase apps and music.
So when setting up iCloud I use the @mac OR the @me ID's , then set the store ID to my original iTunes ID. All works perfectly.
But yes , I agree fully that it would be much simpler to be able to consolidate my 3 ID's into one nice @mac or @me ID.
Maybe it's just but i kinda like this set up. I would rather have one ID for iTunes purchases which can be shared among family members and a separate iCloud ID tied to each individual account.
The inability of users to merge their Apple IDs has created a myriad of potential problems for some making the transition from MobileMe to its replacement, iCloud.
I had MobileMe with a different ID than my iTunes account. I also had a non-email address for my iTunes apple-ID, which is no longer allowed. And I made the transition to iCloud on the first day, while the servers were mostly non-responsive.
All of this resulted in me ending up with two iCloud accounts (one associated with my former MobileMe account), and after manually messing with settings in both I had duplicated entries in my address book, calendars turned on in both, etc. In the end I simply turned off all the syncing from both accounts (on all my devices), which erased my calendars, and manually selected all contacts in the address book on my Mac and erased them.
I then turned on only the syncing in the iCloud account associated with my iTunes Apple ID on all my devices and then restored everything from the backups I had made on my Mac before starting the process (which the transition Web guide had asked me to do before beginning). I don't need iCloud to sync mail or notes, since I used other accounts for mail and notes, so I left that turned off. I then deleted the extraneous iCloud account on my Mac (under Mail Contacts & Calendars) and all is happy.
I later made the transition for my partner, when the Apple servers weren't so stressed, using her MobileMe ID as her apple ID, and it automagically handled everything properly and she ended up with only one iCloud account with all the right data in it. We then authorized each other's machines for each other's iTunes Apple ID's (under "Store" menu item in iTunes) so we can use each others purchases, but don't automatically get them.
"may have to re-purchase apps"? huh?!? wtf?!
Welcome to the world of digital ownership!
It's also arguably very dumb of users not to see this coming. How many sites or services or email providers of any kind allow you to use multiple ID's to access the service and yet be the same person? Almost none. Aliases yes, multiple accounts, generally not.
Actually, I'd say it's very dumb of Apple not to see this coming. They provided two seperate services which often resulted in people having different logins. Some of us had Apple IDs long before MobileMe ever existed, and then we later signed up for MobileMe. Apple is now merging their systems. This is as if you had two different companies who were now merging into one. How could they not have anticipated the need to for people to merge their accounts into a single account in the new company.
At the time we ended up with two different logins, I'd argue that neither the customer nor Apple knew the long-term consequences. But as Apple planned for iCloud, they should have at that time anticiapted the requirement. Blaming users for a choice they made years ago in the absence of a crystal ball predicting the future is pretty silly.
AppStore's account doesn't necessarily need to be the same as you iCloud account!!!
you share your apps with the rest of the family???
great...
let them use your appleid for the Appstore, and create iCloud accounts for them...
This is exactly what I have done and it works fine. My family uses their own me.com accounts for iCloud and the common email account for the AppStore and iTunes purchases.
It is not rocket science, at least it wasn't for my family.
And they're all gone at iCloud.com, too.
I paid how much for this inconvenience?
In System Preferences, when I attempt to "Set up iCloud with your Apple ID" (the same one used successfully on the iPhone and iPad), I get this error:
Cannot Sign Up
This Apple ID is valid but is not an iCloud account.
Huh?! What the heck?
When will they get this fixed??
Maybe it's just but i kinda like this set up. I would rather have one ID for iTunes purchases which can be shared among family members and a separate iCloud ID tied to each individual account.
This is the way I have it set up as well--and I'm not sure how else it would work better. I have 4 iPads, 4 iPhones and 3 Macs divided up between me, my wife and my kids. All of them use the same iTunes account for purchases and each has a separate iCloud account for individual stuff so we're not all sharing the same data. I can buy something in the app store and we can all share it without each having to repurchase it.
Took a while to get all of the settings right and everyone transitioned over, but it's all up and running smoothly now.
I kind of resent the way this article spins these problems as, well ... problems, when in fact Apple has been clear from day one that you can't merge your Apple ID's into iCloud.
It's unfortunate, but it's not a "problem" per se (one that has a possible fix), it's the way it's supposed to work and the way it's advertised to work. They may provide a method for merging ID's in future or they may not. Too bad for those that don't understand how these things work.
It's also arguably very dumb of users not to see this coming. How many sites or services or email providers of any kind allow you to use multiple ID's to access the service and yet be the same person? Almost none. Aliases yes, multiple accounts, generally not.
This sounds like blaming the user. The fact is Apple made it too easy to create multiple Apple IDs in the past, and so a lot of people have one for iTunes and one or more others that may have had the same e-mail address. I set up my parents' iPads this weekend and ran into this issue. Unfortunately, my mother had one set up in 2010 for iTunes, but two others set up in 2004 and 2008 that had the same e-mail address (I think one was related to an old .Mac account). Because of that, I couldn't "verify" the 2010 one (which is the one she actually uses) without changing the e-mail address.
It was very frustrating sorting this out. Fortunately things went smoother setting up my Dad's, but I think a lot of people are running into this issue.
What he said :-)
Took me a while to realise this though and it really should have been spelled out a bit clearer by Apple.
I have an ID for iTunes , then I got a .mac address , then that became a MobileMe address , so I have THREE ID's - only the iTunes one can purchase apps and music.
So when setting up iCloud I use the @mac OR the @me ID's , then set the store ID to my original iTunes ID. All works perfectly.
But yes , I agree fully that it would be much simpler to be able to consolidate my 3 ID's into one nice @mac or @me ID.
This works well for me as well. My name@hotmail.com is tied to my iTunes which I set up about 9 years ago. This is the ID I use for all my store purchases.
My name@me.com ID is used for iCloud.
It all works well
However, it would be nice if I could merge both accounts so I can finally get rid of my Hotmail account!!
Netflix called... they want their two log-in IDs back.
Hahaha! So un-Apple. I hope they solve this.
This sounds like blaming the user.
Do doubt it, he is blaming the user. He's a brainwashed fanboy who can't see the forrest for the trees.
I just lost all of my calendar events that were synced to iCloud. Everything from today forward is gone.
And they're all gone at iCloud.com, too.
I paid how much for this inconvenience?
That's really unfortunate, but are you sure that it's Apple's fault? Other than in as much as they didn't prevent deletion?
I've got the same problem: I moved my Mobileme account to iCloud but, simultaneously, Apple created a new iCloud account when I set up my iPhone and iPad in ios5.
I believe I solved the problem in "settings" when I deleted my iCloud account issued from Mobileme and set up a new one with the loggin issued by Apple for ios5.
Yet, I do not know whether iDisk still exist in iCloud: I didn't find it.
Thanks for your help there