Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me merge my music accounts
Dear Auntie,
Half of my music collection was purchased with an old Apple ID, using a defunct email address. I can play music from both accounts on my devices, no problem. But when iCloud comes out, I wonder how I'll be able to have it sync both accounts as one cloud in the iCloud? I wish I could merge accounts and be done with the old one.
Best to you and your hat maker,
Your loving nephew,
Dan
Dear Dan,
This is where iTunes Match really can jump in and make your life easier -- with one small catch. For US$25, it gives you access to all your music. If your music is not DRM protected, you can just throw it into your normal library and Match will enable it in the cloud.
The problem comes in with older purchases made before the iTunes Plus switch away from DRM. Auntie isn't sure that music from your older account will transfer over to the cloud -- and Apple hasn't clarified how iTunes will treat music that's authorized to play on your computer but DRM'ed to another account.
Unfortunately, Apple does not allow you to merge accounts. They don't do it for partners getting married; they don't do it for transfer from MobileMe; they just don't do it. You are not alone in this -- Apple has resisted account merging for years.
So as far as Auntie can tell, your only problems may arise with those older purchases. Otherwise, iTunes should not be able to differentiate between music copied from your old account and music purchased or ripped in your new one. (And if it does, there are any number of metadata stripping utilities you can google for.)
Hugs and good luck,
Auntie T.
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Dear Auntie, Half of my music collection was purchased with an old Apple ID, using a defunct email address. I can play music from both...
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Answering this question of multiple Apple IDs a lot these days, huh?
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Wow, TUAW ***** up again and fails to explain the whole situation. Shock.
Remember when iTunes Plus came out, DRM free? But then people went digging around the files and discovered the username within the aac file.
There is a good chance Apple won't allow other purchases, despite their lack of true DRM, to be synced with another account, given the username within the file. It's not that hard to find.
And considering TUAW wrote about this issue when iTunes Plus came out, it's pretty pathetic that they can't look into issues a little further before posting stuff.
Actually, Ms. Sadun specifically mentioned that. The part where she mentioned the "metadata stripping utilities", is specifically to get rid of the username being saved in the file. There isn't any DRM on iTunes Plus files. ONLY a username. Which again, can be stripped with the "metadata stripping utilities".
June 17 2011 at 5:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe music solution can easily be done by burning CD's. However, apps are what I'm worried about. I paid for a few apps on an older Apple ID and I'm worried about the data backup from those not working in iCloud.
June 17 2011 at 12:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAll you have to do is make a smart playlist in itunes containing all drm music then burn that playlist to disc in audio cd format then rip it back into the computer. Once back in the computer itunes match will take the ripped version and you can delete the old drm version off the computer.
June 17 2011 at 12:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI had a similar problem before this iCloud on the Horizon deal. I fixed it with two computers, home sharing and my home network. Hopefully, Apple and the RIAA aren't reading this post. The lawyers would never leave me alone.
On the other hand, I did pay someone for this music, I only play it on one device at a time and it is for my private use....
I had a similar problem with multiple accounts before this "iCloud on the horizon" thing. I used two computers, home sharing and my home network to consolidate them. Moved files from the small account to the large account and now will proceed to ignore the small account. Hopefully, the RIAA and Apple don't read this post, otherwise I'd never get the lawyers to leave me alone... on the other hand, it is my personal use, I did pay for them and I am pretty sure I only use the songs on one machine at a time...
June 17 2011 at 11:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI have a solution but it will cost more than $25 I'd bet... Log into the OLD itunes account and do a itunes plus upgrade. Itunes will then replace all of you DRMed music with itunes plus tracks (256 AAC no DRM), as you will now have non DRMed tracks you can add them to your new itunes library and icloud will finger print them and add them to the cloud.
June 17 2011 at 11:15 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI still have non-iTunes Plus tracks in my library, because they never were made available to upgrade for whatever reason. Perhaps because they were dropped from the iTunes Store library or something.
June 17 2011 at 11:36 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOr a cheaper solution. Burn and rip the songs. You will end up with copies that are not as good quality, but iTunes match will still figure it out and upgrade you to iTunes Plus for free.
June 17 2011 at 12:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI like your plan, but I don't want to do that with my 60GB music collection, this would take 1) many many CD's 2) very long...
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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