My wife and I each have iTunes on our PCs. Originally, I set these up with separate iTunes Store accounts. I was led to believe that we ought to do this because an email address is used for the Apple ID, and we each have one. I'm thinking now that was a mistake?
Here's the problem:
Each of us now has an iPad, and we're each buying apps on our own accounts and syncing to our own PCs. Because of these separate accounts and iTunes PCs, I understand we're unable to share our purchases – which, AFAIK, Apple expressly permits on up to 5 associated family devices. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
Is it possible to merge or consolidate two different Apple iTunes Store accounts so we can share the apps and other purchases we've made? (We are married, so legally it is community property anyway! 🙂
Alternatively, is there a way we could maintain our separate accounts but still sync each others' devices in a way to get both sets of apps on each iPad? We've already made some redundant purchases (and thus wasted some $) and I'd like to avoid that in the future, if possible!
Best Answer
Home sharing should allow you to see each other's libraries over your home network, and drag apps from your wife's onto yours and vice versa. You can definitely do this despite having two accounts - my wife and I have a similar problem. You may have to enter both passwords from time to time to authorize purchases, though.
I found some help setting this up from "Activating Home Sharing in iTunes".
I believe you can also sort hers by "items I don't have" so you can see what she might have bought of interest to you, although I'm not sure you can automatically sync them.
This SuperUser question seems to suggest that merging two accounts is not an option:
Can I merge 2 iTunes Store accounts?