Apple ID and iCloud
Ok, are you confused like everyone else about Apple ID, iCloud, me.com email, mac.com email and your personal email. Let’s review each one of these:
- If you’ve bought music or apps from the iTunes Store then you have an Apple ID which typically is your email address. You might even have one or more Apple IDs. It’s best to only use one Apple ID as all your purchases are associated to that Apple ID. Especially important are updates to Apps which are only downloaded when you are logged into the iTunes Store with a specific Apple ID.
- iCloud is Apple’s newest service that syncs your contacts, calendar events (iCal), Safari bookmarks, iTunes Store purchases between iPhones and iPads running iOS5 and Macs running OS X Lion. iCloud also provides you with the ability to create an email address in the form of yourname@me.com if you decide you need one. When you login to iCloud for the first time, it creates a new Apple ID if you do not have one or requests you to use your current Apple ID. If your Apple ID is not in the form of an email address, iCloud will not accept it and will prompt you to create a new Apple ID. Early on the iTunes Store allowed Apple IDs that were not in the form of an email address. In this cas
- The me.com email was created when Apple launched the MobileMe service. If you are NOT currently a MobileMe subscriber, iCloud allows you to create a me.com email address. If you are currently a MobileMe subscriber iCloud will transition your email, contacts, calendar events and Safari bookmarks to the iCloud service.
- The mac.com email was created when Apple launched the .Mac service. This service was later enhanced and called MobileMe. The mac.com and me.com email addresses are interchangeable.
- If you were not a .Mac or a MobileMe subscriber you most likely used your personal email to create your Apple ID. If you change your personal email, you should change your Apple ID to the new email to continue receiving receipts and email newsletters from the iTunes Store. If you used your me.com or mac.com email as your Apple ID, you cannot change the Apple ID to another email but the iTunes Store provides a separate email address field.
e you will need to use the email Apple ID for iCloud and your non email Apple ID for iTunes Store purchases.
For further information see the Apple Support knowledge base article Apple IDs and iCloud and also FAQ about Apple ID. You can create a new Apple ID or manage existing Apple IDs at My Apple ID or within iTunes. Edit.

