Q on sharing iPad apps with family via iTunes 9

[wlow3]

Regarding sharing apps through iTunes 9 with family members, we were never really interested in sharing music because our tastes are so different but the chance to share apps on respective iPads is intriguing.

If we deauthorize one of the computers and then reauthorize it to have the same email/password as the other computer (i.e., the same account), what happens to purchases (say, music or apps) made under the now deauthorized account? Can one still play that old music/run old apps on respective devices (iPod touch, iPad) or do all purchases made with a previous account that's now deauthorized go dormant, meaning under the new authorization the old stuff will generate a "you are not authorized to use app/play music, etc." message or whatever.

I imagine you cannot deauthorize a separate account/authorize a shared account between computers, then share apps and then have the first computer go back to its original account and expect the shared apps to continue to work on the respective devices of each computer. Going the shared account way is a one-way road, if I understand this correctly? Or is it?

Thanks.

 

[DannySmurf]

I imagine you cannot deauthorize a separate account/authorize a shared account between computers, then share apps and then have the first computer go back to its original account and expect the shared apps to continue to work on the respective devices of each computer. Going the shared account way is a one-way road, if I understand this correctly? Or is it?

You're right. But what you can do is share apps across accounts. If you want to share an app with someone else, drag it out of your copy of iTunes and then into theirs, authorize their computer with your account, and then sync their device. The apps you shared will be transferred and usable in their device after that, in addition to their own. Works for all Apple devices.

 

[After G]

You can authorize multiple accounts. Meaning you could have shared apps on one account, and non-shared apps on another one, while having multiple accounts work on one device. It may be somewhat of a pain to track, though.

 

[wlow3]

Ok, but this is where I get confused again.

Dannysmurf: After I have done what you said, are you saying that the computer only needs to be authorized with my (shared) account for that first sync to her device of x number of apps I've copied to her folder for them to be usable and then she can revert back to her account to continue making individual (non-shared) purchases on her own, or merely that this method will enable her to use her old stuff on the computer but her iTunes should be kept as a shared account thereafter. See, I also thought updates work by iTunes checking your account to see if you had previously bought the original in order to authorize the download of an update, so any updates, I'm guessing, would require the computer to sign in with the shared account for any shared apps, so would she have to sign in twice to get all updates? I'm sorry for my confusion but I thought it best to get this all straight before I dive in and do something dumb.

And After G, I guess my latter question above goes to my confusion about how one operates multiple accounts on one computer. Is this what you were referring to about it being hard to track?

Thanks.

 

[DannySmurf]

Ok, but this is where I get confused again.

Dannysmurf: After I have done what you said, are you saying that the computer only needs to be authorized with my (shared) account for that first sync to her device of x number of apps I've copied to her folder for them to be usable and then she can revert back to her account to continue making individual (non-shared) purchases on her own, or merely that this method will enable her to use her old stuff on the computer but her iTunes should be kept as a shared account thereafter. See, I also thought updates work by iTunes checking your account to see if you had previously bought the original in order to authorize the download of an update, so any updates, I'm guessing, would require the computer to sign in with the shared account for any shared apps, so would she have to sign in twice to get all updates? I'm sorry for my confusion but I thought it best to get this all straight before I dive in and do something dumb.

And After G, I guess my latter question above goes to my confusion about how one operates multiple accounts on one computer. Is this what you were referring to about it being hard to track?

Thanks.

All it does is let you share apps between devices. It does not affect iTunes at all. She will be able to continue buying apps under her own account as normal. You're right about the updates, though. I don't think you will be able to update shared apps on the device. You'll need to update them on the computer that "owns" them and then re-share them if there are updates

 

[wlow3]

Well that was easy ...

I started by trying to drop the iPad guide ePub into her iTunes app and upon hitting sync it said that it could not do the transfer to her ipad because the computer was not authorized, so even a free ePub book from their store had DRM on it. So I began with the first simple thing - I authorized my account on her computer and I got the "this is the 2nd of your 5 computers" confirmation but I did not deauthorize her at all. I redid the sync and the ePub transferred. That gave me a good feeling about the apps so I dragged and dropped them onto her iTunes and did a sync and, by golly, they loaded on her machine with no problem. What a great company!