Apple ID - Why is this so Hard? "Email in use" why can't I fix?

Question

My son has an iPhone4s and a new Retina MAcBook we bought him to take to college.
He has an Apple ID [email protected]   We can't think of any other apple ID that would've used that @me.com email. 
When he tries to set up Messages on either his iPhone or MacBook, we get the error, "email can't be verified" beacuse it is already in use.
But we can't change the primary email on that account for some reason.  I've looked at lots of other dicsussions and help files.  Here is what we see when we log into my Apple ID:
Note there is not a button to re-verify the "primary" email, nor to edit or to delete it.  We've tried deleteing the alternate email a few times, doesn't seem to help. I want him to call Apple, but you know kids, they don't want to do whatever it is you want them to do......
His Apple ID seems to work fine for the iTunes & App Store & iCloud for email
Any thoughts????? I'm stymied.  Apple needs to make this easier.

Answer 1

Mr. Large:
I really hate to break it to you, but I have been working with computer recording and synthesis programs for 20 years. I've tried everything. GarageBand is hands down the easiest program ever devised for recording and editing music. Nothing else comes close.
That being said, one has to understand the basics of what music is and how it is organized in order to be able to use GarageBand effectively. Composing a song is a much more elaborate undertaking than snapping a picture with a point-and-shoot camera and cropping it (as in iPhoto).
As for how to do anything in it, first, RTFM (Read the Fabulous Manual) in this case the built-in Help feature under the Help menu. Then you can go to Amazon.com and find a dozen or so books in print on working with GarageBand. If you really want to learn how to make music, I have two suggestions that I give to newbies: 1) Join a choir or chorus in your community or at your church, and obviously attend all the rehearsals, and 2) take piano lessons from a piano teacher. By doing these you will learn how music is organized and put together. That's the essence of GarageBand or any other program for recording music.