How can I get the love back?

Question

Remember the anthem in 1984? The call for independence? The hammer that shattered the drone which kept us all in line - servants to the man? I do. I begged the hammer to be thrown and cheered when the glass shattered. I evangelized for the awakening and paid with my ducketts and  dreams. I have given the wry smile to poor lemmings who followed Bill's way and stepped in line. I was proud to know I'd avoided the man. I was me, not them. But I worry that I've fed the beast. Have I been an unknowing servant to something worse? Have I been so blind to miss that I was beholden, but with a loose collar and long leash? I hope not ... Apple please help me see I haven't been wrong with every keystroke on my IIe, IIci, Bondi, iPods, MBPs, Airs and more. Send me a sign. Show me the light again. Set me free again.
iCloud, iTunes Match, Macs, iPods, iPhones and family do not work together. Period. You see, my wife, two children and I were .Mac users on a family account - we each had / have .mac email addresses which have become our AppleIDs. We happily purchased and shared (within the family) bazillions of dollars worth of music, video and apps together and under our own accounts. We all enjoyed our independence from one-another and from you. And it all worked well. Very well. But now you've gone and thrown it all away. Nothing works well.
We've had to merge new purchases to a new "family" AppleID.
Updating iOS apps on our iPhones requires entering EACH of our four (ahem, now five) AppleIDs and passwords.
Sharing music and using Match meant centralizing to one library, centralizing playlists, effing up syncing, and creating a permissions nightmare on our shared iMac that houses the master music library. (now iTunes fails to open if one user account forgot to close iTunes before not logging out.)
Sigh. There more but I'm exhausted.
This is a nightmare. I'm now dad and IT guy for the family. Remember when using a Mac meant you didn't need an IT guy? I want those days again. I don't want to feel powerless under the thumb of the man. Like I need to get OSX or iOS certified. Seriously? Certified?
Apple: just get it right. For gods sake. Fix this cloud debacle. Give families who willingly, happily, legally used .Mac together - the familial womb for which the next Apple revolution will either prosper or wither and die - the same independence they / we had before the cloud and the match.
I'd settle if you would Sync our purchases to a single account at the very least. At least that would suck less.
Give us the chance to love you again. Fix this please. Please?

Answer 1

Thanks. I appreciate your help. But that's not quite what's happening. Here are the specifics of our scenario:
Our accounts then:
[email protected] was the master account.
[email protected] was a secondary account.
[email protected] was a secondary account.
[email protected] was a secondary account.
Secondary accounts were subordinate by way of mobile me, family accounts if you will.
On our shared iMac then:
User dad had a [email protected] iTunes library.
User mom had a [email protected] iTunes library.
User kid1 had a [email protected] iTunes library.
User kid2 had a [email protected] iTunes library.
The libraries were stored in the /user/music/itunes folders for each user.
Purchases were made on each user's library.
The media / content (videos and music) was shared between the libraries and stored on a shared drive. The apps were stores in each user's /user/music/itunes folder.
[email protected] was used for all OSX app store purchases on the Mac by each user.
On our iOS devices then:
On dad's iPhone, [email protected] was used for everything.
On mom's iPhone, [email protected] was used for everything.
On kid1's iPod, [email protected] was used for everything.
On kid2's iPhone, [email protected] was used for everything.
The iOS devices were sync'd with each /user/music/itune's iTunes library.
We each had unique playlists and our own apps.
Purchases were made on each iOS device.
So, each user was fully independant in terms of purchasing and use.
The dilemma: iTunes Match (and iCloud) cannot sync four libraries unless there are four independant iTunes Match accounts. This would forever divide our family. Yes, it's that dramatic. (smile)
So, with advice from upper-level Apple Tech Support, I made a master account with a new AppleID: [email protected]. This account would become the hub for iTunes Match and all future purchases on iOS and OSX devices.
Now we look like this:
Our accounts now:
[email protected] is the master account.
[email protected] is a user account.
[email protected] is a user account.
[email protected] is a user account.
[email protected] is a user account.
The master account is assigned to OSX app, Match and iTunes.
User accounts are linked to mail / cal / find my / etc. activities.
On our shared iMac now:
[email protected] is the shared iTunes library.
User dad shares [email protected] iTunes library.
User mom shares [email protected] iTunes library.
User kid1 shares [email protected] iTunes library.
User kid2 shares [email protected] iTunes library.
The [email protected] iTunes library is located on a shared drive.
As a side note, the permissions now get totally muffed up when any user forgets to close their iTunes account and another user opens their iTunes client ... sharing the same library. A nice little bonus I wasn't prepared for.
Purchases are made through the [email protected] library.
Apps have been consolidated (from each /user/music/itunes folder) to the now shared folder.
* Old apps are owned by the users. New apps are owned by [email protected]. Updates require the owner's AppleID / password.
** If a user AppleID is entered in iTunes to update his apps, Match is broken. Match gets reset when [email protected] signs in again.
[email protected] is used for all OSX app store purchases on the Mac by each user.
** Old apps are owned by [email protected]. New apps are owned by [email protected]. Updates require the owner's AppleID / password.
On our iOS devices now:
On dad's iPhone, [email protected] is used for mail / cal / etc.; [email protected] is used for music / match / iTunes.
On mom's iPhone, [email protected] is used for mail / cal / etc.; [email protected] is used for music / match / iTunes.
On kid1's iPod, [email protected] is used for mail / cal / etc.; [email protected] is used for music / match / iTunes.
On kid2's iPhone, [email protected] is used for mail / cal / etc.; [email protected] is used for music / match / iTunes.
The iOS devices are sync'd to [email protected] iTunes library.
Purchases are made on each iOS device to [email protected].
* We now have shared playlists and everyone's apps.
So, each user is now not fully independant in terms of purchasing and use.