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The last scenario was mine, and I managed to figure that out and get everything working. Now, what's your suggestion for how to handle PhotoStream? On my iMac, it looks like only one person can be logged in via iCloud and therefore iPhoto will only sync up for one user. Is there a good way to be able to have both my wife and I get out pictures automatically imported or is one of us out of luck?

Serenity, got another one. My Mac account is used by myself and my wife (trust each other) but we each have our own email account with corresponding AppleID. Neither OSX nor iOS5 gives you the ability to configure iCloud through preferences for more than one account. Logging into iCloud and migrating wasn't the problem, it was getting Mail to accept the second account when it didn't have an OSX user account to search for information. I finally got it to work but it was a pain.

The thing I think fixed most of my problems was changing my AppleID/email password to something that meets Apple's new criteria. I suggest doing that, or making sure you comply, as the very first thing you do before updating or migrating. This should/might take care of a lot of the failed connection because of password problems. Since migrating earlier this week and changing my password, I've been running very well without any access problems with Mail.

I have another scenario for you that is not listed.

I had a mobileME account. My wife has a Gmail account. We share contacts, calendars, notes and reminders.
We also share all iTunes purchases with an AppleID that IS NOT am email address.

What I've done so far:
Moved my mobileME to iCloud. Currently working well and still using my old Apple ID for purchases.

Need to do:
My wife's iphone 4S arrives today. I'm *assuming* I put my iCloud information in and uncheck the mail option. Then add her Gmail as a second mail account. Lastly, use the Apple ID (that isn't an email) for purchases.

Will that work?

What a superb article, thanks for taking the time to put this together. I'm sure a lot of people will find this helpful.

In my case, I have no other devices except my computer, and no MobileMe account.

Any reason for me to use iCloud?

I take it by reading between the lines that I can't sync between OS 6.8, OS 10.7 and iOS 5 OR is that detailed elsewhere?

Thanks for the clarifications! Apple should have this info posted with their information about iCloud. You shouldn't have to dig for it.

Something else I'd love to have clarified is a list of do's and don'ts about using iCloud and physically connecting your iOS 5 device to your Mac, particularly if your Mac is still running Snow Leopard.

If you only have one iOS 5 device and a Mac with Snow L, should you turn off all iCloud options on your iOS 5 device except "find my phone"? This assumes you want to continue to keep your iOS 5 device and your Mac in sync and you want to prevent the creation of duplicate iCal events, contacts, etc, on your iOS 5 device.

I spent several hours cleaning up the mess of duplicates on my iPhone 4 by just accepting the defaults on the iOS 5 installation.

I had a family pack since long ago with me and three. With it each could be reached at (xxx)@mac.com (the original address, or (xxx)@me.com, which was seldom used but was made available when Apple changed over a few years ago from Dot Mac to Mobile Me.
I made the upgrade and all went well for me and the master account. I still get mail from mac.com and me.com addresses and all my existing mail I had received and hung on to was ported over to iCloud.

Not so for the 3 sub-accounts. On Wednesday and Thursday these accounts were dead/missing in action. Today one of them started working, but only with the (xxx)@me.com address, so all of the mail that has been and is being sent to him at (xxx)@mac.com is languishing in the ether, or, as I find when I use that address, it get bounced. There are still some intermittent problems with accessing that account from both the Apple client and iCloud on the web, but they seem to be transient.

The other 2 sub accounts are still dead/missing in action.

Repeated chats with Apple have not resolved the issue and they have kicked it up to a "Senior Advisor" on whom I am now waiting to hear from.

Very Frustrating.

cjedj, on 14 October 2011 - 09:13 AM, said:

Absolutely agree. I've talked to a lot of people who are confused about the process. It's not terribly difficult, but the change in language coupled with the change of systems seems to be throwing people for a loop.

One other scenario/question:

My wife and I shared a MobileMe account for syncing calendars/contacts. We also shared a separate Apple ID for purchases. I migrated the MobileMe account to iCloud and set up our phones the same way they were before. We continue to share both the iCloud account and the Apple ID. Works great.

Two questions, though. One asked by another poster, if we both got iCloud accounts, how would we sync multiple photo streams with iPhoto? Is that possible? I'd like to be able to share a photo stream with her so I can get pictures of the kids automatically on my iPad and iPhone. That is why I ultimately decided to continue sharing the single iCloud account.

Second question, can multiple iDevices back up to a single iCloud account? I don't see any reason they couldn't (obviously so long as I purchase more disk space) but I hadn't read anything anywhere regarding this.

Thanks to anyone who can weigh in.

I have a MobileMe account with a .mac address. My wife has a MobileMe email-only account with a .mac address. Two of my five computers are running OSX 10.6.8 and three are running Lion 10.7.2. Can I switch MobileMe to iCloud and still sync bookmarks and calendar with all five Macs? If I switch email accounts to iCloud, the servers are changed and should be able to be used with OSX 10.6.8. Also have two iPads(orig) and a iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G.

God! I needed this article! THANK YOU!!!!!

Thanks for the very helpful scenario suggestions. Would have figured it out myself, but so much better to have my favourite site help out. Thanks again.

Great new product--too bad in won't verify my email and Apple has no idea what is going on. Just terrific.