Bob Browning's blog

The last Apple product I had was an Apple II back in the last century. So I don’t have a login to Apple (an Apple ID). But when I bought a PC from Currys, it came with 3 free months of Apple TV. I always wanted to see Slow Horses, so figured I would take them up on this. But I had to get an Apple ID first.

Via iTunes

The instructions are to download the iTunes app on my Windows 11 PC and register inside the app. When I clicked on the ‘new id’ button the app froze. It was dead, you couldn’t move the window or close the window. I gave up and reinstalled. Same thing. Eventually I uninstalled the app.

Via Apple Music on my Android phone.

I got a lot farther. I downloaded Apple Music, filled out the form and as promised, Apple sent me a code to my phone. I typed it in and it wasn’t accepted. I tried a couple of times with the same result.

So I cancelled the application and uninstalled the app.

Via the Web

I tried https://appleid.apple.com. It didn’t connect. Tried a second time. No connection. I went away and had a cup of coffee. Third attempt I got through. Filled out the form, it send me an email and a text with codes on them, which I typed in. The response this time was that the account could not be created. I tried again with the same response.

So I tried logging in with the id and password that I had entered. I got “this account has been locked for security reasons” with a link to unlock the account. The response was “This Apple ID is either not valid or not supported.”

So.

Why do they make it so hard. I strongly suspect that if I had tried with an iPhone it would have been as smooth as silk.