You can’t get far in the world of Apple products and services without an Apple ID. You’ll need an Apple ID in order to make purchases from the App Store or iTunes Music Store. The Apple ID links all your Apple products, keeping your information in sync, and allowing you to enjoy the apps and services you have paid for across your devices. An Apple ID also provides a level of security and can be used to implement Activation Lock if your Apple device is stolen.
Happily, it’s easy to set an Apple ID up and doing so is free. In this article we show how to create an Apple ID.
There’s no requirement to have an Apple product to link the ID to, allowing anybody to create an account in preparation for purchasing – or even if you’re merely a curious Windows or Linux user. A free unlinked account provides limited access to iCloud, in order to use the online versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote, and you’ll get 1GB of free iCloud storage to boot. However, aside from accessing this storage space from the aforementioned web-based apps, you can’t access it any other way – for example, via the iCloud Windows for Windows app – unless you first link the Apple ID to a Mac or iOS device by signing in there.
Read more at MacWorld.com