[cmeisenzahl]

maintain a blog, use PCs at work and some at home, and I mainly use yahoo and gmail for email. I also use photobucket.com to host images.

If I get .Mac, what will I be able to take advantage of? Will I get things that I won't find elsewhere? What is most compelling about it? I probably would not use the email service at this point. It's too important for me right now to be able to access my email from anywhere via a browser.


Thanks in advance,

Chris

[CatOne]

Originally posted by cmeisenzahl:
maintain a blog, use PCs at work and some at home, and I mainly use yahoo and gmail for email. I also use photobucket.com to host images.

If I get .Mac, what will I be able to take advantage of? Will I get things that I won't find elsewhere? What is most compelling about it? I probably would not use the email service at this point. It's too important for me right now to be able to access my email from anywhere via a browser.


Thanks in advance,

Chris

You can access .Mac email from anywhere via a browser. You have always been able to.

You can use .Mac for hosting photos from iPhoto -- it works well. My needs for photography are a bit above what it offers, though (it resizes images, etc.).

The killer features, for me, are iSync and iDisk. And the synching will be improving substantially with Tiger. If you have more than 1 Mac, it's outstanding.

[typoon]

Originally posted by CatOne:
You can access .Mac email from anywhere via a browser. You have always been able to.

You can use .Mac for hosting photos from iPhoto -- it works well. My needs for photography are a bit above what it offers, though (it resizes images, etc.).

The killer features, for me, are iSync and iDisk. And the synching will be improving substantially with Tiger. If you have more than 1 Mac, it's outstanding.

Not only that but you can access all your bookmarks via .Mac as well. For someone who travels that is a great feature if you are not near your Mac. Or if you are at a relatives house and they only have a PC or have a Mac that you are temporarily using.

[hodaddy]

actually, you seem to have found reasonable replacements for most of what .mac offers. so, technically speaking you wont see many advantages in .mac.

BUT

where it shines is in its integration with the 'i' apps: iPhoto, iSync, etc.

i dont maintain a blog using .mac--there may be solutions to optimize that. i'm actually content/too lazy to switch from blogger. but, i DO use iPhoto to create photo albums extensively. the ease with which i can just go to iPhoto, create an album, and create a page from within one application is enough for me to fork over the $$$ each year.

the rest of the features: email address, webdav, free/discounted software offers, global bookmarks, data syncing, backup software, antivirus software, iCal integration--are all just gravy.

check out my homepage--i'm not saying it's anything to write home about contentwise. but, the whole thing was done from within iPhoto versions 1-5 in a matter of 1 or two clicks.

[Old Toad]

Originally posted by cmeisenzahl:
It's too important for me right now to be able to access my email from anywhere via a browser.

To add what the others have said, you can access you email by a browser or by an email application like Mail or Eudora. Your choice. I use it to maintain my personal website and for the email. You can have several alias email accounts (all tied in to your primary) so that you can tell if some sites are selling your email address). I created one just for shopping on line for that reason. You get 250 MB free space with the basic account.

You can sign up for a 3 mo. trial account to see if it will serve your purposes. If you decide to go for it, you can buy a DotMac account kit from Amazon.com at a discount and use the reg. number that comes with the kit for converting your trial account to a paid one.

It works best with broadband, but then what doesn't.

[cmeisenzahl]

Thanks very much guys.