[macfantn]

what would someone recommend? i am tired of paying 70 - 100 for .mac just to keep the email address. is there a cheaper option to have the email only? i don't use much of the other features. if not what is a good free email service, not liking yahoo.

[the_glassman]

Gmail!

[Kr0nos]

Originally Posted by the_glassman

Gmail!

2nded

[paul w]

thirded

[voodoo]

gmail, of course.

V

[amsalpemkcus]

30gigs.com?

[willed]

Originally Posted by paul w

thirded

Lasted

[Landos Mustache]

.Mac is mostly a rip-off

[macfantn]

i can't find a good gmail domain name, can someone send me a gmail invite maybe i can try again for a new domain name. thanks.

[JoshuaZ]

Can anyone give 5 good reasons why anyone SHOULD have .mac?

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Can anyone give 5 good reasons why anyone SHOULD have .mac?

Not five, no. One or two maybe. Maybe none. After all it is just a collection of services that can be found for free in other places. Most of the time equal of .mac and sometimes better. Gmail for instance is better than .mac mail by far.

V

[Railroader]

1. You work for Apple
2. You want to easily sync a few computers.
3. You already have a .mac address and don't want to change.
4. You are clueless about site design and want a reliable and easy to maintain site.
6. You are clueless?

OK, I know those aren't "good" reasons, but they are acceptable reasons if you really don't want to invest the time in learning anything else. Personally, I'd rather spend time with my kids than invest time in learning computer crap.

FYI: I don't use .mac

[JoshuaZ]

Well, maybe you could try naming one. (I'm just trying to be nice to .Mac. If you're mean to it, it goes and cried to Steve)

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Well, maybe you could try naming one. (I'm just trying to be nice to .Mac. If you're mean to it, it goes and cried to Steve)

It is a simple way (although a bit pricey - like all things Apple) for beginners to get to be part of the internet era. Get their homepage, blog, syncing between Macs etc in a simple and painless way.

This is a good reason. Unless one already knows how to do these things. Then .mac is not worth paying for. IMO

V

[willed]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Can anyone give 5 good reasons why anyone SHOULD have .mac?

Well I have .Mac, so I'll try!

The e-mail is a nice bonus, as is the .Mac backup, but I mainly use it for web hosting.
Yeah I know, I could probably get a million GB for just �5 a month or something, but I wouldn't have the first clue where to go from there. I use iWeb, with which I've been able to create and manage quite a professional looking site. I hear iWeb doesn't play quite so nicely with other servers (i.e. Apple has crippled it I'd guess!) and iDisk is also nicely integrated with the system.

I don't have time to learn HTML and all that, so for me, .Mac is worth �60 per year. Hell, I pay �40 per MONTH for my mobile phone contract (including insurance, millions of free minutes etc), so �60 really isn't that bad.

EDIT: why does the pound sign not show up!? It's been around for 1,000 years for God's sake!

[Angus_D]

If you're going to go with gmail, I suggest you get your own domain name and forward to gmail from that. If you own the domain name, you can move providers without changing your address.

I personally like owning my e-mail address, and not having it be an advert for my ISP/Google/whatever.

[JoshuaZ]

Yeah, spending $100 for e-mail, an IM name, a gig of storage, and some backup is kind of lame. Don't know why I do it...

[Eug Wanker]

I got rid of .Mac. It's not only a ripoff, it's also unreliable. The syncing was nice... when it worked.

Anyways, I use Yahoo mail, and pay for 3rd-party web-hosting. I guess I'll use my iPod to sync my work and home computers.

BTW, there is an app to synchronize Macs on the same subnet, but I can't remember the app name off hand. I used it for my laptop and home computer and it at least worked about as well as .Mac did.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by willed

Well I have .Mac, so I'll try!

The e-mail is a nice bonus, as is the .Mac backup, but I mainly use it for web hosting.
Yeah I know, I could probably get a million GB for just �5 a month or something, but I wouldn't have the first clue where to go from there. I use iWeb, with which I've been able to create and manage quite a professional looking site. I hear iWeb doesn't play quite so nicely with other servers (i.e. Apple has crippled it I'd guess!) and iDisk is also nicely integrated with the system.

I don't have time to learn HTML and all that, so for me, .Mac is worth �60 per year. Hell, I pay �40 per MONTH for my mobile phone contract (including insurance, millions of free minutes etc), so �60 really isn't that bad.

EDIT: why does the pound sign not show up!? It's been around for 1,000 years for God's sake!

I use iWeb and am able to publish to a folder on my personal web server just fine. Not having .Mac doesn't mean you have to know html. I hear dreamhost.com is one of the best web hosts, I just have my own server. The domain name isn't quite as pretty, but free is free.

[Eug Wanker]

Personally I always hated .Mac file-serving. Depending on how it's linked, it may not always work properly. Windows users may download .bin files or whatever.

Probably my fault, but with your own host it's easier just to give the exact link to the file.

[Miniryu]

1. iDisk (much easier than FTP for the casual user).
2. iLife integration (if you actually use it, it makes placing your multimedia stuff on the web infinitely easier than anything else).
3. Sync. Its greating having my Keychain, Address book (which I can access from any computer at any time), Bookmarks (which I can access from any computer at any time), and settings sync between my three Macs.
4. The convenience of having a single user name and password for iTunes, the Apple Store, iChat, email, Apple Support Forums, etc.
5. Backup.

[mac128k-1984]

I opted for for a domain and a hosting company. I've kept my .mac account temporarly because I have my resume out there and I need to keep my email address, as I may get a request for an interview. Other then that, I'll give it the heave ho.

I like the application intergration but I have a ton of more space with dream host and the servers are faster. Again with Dreamhost I can create as many email address as I see fit. All for a less then what I pay now for .mac.

[the_glassman]

Originally Posted by mac128k-1984

I opted for for a domain and a hosting company. I've kept my .mac account temporarly because I have my resume out there and I need to keep my email address, as I may get a request for an interview. Other then that, I'll give it the heave ho.

I like the application intergration but I have a ton of more space with dream host and the servers are faster. Again with Dreamhost I can create as many email address as I see fit. All for a less then what I pay now for .mac.

And that's the problem. .Mac should come with every new Mac purchase for a year and then should be $29-$49 a year after that. It's just way over priced for what if offers.

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

BTW, there is an app to synchronize Macs on the same subnet, but I can't remember the app name off hand. I used it for my laptop and home computer and it at least worked about as well as .Mac did.

oh, that would be neat. Anyone?

[macintologist]

FreeMacWare.com � Blog Archive � MySync

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Miniryu

1. iDisk (much easier than FTP for the casual user).

iDisk is just a WebDAV mount point, nothing magical about it.

2. iLife integration (if you actually use it, it makes placing your multimedia stuff on the web infinitely easier than anything else).

Agreed, a valid plus for .Mac.

3. Sync. Its greating having my Keychain, Address book (which I can access from any computer at any time), Bookmarks (which I can access from any computer at any time), and settings sync between my three Macs.

Don't need .Mac for this

4. The convenience of having a single user name and password for iTunes, the Apple Store, iChat, email, Apple Support Forums, etc.

Don't need .Mac for this either

5. Backup.

Don't need .Mac for this, and only useful for backing up small files. Backing up your entire music or photo collection over the WAN is slow and impractical.

[im_noahselby]

For someone who has a lot of technical knowledge when it comes to computers and web design, it really isn't worth it, as similar software can be found for free. What is nice about .Mac is that all the software works together so well.

If you ever decide you don't want to renew your membership, you will lose your e-mail. So if you're put off by the cost initially, don't bother with it. If money is not an issue for you, and you'd like hassle-free, easy to use software: .Mac is a solid purchase.

Noah

[Miniryu]

Originally Posted by besson3c

iDisk is just a WebDAV mount point, nothing magical about it.

Agreed, a valid plus for .Mac.
Don't need .Mac for this

Don't need .Mac for this either

Don't need .Mac for this, and only useful for backing up small files. Backing up your entire music or photo collection over the WAN is slow and impractical.

The point isn't that the individual .Mac offerings aren't essential, it is that it is the most convenient package available that contains a bunch of useful services. If you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. But if you have the money and your time is valuable, then $100 is worth it.

It is NOT possible to sync your bookmarks, prefferences, address book, and keychains all with a single click and drag of the mouse. I don't even believe it is possible to automatically sync your keychains without .Mac.

And explain to me how I can log onto iChat, email, iTunes, etc. using the same user name and password. You can't without .Mac (unless maybe you use AOL- but that doesn't count). Again, you can do each of these things individually: .Mac simplifies your life and allows you to use just a single username. And busy people are willing to pay a lot for convenience.

Personally, I'm dropping .Mac in October. I just can't afford convenience at the moment.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Miniryu

The point isn't that the individual .Mac offerings aren't essential, it is that it is the most convenient package available that contains a bunch of useful services. If you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. But if you have the money and your time is valuable, then $100 is worth it.

It's an even better deal when you buy it on Amazon for $80.

[mac128k-1984]

Originally Posted by besson3c

iDisk is just a WebDAV mount point, nothing magical about it.
Agreed, a valid plus for .Mac.
Don't need .Mac for this
Don't need .Mac for this either
Don't need .Mac for this, and only useful for backing up small files. Backing up your entire music or photo collection over the WAN is slow and impractical.

The point I think everyone makes is that its not the single applications that you buy but the sumof the parts. As for backup, it only works if you have .mac account so while its impractical to backup your entire disk to your idisk you can back up your drive to dvds. Backup phones's home before it starts up to validate that your a valid .mac user.

All in all, I really do enjoy the efficiency and intergration that apple provides in .mac but the keyword is how much is it worth. For me the 100 bucks is a little more then I want to pay but people cannot say its not worth the price because others may place a higher value on what is being provided and so the 100 dollars may be worth it.

For me, as I said I'm kind of locked into it for a little while because I have my resume out on the various job searching boards and in people's hands. Because my resume has my .mac email address I cannot cancel .mac.

[jebjeb]

Completely agree that it is one of those things that the sum of the parts makes the package worth it.

If you don't want to spend that sort of money and have the time to sort out other less expensive/free solutions then go for it. Not being rude but 69 quid is an hour of my time and it would take me much longer to sort out other solutions that then, as a whole, would not be as intergrated as .Mac.

I do find it very interesting how pretty much everyone that has posted here saying how crud .mac is or how they can do it for free with some other tool has not actually provided any reference to those tools. Don't get me worng, I know the solutions are out there but it is strange how everyone can put down a service without providing an alternative.

I guess that is the difference between "problems" people and "solutions" people...

Just to show that I am not some .mac hugging, whale kissing hippy, I am a bit pi55ed off at them at the moment as after three years of faultless use, it has started bouncing some emails that are being forwarded from my domain name. I received a confirmation email from Apple 2 days after I emailed them for support and that was now 10 days ago. Reminder has been sent and hopefully they get their arses in gear.

Yes, I agree that it should be included with all Macs when bought new and then a cheaper renewal price afterwards. It is also due a decent upgrade with some extra functionality which I hope will be coming soon and will convince people that it is worth the money.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Miniryu

The point isn't that the individual .Mac offerings aren't essential, it is that it is the most convenient package available that contains a bunch of useful services. If you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. But if you have the money and your time is valuable, then $100 is worth it.

It is NOT possible to sync your bookmarks, prefferences, address book, and keychains all with a single click and drag of the mouse. I don't even believe it is possible to automatically sync your keychains without .Mac.

And explain to me how I can log onto iChat, email, iTunes, etc. using the same user name and password. You can't without .Mac (unless maybe you use AOL- but that doesn't count). Again, you can do each of these things individually: .Mac simplifies your life and allows you to use just a single username. And busy people are willing to pay a lot for convenience.

Personally, I'm dropping .Mac in October. I just can't afford convenience at the moment.

You don't need an *active* .Mac account to use iChat, the iTMS, or any of Apple's other services. The exception, of course, is email, but since most people fiddle with their email config once and save their password via their email client, I'd think that this wouldn't be a big deal. Besides, it may be possible to establish an identical username with a different ISP, providing it is available.

I don't like the "my time is valuable" arguments, because it implies that people who don't use .Mac have time to burn. .Mac is tailor made for people whose desired workflow matches up with the (somewhat limiting) design of .Mac.

As always, Apple sort of envisions that people are going to want to work a very specific way, and that they will happily confirm to the workflow in which their apps are designed. They tradeoff robustness for simplicity. This does seem to work well for Apple, but only up to the point where their user hits that wall in discovering the limitations of this particular workflow and desiring more flexibility.