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You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > 'Bout that time again...Will you renew .Mac this year?

View Poll Results: Will you renew .Mac this year?
Poll Options:
Yes 41 votes (53.25%)
No 17 votes (22.08%)
Never had .Mac 19 votes (24.68%)
Voters: 77. You may not vote on this poll
'Bout that time again...Will you renew .Mac this year?
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UNTeMac
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:14 PM
 
I'm not renewing this year. There are too many quality options like fastmail.fm, gmail.com, and others to make me want to spend $100 of my money on a service whose benefits have been awfully lacking this year. Will you renew?
"This show is filmed before a live studio audience as soon as someone removes that dead guy!" - Stephen Colbert
     
ManOfSteal
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:19 PM
 
Yes.
     
Krypton
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:26 PM
 
Haven't there already been hundreds of these polls?

Summary: Most people can't see why anyone would use it, but at least 3 users find syncing their bookmarks priceless.
     
Randman
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:27 PM
 
There was a poll on this very subject just a couple of weeks ago. There's no reason for this one.

LOCK LOCK LOCK LOCK

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
UNTeMac  (op)
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:52 PM
 
::shrug:: sorry
"This show is filmed before a live studio audience as soon as someone removes that dead guy!" - Stephen Colbert
     
demograph68
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:54 PM
 
When my trial expires, I'll just make a new one!
     
turtle777
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Sep 8, 2004, 03:56 PM
 
Originally posted by demograph68:
When my trial expires, I'll just make a new one!
You're a man of steal, too !?!?!

-t
     
Disgruntled Head of C-3PO
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Join Date: Jul 2001
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Sep 8, 2004, 04:24 PM
 
It costs twice as much as it should. Storage size isn't the concern with me.
"Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!"
     
itai195
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Sep 8, 2004, 04:26 PM
 
Originally posted by Randman:
There was a poll on this very subject just a couple of weeks ago. There's no reason for this one.

LOCK LOCK LOCK LOCK
Ack the thread police! * runs *

(PS, I didn't renew)
     
dcmacdaddy
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Sep 8, 2004, 04:50 PM
 
I voted "No" in this one as well as the last one. (Vote Early, Vote Often! )

Not enough value for the money. And now that I've got an iPod all my
contact info is stored there. As for my bookmarks, I will have to go
back to doing what I did pre dot-Mac, dump them all to a text file on
my other website. All I have to do then is be religious about updating
that text file. As it stands now the service is NOT worth it.
One should never stop striving for clarity of thought and precision of expression.
I would prefer my humanity sullied with the tarnish of science rather than the gloss of religion.
     
Sosa
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Sep 28, 2004, 03:55 PM
 
Like most people, I believe .mac is overpriced. I got it the first year because it was discounted at $70. Then the second year because they offered a $20 coupon which I then used to buy a airport extreme card, so effectively I paid $80. This year there are no discounts. Although I like supporting Apple whenever I can, this is too much of a bad deal for me to stomach. If they made it $50 I would pay though.

So my membership ends today. I'm going to miss having .mac on my emal. Back to yahoo now.
2011 iMac 2.7 i5, 16gb RAM, 1TB HD
Previous Macs: Apple IIc+, iMac 350 G3, iBook 700 G3, G4 Powerbooks 12" 1ghz & 15" 1.67ghz
Join Team MacNN.
     
Xeo
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Sep 28, 2004, 04:29 PM
 
As long as I get it for free again, I'll keep it.
     
turtle777
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Sep 28, 2004, 05:32 PM
 
Originally posted by Sosa:
This year there are no discounts. Although I like supporting Apple whenever I can, this is too much of a bad deal for me to stomach. If they made it $50 I would pay though.

So my membership ends today. I'm going to miss having .mac on my emal. Back to yahoo now.
You can get it for $ 75.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=230014

-t
     
icruise
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Sep 28, 2004, 05:38 PM
 
I got mine for $64.99 from buy.com with a $10 coupon (now expired). I also had a couple of friends who will be joining, and I'll get $20 each for referring them. So I'm getting my year of .Mac for around $25. Not too shabby. And yes, I do find syncing my bookmarks to be priceless.
     
drive-thru
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Sep 28, 2004, 05:45 PM
 
Haven't had it since it was free, the email and iDisk at least.
Anyone remember that?

good times.
     
Nodnarb
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Sep 28, 2004, 06:46 PM
 
This may be a dumb question, but:

I got my iBook a year ago and .Mac with it, and I use that as my primary email address. If I don't renew, is there a way to still have that email address or at least have all the mails forwarded to my new address?
     
kikkoman
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Sep 28, 2004, 06:46 PM
 
I'm actually thinking of coming back to .Mac. It seems very few companies offer imap e-mail access. I only know of SpyMac and hear mixed things about them.
     
DeathMan
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Sep 28, 2004, 07:09 PM
 
Originally posted by brandon420506:
This may be a dumb question, but:

I got my iBook a year ago and .Mac with it, and I use that as my primary email address. If I don't renew, is there a way to still have that email address or at least have all the mails forwarded to my new address?
Nope. Thats why a lot of people where calling bait and switch when they first started charging.

Steve promised more features, but I haven't really seen much going on. They could do some really cool things, but so far, they're not providing enough value. Since I'm locked in (sort of married to my email) I'll pay, but I won't be happy about it.
     
CreepingDeth
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Sep 28, 2004, 07:17 PM
 
99�for email? BS. Now the storage space I like, so I've been switching them every 60 days. That is until I find some money to get some cheap web space for some simple uploads, or until I make a site and require some real space. Anybody know of any free or dirt cheap storage space that doesn't suck. All I need is about 2GB, max.

Since I got gmail, I've been missing opening up mail and getting my messages there. I much prefer it to a browser, although they did do a good job with it.
Somebody will come up with a fix for that, like they did with hotmail.
     
Xeo
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Sep 28, 2004, 07:41 PM
 
Originally posted by CreepingDeath:
Somebody will come up with a fix for that, like they did with hotmail.
The only reason it could be done for Hotmail was because MS allowed Outlook to access Hotmail. People simply used the same protocol so other e-mail clients could access it, and finally someone built a Mail bundle around it.

As far as I know, there is no exteral mail clients that can access Gmail, and for good reason... they make the money of the ads they show you.
     
the_glassman
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Sep 28, 2004, 07:53 PM
 
.Mac is vastly under featured and over priced. If you are a smart consumer you can find all the resources that .mac offers you, except for less of a price with more space and options.
Bring back iTools!
     
E's Lil Theorem
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Sep 28, 2004, 07:58 PM
 
Originally posted by drive-thru:
Haven't had it since it was free, the email and iDisk at least.
Anyone remember that?

good times.
iTools! Yup, them there were the days.

Originally posted by CreepingDeath:
....

Since I got gmail, I've been missing opening up mail and getting my messages there. I much prefer it to a browser, although they did do a good job with it.
Somebody will come up with a fix for that, like they did with hotmail.
Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
...

and you can read gmail in mail, but you need the dev tools. 9/8 entry
Did you try this?

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...il#post2183954
     
hardcat1970
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2000
Location: new york, ny
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Sep 28, 2004, 08:16 PM
 
i really want to renew my membership since i am depending on isync to sync all my contacts and of course, my address book. The only complaint i have with .mac is the idisk is too slow.
     
Matt OS X
Mac Elite
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Sep 28, 2004, 09:27 PM
 
Yes. been member over a year now and I just got renewed but Apple charged me 65 dollars instead of 100 dollars because I referred 2 people to join .mac membership!
How nice!??!

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what Mac OS X is... you must see it for yourself."
     
thePurpleGiant
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Sep 28, 2004, 09:36 PM
 
Didn't renew last year - got nothing to renew this year. If I ever need the computer-to-computer sync I will probably buy it again.
     
wdlove
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Sep 29, 2004, 11:16 AM
 
Yes, my wife renewed her account. She uses it for her E.Mail and storage of iPhoto.

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." Winston Churchill
     
Truepop
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Sep 29, 2004, 12:07 PM
 
They just up'd storage to 250MB, anyone change their mind about renewing?
     
the_glassman
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Sep 29, 2004, 12:12 PM
 
Originally posted by Truepop:
They just up'd storage to 250MB, anyone change their mind about renewing?
That's still not enough space!
     
Peter
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Sep 29, 2004, 12:28 PM
 
Originally posted by Truepop:
They just up'd storage to 250MB, anyone change their mind about renewing?
too much money still.
     
hardcat1970
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Sep 29, 2004, 12:37 PM
 
Originally posted by Truepop:
They just up'd storage to 250MB, anyone change their mind about renewing?
slow data transfer.
     
wulf
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Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: London, UK
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Sep 29, 2004, 12:38 PM
 
Yes, I'll be renewing. I could have predicted the 250MB upgrade, they had to do something after all the post-gmail jockeying.

If you use all the services, it's not bad value. Not great, but not bad either. Sure, I could buy cheap hosting, cheap e-mail, set up scripts to do photo galleries and publish them to my web site, use a bunch of shareware apps to keep my mobile phone, iPod, laptop, desktop and office machines in sync. Plus some webDAV access, calendars etc.

But it would be a lot more hassle. I like the ease-of-use of .mac. The iSync features are indispensable to me.

Besides, I got in early with a short, memorable e-mail address, which everyone can remember.

So they've got me by the short and curlies, really.
     
dcmacdaddy
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Sep 29, 2004, 04:21 PM
 
Originally posted by dcmacdaddy:
I voted "No" in this one as well as the last one. (Vote Early, Vote Often! )

Not enough value for the money. And now that I've got an iPod all my
contact info is stored there. As for my bookmarks, I will have to go
back to doing what I did pre dot-Mac, dump them all to a text file on
my other website. All I have to do then is be religious about updating
that text file. As it stands now the service is NOT worth it.
Now this news might make me change my mind. $100 for 100MB was not worth it to me
but $100 for 250MB sounds a lot better, especially considering what so many other ISP's
are offering. Anyway, I have until 7 October 04 to decide about my renewal.
One should never stop striving for clarity of thought and precision of expression.
I would prefer my humanity sullied with the tarnish of science rather than the gloss of religion.
     
the_glassman
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Sep 29, 2004, 04:44 PM
 
Lets see for $39.99 you could get Spymac's Wheel which includes the following:

3 GB Mail (Yes thats 3 GB!) with IMAP, Virus and Spam Protection.

250 MB Online Storage Wheel Drive (iDisk) easy to use, and offers as much online storage for files, backup, etc... as the whole .mac package

Wheel Guard backup for iTunes, mail accounts, Safari book marks, address book etc...

Plus you get easy blog software and iCal integration.

They had a special promotion a few months ago where you could of purchased all of that for $19.99!
     
Zimphire
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Sep 29, 2004, 04:52 PM
 
I only had it when it was free. I didn't, and still don't think it is worth it. IMHO
     
itai195
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Sep 29, 2004, 05:00 PM
 
Originally posted by Truepop:
They just up'd storage to 250MB, anyone change their mind about renewing?
Still not worth it. I get 450MB, unlimited e-mail addresses, and much better web hosting features for less than half the price of .mac. The e-mail doesn't really matter to me since I've switched to gmail. I never really cared for bookmark syncing, and even if I did I wouldn't pay the $50+ difference for it. The only thing I miss is the ease of uploading photos, but I've found an easy to use, free application that does just as good of a job.
     
pete.z
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Rotterdam,Holland.
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Sep 29, 2004, 05:47 PM
 
Yes,I renew,again.


I like the email adress I have,and being able to use a alias now makes it even better for me.
The "boost" to 250 MB is nice,and being able to send 10 MB mails is a nice feature too.

Syncing,I use it,but I can easily live without it.Homepage?Nice for hotlinking pics.



I still will keep the spymac and gmailaccounts,the 1 gig is pretty handy for dumping the digicam pics when i'm travelling.
Not to mention various other big files i want to keep for no reason whatsoever.
MOSTLY HARMLESS

http://www.macfreak.nl
     
ajprice
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Sep 29, 2004, 06:05 PM
 
I renewed yesterday, and today they upped the capacity to 250mb. I use it for email mainly, iDisk storage and phone/iPod iSync. I think it's a good idea to keep it going, the freebies are worth a bit of what you pay, the rest is handy to have, and the @mac.com email address is nice, better than putting @hotmail or whatever, even if they are free and have the same or more storage. It's also pretty inevitable that .mac will get tied in closer to the system software.

It'll be much easier if you just comply.
     
Xeo
Moderator Emeritus
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Location: Austin, MN, USA
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Sep 29, 2004, 06:32 PM
 
Well, I got it for free again, so I guess I'm renewing.
     
storer
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Sep 29, 2004, 06:34 PM
 
apple needs to take a leaf out of spymacs book.
     
Krusty
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Sep 29, 2004, 06:46 PM
 
Yes, I'll be renewing. Just got the email from Apple stating that they are updating iDisk storage to 250mb (yay !!) I use a LOT of the features with .Mac Having all in one place, with one account, with one yearly bill is worth the price to me. If you just use web-drive and email, then its probably not worth the cost. Many cheaper options out there.
     
bradoesch
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Sep 29, 2004, 06:56 PM
 
Originally posted by Krusty:
Yes, I'll be renewing. Just got the email from Apple stating that they are updating iDisk storage to 250mb (yay !!) I use a LOT of the features with .Mac Having all in one place, with one account, with one yearly bill is worth the price to me. If you just use web-drive and email, then its probably not worth the cost. Many cheaper options out there.
Did you get the first email with the buggered HTML? They sent me a second one that was properly formatted.


I'll also be renewing. I don't want to change email addresses, the iDisk is more than I need and I put the iPhoto integration to good use.
     
Xeo
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Sep 29, 2004, 07:05 PM
 
I like being able to have a sync'd set of bookmarks and stuff on my iDisk. That's always been handy. And I serve images and stuff for MacNN and whatnot from my iDisk. I know they have a bigger pipe than my personal server behind my DSL.
     
Sealobo
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Sep 29, 2004, 07:13 PM
 
I did last year, but not again~
     
Krusty
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Sep 29, 2004, 07:13 PM
 
Originally posted by bradoesch:
Did you get the first email with the buggered HTML? They sent me a second one that was properly formatted.
Nope .. only got one and it was fine. You must've been in a wave before me and got a bum email
I also just went to the .mac website. Upping your drive space to 1 gb is only 49.95 more . I remember when iDisk was free with 20mb storage. I actually paid an extra $50 to get 50mb more space at that time (70mb was perfect size for sending an album to myself at work).
     
Krusty
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Sep 29, 2004, 07:16 PM
 
Originally posted by Xeo:
I like being able to have a sync'd set of bookmarks and stuff on my iDisk. That's always been handy. And I serve images and stuff for MacNN and whatnot from my iDisk.
Yah, it was nice being able to reset all my prefs/bookmarks/addresses on a clean install on my new machine a few months ago.
Originally posted by Xeo:

I know they have a bigger pipe than my personal server behind my DSL.
hrrmmph ... sounds like pipe envy
     
Kenneth
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Sep 29, 2004, 08:55 PM
 
Yes.. going to do it tonight.
     
Xeo
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Sep 29, 2004, 09:08 PM
 
Originally posted by Krusty:
Yah, it was nice being able to reset all my prefs/bookmarks/addresses on a clean install on my new machine a few months ago.

hrrmmph ... sounds like pipe envy
If you're afraid of pipe envy, don't look up information about Japanese internet. I mean, at 50Mbps down for $40/mo, that's bound to make everyone on this side of the ocean a little flush.
     
zigzag
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Sep 29, 2004, 09:19 PM
 
Yes. It's not a good value for e-mail alone, but if you want to sync more than one Mac, it's almost indispensable. Sometimes you have to pay for convenience.

I've also used the license-free music for video projects.

You can renew for $80 via Amazon, with free shipping.
     
Krusty
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Sep 29, 2004, 09:44 PM
 
Originally posted by zigzag:

You can renew for $80 via Amazon, with free shipping.
How exactly does that work ? They send you a physical box ? With what inside ? It can be used to renew an existing account ?

Sorry, never done it any way but directly thru Apple. $80 makes it a REAL steal.
     
qualey2
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Syracuse New York
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Sep 29, 2004, 10:01 PM
 
never had it never will
tried a free account once didnt like it over rated
     
 
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