.Mac worth it?

[DTphonehome]

So, with the imminent release of Tiger, and Amazon.com's $77 before rebate price on .Mac for a year, the question arises: Is it worth it?

I know of all the features that are already offered. I already have more email addresses than I use, and I've got a good amount of free webspace. So in light of those two features not being worth much to me, is .Mac worth it? Are there new features coming that tie into Tiger that will increase the value?

I would love to hear from current .Mac users, as well as those who have considered and rejected it.

--DT

 

[DXoverDY]

So, with the imminent release of Tiger, and Amazon.com's $77 before rebate price on .Mac for a year, the question arises: Is it worth it?

I know of all the features that are already offered. I already have more email addresses than I use, and I've got a good amount of free webspace. So in light of those two features not being worth much to me, is .Mac worth it? Are there new features coming that tie into Tiger that will increase the value?

I would love to hear from current .Mac users, as well as those who have considered and rejected it.

--DT

the only thing that might be worth it is you get some .mac only widgets and of course publishing of your calendars on .mac, and finally applications can now be written to use isync and sync to .mac. I really wish apple would allow us to use other servers though since i have an 80 gig drive in a dedicated server that would store more than .mac and might actually be useful to me.

 

[snowdog]

I quit my .Mac subscription before the first year ran out.
I have had some serious problems getting my bookmarks to sync.

First they wouldn't show at all after syncing.
Then the support team fixed something at their end, and I had my bookmarks online.

About two months ago my bookmarks wasn't updated even though syncing was fine.

I have exchanged countless of emails with the support team.
I have followed everything they have suggested. Nothing has helped.

But the worst part is their negligence to their customers.

They treat all their customers by their list of solutions.
You can not ask a specific question and hope for an answer.
They just ignore it.

Also, the time it takes for them to respond is pathetic.
After I've supplied them with the necessary information, they could be quiet for weeks.
Asking again would only give me a reply with, "Sorry we haven't got back to you...". And then nothing else.
No new information. Nothing that tells me that they are still working on my case.

I've been reasonable all the time. Trying to work with them.
Not beeing a smartass.

I'm not going to sign up for this service again.

I understand that my case is specific, not all members are encountering the same kind of problems that I have.

But if something goes wrong you rely on the support, and if that doesn't work...

 

[DTphonehome]

I quit my .Mac subscription before the first year ran out.
I have had some serious problems getting my bookmarks to sync.

First they wouldn't show at all after syncing.
Then the support team fixed something at their end, and I had my bookmarks online.

About two months ago my bookmarks wasn't updated even though syncing was fine.

I have exchanged countless of emails with the support team.
I have followed everything they have suggested. Nothing has helped.

But the worst part is their negligence to their customers.

They treat all their customers by their list of solutions.
You can not ask a specific question and hope for an answer.
They just ignore it.

Also, the time it takes for them to respond is pathetic.
After I've supplied them with the necessary information, they could be quiet for weeks.
Asking again would only give me a reply with, "Sorry we haven't got back to you...". And then nothing else.
No new information. Nothing that tells me that they are still working on my case.

I've been reasonable all the time. Trying to work with them.
Not beeing a smartass.

I'm not going to sign up for this service again.

I understand that my case is specific, not all members are encountering the same kind of problems that I have.

But if something goes wrong you rely on the support, and if that doesn't work...

Thanks for the feedback. Tech support isn't even an issue I had considered, but now that you bring it up, it's something I will consider. Right now it doesn't look like I'll sign up. If there's something compelling coming with Tiger, maybe then. But right now I think I'll save my 47 bucks.

--DT

 

[jayscheuerle]

It was worth it when it was free...

 

[kgarner]

Just a counter-point to the tech support thing (kind of). I can't really speak to how the tech support is, but I can say that in my using .Mac for two years, I have never needed to contact tech support. I am not really using it much now (just upload albums from iPhoto mostly), and I am undecided about renewing when it comes back around. I think that unless Tiger offers some realy useful features, I probably won't. I have a good amount of webspace like you and I can cobble together about any feature I want on that. I have liked the integration with the iLife apps, but I am not sure if that warrants the price. All depends on how you value the services provided.

 

[Mr. Durden]

I love it for the one click web pages of photos, the syncing abilities and the iDisc. I know you can get more space elsewhere, but I for one like just being able to do one-click (basically) uploads of photos and movies. Its nice and simple.

$99 does make me wince a bit though. $50 would be fine... In the end, I'll probably re-up next month anyway. Partly because I've already invested in setting it up and family and friends already know where to go for seeing the family pics and movies, etc. Dont want to have to start all over again...

 

[aricher]

.mac has saved my a$$ on more than one occasion. I've used it as a way to check calendar, address book, bookmarks and transfer files while out of the office/country. I do have a gripe about the time it takes to upload larger files. Hopefully this is something that Apple will fix with or after the release of Tiger. Sure you could buy more web space for the money but the tight integration with iLife is great IMHO.

 

[peterjhill]

As a counterpoint... I use .mac everyday...

Here is why...

email... my mac.com email address is my primary address. It is not tied to my ISP or my employer. It allows imap access and has a decent amount of storage. Its uptime is pretty good. Yes it breaks sometimes, but I work in IT. I know that things break and 100% costs alot of money.

homepage... sure I could host my own site or get free or cheap webspace elsewhere, but when combined with @mac.com email... it is a great combo.

free software... Apple has given away some nice addicting games over the years.

iDisk... I don't often use it, but I do keep some information on it that is nice to be able to access when I want to.

iSync... Keeps my home computer and work computer in touch with each other... I also can use my iPod, but I don't connect it to my work computer every day.

If Apple did not give it away for free when they first released it, people would not be so bitter about having to pay for it and expect so much... For less than $10 a month it is not a bad deal.

 

[MacManTexas56]

well you guys may want to check out the 60 day free trial they are offering right now. i've used it through that for about a week now and i think it's really great. now i don't know if ill upgrade to be a full member, unless i call them up and ask them if they are going to have more themes once you pay the $99. I don't think it's worth it if you only get several not so great themes. If it has a whole load of themes to do your pictures page with i think it's really worth it. it only takes like a minute to upload your pics and create your webpage. i would recommend just trying the 60day trial first and see what you think. I'm just surprised how easy it is and how quick it is to get your pics and site up on the web.

 

[StarbucksSam]

I had it right when they changed over to payment service. That was YEARS ago. I guess it was in 02... I think it was. Yes. It was.

It sucked then. It just SUCKED. I spent 100 dollars which BACK THEN was ten weeks allowance. Or was it less... yes... there was a promo. Yes. There was. LOL.

As you can see it's been a long time, but my recollection was that I wasted my money.

 

[snowdog]

The thing that got me, and many others, hooked on .Mac was the nice integration of iPhoto and webalbums.

Now, if you want to try something pretty close, have a look at Galerie.
Galerie homepage

Galerie not only works with iPhoto but with iView Media as well.

Almost as simple to use as iPhoto/.Mac.
Just start iPhoto, select your favourite album, and select create album in Galerie.
Galerie will take care of the rest.
It will create thumbnails, prompt you for descriptions for each photo (if you want).
Scale each picture to a predetermined size.
Upload all files to you ftp.

It can also create an index-page for all your albums.
Loads of templates, with the possibility to add your own or customize the existing ones.

It can be very simple, yet it is possible to customize almost every part of the process.

And it's free.

 

[timnosenzo]

I use my .Mac account all the time. I have 2 Macs that I use on a regular basis and its very nice to have all the same address book, bookmarks, calendar, and iDisk on both computers. Also the webpage publishing from iPhoto is really easy to use and great for when you want to throw together a quick photo webpage.

 

[peterjhill]

Maybe what it comes down to... If you have more money than time, .mac can be worth it...

If you have multiple macs, dotmac can be worth it...

If $100 is a lot of money, it is not worth it... I remember when I was in high school I thought ten bucks was a fortune. I'm not kidding.... I babysat for $1.50 an hour... This was in 1987, but movies still cost 5 bucks then...

Well, I digress... With .mac, things just work... like others said, address books get sync'd, tomorrow nearly everything gets sync'd. Free games of pretty good quality... Marble Madness is pretty addicting.

If you are a college student with one mac, there is very little chance that .mac is worth it... If you are in high school, it probably is not for you...

Just my opinion... subsistute all those "you"s with "me"s and that was me 15 years ago (and more, yikes)

 

[DTphonehome]

Thanks for all the feedback. All things considered, it's probably not going to be very useful for me. I can see how some would find it very helpful, though.

--DT