Any way to check if .Mac user name is taken?

Go to www.mac.com and fill out the form to signup for a free trial and enter the username you want. It will advise you if it is taken or not.

You can even secure it by taking the free trial account and then activate it later down the line when your current account runs out.

 

Once taken - always taken

AFAIK - once a name is taken, Apple will not reuse it. So, if it was taken before, it's still taken now.

The problem is, that a lot of people used their mac.com e-mail address as their Apple ID, and it would obviously create some privacy/security problems if they allowed someone else to have it.

 

I thought it was kept for you for a period, possibly 90 days or so and then it is released.

 

I resuscitated mine several years later. Same for AOL.

 

You are also allowed 5 aliases with one .Mac account. You have the main one that is tied to your account: say, bob.h@mac.com.

Then, you have up to 5 e-mail aliases (that aren't permanent): say,
thebobster@mac.com
tungsten236@mac.com
masterchief@mac.com
ipnzu@mac.com
graphicsguy@mac.com

Let's say you wanted a cool address like macrumors@mac.com. You could then delete one of the aliases and replace it with macrumors. All e-mails to macrumors@mac.com would then go to your main account. When you select the alias, you immediately know if it's available or not.

I'm not sure what Apple does to prevent abuse and spamming, though...Maybe there is a limited number of time you could delete and create aliases.

 

Nope.

For example, my dad is using his .Mac name for iChat, even though his trial account expired years ago. They can't just go and let someone else have his ID, because he is still using it; even if not as an active .Mac member.