Possible .Mac pilgrimage...

[noahsnyc]

Hello -

So, magically, my HTTPmail connection to Hotmail stopped working and, even with the new version, I can't seem to get it up and running. I've re-installled, rebuilt mailboxes and even erased everything (after exporting all my mail, of course).

Well, it's a bitch to say the least, and, even with my fancy new gmail account (not to brag), I still feel the need for something more, shall we say, grown-up...

So, I've decided that it might be time to consider a .Mac account. Now, I know that storage is a bit limited, but it also seems to really have the integration down.

Any tips or thoughts?? I'm going to let myself and my $100 be easily swayed, since I've never paid for email before, but I'm begining to be prepared to do so. I think .Mac is the way to go, and I've tried Spymac and whatnot, .Mac just seems to really be "idiot-proof" and maybe that's what I need.

Help. Hook it up with some wisdom on the pros and cons of .Mac....

Thanks

N.

 

[James_C]

I think this is an issue that divides the Mac community. Some people (like me) think it is worth the money and some don't (which is fine). I suggest that you sign up for the free trail period, that lets you try most of the services free for 60 days. http://www.mac.com/WebObjects/Welcome

I have never dabbled in html so to have some easy to use and simple tools to create web pages from photos (iphoto) and movies from iMovie, I find incredibly useful, as we have friends and family all over the UK and world. I am lucky to have more than one Mac , and the .mac sync tools are a godsend. I have found the iDisk pretty useful too. As I am sure others will mention, much of .Mac can be found cheaper or better from other vendors. But for me the easy of use, simplicity and integration makes it worth (for me) $99 a year. I have had .Mac now for two years and just about to sign up for my 3rd year in a couple of months.

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....well, we have certainly had quite a few threads about "is .mac worth it?" already....but I will state my opinion yet again anyway.

If all you are looking at is the mail part of it, there is no way it is worth $99. But, for me anyway, having iSync to keep my calendar, addresses, bookmarks etc in sync with my Powerbook, plus an easy to use homepage where I can put up some photos for others to see, plus an iDisk (that granted needs to be upgraded with bigger allotments), plus some free games once in a while etc etc..all adds up to being worth it to *me*.....oh yeah!

 

[thequicksilver]

I posted this on another forum last week in reply to someone with a similar question. It still applies, so with apologies for self-plagiarising, I'm pasting it below:

I think it's frankly appalling value. Now I've had a trial of .mac, and appreciated the seamless nature of the service - esp. with iPhoto and iSync - but if I tell you what I get with my web hosting company for $35 per year including domain you'll see where I'm coming from.

• Unlimited email addresses, with my own domain.
• 500MB webspace/email capacity.
• Something like 15GB monthly bandwidth, my site barely touches 500MB transfer most months anyway.
• Unlimited MySQL databases.
• One click installation of things like phpBB/Invision/pMachine etc.

There's more features, but in my opinion, saving about $65pa getting all that extra stuff in exchange for a little less automation is worth it.

I can appreciate that if you've got used to .mac, it's difficult to let go of, but charging $99 annually for that is nothing short of a rip off from where I'm sitting. 15MB (the size of the email inbox with .mac) is soon going to be about 15 times smaller than Hotmail. That's appalling.

As much as I've developed a dislike for the site and the company, Spymac's Wheel is infinitely better value.

 

[iMeowbot]

Is that the httpmail plugin for Mail.app? That's always been a flaky way to get into Hotmail. A much more reliable method is hotwayd -- in fact it's boring and predictable enough that I had a little trouble just now remembering its name. It takes a bit of work to initially install it, but after that it's basically transparent.

On .Mac: I've basically been happy with it. For me it's been a lot more reliable than less-expensive alternatives, and I want the availability more than capacity. The integration with the Finder and so on are certainly positive, but again secondary considerations here.

 

[noahsnyc]

iMeowbot -

hotwayd seems fantastic - unfortunately, it's a bit too complicated for me. That was always the plus for using HTTPmail, since it bqasically did everything for you. Once you get me into the Terminal, I'm an unstoppable madman, and I don't want to do any serious damage.

Is there a GUI or simpler interface for hotwayd or the like? HTTPMail should work, but is being finicky all of a sudden, and after plenty of re-installs, I'm afraid it just konked-out.

Thanks

N.

 

[jsalzer]

Who says size doesn't matter?

I started using .Mac back when it was a free service for Mac owners (I don't even remember what it was called). When they first started charging for it, I had the same struggles going through my mind.

It's a terrible deal from a financial perspective. Only 15MB and only one e-mail account. Only 100MB for iDisk storage (and they expect people to back up to it?).

But it's just so gosh darn convenient. I don't have to ftp to make changes to my web site. I can access my calendar and contacts from any computer with web access. You get Virex for free (which I may have to start using now that Norton is giving up on Macs).

I'd feel less bad about parting with my money if they'd up the size of standard storage and e-mail, but I still hold on to it and have no immediate intention of letting it go.

 

[DJY]

I can access my calendar and contacts from any computer with web access.

Am I not missing something here?
I really want to be able to sync my iCal with my .Mac account - so that I can look at my Calendar from the web anywhere - but I don't want the whole world to see it?

Am I right in that you can only either share it with the world - or not iSync it at all?

If we can have private folders and files, is seems silly that I can't have my iCal in my .Mac but only have it viewable to me or those I choose to let see it?

 

[dobbin]

I was strongly against .mac when Apple started charging for it because I thought there was nothing there that you couldn’t get for free elsewhere. However, I paid for the first year to give it a go and I reluctantly paid for the second year because it is quite good and I don’t want to change my email address (seems a bit like blackmail to me!). I may pay again, but I’d like to see a price cut or an increase in storage space for the same money. I might consider not renewing, but I probably will.

The most useful part of .mac for me is being able to quickly and easily put my photos onto a webpage. I could do this using other methods, but never as quickly and easily as with iPhoto and homepage.

For example, if I go away for the weekend, maybe to a wedding or to visit some friends, then I always like to take lots of photos. When I get home on Sunday evening I transfer the photos from my camera to iPhoto and then put a selection of them on my homepage. This takes just a few minutes and that’s all I can be bothered with on a Sunday evening when I’m tired and have better things to do.

If it wasn’t for .mac my photos wouldn’t get on to the web for a few days, probably not until the next weekend when I’m at home with spare time. By then, the moment has passed and people are not so interested. When I send the URL to my friends on a Monday morning, I always get replies saying “that’s cool, thanks for doing it straight away” “thanks for taking the trouble to do it so quickly” etc. Actually its virtually no trouble at all.

However I am nearly at the 100Mb limit and I certainly wouldn’t pay for any more. If I can’t fit any more photos on my homepage site then .mac loses a lot of its value to me. I’d like to see it go up by say, 50Mb a year as a bonus for loyal members who keep renewing. For new members it could stay at 100Mb to start with and then they could get more for each year they stay. I think I might suggest that to Apple, as I think that’s a good idea!!!!

 

[dobbin]

Another story why I like .mac.

I use iSync to sync my SonyEricsson P800 phone with Addressbook and .mac. Last week my P800 crashed when the memory card was full and I lost all my data. I was able to retrieve the most important data (names and numbers) using iSync.

I know this isn’t strictly speaking a benefit of .mac and I could have done it anyway, but its all part of the same system and that makes it so easy. If syncing wasn’t easy, then I wouldn’t bother doing it regularly and I would have lost all my phone numbers last week. This is perhaps more an advert for iSync and addressbook than .mac, but for me I use them all together and its easy.

It won’t take much to make me renew my .mac, but a little sweetener (see previous post) would make it a definite for me.

 

[jsalzer]

Am I not missing something here?
I really want to be able to sync my iCal with my .Mac account - so that I can look at my Calendar from the web anywhere - but I don't want the whole world to see it?

Well, yes and no. It'll be there for everyone to see, but unless you give someone the exact address for it, who's going to find it? If you have a stalker who knows you have a .mac account, then I'd be concerned. I also probably wouldn't put "house is empty - come rob me" if you take a vacation. But, for seeing meetings and stuff, it's very nice.

Something that I would like to see is the ability to access iCal through the .mac website (like Address Book) so that you don't have to publish it to the web and so that you can make changes right there without your Mac on hand (to schedule an appointment, etc.) Now that would be sweet!

 

[SiliconAddict]

Guys. Question. A while ago I read about some way to trick .Mac into pointing to your own web server.
Over the last few months I've been compiling as much info, along with software I want to install, into a links directory so when I switch I will have all the info I need compiled into one dir ready to referance it.
The prob is I can't find this info again. I have a home server with a broadband connection and would like to setup my future G5 PowerBook (Yah yah I know its going to be awhile.) with this server. So does anyone know where I can find this info again?

 

[DJY]

Something that I would like to see is the ability to access iCal through the .mac website (like Address Book) so that you don't have to publish it to the web and so that you can make changes right there without your Mac on hand (to schedule an appointment, etc.) Now that would be sweet!

Thats what I meant.
Seems stupid that you can do it for Mail, and Address Book, but not iCal?!