Apple .Mac 4.0 Online Service (Mac) [OLDER VERSION] Reviews

• Overpriced and Underperforms; Alternatives

  
  By A3IGXJLHR3HZJE on 2006-04-28
  I wrote a review for the 3.5 version of .Mac here on Amazon discussing alternatives to the service. Many of my complaints are still valid: the service is unacceptably slow and the online feaures are rather weak. Rather than rehash those points, below is a revised chart for how to replace .Mac for free (in most cases):
  
  Webmail/Email: Gmail. You'll gain address autocomplete, cell phone access, among other features. Plus, you can still have offline copies in Mac OS X Mail by using POP access (tip 1: set up a rule in Mac Mail to mark every message as read and use the Gmail online interface, or go POP-only if you prefer the desktop client; tip 2: try the Gmail Notifier program for handier integration of Gmail on your Mac.) Free.
  
  Picture Sharing: Kodak EasyShare Gallery. The free Cocoa Kodak EasyShare program allows you to import photos from your digital camera, edit and organize them, and upload them to web for sharing with family and friends (no need to upgrade iPhoto as part of iLife every year for $70). Online albums can sync automatically with your Mac. Free (buying prints costs extra).
  
  Calendar sharing: iCalX. This service is very easy to set up, and you don't need a special utility to use it with iCal. Also, you can have password-protected private calendars with iCalX unlike with .Mac. Free. (Google Calendar might also be an option for you.)
  
  Sync: Plaxo works very well for address book synchronization (and it works with Thunderbird as well as the Mac OS X Address Book). You might also want to consider Del.icio.us for online bookmarks. Both Free.
  
  Groups: There are many: Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups, Writeboard, Blogger... All Free.
  
  Photocasting/Blogging (iWeb): Both are available easy-to-use and pretty at Blogger. Or, try the new Google Pages service. Both Free. RapidWeaver is a simple program for making websites. Mac OS X has built-in web hosting capability, you could try DynDNS (free) for hosting web pages on your own computer.
  
  Backup (to disk): Silverkeeper by LaCie. Free. (Also see iDisk alternatives below for online backup options.)
  
  iDisk: If you still need online storage you may want to invest in a hosting company that offers sFTP access. I recommend Yummy FTP as a great FTP client for Mac. Or, you can use Transmit by Panic and Automator actions (for Mac OS 10.4) for online file operations (Yummy FTP can also do automated sync). Alternatively, your internet service provider might already inlcude webspace with your account. Finally, Google is rumored to soon offer a Gdrive online file storage service as part of Gmail.
  
  

• Complete Mac Utilities Suite - Well, Almost

  
  By A18D1RLW38LVLW on 2006-07-07
  The .Mac services are a great intruduction to anyone in the Mac world. DotMac offers free online training and lessons to subscribers, this is especially useful to new users of the platform.
  As far as the utilities, I'll say that they're great and could still be better. I use Apple's Mail as my main email and it works flawlessly both web based and through Mail. It synchronizes all my mail and I can see the same messages anywhere, unlike POP3.
  iWeb hosting lets you publish your own websites to Apple's servers, and with 1GB of storage, you have plenty of space for all your family pictures, blogs, music and more.
  iDisk is also a very useful tool; and I use it constantly as well. I can copy documents to my iDisk and view them from any computer, whether Mac or not.
  My only complaint is address book synchronization. Sometimes I add, edit or delete a contact on my Mac, and it will take a while before I can see the changes online; even after manually synchronizing .Mac.
  Backup is also a great tool offered with .Mac, and you can easily back up your stuff to Apple's servers. The Backup wizard is very easy to follow and self explanatory. If you're a regular user, Backup is a great tool because it does it all on its own; all you do is run the wizard to configure it.
  Overall, the .Mac service is a great idea and it's easy to use. There are other alternatives to the services offered by .Mac, but the most important facts to consider are integration to the OS and its ease of use.
  
  

• Easy, Stylish and Fun

  
  By A3EW2L59UBHQSG on 2006-03-07
  This software package gives you an account with .Mac for one year at a lower price than you can get through Apple. You'll get an @mac.com email address, 1GB of storage space on Apple's servers (upgradeable to 4GB with an extra fee) and a few other services. Those services are:
  
  Webmail - Access to your mail from any computer with internet access.
  
  Homepage - An insanely easy to use program for posting your own webpages. You can even password protect them if you so choose.
  
  iWeb Integration - Easy one click publishing of the web pages you create with Apples new iWeb application. (web address will be web.mac.com/user name, where user name is name you choose for your .Mac account)
  
  iDisk - Your personal storage disk on the internet. Perfect for sharing files and archiving.
  
  Groups - Communicate, coordinate and stay in touch with your group of friends, team or organization with a customized website, calendar and message board.
  
  Backup 3 - A very easy to use program for backig up your important files to iDisk, CD, DVD and/or external drives.
  
  Support - Online support in the form of Quick Time movies that demonstrate how to use your .Mac account and other Apple products.
  
  Photocasting - Like podcasting but with pictures. Allows subscribers to stay up-to-date with any changes you make to your album.
  
  Info Sharing - Access your Address Book and Bookmarks from any computer connected to the internet. You can even post your iCal calendars to the web to share with others.
  
  This is the perfect solution for people (like me) who don't want to be bothered with finding (and learning how to use) multiple other companies software to preform these same tasks. It's also good to know that someone's watching your back. Apple does this by continually updating the support pages as well as offering many free programs, demos and discounts through iDisk. For me though, the best feature (besides email) is the iWeb integration. It allows me to easily keep family and friends up to date with my life. I post a blog and movies as well as photos from special occations. And speaking of email it's terrific. It's best feaute is the ability to create aliases (up to five of them) so you can have a different email address for shopping, groups and message boards. If ever an alias is getting too much spam, just temporarliy turn it off.
  
  For keeping family up to date, sharing files, backing up important files and enjoying a feature rich email account you could hardly do better than a .Mac account.
  
  
  

• Good services... except website hosting.

  
  By A2FF33KJVFOPMA on 2006-02-20
  I've been a mac lover for years, and while the website creation, uploading, backup software, email, iDisk, and support services are all top-notch and Very easy to use... my one squall would be the URL of the website they give you for hosting. It is a very long URL, and can be confusing for some people. Such length is horrible if you want to remember it and give it to a friend to write down so they can check out your site. If you are not using .Mac 4.0 for your own website hosting, you cannot beat the deal. However, if you are planning on having your own website as the primary reason for buying .Mac, you would be far better off with GeoCities or some other hosting. For other tips on Mac products (I have been a professional Mac user for 4 years) please email me at topaz3in6@mac.com
  
  

• CAVEAT EMPTOR

  
  By A3QVR5QUYNSB83 on 2006-04-14
  In theory this is a great service, HOWEVER - if you're seeking this for syncing, then be prepared for unreliability and quite simply lack of functionality. Many, many people have experienced problems syncing for weeks now. For me personally this feature simply does not work. I have 3 Macs and tried every suggestion out there. If you don't believe me, go to the .Mac forums and see how this is affecting people. Apple is doing little to resolve this; in fact the latest OSX update only made these problems worse. The status officially still claims to be "online and operational"; VERY misleading!
  
  
• Great for seniors & kids
  By AB6S6A56UMEUQ on 2006-08-19
  We recently bought .Mac for our 90 year old mother, who loves email & surfing on her iMac, but needs a very stable, simple platform. She recently moved to an independent living apartment with high speed internet, but the provider does not provide email addresses and expects users to access web-based email, which we know is just too confusing & too many steps for our mother, who is very used to Apple Mail. Now she has a .mac address, completely integrated by the Apple OS, & it took less than 5 minutes. Yes, it's an expensive mailbox, but I'm so glad it is available.
  
  
• .Mac is something of a joke
  By A1PP16O2JXUZLH on 2006-07-19
  Why would anyone want to pay for web services such as these when the same stuff can be found free at various sites? Gmail offers its free email services with 1GB space. Various photo sites allow you to post, distribute, and print your pics. Sure .mac allows you to work "seamlessly" with iphoto but is this really worth the yearly membership price? Evidently, many reviewers don't think so and I would heartily agree. I wish apple would put its energy into something more worthy. I love mac products and think their computers, laptops, ipod are top rate--so why waste their time on a service that resembles AOL?
  
  
• Reliable Email that doesn't change
  By A2R3A3K16A7O2Y on 2006-08-31
  I've had a .Mac account since it was Free. If you want an Email address that never changes and has a high profile name, .Mac is the way to go. I've had a .Mac account for several years, meanwhile my Cable company has changed 3 times in 2 years just from companies buying each other out. I've moved 3 more times with different cable companies. My work email accounts have changed several times as well. I find that the .Mac account saves me from buying new business cards every couple of months because of email changes and it gives me a sense of permanence in a very temporal world.
  
  
• Good, cheap, and easy
  By A3LGBO688LYJJ0 on 2006-10-14
  If you don't mind spending $7 a month for very simple solution to certain problems, .Mac is the way to go. Yes there are free options that do the same, there are cheaper options that do the same, but you know what, if you are like me and don't have the time to search and decide and weigh features to save yourself a crummy $2-$7 an month, many easy to use (and therefore quick to use and learn) features are there. I can post pictures on the internet in 3 clicks from attaching the camera! This service simplifies several areas of my life, keeps me from having to carry a PDA, learning how to make websites, and lets me make good enough ones in a minute or two for various functions. I would complain that if you need to store and move large files back and forth from .Mac that it's not very fast, but it works just fine. I have never had a problem with my mail going down or other service interuptions.
  
  THE BIG SPEED ADVANTAGE IS THAT SO MUCH CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WITH SO FEW CLICKS OF A MOUSE.
  
  
• Depends on what you want from your computer
  By A2XIOXRRYX0KZY on 2007-01-07
  How well the .mac account will work for you and whether it'll be worth the money really depends on how you work with your computer and how you want to work with it. You can definitely find other services out there that fill one or more of the same functions that you would get from .mac and you may also be able to add up all of the services you want and come up with a price tag lower than that of a .mac account.
  
  What you really need to think about when you're deciding to buy this is how much the difference in cost means to you compared to the amount of effort that it will save you. In a service like this, I'll often see other computer users talk about how you can do the job with something much cheaper. What they sometimes forget is that some people just don't want to spend time (or don't HAVE time for) learning a number of different kinds of software and how to go about using them.
  
  If you're in that group, having all of the services included in .mac as a set is a big help. It means that you'll have fewer different sets of settings to maintain, and the user interfaces will work in roughly the same way for all of them so that you can spend less time trying to figure it out. Also, some other software might require that you spend more time on things like figuring out what server names to tell it, what port numbers to use, and that kind of thing. With the .mac set, however, the software knows immediately that it will be contacting the .mac servers, so already handled for you.
  
  If you're a power user, you'll probably find it easy to find other services to do what you want to do and you'll probably find figuring them out to be easy enough that this isn't worth the cost to you. If you use your computer more casually, and you just want to do what you want to do and then get back to the rest of your life there's a good chance this is worth it.
  
  One warning that I should add, if you're considering buying this so that you can get the use of the excellent Backup program that comes in the set, it may actually not be worth it. The next version of OS X (10.5 aka Leopard) includes a feature known as Time Machine that adds similar function without the yearly subscription cost. Of course, the .mac Backup can put your files on their servers, which protects you from a total hard drive failure in a way that Time Machine (or any other backup system that keeps the files on the same hard drive) can't. On the other hand, you ought to be able to replicate that fairly easily by making sure that you copy anything vital to a CD, DVD, or external hard drive on a regular basis.
  
  At any rate, the Time Machine feature is not available yet, but will be on the new version of OS X due to be released in the Spring of 2007. If you intend to upgrade to it immediately, that means just a couple of months before software is built into the operating system to do backups for you. Since you can only buy .mac subscriptions in 1 year chunks, if backups is your goal you may want to just save yourself a bit of money and wait out the couple of months. I'd strongly suggest looking around on the Internet for descriptions of Time Machine so that you can decide whether it will suit your needs better (or as well as) .mac Backup.
  
  
• Great product but wish it came with a manual!
  By A2R5P3YDTQNGKC on 2006-08-18
  I love all of services that come with this service. Although it is fairly easy to use and there are alot of online tutorials, I wish that it came with a detailed instruction manual. I ended up buying a book on iLife.
  
  Without the book, I was still able to do alot of the basic functions and able to get help through the on-line tutorials; however, the book will allow me to take my skills the next level!
  
  Overall, I still am satisfied with my purchase even though it did not come with a manual.
  
  
• WARNING!
  By A13UDAIB4TYB0C on 2006-09-30
  I am a die-hard Apple fan - I love their products but I have to say that .Mac is about as bad as it gets. For 79 dollars a year you get 512mb which is nothing. I've had the service for about 6 months and only backing up my personal settings the thing is full. And as others have said this is SOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOW it's pathetic. I have cable internet and it is slow - I can't even imagine how bad it is for people with DSL or Dialup. I am cleaning out my iDisk as I write this review in order to make room for more- it has been at least 10 minutes trying to delete older backups to make room for newer ones.
  
  Do yourself a favor - save your money - run as fast as you can from this dog.
  
  Sorry Apple - this just seems more like a MS product than something you would produce. So I guess you are not perfect.
  
  
• Better priced than Apple Store
  By A2GF2P8LW2AOGM on 2006-11-13
  Never understood why as a Mac user, we were and are forced to pay a premium price (well - retail, undiscounted) when purchased at an Apple Store. Shouldn't the factory store offer some slight discount cutting out the middle man of the distribution network?
  
  we already pay a premium for all things Mac, simply because, well - they're Mac, right?
  
  Anyway, I find it odd that I can get this from J&R for 20% less than anywhere else. ANBD, no shipping price. NAmazon has to get off the charging Tax kick they're on tho, when you can order from anywhere else on line and not pay tax.
  
  
• .Mac 4.0 Online needs a speed upgrade.
  By A1ZJRSNMC6QZ0D on 2007-01-09
  I like this product yet it certainly isn't for industrial use. It takes a bit too much time to sync files to a public folder and on all of my Macintosh computers it logs out too slow and prevents my Mac's from shutting down because it won't log out of the .Mac site in a reasonable amount of time. It's good for basic personal uses but I'd avoid it as a solution for a business use.
  
  
• .Mac for easy backup
  By A1KD5EYXMEC88A on 2007-01-11
  Being cautious but lazy, when I learned of the automatic backup feature with .Mac I signed-up. Never seemed to find the time to use the many other aspects of .Mac but automatic backup is so smooth that I renewed for a second year when offered the price-break through Amazon.
  
  
• Very Solid
  By A1JVUUDH0Y2MG7 on 2007-01-18
  I originally purchased this just for the backup software. However, I do use the mail service, and I use the hosting service just to push family photographs to the web. And, I'm completely dependent on the iSync service to match my settings, calendar, and address book between my personal desktop computer and my work computer. All services work very solidly with little need to configure or babysit them.
  
  
• Great Deal for Dot Mac Users
  By A17H9H7F5DEN43 on 2007-05-28
  Although there is much discussion in the Mac community whether or not .Mac is overpriced, I find the services useful, and the Amazon discounted price much easier to swallow. Of course there are free services that provide excellent email and photo sharing, I find the sync features indispensable. Having my calendars, address book and bookmarks both at home and work both add to my productivity (and my fun).
  
  Other services such as photo publishing, iWeb publishing, iDisk and file sharing are very easy to use and essentially provide one click interfaces. I just hope Apple decides to add more storage and therefore more value as they did when they upgraded the service to "4.0."
  
  
• Good if it fits your specific needs
  By A1GCPS3IDUQQBW on 2006-08-18
  As a writer, I use .Mac to keep working documents up to date across my several Macs. This way, no matter where I am, I can access my current articles. Yes, you do have to wait if you switch machines in a short period of time. The easy way to do it is to manually sync the files before leaving one Mac. When I get to the other Mac, I manually sync again. Presto, I can continue where I left off. I also use .Mac to keep my bookmarks current across my Macs. Of course, with four Macs in our household, my needs may be different from most.
  
  Since I have a automated backup system across my home network, I don't use .Mac for backups, but I have friends that keep their key files backed up this way.
  
  
• .Mac: The Complete Review - From an ACTUAL USER!
  By AF9BQQYCKQ3UC on 2006-08-07
  While everything about Apple & Macs engender a lot of opinions, .Mac seems to generate a calvalcade of mis-informed and un-educated opinions about what it is and what it isn't.
  
  The short version of this review is that yes, you can go to 10 websites that offer you a reasonable facsimilie of .Mac and while you can seemingly get 90% of the features, the MAIN REALITY is that you only get 50% of the ease of use not to mention that you have to log-on to 10 websites everytime versus one log-on for 25 features ...
  
  That's not to say .Mac is for everyone but if you want all the information from an actual user and not just from those window shoppers who think they can tell you what's what from 10 miles away ...
  
  I think the misguided understanding of .Mac stems from the fact it really serves two distinct audiences. It serves the road warrior/workplace-home file syncers really well and it serves great for the "average" newbie who wants to put up photos, videos or a personal webpage up without having to understand even what HTML stands for.
  
  There are not a lot of other products that really serve advanced users and "newbies," but not the middle ground so maybe that's confusing to some people.
  
  I'm not claiming that .mac can't stand to be updated or improved in several areas - especially on email but overall, the main problem is that reviews seem to be from people who read the brief description above and think they're much smarter than we are and they have to "warn us ..."
  
  So, for those who think .Mac is a $[...] email and storage site - that is like complaining the Porsche 911 cannot hold more than an overnight bag. You are focused on the wrong points and ignoring a couple dozen other features.
  
  Unfortunately, there's no room on Amazon for the full review but here is a full review at this link:
  
  [...]
  
  THEN you can decide if it's for you or not but do not just go by a description and people who think they know what it is.
  
  
• Mac 4.0 Online Service THE BEST SERVICE EVER!
  By A2GIHLFVXUYRT2 on 2006-11-05
  I don't know what I would do without this service. It's amazing and covenient. The best service I ever encountered, a must have product.
  
  
• Save money on renewal
  By A3HKJI33HTADO2 on 2007-01-06
  I purchased this starter kit NOT to get started with dot Mac, but to renew my subscription. It's cheaper than renewing directly through Apple. During the renewal process online, Apple allows you to type in the serial number of this boxed software. It's not a major saving, but it's cheap enough.
  
  
• As Always, Great
  By AHEW2RBR1FIJ8 on 2007-01-07
  I love Apple Computers and their software. I don't like the lack of support and frustration trying to register this product when we don't buy directly from Apple. I spent an unbelievable amount of hours trying to get this matter resolved. It took almost 8 weeks of e-mails. There isn't any other way to communicate with Apple in regard to this software.
  
  
• .Mac Keeps All My Computers in Sync!
  By A28VF2ZJ0F73HI on 2007-03-24
  .Mac is amazing! I have my desktop and laptop computers synchronized thru .Mac. This means if I add a contact on my laptop, it will automatically appear in my Desktop's address book--all automatically! I also take full advantage of the video tutorials that teach me how to do great things without having to read a manual. I just watch the video to see how to edit movies or burn DVDs or use my iPod's advanced features, etc. What a great service for posting my favorite photos on MY website thru .Mac. I don't know how to program websites-- .Mac does it for me!
  
  
• Unnecessary and overpriced
  By A3C1KRVSAYIYNH on 2007-03-31
  With so many free methods available to upload one's web site with, it seems
  preposterous that apple gets away with charging what they charge for this service. Users of iweb can almost as easily publish their site elsewhere for nothing. If you DO feel like you've got some money to burn, then by all means buy this here at amazon, where it typically runs $20 to $30 less than at apple's web site.
  
  
• .mac account
  By A1TYUSJVCSHVTM on 2006-08-09
  Great way to get backup of your hard drive and any important data that you cannot afford to loose. Also being able to access from anywhere, should you need something that was stored on your computer.
  
  
• Great resource for your Mac
  By A14IQY6GNCW6AV on 2006-11-04
  I have been using the .Mac service for a little over a year. It is a great way to backup my most important files, as well as email, addresses, and a calendar so I can access it from anywhere. There are also tutorial resources for my computer that are a big help as well.
  
  
• Good value for your money for Mac users
  By A3SKS1A6VDDM4Q on 2007-01-05
  .mac provides you with email and tools for your macintosh. The mail integrates with OSX perfectly.
  
  You can usually save money by shopping around for the best price on this item. Don't buy it directly from Apple unless you enjoy paying list price.
  
  
• Apple .Mac 1-year subscription
  By A1P4X7FG0PM9AZ on 2007-05-14
  Each feature of a 1-year subscription to Apple's .Mac 4.0 Online Service provides a near perfect solution for any owner of a modern Macintosh! Easy to use is as always expected with Apple branded products. The most positive feature enables .Mac users to create a personal iWEB site without first learning complecated details and code of how to create WEB sites. One significant negative issue worthy of mention: Apple .Mac's 1 GIG capacity AT THE CURRENT PRICE is no longer a competitive market price; only .Mac's ease of use makes this Apple product worth considering.
  
  
• Just love .Mac!
  By A1LS0K052FGGDG on 2007-05-14
  I love my .Mac account (I've had it for 3+ years) and will keep on renewing. It's a great way to share photos and information with friends and family, keeping everyone up to date. Mail is easy to use, with the option of email alias', which can help when anonymity is key.
  
  This is the second time I've ordered this product through Amazon, and I've been terribly pleased with each packages' arrival.
  
  The package contains the activation key, as well as a small quick start reference guide. .Mac explains the rest, as well as sending out tips every once and a while for ways to better utilize your membership.
  
  Plus, the price through Amazon is the best I've seen anywhere, hands down!
  
  
• .Mac disappoints
  By A1M6Z1PBC0QBCB on 2007-06-22
  I purchased this service for one primary purpose - to transfer a large (21MB) Quickbooks file to my accountant. I could use the other storage features, but this is what I bought it for. Well, it doesn't work. Every time I try to upload the file, it freezes, even though I am using a brand new (less than one month old) quad core pro Mac. There is no phone tech support and the email support is slow (they do NOT respond within the advertised 24hrs). and inadequate. I would like to get a refund but there is no way to get a human being on the phone.
  
  I have used Mac products for 20 years (I learned on the Lisa, the precursor to the Mac). My business and home run on Macs. This is the worst product I have ever purchased from Apple.
  
  DON"T BUY!!!!
  
  

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