# .mac account - worth it?



## AustinM (Feb 7, 2004)

I'm new to macs, just bought my wife her first MacBook.

Is a .mac account worth $100/year?


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Hi --

I just today - as a matter of fact - upgraded to the Family Pak.  

I really like .mac. I like the iWeb capabilities and honesty, the @mac.com domain with my email. (My other email domain is REALLY long and a pain to explain to people.) 

It is really a matter of opinion as to whether or not it is worth it. The best way to find out is to take advantage of their 60-day free trial period and try it out. If you don't like it you do not have to upgrade (purchase) after 60 days.

Hope that helps.  Have fun!


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## dungeonguard (Jan 12, 2007)

I'm going to add here:

I absolutely hate .Mac. First of all, my e-mail became clouded with junk mail within a week, next it's pretty stupid considering we have Hotmail or Yahoo! for free, and last the .Mac pages are pretty cheap.


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

It's not worth it. It's an ok service but it costs too much and doesn't have much in it. You can get a domain and web hosting for <$15.00/month, there are plenty of free places that offer at least 1GB of storage, and IMAP e-mail and IM software is all over the web. The rest of the features are kind-of boring.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

To some, a .mac is worth a lot.
To others, its not.
Depends upon your specific needs and goals.

Me, I bought it, contemplated it, researched it, thought some more, and then returned the unopened box back to Apple.

Take a look at this for some potential help for your needs:
http://5thirtyone.com/archives/741

My plans are to instead invest in a couple high-quality/reliable external HD's for the backup storage, use something like photobucket to share images, free s/w to sync the Apples when needed, and such other tactics. To me, for my desires, the .mac at this time is not worth the initial and yearly costs, for what is acquired.


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

I thought I should further explain why I like .Mac.

I own and manage 14 domains, several of which are similar in nature (for example, three are related to a certain type of dog breed.)

Using the .Mac family user pak allows me to more easily manage all of my sites. I am able to forward the domains to the various .Mac accounts sites.

I used to hand-code the websites, (I know old school) and I like the ease of iWeb. 

In my case, it is worth it.


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

lol... hand-coding the websites!!!  I recall doing such - was actually fun [in a geekish manner ] - doing it that way felt quite down and dirty, tweaking the codes by just changing a letter/number here or there... 

To further hijack this thread...  what dog breeds are these? Any lab, flat coated retriever, or such?

/end hijack

When talking w/ the Apple Geniuses on phone and in person, what you described, ability to sync and manage multiple accounts, to d/l files from one and then view the files from another, where some of the biggest reasons. For my work, d/l into a sandisc is more better.


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Hi Hobbes --

I know I'm dating myself by admitting I hand-coded!  When I taught CS, I touched on HTML and the kids loved it. Those days are by-gones ....

I raise and breed Boxers. (I have a litter due next week actually.) They're such a fun breed. Labs are wonderful, too - actually ALL dogs are. My brother just lost his 11-year old Lab to cancer and is looking for a new puppy. Pets are just so wonderful - they add so much joy to our lives. 

My turn to hijack - how do you like that new iMac? 24", right? :up:


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

/ apologies to the OP... 

G'evening 

Yes, pets are very special, and to me dogs are the est. Shadow 6 yo female is 2nd black lab, Shanna lived to 12 yo, died on Super Bowl night of 1997 - took me about a year to get over her loss. Amuses me to no end at how similar yet how vastly different these two mongrels are - one loved to ride in front seat of truck, just watching the passing scenery, whereas other so durn hyper, bouncing about w/ unrelentless energy, slobbers and tongue flying about...  Condolences to your brother...

As to that beast of beauty, absolutely find that 24" gorgeous screen and the innards of that iMac to be very sweet. Funny tho' find myself much more on the MacBook, plopping it on lap to play, explore, read, and the such. Use the iMac more for work, w/ reports, digital photography, work stuff, etc. How is your 20incher?

Would like to get a PowerBook, to play older Classic games upon. But can't justify such a cost just for that... 

BTW, a buddy at work just acquired a boxer - they are, well, I guess I can say maybe semi-cute? 


/we now return you to the semi-irregularly not-at-all scheduled posts of this thread...


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## fccabs (Jul 31, 2006)

If i don't extend my .mac account after the 60 day trial period do i lose the .mac email address i've set up???


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Yes, you will lose it.


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## crblev (Mar 31, 2007)

the syncing of your ical (bidirectional), address book, safari and mail apps can be useful if you live on more than one mac, as I do. This service is what currently makes .mac invaluable for me.

But, Google is catching up -- there is a Firefox bookmark sync, Google Gspace for data, spanning sync (a bit overpriced for bidirectional calendar syncing), etc. Once there is a cheap and easy calendar and address sync book function, I'll leave .mac.

The thing that really irritates me is that copying data to my iDisk has a habit of freezing my finder (use transmit to ftp it, it's faster)
If you're just doing that, or parking sites, there are cheaper providers and better web editors.


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## Serge_N_Gin (Sep 7, 2004)

AustinM said:


> I'm new to macs, just bought my wife her first MacBook.
> 
> Is a .mac account worth $100/year?


OmniDrive (linky) seems like a fairly good alternative to a .mac account. It doesn't offer an email address but there have just been a heap of new cool features added .... and no, I don't have any affiliations with the company.


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