.Mac’s value keeps declining month by month as more of its features are being offered by competitors — sometimes free — and Apple doesn’t improve upon it. Recently, there’s been some talk about how some users aren’t renewing their subscriptions and are finding some better alternatives.
So I’m not renewing my .Mac account when it expires this month — unless Apple adds something to make it worth another hundred bucks per year.
But the reality is that it has stopped offering me what I need — it has stopped fighting to earn those dollars from me. And it has failed miserably to offer innovative new changes to its system.
So here’s just about how my life will go on without .Mac:
Mail? There’s Gmail for that — and it’s free with more that two gigs of storage space.
iDisk? You can also store data within Gmail’s two gigs of free space with apps like gDisk.
Backup? There’s tons of backup apps. Some free like Silverkeeper, and some not, like SuperDuper!. And not to mention that Apple’s going to include Time Machine within its next OS — Leopard.
Homepage? Pfft. Apple has improved very little of it, now that they’re trying to sell iWeb, which is packaged in iLife ‘06. And Google’s already offering their free pages. Also, iWeb is capable of exporting your projects to an external server like where Mac Recon is hosted — even though it may not be very easy.
Groups? There’s always those like Yahoo’s and Google’s.
Bookmarks? The future is del.icio.us.
Vaporware? No, I’m not talking about Duke Nukem Forever — I’m referring to those exclusive .Mac widgets Apple promised since the release of Tiger. So… where are they? I can get more vaporware in just about any other place.
What do the rest of .Mac users think?
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[tags]Apple,Mac,.Mac,Hardware,Software,Net[/tags]
by Adrian
09 Sep 2006 at 00:28
aol mail is 2gigs of imap for free, so i’ve gone with that. firefox and camino have 3rd party tools available for bookmark syncing. plaxo will keep your address books synced and box.net can be set up as a web drive as it is webdav enabled, meaning it can host your ical calendars too.
flickr pro is the best way to back up your iphoto collection, and keep on adding till your hearts content too.
all except flickr pro are free!!
by fcodc
09 Sep 2006 at 12:06
And yes, with services like Flickr and YouTube, you’re set up for sharing like you did with .Mac
by Gee
09 Sep 2006 at 18:26
I don’t know about everything else – I use gmail and del.icio.us, but for backup I switched to using backupright.com, its less expensive than .mac and works great. It runs automagically and lets me know when it misses a backup, its ideal for Power/Macbooks.
by Murray Todd Williams
09 Sep 2006 at 18:53
I do feel annoyed with the sluggish quality of the .Mac servers, but the dot-Mac experience now involves lots and lots of little pieces that add up to enough that I’ll still fork over the damned $100 a year. Notably:
IMAP4: I just hate POP3. If Google Mail had a good, responsive IMAP4 alternative, I’d consider it.
iSync: My all-in-one synchronization for Address Book and iCal and my phone and my Palm Pilot and both of my computers is really really nice. I also like the synchronized Safari Bookmarks. (I don’t agree the del.icio.us is a good replacement.)
There are lots of other little bits, like the fact that Quicken will automatically backup to my .Mac account upon existing without my having to think about it. Also, it’s sometimes nice to take a song file or movie file (especially movies, proper embedded cross-browser Quicktime HTML code is a pain in the butt) from iLife and not think about how I’m getting it up to a web page.
But I agree, the service has lost is luster a while ago.
by Jon W.
09 Sep 2006 at 19:00
I don’t think .mac is quite as pointless as some others may think. It’s very convenient to sync up my address book, bookmarks, mail accounts etc.
I AM although finding many other solutions such as the ones that you’ve listed but one that I absolutely love is Plaxo. An amazing tool – but just a bit more ways to go before it’s an essential.
Thanks for the list.
by Chad Allen
09 Sep 2006 at 19:32
.Mac had lots of potential, but Apple has clearly abandoned it’s original vision. I guess that’s what the #1 music player does to the rest of your business.
I’m going to disagree with Jon W. though; Plaxo sucks. I have found their service to be of limited value, they spam all of my contacts when I update my contact information, and they’re a closed-off system. Plus, they charge for the most basic of services.
by tubbyman
09 Sep 2006 at 19:46
I think you may be missing the point of .Mac… It’s point and click everything, a no-brainer. If you want features, a webhost will give you much more for the same price….but you have to set it up yourself. That 100$ pays for osx/ilife integration and not having to do any admin. Which is better? It depends on what you want. My grandpa can use .Mac. My grandpa can’t setup a webhost. For the record, I have only used the 60-day preview of .Mac. I tried it and got a webhost instead. It’s provided everything I need except iDisk. ssh/ftp pales when compared to iDisk for live storage.
Also…gDisk is just plain stupid, and not just a little stupid. It’s really stupid.
by Brent
09 Sep 2006 at 19:58
I’ve tried .mac, xdrive.com and GlobalDrive.com, all of them have their ups and downs but i’m currently with GlobalDrive.com.
by Jeff
09 Sep 2006 at 20:07
I agree completely. After 3 years, I just unchecked the option to re-subscribe automatically. I will not be renewing this year. As a long time Mac user (since 1988), this is one service that was a good idea, but has not been developed. Apple’s insistence on making money with every little thing has bit them here. Even iLife costs money these days, when it used to be a free inclusion with the latest version of OS X.
I’ll be going to free services. I had grown tired of wrestling .Mac with its inconsistent sync services. Why pay $100 for something that only works part of the time? Syncing between my computers NEVER worked well for me.
Ah well. It’s doing so many other things right… I guess dropping the ball with this is understandable…. I just wish I had my $300 back.
by Scooter
09 Sep 2006 at 20:13
I like dot mac. Granted it is getting a little rusty, and Apple knows this. Was it last year they upped the total size? They have a lot going on on a lot of fronts. So don’t renew. I’m okay with that. You and a bunch of other people fall off the service, Apple will take notice and give attention to it again, give us some cool stuff for our cash. So you go ahead and don’t sign back up. I need the synchronization it ptovides for everything – iCal, Mail, Addresses, bookmarks… it is such a no-brainer. And it requires very little configuration. I have three macs synced now, and I love it.0
by curtistee
09 Sep 2006 at 20:20
Welcome to the fold. I left .Mac in 2003 & haven’t looked back since. I think the biggest appeal for people who continue to use the service is the domain name/email account, frankly…
by John
09 Sep 2006 at 21:00
yep….i keep it just so i can have firstname.lastname@mac.com …..its great to give such a simple account out to people and not have them screw it up. I can’t believe people can even screw up “gmail” I literlaly had someone try to send something to “geemail” and that’s after i spelled it…..
by ddmiller
09 Sep 2006 at 21:08
I’m not renewing. I’ve been a .mac member since day one. But no more. I still have a month on my account but I’ve deleted my .mac email account in Mail, and I’ve unmounted my iDisk. Just to see if I’d miss it.
No problemo so far. Unless they make mucho biggo changes on the 12th, I’m outahere.
by Gunnyman
09 Sep 2006 at 21:49
I just created an afp:// connection (webdav) to my domain’s server space. My webspace costs me 20 bucks a year. I drag and drop to a folder with ease.
by russell
09 Sep 2006 at 22:17
What about quicktime streaming server? Any free services offer that? Or is everyone using youtube nowadays?
by Mark
09 Sep 2006 at 22:47
Ah, how the innocent and ignorant love to post. I’m guessing that most of the people commenting don’t actually have a .Mac account.
Those of us that do, and have since it’s inception, most of us enjoy the virtually trouble free services that .Mac offers.
Are they the most amazing, Web 2.0 services? No.
Are they all free? No.
Are they flawless in their execution? No.
But, for 98% of the time, and for the total package of services that I receive for 99 bucks a year, I literally do not have another one-stop option available.
You go a head and list 6 or 8 services that might be better, faster or free, but none of them offer the whole enchilada.
So, take it from a “lifetime” subscriber to .Mac… it’s well worth the money.
by Bob
09 Sep 2006 at 22:53
I use it.
Would really be happy if they came up with a calendar I could use from a web browser. Sometimes I’m on a windoze or linux machine, but would like to make changes, or just view appointments. That would be very useful.
Better access to my address book from the web mail app would be useful too.
The iweb app should be free. Period.
IMAP is handy.
by rockstar
09 Sep 2006 at 22:54
Guys,
Plaxo is the worst effing thing ever. You’ll sign up, you’ll bcak up your contacts.. and sure enough everyone on your contact list will gets spammed by them 3 times a week.
We actually had to do a hard block on the site at my last job. Stay away – it’s data mining. Maybe you don’t care if they send you email, but people that have no interest an are on your list – well they do care.
by Tim
09 Sep 2006 at 23:35
I am with you on the NO value for $100. The sync never really works, the features are useful mostly to newbies — I do not want to make a photo album or group all my ichats. I love to watch the wheel spinning for minutes when I to open the iDisk.
The backup is what I use and will continue to use. Wish the sync worked. Wish there was preferential service or info. Remember the free apps? Remember the bonus games? I’d even be happy with a hat or sticker for my $100.
by fcodc
09 Sep 2006 at 23:37
It’s very interesting to see the mixed views of .Mac, but the one conlusion I can find is that it’s starting to show its age. Apple should really get on it ASAP. Thanks to everyone who commented and dugg this article!
by Dale
10 Sep 2006 at 01:21
I trialled .Mac about a month ago and declined to buy it. I agree that it’s strongest selling point is simplicity. But during the trial I had two issues with it stopped me purchasing.
Firstly, syncing deleted my Safari bookmarks. MacFixIt later reported others had had the same problem, and that Apple had contacted some about it noting a fix would happen in the next Mac OS X update. However, Apple didn’t contact it’s customers in general, so those like me were stuffed around without acknowledgement.
Secondly, the Backup program has problems. During the trial it limits backed up items to 200MB (?). So I just backed up some things. However, the limit was eventually received. Only then did I find that you can’t delete backed up files easily to make room for newer data. Instead, you have to go thru a decidedly Windows like ritual in Backup to delete files.
If you rely on a service like .Mac you have to now it’s gonna work OK. If Apple can’t communicate problems and resolution to their customers, or provide a simple way to do things with these services, then .Mac is only superficially better than the alternatives like GMail, Flickr, hosting, etc.
There’s one other thing that .Mac needs – community. A big part of using many alternative services is the community around them. Take Flickr (photo sharing), mySpace (iWeb blogging) and YouTube (movie sharing) as examples. .Mac offers similar services but in a void of isolation. All of the other services offer ways to share what members do and interact with them, other than just giving you GB of hosting space. The support for interacting with visitors to .Mac services is also a factor in what’s holding .Mac back.
by Mowog
10 Sep 2006 at 02:20
Thought it will likely summon forth an explosion of scorn and derision, I find http://www.spymac.com to be reasonable for $30 yearly: webpages, syncable online disk, Safari and AddressBook syncing, POP email account, blog, a reasonably active community.
That said, this year there have been two periods where the Spymac email server has crapped out (or temporarily lost accounts) for one reason or another for a few days–yes, days–at a time. That has got me looking for an alternative like, uh, .Mac., which many posters seem not so happy with.
It seems nobody out there is able to offer a reliable all-in-one package. Why not?
by ryan
10 Sep 2006 at 02:40
What apple should do, is include .mac when you buy iLife … then it wouldn’t be so bad paying 1 time for 2 services that used to be free
by sinusx
10 Sep 2006 at 05:48
I use it mostly for syncing between Macs. This have worked faultless all the time. Is there other services that can do this? If so I will change.
by Marc Korthaus
10 Sep 2006 at 05:48
Hi,
we currently offer a competitive package like .mac – for now, it´s only available in german but offers iSync integration, WebDAV, a Homepage (including php & MySQL), iPhoto import and other mac-like features. It comes with an application called mSync and even allows you to send sms from your addressbook without a mobile phone.
It will be offered in the us by end of the year.
Best Regards,
Marc Korthaus
Macbay
by Bas
10 Sep 2006 at 05:49
.Mac would be awesome just the way it is if it just worked and worked fast. Syncing is causing problems now and it causes my browser to slow down to a speed not seen since 1996. I love the iDisk idea but with the speed of it it’s just plain unusuable. Mine experires next month and I’m dropping it like a hot patatoe. A service truely unworthy of the Apple name.
by fcodc
10 Sep 2006 at 08:30
I agree with Ryan — Apple should include .Mac with iLife. Even if the price tag goes up to $100, it’s cheaper than buying both each year. And they should try and up the transfer speed, like many of you noticed.
by Scott
10 Sep 2006 at 08:54
I use Entourage, instead of Mail/iChat/Address Book. GMail currently backs up over 15gigs of data for me (through 9 free GMail accounts, each titled MyName1, MyName2, MyName3, etc.
For brand new people, .Mac might be a good idea. But I’ve switched a dozen people in the last 2 years, and would never recommend it.
by jayhoward
10 Sep 2006 at 10:04
I paid for .mac for an additional year after they started charging, and then dumped it having never looked back. Comparable services out there that are cheaper and better than .mac abound, such as SpyMac, etc. Apple made a mistake in judgement when they initially pulled the plug on free .mac. They thought due to the email address people were locked in and would pay for no other reason than to keep their email address, which is what I did the first year. If Apple had been a little more savvy, the company would have let people stay for free with limited service, and then offered additional capabilities that would have encouraged people to upgrade to a paid service, such as Fastmail does. Every October when my .mac renewal would have come up I get satisfaction in thinking that’s another $100 of mine Apple didn’t get.
by ron
10 Sep 2006 at 10:56
I too will be leaving .mac at the end of my current subscription. I am slowly moving my main email to my gmail account. I have never been able to get iDisk to work correctly, it takes too much time to load on my iMac G5. I also agree that Apple has abandoned it and I venture to guess that Apple would not be heartbroken if most people quit it.
by Paul
10 Sep 2006 at 11:30
Just a contrarian viewpoint. 1-You don’t have to pay full price for .Mac; ebay has full memberships for much less. 2-Keeping five Macs sync’ed and updated by .Mac is easy and fast by my experience. Haven’t had the sync problems others allude to. I don’t know if there is a better system for managing 500+ contacts on eight cell phones and five computers, but .Mac does it for me at a cost of less than $5 per piece of hardware per year, so I’m hanging in there for now.
by mobius21
10 Sep 2006 at 12:02
i just bought my first mac (not a switcher, just a dual user) and the salesman was (politely) pushing very hard to get me interested in .mac. but i explained that people are jumping from isp to isp much less than they were 10 years ago; thus, when you sign up for a service and link so much of your web/computing life to that service it’s a disencentive to swtich. in that light, i told him i couldn’t feel good in 10 years when i’ve kicked out $1,000 for .mac. if someone feels that .mac works for him or her; great. but i think that a lot of people who might be new mac users will not be eager to sign up (particularly considering that they’re likely already paying an isp for various services).
by Bill
10 Sep 2006 at 18:54
Its all about easy of use – period! Some people spend time to save money and some money to save time. Two different customers. Time our most precious resource answers the question for those with any financial IQ. And who really pays $99 for .Mac?
by Mazzaroth
11 Sep 2006 at 09:52
The killing factor for me is the lack of support for php and MySQL in .Mac. I’ve been a .Mac member since it’s inception and now, I want to go further with my web site. End-to-end HTML only web site is not an option for me anymore.
by Ramzez
02 Oct 2006 at 09:55
Such a service like .Web should be definately FREE as to promote Apple Mac OSX and say look it is free and it is integrated. Very soon Microsoft going to give the all same services and they would be free, but I would prefer for Apple being there first. The subscription should be Free and then if you need extras then you should pay, e.g. 2gb standard, but 30gb is 5 dollars/month.
by fcodc
02 Oct 2006 at 16:01
And I still don’t get why Apple killed the free iTools service and brought .Mac without keeping it as a free alternative.
by huy
28 Oct 2006 at 11:37
I’ve a satisfied member of dotmac. Could I be more satisfied? Yes, of course. and there are a lot of good ideas above to improve dotmac.
Concerning a few things:
spymac: if you are dissatisfied with dotmac, try spymac and then you will gladly fork over the extra $60. My opinion is qualified since was a member for over a year. It will make you realize how hard it is to actually integrate all the services dotmac offers so effectively.
expensive: if you charge money, it can always be cheaper. but with that said, dotmac has been continually getting cheaper without lowering the price. more idisk space, more features, better integration with os x and ilife, better mail. is it perfect yet? no. but they are constantly giving us more for the money.
by Mosscow
05 Nov 2006 at 00:40
I guess I’m more or less pleased with .Mac, but it seems to me two big things are still annoying me-
1) I agree with Mazzaroth – .Mac doesn’t have PHP, and it really sucks too – because I think I may have to fork out another $4 / month for a decent web hosting (without ads) through GoDaddy to have the ability to just have forms on my site…
2) I like the syncing integrated into the finder and whatnot, but it seems to me that my all my address book fields never really show up on the web – does anyone else have that problem? Know any better solutions?
by babyq
01 Dec 2006 at 05:57
Hi all,
I would like to ask about dotmac iDisk competitors.
1. Which service supports offline storage?
I mean, with dotmac iDisk, I can work without internet connection, then sync when I get online automatically. The files are stored locally, so a lot faster than webdav. I don’t want to upload/download each time, or I would use USB memory but iDisk is smarter about conflict files. Also important, when I made a mistake, I can just unplug the ethernet cable, and the file in the server is intact. This saved my work once in the past.
2. Which service supports Color Label and Spotlight Comments?
3. Which service supports those above for Windows? Especially offline storage.
iDisk for Windows XP is not the solution. It’s just a WebDav client to me.
by fcodc
01 Dec 2006 at 08:52
So far, I haven’t heard of any comparable service that offers offline storage. Perhaps because of your demands, dotmac is the right alternative for you.
by Dan O
17 Dec 2007 at 14:22
I’ve been hoping for better things from .Mac also.
A few aspects of it that I really enjoy are: quick email aliases, access to iDisk and password protected homepages. Right now I dread the thought of ditching all of my aliases and having to sort through and reassign all of the online accounts associated with them. I already have a Google Acct with a bunch of their services, a Yahoo account… I was hoping to have the convenience and additional functionality of .Mac improvements… I was thinking that someone else owning Mac Servers should be able to offer similar (improved) packages for the same or less cost? I’m not sure how that all works out though?