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From:Apple , Apple Computer ,
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See Product Page
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#7202 |
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 OK Value, 2006-02-22
Not a great value for the money. Access to iDisk is slow, whether uploading or downloading. Having a .mac email is kinda cool, but I already have 4 other emails with my own domain, so I hardly use it. The other .mac features are nice but haven't really used them yet either (I've had .mac for over two years.)
6 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
 Waste of Money, 2005-12-05
My, this service is nearly a ripoff. Synchronization and email retrieval is very, very slow. The email system runs on the the relatively common IMAP protocol, yet .Mac is the slowest IMAP service I have ever seen. Also, your .Mac email address expires unless you renew year-after-year.
.Mac webmail is anemic in ease-of-use and functionality; it does not have important features available elsewhere for free: address autocomplete, conversation threading, address book groups, and cell phone [WAP] access (among other things). The address book displays a maximum of 50 listings at a time, meaning that there can be a good deal of clicking and page loading before getting to someone's contact information. Furthermore, there is a weird error accessing .Mac webmail with Internet Explorer for Windows, the most popular internet browser in the world.
.Mac web hosting is also a ripoff in that allows no scripts or databases, which means that there is only the html option, which is slow, limited, and bloated (by comparison). If you want to have some of the cooler functions like that of Wordpress (a blogging platform), you're out of luck. On the other hand, there is some webpage-making software well-integrated with .Mac and thus makes it easy for newcomers to build attractive if basic web pages (e.g. RapidWeaver).
iDisk & Backup work pretty well, but are, again, very slow.
Anyway, here are some alternatives to .Mac:
Email only: there are free email providers all over the web, like GMail & Yahoo. They have good address books functions and may even work with your cell phone.
Photos only: Kodak Easyshare (available free online) is an alternative to iPhoto and is very well integrated with the Kodak Easyshare Gallery online, so you can share, edit, and organize digital photos (and you don't even have to buy iLife -- another, separate Apple product).
Complete package: Get a hosting account like at [...]. At many hosting companies, they offer IMAP email access, robust webmail (like Horde, which has address autocomplete and calendaring), and PHP with MySQL (so you can use iPHPCalendar to access iCal calendars online, Wordpress for blogging, and an nearly unlimited array of other web scripts/programs).
If using a hosting provider seems too technical, know that many offer a handy script installer called Fantastico which is very easy, yet does not always work perfectly. Many times, hosting companies' support departments can help you set things up at no extra charge. Even better, you are often provided with an easy default set of tools right away, like email & file transfer. I recommend testing out a hosting company's support services before signing on.
For iDisk-like function (almost) & internet backup, I recommend the application Yummy FTP, which is available for download online. For backup to disks, try Lacie Silverkeeper (which works great and is free).
The only credit Apple deserves for this product is that .Mac does function reasonably well, and it is very easy to use. However, it is far too limited and slow for the price.
5 of 5 customers found the following review helpful:
Ah but you left out one thing..., 2005-11-20
I'd agree with a lot of what was said in the other review, the good and the bad.
But the key factor in .Mac which is the clincher is Syncing. The ability to have multiple calendars, addressbooks,bookmarks and email synced across distributed computers and available online to you on any computer is reason enough for a lot of people to subscribe.
I think it should be 50 bucks myself :0) but Amazon is the place to buy...it's usually cheaper here than in an Apple Store and if you can get free delivery and no taxes you are better off.
15 of 18 customers found the following review helpful:
Too expensive and much to basic, otherwise good., 2005-10-29
First let me say that I am a long time Mac user and I am trying to see all Apple services from it's positive side, so don't thing this is a beating from a Mac hater or something like that....
The pro's:
-Very nice integration into Mac OS X
-Very convenient backup possibility
-Very nice website templates
-Stylish email address (@mac.com)
-Massive load of clips and sounds for "Garage Band"
-Free virus scanner
-Premium customer service (for .Mac services only)
Now the con's (which are overwhelming)
-The Price ($99 for 1000MB of space (for hosting and email), are you kidding me? Considering that you get a free email account with 2.5 GB right now.... Apple, please upgrade your service. Also they let you pay for every extra. You are paying extra for another email address and if you like to have more space.
-The webhosting is much to basic. You can use simple html and that's it. Apple doesn't offer you to use scripts, databases... nothing. They don't even offer to host your own message board, blog or chat. I realized for the most basic user this does not mean anything, but for advanced users the webhosting is much too basic.
-When you sign up you have to select a username. This username will be your email (yourname@mac.com and your URL (members.mac.com/yourname). You might think that there are not that many .mac users (about a million, the last time I checked), but thing again: Every time somebody signs up for a free trial the chosen username will not be deleted for years! This means if I just signed up for a free trial in the year 2000 with the username "user555", then this name is still taken today. This means it's incredibly hard to find a good username today.
-The mail service is much to basic and impossible to use for power-users: I had the following confirmed from the .Mac customer service: You can not send more than a certain number of eMail an hour (I believe it was 20), because this is considered to be spam and will be blocked from Apple and you can not send emails with more than 20 pictures. Plus the apple mail servers are just not reliable. I had so many problems it was very frustrating.
Conclusion: The .Mac service is great for beginners that don't have to worry about money. People that have to be careful with the spending can get almost the same features for free right now. Otherwise it's a fine service.
The day Apple offers it for $30 or less a year, I am the first to sign up.
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