dennismurphy
Put me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ
 ·Optimum Online
| Why to pay for .Mac ......
Woman recovers her stolen laptop using Back to My Mac ....
»www.1010wins.com/Woman-Helps-Cop···/2157543
At $69.99, I think .Mac is a bargain. 10gb of online storage, email, web hosting, synchronization, BTMM, and my favorite feature, full integration with iPhoto and Aperture for Gallery publishing!
I know a lot of folks don't like .Mac for whatever reason, but I think it's a bargain for what you get. |
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haroldo
join:2004-01-16
Short Hills, NJ
edit:
May 9th, @09:52AM
| For $70 a year, (if it's only for backup) a backup drive becomes an attractive alternative.
My family purchased 4 .MAC subscriptions (I knew we didn't need, it, but I guess it was a temporary point of sale moment of weakness) and we've never used any aspect of it, ever!
I swear, we wont buy it the next time, but then, if the salesperson is persuasive... |
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TigerNutz
Laissez les bons temps rouler
Premium
join:2000-12-23
Lafayette, LA | reply to dennismurphy
IMHO.....overpriced |
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Count Zero
MD2Be
Premium
join:2007-01-18
Warner Robins, GA
·Cox HSI
| reply to haroldo
I got it for free initially with my first PowerBook G4.... didn't use it for most of the first year (even the email was only sparsely used) but then I realized that it allowed me to sync things seamlessly between my two Macs, and now it is pretty tightly integrated into iLife.
These days I use it as my primary personal email account, I use the web galleries to host albums for relatives to look at, I use iDisk to host files I want to distribute to friends and family and even though I only have one Mac now I find it useful to keep my settings sync'd to .Mac in case I have to restore (keychains especially).
I was able to find it in the For Sale section of this site recently for $45. I agree that $99/yr is overpriced, and $70 isn't much better - but $45 is pretty darn good. That's cheaper than Mozy which I also find highly useful. |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Netcong, NJ | reply to dennismurphy
Does the syncing work for all users of the machines or must you buy an account for each user? I'd pay $70 for the syncing alone if it handled all users, but I'm suspecting that's not the case. |
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michierusan
join:2008-04-27
Miami, FL | reply to dennismurphy
It works for some not for others, and I personally hate the thing that I returned it 2 hours right after I bought it. |
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dennismurphy
Put me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ
·Optimum Online
| reply to sporkme
said by sporkme  :Does the syncing work for all users of the machines or must you buy an account for each user? I'd pay $70 for the syncing alone if it handled all users, but I'm suspecting that's not the case. That "depends". If you use the same .Mac login information for each user on the same machine, then yes, it should sync between each user.
I think. 
I'll give it a try and let you know ... |
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scots
Taking over the world with LANDesk
Premium
join:1999-12-06
Raleigh, NC
 ·AT&T CallVantage
·ViaTalk
| reply to dennismurphy
Well that's pretty cool, I guess.
I can't get Back To My Mac to work inside my house across the LAN, let alone outside the house across the internet. I'm not even interested in using it outside the house across the internet. I'm just interested in using it inside the house so I don't have to go upstairs when I'm feeling lazy and want to get to stuff on my iMac. After looking at the support forums on the Apple web site I'm apparently not the only one with this problem. I've gone though all the tips and troubleshooting info I could find, and it still won't work for me. |
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Thinkdiff
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Los Angeles, CA
| I seem to remember you making a thread about this before. BTMM is not for local networks. You can just use the built in File Sharing and Screen Sharing options and the computer will show up in the SHARED section of the Finder window. If you have both of those turned on (and the Finder preferences set to show shared computers) and it's still not working, check if you have any firewalls installed on your computer. Also turn off Back To My Mac and reboot both computers. If that's still not working, you may have a strange router that's not passing data properly between the two computers or the two computers are on a different subnet. |
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vukodlak75
Nisam Ti Dude
Premium,MVM
join:2001-10-27
Beachwood, OH
clubs: 
| reply to Count Zero
said by Count Zero :These days I use it as my primary personal email account, I use the web galleries to host albums for relatives to look at, I use iDisk to host files I want to distribute to friends and family and even though I only have one Mac now I find it useful to keep my settings sync'd to .Mac in case I have to restore (keychains especially). sam e here  |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA | reply to dennismurphy
It would be a much better value if more gigs were included and better hosting features. 10GB is nothing these days.
Absolutely love the story though. Remoting in and using the built-in iSight to snap a photo of the perp is priceless. |
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BinaryXtreme
join:2004-04-20
Sparks, NV | reply to TigerNutz
I agree. |
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tinysquare
Premium
join:2001-08-11
El Paso, TX | reply to dennismurphy
I'd rather spend the money on a big ass dog. A dog is less likely to lose over 2 years worth of your email. You'll also get better customer support from a dog than you will from .Mac. |
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scots
Taking over the world with LANDesk
Premium
join:1999-12-06
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T CallVantage
·ViaTalk
edit:
May 9th, @03:20PM
| reply to Thinkdiff
said by Thinkdiff :I seem to remember you making a thread about this before. BTMM is not for local networks. You can just use the built in File Sharing and Screen Sharing options and the computer will show up in the SHARED section of the Finder window. If you have both of those turned on (and the Finder preferences set to show shared computers) and it's still not working, check if you have any firewalls installed on your computer. Also turn off Back To My Mac and reboot both computers. If that's still not working, you may have a strange router that's not passing data properly between the two computers or the two computers are on a different subnet. File Sharing and Screen Sharing are both turned on. I've tried with BTMM on and off. I've logged in and out of .Mac. The OS X firewall is totally off on all machines. I've rebooted numerous times. I've given my iMac a static IP address on my network. BTMM doesn't work for me over the LAN or across the internet. I've never been able to get my iMac to show up in the SHARED section of the Finder window. Nothing I've tried has worked. My router is an AirPort Extreme that I got back in December, and it has the latest firmware and whatnot. The only thing that shows up in the SHARED section of the Finder window is my Buffalo NAS. |
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Thinkdiff
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Los Angeles, CA
| Can you connect to the iMac from the other computer by manually putting in the IP at the connect to server dialog box?
Are the router and subnet IP addresses the same on both machines?
Don't want to hijack this thread anymore than it already is, so if you want to continue trying to diagnose the problem, send me a PM or restart the old thread.  |
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scots
Taking over the world with LANDesk
Premium
join:1999-12-06
Raleigh, NC | The static IP is handed out via the router rather than hardcoded into the iMac, so router/subnet info should be the same on all machines. I'm at work right now, so can't really do any troubleshooting. Will get back with you later on this. Thanks! |
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AnonInTucson
@cox.net
| reply to dennismurphy
I switched to a Mac 3 years ago and have had .Mac ever since, but I'm dropping it now. I'll detail the reasons why below. The money I save will be used to purchase REAL web hosting.
.Mac Sync Is Hopelessly Broken
I've tried to use it, I've tried to like it, but it just doesn't work and I gave up on it.
iDisk Is Unresponsive
Uploading and downloading files is usually fast, but it is otherwise completely unresponsive.
Web Hosting Is Inflexible
I know enough about the web to not touch iWeb with a ten foot pole. Having no server control whatsoever makes .Mac web hosting the least useful paid web hosting I have ever seen in my entire life. It works with a real domain name now, but other than that it is the same as ISP web space, which I outgrew about 10 years ago.
IMAP Email Is Awesome
However, it's crazy to spend $100 annually for IMAP email, even with 10 GB of storage and nice Mac OS X integration.
Back To My Mac
I don't have Leopard yet, but I plan to get it for free with a new Mac sometime this year. |
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mahermusic
join:2001-07-06
Chesterfield, NJ | .Mac... indispensable, period. My wife and I wouldn't think of NOT having it available to us.
--
Don't blame me... I voted for KERRY. |
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Dominokat
Premium
join:2002-08-06
Boothbay, ME
clubs: | reply to dennismurphy
I'm going to try it.
What the hell. Something else to figure out! 
--
"Open the Pod bay door Hal" |
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TAKN
join:2003-09-21
Canada
edit:
May 9th, @10:12PM
| reply to dennismurphy
To be honest, .Mac is a a terrible waste of money. There are not a lot of features, extremely basic web hosting, and Back to my Mac is a hit or miss in most cases. The only thing it is really good for is if you want a REALLY easy way to publish a very very basic website. The syncing capability between macs is not bad, but not great either.
Your money is better spent on proper web hosting, and Orbicule Undercover (a much better way to recover a stolen mac).
P.S. - I have a 1 year subscription to .Mac (Received for free as part of my Apple training). I barely use it because it's crap and never recommend it to my customers unless they need a way to very easily post their pictures online and don't mind spending an extra $100. |
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