.Mac Users?

bdonn

How many people use .mac?



I'm thinking about signing up simply for the email account, I want a web-based email account that will sync with address book.



I'm going to be overseas all summer for work and I'm not sure if I'll have my ibook on me, and I need access to my contacts.



...perhaps someone has another suggestion?

pscates

I've used it since it was iTools. I love it. I use .Mac - in some way or another - every single day: remotely checking e-mail, an iCard to someone, the bookmarks, the address book, homepage, file storage/transfer, the tutorials (finally a Panther one!), the freebie software.



I dig it the most and don't mind one bit paying $99 a year for it. It's worth it, to me.

jade

email only? Try this www.mailblocks.com

bdonn

mailblocks looks good, but... is there a way to export my address book into a .CSV file? Only thing I saw was the ability to export to a vCard.

tommy_thompson

I have used .Mac too..I think the price is a bit steep for what it is...but I like it. I think $20 off per year for renewals would be sweet.

sledgehammer

I stuck with iTools when it became .Mac so I could keep my email address. I'm glad I did, though. I think my favorite thing is bookmark synching. It is wonderful to be able to get at my bookmarks from any computer anywhere in the world. Same with address book synching. It is wonderful. And of course, my iDisk comes in handy all the time as an easy hosting solution for the random picture or file.

amorph

Count me in as a happy .Mac user (I also migrated over from iTools). It only seems expensive because you get hit for $99, but that's only once a year. On a per-month basis it's cheap and it's been quietly invaluable.



The perks and specials aren't bad, either, although they aren't mind-blowing.

torifile

Same here. I love the bookmark syncing. It makes using other computers actually bearable. The addressbook syncing with webmail is also a nice feature when I have to email from another computer. Well worth the money, if you ask me.



Recently there has also been a trend towards giving you some savings off stuff you might actually buy, like digital cameras at the apple store. I'll be renewing in October.

pscates

Yes, and they had some nice rebate offers on FireWire hard drives a while back too. Almost got one.



I downloaded the iBlog thing when they had it as a freebie, and the ArcSoft photo thing too. Oh, and the recent free Keynote themes. Those are just perks, but if you stumble across something you actually need or want, a couple of those can pretty much pay for your .Mac subscription.



That's the way I look at it. I like having my bookmarks and contacts accessible from any computer, any where.



.Mac isn't this big "KA-POW" kinda thing, but it's just a solid, useful and "nice to know it's there" thing for me. My renewal comes up in October as well, and like the poster upthread, I think if you've been a consistent renewer (what, two years now?), maybe throwing a bit of a kinfolk renewal fee at you would be nice. $79?



Then again, I'm sure Apple's reasoning is "hey, we're GIVING you all this shit on the inside, pal...$99 ain't too much to ask, you cheap knucklehead".



But they probably don't word it exactly like that...

cosmonut

I, too, am a child of the iTools. I reluctantly signed up for the $99 fee, but have been happy about it since.



I use the e-mail all the time, host images for my posts on these here fora, and love the ability to access my contacts from ANY internet connected machine.



I personally have my parents' iMac set up to sync from my .Mac account so that when I go over to their house without my PBook, all of my info and bookmarks are the same after syncing.



I'm in the works of setting up a password protected Homepage of family pictures. I'll give my other family members -- except "Crazy Uncle Chester" -- the password and they can download whatever they want to their own machines. There's a lot of work to do on that, still.



I miss out on the free software and other discounts all the time, though, because I don't hardly EVER visit the main .Mac page. Maybe I'll set that up as my home page on Safari so I am forced to see that stuff.



By the way, I don't REALLY have a "Crazy Uncle Chester." April fools.

jimzip

You are three days late for that...



Anyway. I was very hesitant to sign up for it..

E-mail and a homepage didn't sound all that enticing, and of course nothing over here is $99. Because of the damned $AUS I paid $154 for it.. Just doesn't have the ring to it that $99 did..



Anyway, I did sign up, I have not closed Mail since..



Then I learned that you get most of the stuff .Mac users get if you're a member of Spymac.com.

Free hosting, free e-mail (which works with Mail.app) and something else.. It eludes me at present.. .. ... . . . ... I can't remember.. Ah well, it's still cool. So now I have both!



Jimzip

new

99$ is just too expensive... Hey wait, I've been a paying customer for 2 years now? well, well... guess it's not too expensive then, but it would be nice if the cut it to say, $59,-?



I couldn't live without the .mac syncing features...

crazychester

Quote:

Originally posted by CosmoNut

By the way, I don't REALLY have a "Crazy Uncle Chester."

You're sure about that? 'Cause otherwise I'm going to be really cut about missing out on the family pics.



Yeah, .Mac's grouse.



Jimzip you've read the date our way. 5 days late.

cosmonut

Quote:

Originally posted by crazychester

You're sure about that?

I TOTALLY forgot that you are around here! I would have chosen a different name if I'd known...



...unless...



...Uncle?

crazychester

Quote:

Originally posted by CosmoNut





I TOTALLY forgot that you are around here! I would have chosen a different name if I'd known...



...unless...



...Uncle?

Awww but I wouldn't have found your post nearly as amusing if you'd chosen a different name.



Maybe you are the long lost nephew I didn't know I had. There seems to be a certain familial resemblance as far as names that call our sanity into question.



crazychester.........CosmoNut



Spooky huh?

superkarate monkeydeathcar

well now we know who crazy chester was following....





Crazy Chester followed me, and he caught me in the fog.

He said, "I will fix your rags, if you'll take Jack, my dog."

I said, "Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man."

He said, "That's okay, boy, won't you feed him when you can."

crazychester

Quote:

Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar

well now we know who crazy chester was following....





Crazy Chester followed me, and he caught me in the fog.

He said, "I will fix your rags, if you'll take Jack, my dog."

I said, "Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man."

He said, "That's okay, boy, won't you feed him when you can."

I love The Band. I can just about smell the stale beer and cigarettes when I listen to them (although 4% Pantomime is actually my favorite).



I always thought it was "fix your rack" even though that would normally mean tits to me, I thought it was an alternative US definition of "rack". Checking the lyrics, I note one site says it's "rat" but the other backs up "rags".



And, of course, the subject matter of the song just makes the name more confusing when it was in fact Miss Fanny who sent me here with her regards to everyone. (Not that I meant to be confusing it was just a stupid oversight on my part.)

superkarate monkeydeathcar

that's what i love about that song, it's so mystical, you can put about any meaning to it you want.



i dig 4% pantomime which is another one i've never quite deciphered...

is it poker? who's got the joker?

crazychester

Quote:

Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar

that's what i love about that song, it's so mystical, you can put about any meaning to it you want.



i dig 4% pantomime which is another one i've never quite deciphered...

is it poker? who's got the joker?

Mystical? I've only ever assumed The Weight had one meaning but maybe that's just my dirty mind! I'll have to look at it more closely.



Anyway, I'm glad I didn't call myself Anna-Lee. I'd never hear the end of it.



Nah I got no idea what 4% Pantomime is about either. I've always assumed it had some political overtones. Richard - Nixon? Belfast cowboy - did Nixon have Irish heritage? Not sure even if historically the song dates to the time of his presidency. It's something I keep meaning to look into one day to see if an explanation is given anywhere.



One day.

torifile

Did I stumble into the the wrong thread? I thought I clicked on the .mac thread.

carson o'genic

I'm nearing the end of my free dotmac tryout, which I've been using to sync my Powerbook and tower bookmarks etc. I may have to sign up for that feature alone, but really it bugs me that with airport extreme and aniPod and two commputers that OSX has to use dotmac to sync address book, bookmarks etc. I think the biggest room for improvement to my daily life would be for OSX 10.4 to have decent syncronization features for files and all the rest.