Apple .Mac 3.5 Online Service

Other products by Apple

Product Features

• .Mac members can communicate Apple style with friends, family, or colleagues as a private invitation-only group in minutes.
• Subscribers get world-class, ad-free email with powerful virus scanning of incoming messages*, and they can use their Mac.com member name to chat and video conference with iChat AV.
• With Backup 3, back up vital files, such as iLife content and Personal Data and Settings, with just one click. Automatically copy documents to iDisk, external hard drives, CDs, DVDs, and even an iPod.
• Synchronize key information so that it's available anywhere. Instantly update Address Book contacts, iCal calendars, and Safari bookmarks across multiple Mac computers.
• Quickly transfer and retrieve files online using iDisk storage space on Apple servers, accessible from any Mac or Windows PC connected to the Internet.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007LW1QI
• Item model number: MA175Z/A
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 22, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,125 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

Simply put, .Mac is your life on the Internet. With the latest version of .Mac you can effortlessly publish your websites, backup your important data, share files with distant friends and colleagues, sync your personal information across all your computers, check your mail wherever you roam, and much, much more. Whether it's for you, your club, or any organization, .Mac provides a vital set of tools that make life online a breeze.

With iWeb -- part of Apple's iLife '06 software -- and .Mac, you can effortlessly publish your websites and blogs. View larger.

.Mac Groups lets you create a website for all your group's most important information. View larger.

Publish your photo libraries via a Photocast. Subscribers anywhere in the world will automatically download your latest photos into iPhoto. View larger.

Backup 3 is the essential, and very flexible, tool for backing up all your vital data. View larger.

Publishing with iWeb
Seamless integration with iWeb -- the newest member of iLife '06 -- makes it easy to publish your websites with a single click of a button. With iWeb, you can create beautiful pages with Apple-designed templates and then publish them via your .Mac account with a single click -- no configuration is necessary. You can also post blogs and podcasts without the confusion of creating RSS feeds. Or, add stunning online slideshows to your photo albums automatically. And for total control, you can set a password to keep your sites private.

iDisk
.Mac iDisk makes it easy to exchange files with friends or centralize your documents so that you can access them anywhere, at any time. iDisk allows you to use storage space on Apple's secure servers and view your stored files and folders on your desktop. If you want to share your files, simply drag files to your Public folder and invite colleagues to download your documents. Plus, iDisk lets you protect your Public folder with a password. You can access your iDisk from a Mac or a PC, and store up to 1GB of data (upgradeable to 4GB). The data transfer rate is upgradeable to 250GB per month.

Groups
This is the ticket if you need to communicate, coordinate, and stay in sync with your club, team, or organization. Create a private password-protected website for group images, message boards, announcements, calendars, a member list, and links to other websites of interest. You can even set up a group email alias for efficient communications. Post or view group messages on the group's own private mac.com address that only members can use. Meanwhile, you can publish web pages with group photos, share files in the group's private iDisk folder, or keep track of group meetings, special events, practices and other important dates on a group calendar. Feel free to create as many groups as you like (each requires 30MB from your iDisk allotment).

Sync
.Mac Sync keeps up-to-date information at your fingertips, whether you use multiple Macs or whether you're on the road without your Mac. With .Mac Sync you can view and update Address Book contacts and Safari bookmarks instantly. Plus, synchronizing Mail rules, signatures, smart mailboxes, and Keychain passwords in Mac OS X Tiger is a breeze. You can even access contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and email on the Web via any Internet-connected Mac or Windows PC.

Photocasting
Let your friends and family subscribe to your shared iPhoto albums and view your full-resolution photos on their own computers. With Photocasting, you can publish your photo albums using .Mac and anyone can subscribe. Subscribers then receive your full quality photos directly within iPhoto 6 or via an RSS reader on a Mac or PC. You can use a subscribed photocast like any iPhoto album in your library; they automatically stay updated so your subscribers always have your latest photos.

Backup 3
Protect your precious memories with this powerful upgrade to .Mac Backup. Scheduled automatic backups are as easy as one, two, three. With Backup 3, you can back up your iLife files with a single-click and customize your backup plans in minutes using QuickPicks or a Tiger Spotlight search. Quickly archive your iLife photos, movies, and purchased music in a single step with preset backup plans, or set flexible schedules that automatically update archives for you. You can back up important files to your iDisk (keeping them secure on Apple's servers), a hard drive, iPod, CDs, or DVDs. Backup 3 saves you time by archiving only what you've changed since your last backup.

Mail
.Mac Mail is ad-free and elegant. Use your account through Mac OS X Mail or through .Mac Mail on the web. Virus protection is built right in, and you get 1GB of combined email and iDisk storage. You can keep your mac.com email address even if you change Internet providers, while enjoying up to five aliases for fun or to protect against unwanted mail. With .Mac Mail you can access mail from your email program or web browser -- any Internet-connected Mac or PC will do. Fix typos with integrated spell-checker, create text and photo signatures, and set an auto-reply to handle incoming email when you're away.

Learning Center
.Mac's integrated Learning Center offers step-by-step tutorials on the applications you use most, including iLife, iWork, Mac OS X, and .Mac. Follow along with QuickTime movies and text-based information that allows you to learn at your own pace and try out new skills on sample files. You can even learn about Apple's professional line of software including Final Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack Pro, Motion 2, DVD Studio Pro 4, Logic Pro 7, Shake 4, Final Cut Express HD, and Logic Express 7.

Member Benefits
Exclusive member benefits include free software downloads as well as special product discounts -- all available through Member Central. Go to .Mac Member Central for free downloads of popular Mac software such as GarageBand Jam Pack Loops. Plus, you'll receive special discounts on selected products and free updates to .Mac features.

.Mac in Depth
Learn more about .Mac.

Product Description

.Mac provides individuals and families with the Internet experience they’ve come to expect from Apple. The new version of .Mac has extended its services to support the special requirements of groups. Members of clubs, teams, and other organizations can now use .Mac to streamline communication, share photos and movies, and coordinate activities in minutes. The growing use of digital media translates into greater needs for storage and greater benefits from performing regular backups. The new version of .Mac includes powerful new backup software, as well as a dramatic increase in the storage allowance for members.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too expensive and much to basic, otherwise good., October 29, 2005

By	VPX - See all my reviews

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 ([e-mail] 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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ah but you left out one thing..., November 19, 2005

By	Tommy Weir (Dromahaire, Leitrim Ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars OK Value, February 21, 2006

By	Chris M. Jacobson (Sunland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.)