Do I need Apple’s new MobileMe service? That’s the question that’s been in the back of my mind since Apple announced MobileMe as the replacement and facelift for their aging .Mac service.
I used to use .Mac. I first started using it when I was working for Apple and we were given free accounts to it as one of the many perks of working for the Cupertino, CA (albeit I was in Durham, NC at their retail store). .Mac at the time broke down as being advantageous as it gave a free backup utility, free (though not really needed) virus protection, 100MB of online storage via their iDisk setup, a way to sync Safari bookmarks and other data between multiple machines, an email address, and a way to host photos and web pages. After leaving Apple, when my account came up for renewal, I renewed it for a year at the $99 price, but never renewed it the following year.
Fast forward to July 2008. .Mac has been revamped and renamed MobileMe. It offers the same iDisk setup (though I think more storage space to allow for the continuation of bloat of documents, photos, etc.) Backup is now handled through Leopard’s time machine. You still get an email address and hosting. The syncing of calendars, bookmarks, etc. has been significantly updated with the ability to get your iPhone/iPod Touch in the mix in realtime. But, the more of this post I type, the less I’m thinking MobileMe offers me.
Your mileage may vary, but here’s my breakdown of why I *may* give their two month trial a run, but unlikely to stay on:
- Email address: Have more of these than I need. If you want a good web-accessable email address, I recommend Gmail.
- Web: If you don’t already have hosting and aren’t real into the geeky coding of HTML, CSS, etc. Apple’s service is a plus with its integration with the iLife suite (iWeb and iPhoto most specifically), but I’ve got a PHP-based site running blog software. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe I could do this on Apple’s site.
- Web-based storage: There are a slew of options – both free and paid out there, even some hacks for utilizing Gmail as storage space. I personally use Box.net and find it sufficient for my limited needs.
- Syncing Multiple Computers: This is the one place where MobileMe temps me and why I’ll give the two month trial a shot. I want to be able to edit my calendars at home and at work, or somewhere else via the web. The new MobileMe service promises this to be easy and accessible. The question is it worth $99 a year for this. I’ll give it a try, but I think I’m more likely to just get two licenses for a one-time fee of $50 for BusySync. Now granted, this only syncs calendars, but I don’t really need my bookmarks synced and email is already synced since I utilize IMAP on both my work and home addresses.
So after that quick and incomplete rundown, I’m thinking I may forgo the 60 day trial of MobileMe and just get two licenses of BusySync. Please leave comments, suggestion, etc. regarding my thought process and analysis on this one.
Related Posts:
Entries (RSS)