Several large reputable news outlets have reported that Mobileme will be free in the future. Right now I'm on trial mobileme and I really do like it, it's easy to sync my contacts/calendars and it really is hassle free. Honestly that's the only part of mobileme that I use right now. If someone can tell me for certainty that gmail is 100 percent or more reliable and just as easy or easier than mobileme, I will switch. But my question is, when it becomes free will I get a refund for the unused portion?(if I pay) I know it's impossible to know what will happen in the future though, I just hate feeling ripped off.
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Free Mobileme, Paying now?
- Thread starter cloakedpegasus
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I've sorta been on the fence between the two and it really depends; Googles services aren't guaranteed to work 24/7, neither are Apples. With MM though you get something thats essentially designed to work between your Macs/iOS devices, as well as provide you with not only e-mail but other services as well. Having said that though you can get the same level of functionality by using dropbox, logmein, picasa, and googles sync all of which can be setup for free.
In terms of ease of use, if you already use a mac and have an iphone, I think MobileMe is the better option since it tends to integrate well with everything in the ecosystem without installing extras and is very easy to get going; it also tends to work correctly with the OS X base programs.
Keep in mind that once you sign up for a trial I dont believe your account is deleted of for some period of time (I could be wrong though)...I signed up for one a while back and then tried logging in to find it still working a year later asking me for payment. If you sign up now and it ends up becoming free you might be able to still access it if it does.
The one thing that I have noticed that is definitely messed up is the iDisk function in the finder; you can however get it working fine by using something like Transmit (which unfortunately requires you to spend more money though).
I guess it all comes down to if you want a nice integrated package, then use MM; if you don't mind using several different services and cost is an issue, then go with google/everything else. I think it really comes down to personal preference...
In terms of ease of use, if you already use a mac and have an iphone, I think MobileMe is the better option since it tends to integrate well with everything in the ecosystem without installing extras and is very easy to get going; it also tends to work correctly with the OS X base programs.
Keep in mind that once you sign up for a trial I dont believe your account is deleted of for some period of time (I could be wrong though)...I signed up for one a while back and then tried logging in to find it still working a year later asking me for payment. If you sign up now and it ends up becoming free you might be able to still access it if it does.
The one thing that I have noticed that is definitely messed up is the iDisk function in the finder; you can however get it working fine by using something like Transmit (which unfortunately requires you to spend more money though).
I guess it all comes down to if you want a nice integrated package, then use MM; if you don't mind using several different services and cost is an issue, then go with google/everything else. I think it really comes down to personal preference...
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Because of the lousy speed of iDisk, I think MM should really be free of charge - or at least cheaper than it is today.
I agree that iDisk performance is woeful. The other issue is it doesn't really handle shared folders very well. We've got a family plan so there is a shared folder that's shared between members of the family plan. However, you can't sync that folder locally like you can with your main iDisk and apps like pages can't navigate to your shared folder from your iDisk (it's just grayed out)
Dropbox is far, far superior to MobileMe for cloud storage functionality both in performance, flexibility and the way sharing folders is handled
idisk is pretty much a waste, but that doesn't mean the whole service should be free.
I imagine what will happen is some features will become free, other paid for. Your remainder time will go towards the paid for service.
I really want to see MM compete with google apps and dropbox. Maybe Apple could just buy dropbox.
Either way dropbox is much better them iDisk in all regards. google gmail is comparable to MM, but free.
I imagine what will happen is some features will become free, other paid for. Your remainder time will go towards the paid for service.
I really want to see MM compete with google apps and dropbox. Maybe Apple could just buy dropbox.
Either way dropbox is much better them iDisk in all regards. google gmail is comparable to MM, but free.
Hmm a free MM would be nice, as one other poster said its designed to run on and across all iOS and Mac devices. I have used MM once, with windows machine and iphone so i guess i didnt see the full benifits of it.
Now i am a google user through and through. I sync all my contacts, calender, email across my iMac / iphone and ipad. Which suits me perfectly. However i am very anal, and will the iCal and google cal well its not really a match made in heaven. But the function is there. so i guess i catn grumble
For the iDisk replacement, i use dropbox which i also have across all my devices, i started off with the 2gb free option i now have about 6gb which is plenty for pages / number docs or the odd photo here and there (which is all i really use it for) Just look round the web for ways to get free space
I would rather have a MM account simply because its Mac, and designed to work with all of mac items seemlessly HOW EVER!!! i am not willing to pay £60 per year when i can get the same service for free albeit with some annoying lil points.