iCloud on Mac

[eyephoney]

Ok, so apologies for being stupid but having just got my iP4s it still remains in its box. Why? It's coz if i'm honest i'm unsure how to go on about setting iCloud up.

1) I'm running Snow Leopard - to run iCloud on my mac I need Lion; if I don't upgrade to Lion what functionality will I be missing out on? (No doubt I will upgrade to Lion) What will having iCloud on my mac do for me - what happens if I don't upgrade to Lion?

2) I'll get to setting up my iP4s with my Apple id's (I have one for iTunes and another for MM) i'm uncertain which id I will need to use when registering for iCloud and I know there's multiple posts on this but it's all far too confusing. So, what id will I need to use. My hotmail is one I use for purchases in iTunes and my MM for mail, contacts etc - do I use my hotmail id for iCloud or the MM??

3) Again .. sorry of all this has been answered before but reading the various posts has frazzled my brain somewhat.

Appreciate any replies ...

 

[svkrzn]

What did you buy your iP4s for?

 

[eyephoney]

What did you buy your iP4s for?

To replace my 3Gs. Reason why it remains unopened is I want to understand how all this iCloud works - I thought I did but now i'm not sure !!

 

[C64]

1. Here's a list with services that aren't available in iCloud. It will still be working until mid 2012 or so, but I believe that once you've transitioned to iCloud, that's it.

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html

There is a way to use Calendars according to this topic, but other than that... I don't think much will be working. Back to my Mac won't work, you'll need Leopard. Many people, including myself, can't get mail to work; it won't accept the @me.com account on iOS 4 or 3, or Snow Leopard. I don't know about contacts.

2. It's not possible to merge two Apple IDs, so you can't transfer purchases from your Hotmail Apple ID to your MM account, to use a single account (your MM) for everything.

Since you're using MM for mail, contacts, etc. you probably want to keep doing that. So once you go over to iCloud, you can enter your MM login information in iOS 5 (or on me.com/move) and convert the account into an iCloud account.

At that point you'll still have two accounts: iCloud and your older iTunes ID with all your purchases. You can still use both. Setup mail, contacts, calendars, documents for syncing with iCloud, and use your iTunes ID for iTunes purchases and iTunes in the Cloud. Many people were hoping to merge both accounts, so they only had to use the @me.com, but that's not possible. But it's basically the same setup as you have now. You can also use only your @me.com account, but then you won't have access to your purchases.

Apple's KB article about this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895

3. We can all blame Apple; this whole transition is far from easy for most.

 

[eyephoney]

1. Here's a list with services that aren't available in iCloud. It will still be working until mid 2012 or so, but I believe that once you've transitioned to iCloud, that's it.

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html

There is a way to use Calendars according to this topic, but other than that... I don't think much will be working. Back to my Mac won't work, you'll need Leopard. Many people, including myself, can't get mail to work; it won't accept the @me.com account on iOS 4 or 3, or Snow Leopard. I don't know about contacts.

2. It's not possible to merge two Apple IDs, so you can't transfer purchases from your Hotmail Apple ID to your MM account, to use a single account (your MM) for everything.

Since you're using MM for mail, contacts, etc. you probably want to keep doing that. So once you go over to iCloud, you can enter your MM login information in iOS 5 (or on me.com/move) and convert the account into an iCloud account.

At that point you'll still have two accounts: iCloud and your older iTunes ID with all your purchases. You can still use both. Setup mail, contacts, calendars, documents for syncing with iCloud, and use your iTunes ID for iTunes purchases and iTunes in the Cloud. Many people were hoping to merge both accounts, so they only had to use the @me.com, but that's not possible. But it's basically the same setup as you have now. You can also use only your @me.com account, but then you won't have access to your purchases.

Apple's KB article about this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895

3. We can all blame Apple; this whole transition is far from easy for most.

Thank You - nice response. Will have a proper look at getting started later in the day.