Useful For Online Backup, Sharing Photos, Videos, and Large Files
Written: Oct 27 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: Convenient way to share large files, share photos and videos, and backup frequently used files
Cons: Costs $100/yr, and there have been reports from others of problems.
The Bottom Line: I'm pleased with the performance of the photo gallery, BackUp, and iDisk features. These are worth the price. There's promise of many other features which we may yet use.
t_o_n_y's Full Review: Apple MobileMe Full Version for PC, Mac (MB680Z/A)
Apple's MobileMe is a convenience that grows on you. It allows large files to be easily transferred, provides a very convenient way to share photos and videos, and can even be part of an computer backup strategy. For $100/year it's worth it.
Synchronization Features The main idea behind MobileMe is to provide a way to access everyday items from your computer regardless of which computer you are on. There are a bewildering array of items included such as Calender, Contacts, Address book, iPhone, email accounts, computer settings, etc... The Mac Operating System is set up to fully integrate the various programs with MobileMe, so it should work seamlessly. However, we did not get the service for any of these features since we already take advantage of most of these features using our (free) gmail accounts.
Transfering Large Files The reason we got MobileMe has to do with the iDisk and photo sharing features. iDisk is a 20gb storage disk which you can use like any other connected to your computer. You can use it from anywhere, and it provides a way to transfer large files to friends and colleagues. Further, this same storage disk can be used to keep important files backed up automatically by installing a separate "Back Up" program for use with iDisk. You can also set up the iDisk to be available while not online, if you wish.
Part of a Backup Strategy The BackUp feature is particularly helpful since it fills in the gaps of our backup strategy. Notebook computers are so mobile that it's hard to always perform back ups when you should. Having Time Machine set to automatically perform back ups wirelessly is a big help, but this only takes place when you are near the Time Capsule, which for us is at home. That leaves the possibility that important files will be lost between back ups, especially when away from home where the loss of data or a computer would be most likely to occur. Having MobileMe automatically back up important files using the automatic BackUp software fills in this gap. I did research into other online backup services available for free or for a small cost, but it seemed there were too many complaints about their performance and difficulty of use to waste the time trying them out. My positive experience with Apple gave me enough confidence to test their 60-day free trial -- and their hook worked.
Photo and Video Galleries The other features we enjoy are the photo and video sharing galleries available in MobleMe. iPhoto organizes photos and videos into "Events" and "Folders" and posting selected photos or videos to a MobileMe gallery is simply a matter of making another such "Folder" within the iPhoto program. The web interface for these galleries is very professional looking, and can also be customized in many ways. Sending large photos to friends and family by email can end up clogging up their computer performance. With MobileMe they can view the photos or videos at their leisure since all you do is send them a link. For example, we have things set up so that any photo we rate with 5 stars will automatically be uploaded to a folder of our MobileMe gallery. Settings are available that allow you to password protect and determine exactly who has access to your photos or files. You can also determine whether or not to allow viewers to add to or alter your galleries. It must be said, however, that large videos in the photo gallery cannot be viewed conveniently for those having slow internet connections. This is not, however, the fault of MobileMe. Using iDisk to transfer such files is one alternative, but there's really no way to get around the problems of a slow connection.
Other Features Apple seems to be regularly improving MobileMe, and they have recently added the ability to remotely control other Macs using the service as well as other features. Just as with the sychronization features where we already use gmail, there is another free service available to do this (LogMeIn). It must be admitted, however, that the "free" services do nag at you with urges to upgrade and/or unwelcome ads. For this reason, we may eventually switch to MobileMe for these services as well. For now, however, we find the iDisk, Backup, and photo gallery services to justify the cost.
As with my other epinion reviews, I'll update this one, especially if there are problems.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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