If you haven't already opened your .Mac account, you get a chance to sign up when you turn on your Mac for the first time and also when you install (or upgrade) Mac OS X. However, if you decided to pass on .Mac at that time, you can always join in the fun by following these steps:
1. Click the System Preferences icon on the dock.
2. Click the .Mac icon.
3. Click the Sign Up button.
Safari launches and displays Apple's .Mac Welcome page, .Mac tab.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions for choosing a member name and password.
When you've finished, you're rewarded with your login information.
5. Close Safari.
6. Enter your name and password into the text boxes in the .Mac System Preferences pane.
Like the convenient operating system that it is, Tiger handles all your .Mac login chores automatically from this point on.
A high-speed broadband connection is a requirement to take full advantage of a .Mac subscription. You can certainly still use all the functionality of .Mac with any type of Internet connection, including dialup, but you're going to spend from now until next Tuesday waiting for files to copy and things to happen unless you have a high-speed connection.
If you decide to sign up for a full year of .Mac membership, you have discerning taste in online services. However, you can also opt for a 60-day trial subscription at this point, to check out things at your leisure.
A .Mac subscription also allows you to synchronize your email, Address Book contact information, and Safari bookmarks among multiple Macs. What a boon when you're on the road with your laptop!
As a trial member to .Mac, you're limited to reading your .Mac email through the Web-based browser offered on the .Mac Web site. That's neat, certainly, and you can use Web mail from any computer with an Internet connection. However, as a full subscriber, you can also send and receive .Mac email seamlessly from Tiger's Mail application, which is the preferred method for checking your messages.
If you decide that you want the extra functionality of a .Mac subscription, upgrading is easy. When you open the .Mac pane in System Preferences and click the iDisk button, Tiger displays a countdown reminder telling you how many days remain on your trial period. Just click Join Now to upgrade. You can also visit the .Mac Web site at any time and click Join Now to access the same Web-based subscription system.
Besides the features that are of special interest to road warriors, your .Mac subscription also provides support for the following:
- Web-site creation and hosting using iWeb and HomePage
- Photocasting (where you can automatically update your online photo albums and share them with others)
- Blogging (the now-almost-banal art form that involves sharing an online journal with the world at large)
