07-20-2011, 09:45 AM

Mac OS X Lion will be available on USB thumb drive for $69 in August

For those who want to have their copy of Lion saved on a physical medium, Apple will make the Mac OS X upgrade available on a USB thumb drive through its online store in August, but at a cost more than twice the price of the Mac App Store.

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07-20-2011, 11:15 AM

Queue the complainers over the price difference in 3… 2...

07-20-2011, 11:31 AM

$30.00 for a 5 mg USB thumb drive, the price of uploading the OS on the drive, instructions, packaging(plastic and more plastic)...
not bad...
Hehe.

07-20-2011, 11:57 AM

Let me do some remembering. Hmmm. I paid $79.95 for a copy of Windows 3.1 on 5 floppies, and a full version of Win98 was $209 on a CD. I won't mention Win95 on 30 or so floppies because this forum is not a place to discuss porn.

Apple is offering a full Unix based OS on a thumb drive for $69 for those who live outside of broadband country. Sounds like a deal to me. My credit card is already waiting.

07-20-2011, 12:38 PM

Just out of precaution I'm going to buy the thumb drive version, so I can have a safe installation at hand, since I don't trust this download and stay on disc version. And 70$ is a reasonable price to me.

07-20-2011, 12:47 PM

Well, let's see..... A box of DVD+R media just about anywhere = $10.00 and cost of Lion download = $29.00 for a total of $39.00 with plenty of DVDs left over.

In other words, just burn it to a DVD and tuck it away. You can even make several copies for safety sake. Instructions for burning to a DVD right here below:

How to burn a Lion disk:

- Once Lion is released, purchase and download it from the Mac App Store.

- Locate the OS X Lion installer and right-click on it. Select 'Show Package Contents'.

- Inside the 'Contents' folder, there is a 'SharedSupport' folder. Inside that is the Lion Installer. It's called 'InstallESD.dmg".

- Copy 'InstallESD.dmg' to the Desktop by clicking and dragging it while holding down the Option-key. You should see a little green plus icon if you did it right.

- Open Disk Utility. Head to the Go menu in the Finder and select 'Utilities'. Disk Utility should be in there.

- Click the burn button.

- Select 'InstallESD.dmg' from the Desktop, insert a blank 4.7GB DVD and wait. Once it's finished, you'll have a shiny new Lion install DVD.

Have fun.

07-20-2011, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

Well, let's see..... A box of DVD+R media just about anywhere = $10.00 and cost of Lion download = $29.00 for a total of $39.00 with plenty of DVDs left over.

In other words, just burn it to a DVD and tuck it away. You can even make several copies for safety sake. Instructions for burning to a DVD right here below:

How to burn a Lion disk:

- Once Lion is released, purchase and download it from the Mac App Store.

- Locate the OS X Lion installer and right-click on it. Select 'Show Package Contents'.

- Inside the 'Contents' folder, there is a 'SharedSupport' folder. Inside that is the Lion Installer. It's called 'InstallESD.dmg".

- Copy 'InstallESD.dmg' to the Desktop by clicking and dragging it while holding down the Option-key. You should see a little green plus icon if you did it right.

- Open Disk Utility. Head to the Go menu in the Finder and select 'Utilities'. Disk Utility should be in there.

- Click the burn button.

- Select 'InstallESD.dmg' from the Desktop, insert a blank 4.7GB DVD and wait. Once it's finished, you'll have a shiny new Lion install DVD.

Have fun.

Exactly what I intend to do - except to a USB drive. I just downloaded Lion but will wait until this evening and make a bootable USB drive before installing.

07-20-2011, 01:17 PM

I just checked to see if the Lion download placed the installer application in the "Applications" folder. It does not, but instead leaves it on the Dock. Looks like to me the only way is to install it from the Dock or just cancel the installation altogether.

Edit: I just found it! It doesn't appear unless you accept the license agreement. Accept the license agreement first and then look for the installer in your applications folder. Have fun.

07-20-2011, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

Well, let's see..... A box of DVD+R media just about anywhere = $10.00 and cost of Lion download = $29.00 for a total of $39.00 with plenty of DVDs left over.

In other words, just burn it to a DVD and tuck it away. You can even make several copies for safety sake. Instructions for burning to a DVD right here below:

[B]How to burn a Lion disk:

- Once Lion is released, purchase and download it from the Mac App Store.

.

Let me see now. Oops. That plan failed at step one for me. At a max download speed of 26k, four gig would take... Hmmm. Darn! This calculator doesn't have that many decimal places.

Just kidding. (not about the download speed - that is actually what AT&T has the lines clamped down to in my area). I could go to my friendly Internet coffee shop and get it during slow times, then dump it to a backup DVD, but the Apple flash drive solution is cheaper than gasoline - almost.

Which brings up a point that I have been cogitating on. Is Apple tending to make pirates out of remote customers? So I go to (somewhere with broadband), buy a copy at the online store, save it, then put it on every Mac I have, did I just steal the other copies?

How about my friendly non-driving neighbor with a little IMac that I convinced him to buy? (Non existent - this is a what-if?) I go over and use my copy to update his, since A, there is no way he could ever download and install an OS virtually, and B, he can't drive a hundred and fifty miles to an Apple store.

Is he now using a pirated version of Lion. Has to be - he didn't pay for it.

Just wondering.

07-20-2011, 01:26 PM

Apple has always had a vast amount of trust in the honestly of their customers which to me says a lot about them. I always felt during my Windows days that Microsoft was looking over my shoulder to make sure I had not cheated them.

I believe in paying for software and absolutely have no use for pirates or piracy, but sometimes the steps one has to go through to verify their software is legitimate is completely out of line.

I could tell you a story about Intuit and how they copy protected Turbo Tax for Windows. Software that was selling for $19.95 at the time! Which is one reason why I never buy Intuit products.

07-20-2011, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by cptkrf

Is Apple tending to make pirates out of remote customers? So I go to (somewhere with broadband), buy a copy at the online store, save it, then put it on every Mac I have, did I just steal the other copies?

How about my friendly non-driving neighbor with a little IMac that I convinced him to buy? (Non existent - this is a what-if?) I go over and use my copy to update his, since A, there is no way he could ever download and install an OS virtually, and B, he can't drive a hundred and fifty miles to an Apple store.

Is he now using a pirated version of Lion. Has to be - he didn't pay for it.

Just wondering.

Use some common sense. Apple allows Lion to be copied to a USB drive or DVD for you to have a backup and, if you choose, to distribute it to your other Macs in your home. Apple allows Lion to be installed on up to 5 of your Macs. Not your neighbor's. They are trusting their customers to be honest. Not encouraging them to be pirates. Abuse of this trust will lead to future versions of Mac OS X being locked down the way Windows is.

If your neighbor is incapable of installing via the Mac App Store, he can purchase the USB drive version of Lion directly from Apple in August.

07-20-2011, 01:35 PM

BTW, installing Lion any other way than the MAS currently requires you to enter your Mac's serial number during the setup process. So yes, you let your neighbor pirate it.

07-20-2011, 02:58 PM

I can't see it in my applications folder. I've had Lion up and running all afternoon and I just fancied having a go at making a backup DVD. Any ideas?...

07-20-2011, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by EATTHERICH

I can't see it in my applications folder. I've had Lion up and running all afternoon and I just fancied having a go at making a backup DVD. Any ideas?...

If you already installed Lion without first making the backup DVD, it's too late. Once installed it deletes the installation folder and files.

07-20-2011, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by EATTHERICH

I can't see it in my applications folder. I've had Lion up and running all afternoon and I just fancied having a go at making a backup DVD. Any ideas?...

I think once you install it - the .dmg file goes away - at least that's what the article I read earlier seemed to indicate. You can probably download the application again - just quit the installer.