10-15-2011, 05:22 AM

I've got iCloud running on my iMac and iPad, and will soon have an iPhone, but do I need iCloud, or is a Mac-centric approach better for me?

Advantages of iCloud:
Making a change in one calendar, address book or reminders list reflects immediately in the others, without having to wait until I get home to sync up via the iMac.
Can use my calendar, address book and email on any computer away from home by signing into my iCloud account, but I rarely need that.
Can take a photo on one mobile device and it appears on the other, but I could just email them to myself.
Wifi backups - but unlike wired backups to my iMac through iTunes and manually, not everything gets backed up.
If I go on a trip with only my mobile device and the device bricks, I could get up and running with again by restoring through iCloud, presumably.
The iCloud Webmail interface is light years ahead of my service provider's, and being imap allows me to set up mail folders.

Disadvantages:
Seems more complicated than a Mac-centric approach, but maybe I need to get further up the learning curve.
Backing up my data is more complicated: see Apple - Support - iCloud - Backup
My stuff is in the cloud, not at home.
Still have to hook up to iTunes on the iMac for some sync chores, like photo albums and my music.
Still finding options I need to adjust to smooth out wrinkles.

10-15-2011, 05:39 AM

It's an option. You can choose to use it or not.

10-15-2011, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by CrimsonRequiem

It's an option. You can choose to use it or not.

That's why I posted this -- trying to get options clear to make the chioce.

10-15-2011, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by Demapples

I've got iCloud running on my iMac and iPad, and will soon have an iPhone, but do I need iCloud, or is a Mac-centric approach better for me?

Advantages of iCloud:
Making a change in one calendar, address book or reminders list reflects immediately in the others, without having to wait until I get home to sync up via the iMac.
Can use my calendar, address book and email on any computer away from home by signing into my iCloud account, but I rarely need that.
Can take a photo on one mobile device and it appears on the other, but I could just email them to myself.
Wifi backups - but unlike wired backups to my iMac through iTunes and manually, not everything gets backed up.
If I go on a trip with only my mobile device and the device bricks, I could get up and running with again by restoring through iCloud, presumably.
The iCloud Webmail interface is light years ahead of my service provider's, and being imap allows me to set up mail folders.

Disadvantages:
Seems more complicated than a Mac-centric approach, but maybe I need to get further up the learning curve.
Backing up my data is more complicated: see Apple - Support - iCloud - Backup
My stuff is in the cloud, not at home.
Still have to hook up to iTunes on the iMac for some sync chores, like photo albums and my music.
Still finding options I need to adjust to smooth out wrinkles.

It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds but there is a bit of a learning curve. You can use the cloud and still keep a copy of the cloud on your Mac at home as a backup. I do. The advantages far outweigh the the disadvantages (if they really are that even) IMO.

10-15-2011, 08:11 PM

I am making the switch from MobileMe to iCloud. If Apple had not introduced iCloud I would have kept paying for MobileMe even though I did not use all of the features.

Yes, I know I could have cobbled something together for less probably but it just never seemed to be with the time.

10-15-2011, 08:16 PM

If, like me, you just have a Mac and an iDevice, then I don't think there's much point to iCloud. I set it up anyway on my iPad, but it's not even compatible with Snow Leopard, so I turned off pretty much everything and have been doing wi-fi syncs instead. That's a feature I really love.

If you have an iPad and an iPhone or something, then iCloud would start to become really useful. Getting content from device to device has always been a huge pain. I guess it would be useful if you had a Mac with Lion too, but from what I've heard, the desktop integration of iCloud isn't much even then.

10-15-2011, 11:57 PM

I think what mknightretke was trying to say there is that if you are already running Lion and have more than one Apple device, iCloud is useful. If so, he's correct.

iCloud does INSTANT push syncing of calendars, contacts and email (and bookmarks, but they don't mention it much). That's HUGE. It's the number one reason people paid for MobileMe but now they don't have to pay anything, PLUS you get an ***AD-FREE*** email address that people can actually remember. I personally think that's a BIG selling point right there.

On top of this, all my iTunes purchases are backed up and can be re-downloaded if I ever lose them for free?? Yes, please and thanks!

The new Photo Stream may not be the same as MM Gallery (which I'll miss when it goes offline in June), but OTOH photo stream allows me to "store" up to 1,000 of my most recent pictures on all my devices without me having to do anything. That too is pretty nice.

Basically what I'm saying here is, presuming you have more than one Apple product and are running Lion/iOS 5, why *wouldn't* you use iCloud??

10-16-2011, 12:08 AM

As the others pointed out more advantages than disadvantages .

10-16-2011, 12:19 AM

Thanks chas, and sorry if my post was confusing - I'm going on 40 hours awake! iCloud is great for someone with 2 or more iDevices and/or a Mac with Lion. And it's free, so there's really no reason not to get it.

10-16-2011, 12:21 AM

I switch over from Mobile Me. Took only a few minutes and now I have all the features and don't have to do anything more. A few minutes effort

10-19-2011, 04:58 AM

Update: not sure I need iCloud, but it sure is growing on me as I get used to its ways.

10-19-2011, 06:02 AM

Question for those that have made the switch from Mobileme - do you still have all 5 of your .mac/.me email addresses and the ability to manage them. Or do you lose all of them except the primary login address?

10-19-2011, 06:41 AM

Hi,

As has been said definatly a very useful addition and free. Just your time and a few clicks, but really not a complicated as it seems.

10-19-2011, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by bobtomay

Question for those that have made the switch from Mobileme - do you still have all 5 of your .mac/.me email addresses and the ability to manage them. Or do you lose all of them except the primary login address?

Bob: good question. I have five of them but I only ever really used three of them. My email inbox (quick check) tells me that at least two of them are still in use, so I'm going to say yes, you keep all five of them.

10-19-2011, 07:19 AM

Thanks chas:

I've sort of been holding off until I understand how the changeover addresses this as I have at least one there that I use strictly for signing up to places where I can delete it and set up a new one when the spam gets to be too much.

And have a couple of others I really don't want to lose - at least not yet.