I ponied up for .Mac

Apple .Mac

So I’m looking through all the fabulous benefits of .Mac membership, and Backup looks good. But what’s this fine print all about?

To create backup CDs or DVDs with Backup, you must have an internal, Apple-supplied CD-RW drive or SuperDrive and a paid .Mac subscription.

An Apple-supplied CD-RW? Hmmph. I’ll have to assume I can get away with an Apple-supported one, ie the moral equivalent of the ones they supply since I’m not buying a new machine just to get the drive.

Still, for $49.95, .Mac looks like a good deal for me. In light of the Leading Brand and their abortive switch ad, what does Apple do for me and what does Microsoft do for me? Does Microsoft offer to automate and store backups? Does Microsoft have an email service that doesn’t require I use their client software?

If people want to buy everything based on MHz numbers and other meaningless minutia, that’s OK with me. I know what works for me.