What Can .Mac Do for You?

Apple’s multi-facted .Mac service is a conundrum, a riddle in and of itself. What is .Mac, exactly? What can it do for me? Is it worth it? The problem is that .Mac is more than one thing — it’s e-mail, photo and video sharing, Web site hosting, backup, and a synchronization tool all in one. .Mac is a suite of Internet Web services where the sum of its parts creates a value far greater than any individual piece. Yet, most of the features found in .Mac can also be found for free on other sites, and while not all of the features have direct one-to-one comparisons, they’re still free.