Apple's .Mac service (pronounced dot Mac) offers everything Mac OS X users have come to expect: an attractive, intuitive interface and a wealth of features with all the underlying power you'll ever need. .Mac includes web mail, an online contact management system, storage space, a fully customizable web site of your own, and much more. On your first tour of this suite of subscriber-based services, you'll be delighted by how easy and convenient .Mac is to use. But you'll soon discover that there's a lot more to .Mac than meets the eye! Inside .Mac will help you get the most out of Apple's new Internet services. This handy, quick reference offers a clear overview of the entire .Mac package and many of its not-so-obvious features. You'll learn how to set up and manage your account quickly and without fuss. Each .Mac service is discussed in an objective, no-frills fashion that'll show you how to use--and what to expect from--iDisk, web mail, your personal web site, and everything else that .Mac offers. The book covers:

• Setting up your .Mac account: a guided tour to getting started with .Mac

• Using your iDisk: a detailed look at using iDisk, its directories, the iDisk utility and more

• Mac Software: a look at what's included in the software directory, including Virex anti-virus software, the Backup utility, Mac Slides Publisher, and third-party software

• .Mac Email: everything you need to know, on configuring your settings to adding additional email accounts

• Building a HomePage: an overview of HomePage options that covers uploading files, publishing iPhoto libraries, protecting your site, and publishing and announcing your site

• Synchronizing Your Mac with .Mac: learn how to set up and sync your Address Book, iCal Calendars, and more using iSync

From enthusiastic new users to hardcore Mac geeks, anyone who uses .Mac will want to get the most from their subscription service. Inside .Mac is the only book that shows you how. There's no better way take control than with this handy guide.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 10 Ratings

Inside .mac - a worthwhile read & reference - 2004-08-24
Reviewer Rating:
Title: Inside .Mac
Author: Chuck Toporek
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, 2004, $19.95
ISBN: 0-596-00501-6

Reviewed by: Curt Blanchard, Tucson Macintosh Users Group

I've had a dot-Mac account for a couple of years now and although I use it for many things, I haven't really taken advantage of it the way I could have. This is part sloth, but it's also because a dot-Mac account has features that I guarantee you'll never figure out on your own. With the new O'Reilly book, Inside .Mac by Chuck Toporek, you're going to find out how impressive dot-Mac really is! This isn't fluffy, light reading, it's 350 pages dense with information, that begin with a basic explanation, then take you straight through the dot-Mac's rich feature-set, module by module.

Toporek is quite thorough considering the amount of material there is to cover. There are lots of useful screenshots - sometimes unnecessarily too many, and in a few instances I found it frustrating to locate answers to specific questions even with help from the index. The only other nit is that it's pretty dry reading - no manual will ever be considered "light Summer reading", but other authors are a little better at keeping the reader engaged by lightening up from time to time.

This book could almost be divided in two; volume one would be a slim Getting Started guide and the second volume could deal with the deeper, more technical subjects. The two are fully blended throughout this book which may intimidate the casual user. I'm a better informed dot-Mac user after having read this book and recommend it to those who want to expand their knowledge.

If $99.00 per year for a dot-Mac account seems steep, read this book and you'll realize you get a lot for your money. It works out to only $8.25 per month.

--Curt Blanchard
Tucson Macintosh Users Group

Quick reference to the entire program and its modules - 2004-08-07
Reviewer Rating:
Apple created .Mac (dot Mac) as a suite of services to let subscribers share information online, yet it hasn't received half the notoriety of its I-cousins, despite features range from an online contact management system and storage space to a customizable personal web site and more. Chuck Toporek's Inside .Mac is the first and only manual to prove the riches of this new suite, providing a quick reference to the entire program and its modules. If you own .MAC, you owe it to yourself to include this essential desk reference in your collection: .MAC is too valuable to miss.

Nemo MyMac.com Review - 2005-05-03
Reviewer Rating:
Inside .Mac Making the Most of Your .Mac Membership - Book Review
John Nemerovski
Columnist, The Nemo Memo, Book Bytes
Thursday, 04/21/05

Inside .Mac Making the Most of Your .Mac Membership
by Chuck Toporek
O'Reilly Media
ISBN 0-596-00501-6, 360 pages
$19.95 US, $28.95 CN

Here we have one of the best-researched and most well written books ever reviewed by MyMac.com's Book Bytes. Author Chuck Toporek immersed himself in this topic so we readers and subscribers can take advantage of his endless energy and expertise. If I attempted to create a book such as this one, working every waking moment for over six months, I could not approach the breadth and depth of coverage Chuck provides. By now you probably realize that Book Bytes considers Inside .Mac - Making the Most of Your .Mac Membership to be is as good as it gets. Congratulations and thanks to Chuck and O'Reilly Media.

If you or someone you know has an active .Mac membership, please give us your thoughts on the service in our Article Discussion area below. This review deals with a book, not an account, and we value your personal comments.

I spent a long afternoon reading this volume cover to cover, and I was surprised and impressed with all the .Mac features offered by Apple. Most users take advantage of one or two of the components within .Mac, notably email and Backup or iDisk, and people are missing out on several others that add value to the annual fee.

Inside .Mac takes readers slowly and patiently from "Setting Up Your .Mac Account" on a comprehensive, detailed journey all the way through "Using Virex" and "Using iSync with .Mac" to "Blogging with iBlog" and ".Mac's Keyboard Shortcuts." Have you encountered the "Common iDisk Error Codes," or have a need to install the iDisk utility for Windows XP? Now's your chance, with Chuck as your time-tested tutor.

Turning to pages at random, we encounter:

* IMAP Versus POP - Which Is Best for Me? (discussing hidden ways to access your .Mac email)

* Blogging with iBlog (a third-party application Chuck recommends for integrating your account with a user-friendly blog)

* From GIF to JPEG in a Jiffy (explaining why JPEG is the only type of picture compatible with .Mac's slide publishing software, and how easily you can create JPEGs)

* Virus Scanning from the Terminal (if this appeals to you, I applaud your geek factor)

and dozens greater and lesser techniques and tips.

Screen shots are plentiful, all in '. At $20 US, the price of Inside .Mac is so loaded with reference and tutorial info that author and his publication team must have done this book as a labor of love, because I don't think the title is a bestseller. I hope I'm wrong, and I'll be using it on my daily rounds as a private computer tutor, urging my clients to find Chuck instead of Nemo when they need help with any aspect of .Mac.

The text is divided into four major parts, with the first dedicated to .Mac service particulars, email accounts, and iDisk; the second addresses Virex and Backup utilities; the third (now for some fun!) covers "Building a .Mac HomePage," the aforementioned iBlog, plus iSync, Slide Shows, and iCards; and, finally, an appendix containing .Mac's keyboard shortcuts and the error codes and Windows material mentioned above. Writing is clean and personal, like a long conversation with the most intelligent, articulate person you've ever met.

How else is an intrepid .Mac subscriber able to acquire the necessary instructions to do everything possible with the membership and its features? Not possible, says Nemo, wishing I had an extra couple of hours each day to dig deeper into Apple's .Mac service. Inside .Mac: Making the Most of Your .Mac Membership is such outstanding value and so high in useful content that it's at the top of our highest Book Bytes rating, 5 out of 5. If you are a .Mac member or plan to become one, run don't walk to your favorite independent or online bookseller to purchase this title.

Bad Teacher - 2004-09-26
Reviewer Rating:
I do not like the way the book is written (frankly). Maybe it's just me, but I like things explained better. I understand everything he is saying and he does give you a step by step list of how to do things, but he DOES NOT tell you the purpose of each of the features of .Mac, which to me is essential. It's almost as if he thinks we already understand what to do with each of the components of membership. He gives absolutely NO examples of what you'd use these things for and all he really would have had to do would've been include a couple paragraphs about it. As I read it's hard for me to follow along because he excludes essential information relevant to .Mac and the use thereof.

.Mac. - 2006-11-04
Reviewer Rating:
Despite the fact that I have been using .Mac for yesrs, this book has taught me a ton that I simply did not know. I never knew that there was this much to this program. This one is very solid and helpful.

Owen O'Meara

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