I just called my local Apple store and was told it's $69 if you buy it at the same time as you buy a new machine - otherwise it's $99.

Roger

The Apple Stores will only sell you a .Mac activation if you are buying a computer at the same time-

From Apple's website:
"Save $30 on .Mac for a limited time. Between July 18, 2006, and October 16, 2006, you’ll pay just $69.95* for an individual membership or $149.95* for the Family Pack when you purchase with any Mac."

I'm glad it's inaccurate. I just renewed.
However, it is true that in some cases you can find a retail version of .Mac available for less than $99. Then you can follow the rest of the instructions in this tip.

Quote

theKiwi wrote:
I just called my local Apple store and was told it's $69 if you buy it at the same time as you buy a new machine - otherwise it's $99.

Roger

It's interesting that your local Apple store is saying that you have to buy a new Mac to get the special pricing since my local Apple store offers the deal without any strings attached. As a matter of fact, I have been told by store employees that this is a standing offer, and when I ask other employees, they confirm this.

Before writing this tip, I dropped by my Apple store and purchased a .Mac activation just to be sure. When I asked if the in-store $70 offer was still valid, they told me that it was, and rang me up accordingly. The .Mac activation was the only thing I purchased at the store that day.

I can say with certainty that all of the Colorado Apple stores are honoring the discount. If everyone wants to chime in with the store names that aren't playing nice and honoring the discount, we should be able to build a pretty comprehensive list of the locations where you can save yourself 30 bucks off your .Mac membership.

Jeff

Here is the deal on this (and i am speaking as a former Apple Store employee):

The $69 deal for .mac at the Apple Store is for those who purchase a new Mac at the same time. Although some stores will give you that same price without the purchase of a new computer, this is against policy. Some stores/employees do this to sell more .mac since that is a key element in job reviews.

SO... if you get it for that price you are getting it from a store that does not follow its own policy. But who cares? $30 bucks off is $30 bucks off!

I went to the Galleria Apple Store at lunch. They said that the policy is that it can only be discounted with the purchase of a new mac. They have been told that Apple is "clamping down" on this violation, and that all houston employees have been told NOT to do it.

As stated by another writer, .Mac sales are part of employee reviews, so it benefits them in their review, as long as they don't get "caught".

I'm ordering from Amazon for $80 with no tax and free shipping. Sometimes you can get it from someone on eBay for less.

Thanks.
Brian

PS I think that .Mac offers a lot less that it used to a few years ago. Not sure how long I'll pay Apple for an email address and a little server space. I think a year .Mac should be included with iLife.

I agree that Apple should offer a substantially discounted "bundle" price for .mac with iLife and/or iWork.

For myself, I've bought the family pack at Amazon for the past two years for $30 off, free shipping, and no tax. You do have to beware of Amazon, as I've noticed that their prices on Apple software (i.e. Panther, Tiger etc)fluctuate on a daily basis.

When you pay for .mac, you are not just paying for an email account (POP one, at that) and server space, you are paying for the service itself. The ease of use with .mac and making your own website, blog, podcast etc is just about worth the money. Maybe not $100 but still worth a lot.

When I tried to enter my purchased activation code and renew, the site presented a credit card page, as if my credit card might be charged (my account was set up for auto-renew). It took 15 minutes on the phone with Apple to get through the process of activating the renewal (turned off auto-renew, deleted credit card number to be sure).

I made it a point to impress upon Apple that it shouldn't be this hard ( to renew an account; it should have been a 30-second process. I think it's goofy that, even after supposedly renewing, it doesn't say that the account is renewed for another year and list the expiration date; it still says "your account will renew on".