[slackline]

admittedly it's not cheap but i don't think £59 per year is that bad for 20GB worth failsafe addressbook/cal/email backup and access to all this from my winblows machine at work. Also you can add "family members" for 1/2 price which is dandy.

Thats pretty damn expensive given Google give you ~18Gb storage for free on your email, 1Gb for documents under the traditional google docs, free calendar thats easy to share with people.  Then there is wave for collaborative work (no idea what the limit is).

But then if your a Mac fan you're probably used to paying over the odds anyway 

[Jaspersharpe]

iPhone, iDisk, iTouch, iPhoto, iWanttosmashsomething. 

[Iesu]

Thats pretty damn expensive given Google give you ~18Gb storage for free on your email, 1Gb for documents under the traditional google docs, free calendar thats easy to share with people.  Then there is wave for collaborative work (no idea what the limit is).

But then if your a Mac fan you're probably used to paying over the odds anyway 

harumph!

seriously though..... I think i've said it before on here - I'm willing to spend the extra for better products (i.e. stuff that works), better customer service, and better guarantee/warranty.

e.g. Patagucci, BOSE and Apple.

I've had good experience with cust serv, warranty and the products on all three of these (which some people consider to be priced way over the odds for what they produce).

Just had a near-on £300 credit note from Patagucci for a pair of approach shoes (bought in US) which spearated at the sole/rand and a 6 year old soft shell bought off 3bay for £60. Can't say fairer than that!

iWant iWant iWant - doesn't iGet

[slackline]

seriously though..... I think i've said it before on here - I'm willing to spend the extra for better products (i.e. stuff that works), better customer service, and better guarantee/warranty.

I've used gmail for six or seven years with about three server outages in that time (that I noticed).  Google Docs does a great job, as does the calendar, I've been particularly impressed with how easy these have all linked in nicely when I got a new Android based phone, all my calendars are now on my phone and I can add appointments directly and they're synced to online.

Have you actually had problems using online email before that made you consider paying for it, or did you just go ahead and sign up before trying free alternatives?

I can't be arsed looking it up, but what guarentee/warranty/support do you actually get for your money?  Free 0800 help-line when things don't "Just Work^TM"?

On the original question about hosting pictures, Coppermine has just come to my attention if anyone is considering hosting their own pictures, looks quite feature rich and yet retains a clean interface (to my eye).

[Iesu]

On the original question about hosting pictures, Coppermine has just come to my attention if anyone is considering hosting their own pictures, looks quite feature rich and yet retains a clean interface (to my eye).

On the original question - me.com's galleries form an important part of a wider service. With no wanky commenting, downloading of optimised or full res images, web uploads that sync back to your home computer, uploads by email, and other people can upload too if you allow it.

BUT it costs £59 per annum.

The support is pretty good - apple have "advisors" available for online chat to work out help issues. it's free, but if you have to call them to work through an issue, I don't know what the rate is because i've never had to - it "Just Works" (most of the time...)

[Bubba]

UKB used to have a Coppermine gallery - I can't see the point of self-hosting images these days, the online services to it much better. There also Gallery  which was pretty similar to Coppermine.

I think Smugmug looks the best by far, if you don't mind spending the extra subscription fee.

[benpritch]

On the original question about hosting pictures, Coppermine has just come to my attention if anyone is considering hosting their own pictures, looks quite feature rich and yet retains a clean interface (to my eye).

On the original question - me.com's galleries form an important part of a wider service. With no wanky commenting, downloading of optimised or full res images, web uploads that sync back to your home computer, uploads by email, and other people can upload too if you allow it.

BUT it costs £59 per annum.

The support is pretty good - apple have "advisors" available for online chat to work out help issues. it's free, but if you have to call them to work through an issue, I don't know what the rate is because i've never had to - it "Just Works" (most of the time...)

i totally agree , me.com is excellent.

i use it for sharing files (big ones up to 12gb, probably do more but i haven't tried) all the time. also will host a website (haven't tried that either) but hope to, all my important stuff is available anywhere and it can find my phone if i leave it somewhere.