It's getting kind of sad how much Apple is screwing up lately. I got this email and put it in the trash as obvious spam. it has links to click instead of merely directing you to sign in and check your account, and it's completely in error in my case (or at least I hope it is), because I am on the 40 dollar plan and have over 5GB of storage free at the moment, so a downgrade of any kind shouldn't affect me at all, yet I get this scary spam-like email. Apple is just shooting blanks on all cylinders lately.

This seems sort of random in it's implementation. I have a 55 GB plan, the most expensive tier, which I have set to downgrade to 5 GB at the end of the month. I didn't get this warning email.

The reason that I am letting it expire is simply that, with the loss of iDisk, I can't use the space the way that I want to. Yes there is iCloud file sharing but the implementation is terrible. It seems to me that files are stored according to the program that opens them. So, for example, I can't save a PDF to iCloud using Preview in a way that lets me easily open it with a different program like PDFPen. Sorting files by file type would have made so much more sense.

Cheapskates. If you have been a loyal mobile me or other previous service customer for many years, Apple should have just grandfathered these folks into the new service and let them keep all the storage they had previously. This is pretty damn lame, and pretty pathetic for the wealthiest company on the planet.

I didn't get this email... 5G seems kind of paltry.

Originally Posted by mytdave

Cheapskates. If you have been a loyal mobile me or other previous service customer for many years, Apple should have just grandfathered these folks into the new service and let them keep all the storage they had previously. This is pretty damn lame, and pretty pathetic for the wealthiest company on the planet.

Apple is kind of "grandfathering" in people from MobileMe.

If you paid for additional MobileMe storage space, you'll continue to pay for additional iCloud storage space at comparable prices.

If you didn't pay for additional MobileMe storage space, you can opt to pay for additional iCloud storage space.

If you didn't pay for additional MobileMe storage space, Apple let you use 20GB of iCloud storage space for free, for a limited time. That limited time offer is now expiring, so anything above and beyond the free 5GB you're allotted will either go away, or you can pay to keep it.

I don't see anything lame, pathetic, or cheapskate-ish about that -- you still get storage for free, and you can opt to pay for more... exactly the same as it was for MobileMe (with the exception that you had to pay for MobileMe, but now there's a free option as well with iCloud).

I agree with Diablo. First we got the entire last year of MM for free ($100 savings), then we got iCloud for free (ongoing $100/year savings, albeit with somewhat reduced functionality for the power users), and then we got extra storage free for six months. Someone's WHINING it seems to me.

A friend of mine got the email that said that when the reversion happened he might lose data because he's storing more than 20GB. Turns out he was backing up all his iOS devices to iCloud, which really added to his total. Got him to change that to "back up to this computer" in iTunes and all is well.

One last thing: though 5GB of storage may seem "paltry," there is SO MUCH stuff that doesn't count against that total (like iTunes purchases, Photo Stream, etc) that it's really more like 20GB for most people (and a lot more for me).

The change to iCloud is actually saving me money. For my 25GB plan, it (will) cost me $40 per year. Far less than the $99 I was paying for MobileMe. (and considering how long of free time I've now gotten, it's even a better deal)

Now yes, I lost iDisk. I've replaced it with Dropbox, Box.net and now Cubby (from LogMeIn) ... all free. In some ways better. In some ways not so much, but an acceptable substitute.

The only real complaint I have left is the loss of Gallery which I still have not found a reasonable replacement for, but I'm not crying. Overall I'm pleased and will gladly give the $40 per year. I use iCloud for multiple device backups, as well as for iWork documents.

Here is what annoys me the most about mobileme to icloud.
1. No gallery, photo stream sucks compared to what gallery could do.
2. No iDisk. This was the easiest and most useful even better than dropbox for sharing and storing files online. Plus, it worked just like a regular folder.
3. Calendar/Task sync with no option other then iphone, and mountain lion or windows 7. I have several machines including a linux box that can no long use my "mobileme" calendar. Why? What is the reason that this is no longer an open standard?
4. Keychain sync just gone. So much for having multiple machines and a single database with all your logins and passwords. I know there are other solutions, but this one was working great for me until the "upgrade"
5. Mail rules. This is probably the most annoying of the preferences that are no longer supported. I have a lot of rules. I have been using the Mail program as my default email client for at least 9 years. So I have many folders and rules. Never had any issue with syncing them between machines. It was nice to open mail on my work machine and it look exactly the same as at home. No messing around with settings it just worked. We version of mail has rules, but they don't sync and never have. The iCloud version of mail seems to be like this too. You can create rules, but they do not show up on your devices.

My opinion is that this solution is all about integration, but it fails to the provide services that were previously available. There was no other service that I have found that can give me all the features that are now missing with iCloud. Not with the level of integration that used to be there. I have tried google, but their solution is only slightly less annoying than iCloud, and the MS stuff is a little better than google in somethings, but not as good as at others. Neither service I would pay for. I had .Mac/Mobileme/iCloud for 10 years. This is the worse upgrade/ downgrade I have seen yet. The only thing keeping this alive is the fact of its integration with iOS. My hope is that eventually some of these things are addressed.

Two things come to mind:

(1) Apple has been changing direction on their online services (other than iTunes and -- so far -- the App Store) about once two or three years since they started offering one. If you're sticking with Apple, then you should by now realize that you aren't going to get any continuity of service. Let's see: eWorld, iTools, mac.com, MobileMe... in fact, before long it's will be time for them to announce massive changes to iCloud which render the service useless to a lot of the users.

(2) For that matter, storing things in "the Cloud" as a permanent thing (as opposed to keeping a copy for convenience of sharing in the extreme short term) is really kind of stupid anyway. All the cloud service providers have clauses in the ToS saying they can discontinue service with extremely short notice, at their own whim. You should be backing your stuff up to a local disk somewhere; the cloud can vanish at any moment, even if your Internet connection stays up.

Originally Posted by The Vicar

Two things come to mind:
(1) Apple has been changing direction on their online services (other than iTunes and -- so far -- the App Store) about once two or three years since they started offering one. If you're sticking with Apple, then you should by now realize that you aren't going to get any continuity of service. Let's see: eWorld, iTools, mac.com, MobileMe... in fact, before long it's will be time for them to announce massive changes to iCloud which render the service useless to a lot of the users.
(2) For that matter, storing things in "the Cloud" as a permanent thing (as opposed to keeping a copy for convenience of sharing in the extreme short term) is really kind of stupid anyway. All the cloud service providers have clauses in the ToS saying they can discontinue service with extremely short notice, at their own whim. You should be backing your stuff up to a local disk somewhere; the cloud can vanish at any moment, even if your Internet connection stays up.

Couldn't have said it any better.

The only thing that Apple is consistent about with their "remote services" is their inconsistency.

Someday they'll get it right, and I still won't pay to use it. Sorry people, but cloud storage is just a BAD idea.

I do specialize in creating in-house cloud services for clients... and it seems to go well. I use OSX Server, but is not necessary. PM me if you need advice; I love the technical stuff so hope you have an ear for it.