Dropbox vs. MobileMe Part 1 – The Switch
Dropbox is a very sound system for file sharing, syncing my macs and keeping everything I need in check. I have used dropbox before and only lightly to share files between myself and some friends but the vast capabilities this app has because of its sheer speed and simplicity is something that I overlooked. I am now learning all the tips and tricks of Dropbox and going to share them with you as I shift my cloud computing from MobileMe to Dropbox. I have had MobileMe since the service was released. I was on the beta for the app and was a little let down by its performance. I didn’t realize how much money I was throwing away a year for slow syncs, a bad backup resource and overall a sluggish service. My MobileMe account is set to renew at the end of this month. Long story short I am not renewing. I figured out how to couple Dropbox with some free apps or apps you already have and turn it into a cheaper/equal price version of MobileMe.
Why Dropbox? The straws that broke the camels back
MobleMe’s iDisk
First of all, have you ever uploaded anything to an iDisk? Did you go to the grocery store and come back and it still has not finished uploading? This has been my typical experience and one of the main reasons I am cancelling. Speed. That alone is a reason for change. I was so frustrated with sharing files, images or anything of the like that took my entire day to do so.
Sync
The sync feature that resides on Apple’s computers is a joke. This app is visible in the menubar and eats your system resources like you wouldn’t believe. The program syncs contacts and emails so why should it eat 99% of my CPU? It shouldn’t. I am one of the biggest mac fanatics/fanboys you will find and I am thoroughly disappointed with MobileMe. When you “sync” your computer is rendered un-usable. This is not on a computer running Tiger with one gig of ram here either. This a fast Macbook Pro that turns into a Brickbook Pro when MobileMe is syncing my iCal and some contacts.
Dropbox – Salvation at last?
Files
The first time you sync a file to your dropbox account you will smile. Its really silly how something so simple can draw a smile on your face. The reason you smile? It just works. Its fast, easy, and gives you Growl Notifications when a transfer is completed or a file has been altered. What’s better than that when you are sharing across multiple computers? Speed and notifications when something has been changed.
Sync
Now, on the surface it looks like you can just sync some files with dropbox. Not true. With a little bit of thought and some Terminal trickery we can adjust Dropbox to be something that syncs not only files, but apps, contacts and a slew of other interesting things.
Other Thoughts
All in all I am pretty excited about this change and the fact that I get to share it with you and maybe help a few people make a more educated decision on what to do and spend there money on. I am not trying to take down Apple or MobileMe. I love both and have just found a better alternative for MobileMe as some before me have found. Be sure to keep an eye out for part two when we get into the nitty-gritty and maybe you can turn dropbox in your next cloud computing solution.
Chad Engle is the Editor of Fuel Your Apps. He is a fulltime designer, who lives, breathes, listens , eats, tweets , connects & consumes all that is creative & app related. He is a caffeine addict and likes long walks on the beach. Follow him on twitter at@chadengle and @fuelyourapps
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Not to mention that when you edit a file it only resyncs the part you were editing :) no need to waste bandwidth reuploading the whole thing again, which means your team gets it faster.
I didn’t realized it did that! AWESOME.
iDisk is a piece of crap (since 10.6.2 it works, but Dropbox is faster), but I never had any problem with contacts, calendars etc. sync. I use MobileMe and Dropbox also.
I have never had issues with contacts really, but those are small files. Calendars is my big beef they basically render my computer useless. I get doulbes and sometimes quadrouples making me have to use a plugin to delete them all. This bogs the sync down…. Its just annoying and something I don’t need when I can do the same thing with Dropbox.
Yes, Dropbox works great, but if you are using the same files on two computers simultaneously (you are running two iCal/Adress Book etc. at the same time with one database), it gets some bugs too.
@wyctim
True. However most 9/10 I am not running both comps at the same time with the same app. I am running it based on a single user vs. a multi-user. I agree that there are some bugs if you try running multiple apps from the same files via dropbox however, the shear speed and ease of use makes it such a better platform in my eyes.
I really like Dropbox!! Forget mobileme…
Hi, as for me I use syncmate for synchronizing and backing up my Mac (http://www.sync-mac.com/).
I have two macs and syncmate works perfectly for me. As far as I know it also syncs Mac to mobile devices (like WM and Nokia), with other Mac or PC computers, Google, allows backup Mac online and seems like support Sony PSP sync.
The best thing about this software, is that it has free edition (syncs calendar and contacts). use free edition and going to upgrade to pro version.
Thats awesome! I will have to check that app out. Thank you James for sending me that link. I am definitely going to check it out.
Hm…can you please elaborate on where we could find out how to do this terminal trickery of which you speak? I would adore being able to have my dropbox sync my contacts at a minimum.
Windy,
They will be revealed in the other parts of this series. I did this to tease the audience and explain what will be coming! Thank you for the interest and I will be sharing some good resources/tricks on how to do this type of thing.
Aaah…well you were very effective then. ;-)
I will anxiously await the future installments.
Yep, I’m also interested in the terminal part..
Well you got my attention!!
Thanks for this. I just started using Dropbox and am excited to hear of this trickery you speak of for doing other tasks than just syncing files.
I am excited to share as well. There are some really interesting ways to get certain apps to “sync” across multiple mac’s.
Great intro post to both services compared. I’m also thinking about moving further to Dropbox. I’m currently using the free version and also MozyPro.
MozyPro has been the major backup service I used for my Macbook Pro, but its practically never fully synced as its so slow. Although the files I sync on Dropbox are smaller, I’ve always been impressed by its speed.
The only prohibitive factor is the cost, whereby Dropbox more expensive and also has max of 100GB.
I’ve had so many issues with MobileMe I cancelled. Not to mention Gallery. They were showing galleries in my account that did not exist and when I tried to delete got errors. I would lose calendar access too many times to count. iDisk was so horrible. Not to mention its all compressed which re uploads to a compressed file on their server. This is why it takes forever. DropBox on the other hand is all uncompressed on your computer. So when DropBox uploads its not uploading to another compressed file on the server, you are getting real HD space. So I’d agree no one has anything on DropBox. Also check out XMarks for Bookmark sync, its free and works better then MobileMe.
The reasons you listed are why I had to say “no more”. I have been a customer forever but, I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. The services were too mediocre for what the price tag was.
How soon until part II?
It’s coming! I promise.
If you drop MobileMe you also drop your email account with .mac, correct? Other than this, is there another downside to dropping MobileMe? The ability to locate my iPhone, remotely wipe it or make it chirp if its lost from the MobileMe interface might be reason enough to keep the service for me, but for file sharing of collaborative documents the DropBox seems to take the cake.
Part 2 would be really great to see if the sync features of the MobileMe account can be dupilcated. I already use XMark for my bookmarks, but one fast solution would be ideal.
Gabe,
email, find my iPhone & remote wipe/making a noise are all that MobileMe has. To me that didn’t add up to $100 a year. I don’t ever have my phone more than 3 inches from me so I never forget where I put it. (OCD thing with my iPhone I guess haha) and you can get an email anywhere, gmail is great and its free plus I have multiple emails from my own sites (this one) and others so I couldn’t justify it. You are right in that is the only advantages is has because file sync is SLOW! Thanks for comment.