We backup photos or music to a separate external disk attached to the Mac computer. That cost $100 once 6 years ago.

This is inadequate.

You should have multiple backup devices, so that you will not lose everything if one gets corrupted during the backup process. You should also have off-site backups. And the expected lifespan of a hard disk is five years, so you are already living on borrowed time.

Backups are important.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have none of those - and no other subscriptions. We also do not pay for Cable TV or satellite TV. We did buy a $80 TV antenna to pit in the attic and a $50 TV signal amplifier.

We backup photos or music to a separate external disk attached to the Mac computer. That cost $100 once 6 years ago.

We have MS Office standalone, not 365, and it works for all the users on our Mac. The license is per system, not per user. About every 5 years we buy a new copy because the security patches stop. Cost $125/system - one time.

If we want music, we buy the CD and rip it using the Music application that came with the Mac.

We have a TIVO, bought long ago, and use that to record TV. We paid for lifetime service, so no annual fee.

Ripping CDs? You spend a LOT of time or just don’t listen to much music.

Neither is correct. We have a large music library, just built up over time (e.g., we are not buying 40 CDs in 1 month).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have none of those - and no other subscriptions. We also do not pay for Cable TV or satellite TV. We did buy a $80 TV antenna to pit in the attic and a $50 TV signal amplifier.

We backup photos or music to a separate external disk attached to the Mac computer. That cost $100 once 6 years ago.

We have MS Office standalone, not 365, and it works for all the users on our Mac. The license is per system, not per user. About every 5 years we buy a new copy because the security patches stop. Cost $125/system - one time.

If we want music, we buy the CD and rip it using the Music application that came with the Mac.

We have a TIVO, bought long ago, and use that to record TV. We paid for lifetime service, so no annual fee.

Do you have 4 phones? Do you both have jobs, that is a very tedious task — it takes about 2 hours between the sync, copy, for each iCloud account.

I’ll try again with the standalone. Asking LLM it seems possible because I don’t activate as an administrator account it may not stick. Thanks.

We have never used iCloud. We always have backed up to external disks using the Mac's automatic backup software. There is no cloud; there is only someone else's computer.

We both have full-time jobs and have kids. Do what makes you happy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids either keep theirs trimmed to what the free family account gives, or they pay their own iCloud. I pay for a few channels on Amazon prime, if they want a different channel or Netflix they have to pay.
They pay their own Spotify.
Don’t use the other stuff. If they want it, they pay. If I want it, I pay.

What does channels on Amazon Prime mean? You subscribe to prime and then pay for HBO or Peacock or something small like a $5 boutique channel ?

Pay for britbox, acorn, a couple of other channels on prime. Could subscribe outside of prime but sometimes they offer bundles or deals

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids either keep theirs trimmed to what the free family account gives, or they pay their own iCloud. I pay for a few channels on Amazon prime, if they want a different channel or Netflix they have to pay.
They pay their own Spotify.
Don’t use the other stuff. If they want it, they pay. If I want it, I pay.

So you just delete family photos and such?

No, haven’t had to do that- but I know we delete a lot of useless photos etc

Anonymous wrote:We have none of those - and no other subscriptions. We also do not pay for Cable TV or satellite TV. We did buy a $80 TV antenna to pit in the attic and a $50 TV signal amplifier.

We backup photos or music to a separate external disk attached to the Mac computer. That cost $100 once 6 years ago.

We have MS Office standalone, not 365, and it works for all the users on our Mac. The license is per system, not per user. About every 5 years we buy a new copy because the security patches stop. Cost $125/system - one time.

If we want music, we buy the CD and rip it using the Music application that came with the Mac.

We have a TIVO, bought long ago, and use that to record TV. We paid for lifetime service, so no annual fee.

Ripping CDs? You spend a LOT of time or just don’t listen to much music.

Anonymous wrote:We have none of those - and no other subscriptions. We also do not pay for Cable TV or satellite TV. We did buy a $80 TV antenna to pit in the attic and a $50 TV signal amplifier.

We backup photos or music to a separate external disk attached to the Mac computer. That cost $100 once 6 years ago.

We have MS Office standalone, not 365, and it works for all the users on our Mac. The license is per system, not per user. About every 5 years we buy a new copy because the security patches stop. Cost $125/system - one time.

If we want music, we buy the CD and rip it using the Music application that came with the Mac.

We have a TIVO, bought long ago, and use that to record TV. We paid for lifetime service, so no annual fee.

Do you have 4 phones? Do you both have jobs, that is a very tedious task — it takes about 2 hours between the sync, copy, for each iCloud account.

I’ll try again with the standalone. Asking LLM it seems possible because I don’t activate as an administrator account it may not stick. Thanks.

We have none of those - and no other subscriptions. We also do not pay for Cable TV or satellite TV. We did buy a $80 TV antenna to pit in the attic and a $50 TV signal amplifier.

We backup photos or music to a separate external disk attached to the Mac computer. That cost $100 once 6 years ago.

We have MS Office standalone, not 365, and it works for all the users on our Mac. The license is per system, not per user. About every 5 years we buy a new copy because the security patches stop. Cost $125/system - one time.

If we want music, we buy the CD and rip it using the Music application that came with the Mac.

We have a TIVO, bought long ago, and use that to record TV. We paid for lifetime service, so no annual fee.

Anonymous wrote:Are these adult children? Our adult children aren't on any of our plans

No these are teens and tweens.

Are these adult children? Our adult children aren't on any of our plans

Anonymous wrote:My kids either keep theirs trimmed to what the free family account gives, or they pay their own iCloud. I pay for a few channels on Amazon prime, if they want a different channel or Netflix they have to pay.
They pay their own Spotify.
Don’t use the other stuff. If they want it, they pay. If I want it, I pay.

What does channels on Amazon Prime mean? You subscribe to prime and then pay for HBO or Peacock or something small like a $5 boutique channel ?

Anonymous wrote:My kids either keep theirs trimmed to what the free family account gives, or they pay their own iCloud. I pay for a few channels on Amazon prime, if they want a different channel or Netflix they have to pay.
They pay their own Spotify.
Don’t use the other stuff. If they want it, they pay. If I want it, I pay.

So you just delete family photos and such?

My kids either keep theirs trimmed to what the free family account gives, or they pay their own iCloud. I pay for a few channels on Amazon prime, if they want a different channel or Netflix they have to pay.
They pay their own Spotify.
Don’t use the other stuff. If they want it, they pay. If I want it, I pay.

Apple one is $37 sorry

How many do you have? We are overcome and the costs seem to grow but everyone has a device or email that carries their life on it and needs to be backed up.

Our unreasonable list:

Apple One Family which includes:
2Tb ICloud Data
Apple Music
Apple TV
Apple News
Apple Arcade
Apple Fitness
We could get by with just Music iCloud data, but it saves $10 but we get a lot of value out of News and Arcade so keep it but waffle now and then

- Netflix $20
- Google Drive $2TB - 5 email accounts quickly exceeded 15GB and I can’t clean all of theirs for them.
- Microsoft 365 Office Family $18 for the office suite. We tried buying standalone office but it’s been a hassle for many reasons (it’s tied to your account on one machine rather than install for that machine for all users).