What’s waiting for you in the cloud? Just about everything.

Apple’s first cloud service, iTools, was introduced in 2000 and was available for free. Then came MobileMe, which added powerful features like data syncing and online storage, so Apple bumped the price to $99 a year. But now Apple has reverted a bit, delivering MobileMe’s most useful services at no charge and rebranding it all as iCloud. And that’s not all—this new service links all of your devices with Apple’s North Carolina data centers to keep both your vital files and your iTunes Store purchases at your fingertips whenever you want them.

Getting Started

To use iCloud, you’ll need iOS 5 on an iPhone 3GS or later, a third-gen or later iPod touch, either model of the iPad, or a Mac running OS X Lion. You can sign up for the service with your Apple ID on your iOS device in Settings > iCloud, or on your Mac in System Preferences > iCloud. You can then turn on the features you want to sync, like your complementary Me.com email address, contacts and calendars, Safari bookmarks, and more. Once the services are active on all your devices, Apple’s servers should do the heavy lifting, pushing changed data on one device out to the rest automatically.

You can change your iCloud storage plan from any device.

All iCloud accounts get a free 5GB of storage to save and sync personal data and other documents. That may not sound like much, but given the tiny size of most of those files, it should be enough for most people’s needs. But if you find 5GB cramps your style, you can buy an additional 10GB, 20GB, or 50GB of storage for an annual subscription of $20, $40, or $100 right from your device’s iCloud settings.

iOS Backups

One iDevice backup, hold the USB cables.

One feature that might dent your allotted storage is iOS Backup. That’s right: with iCloud you now have the option of backing up your iOS devices over Wi-Fi to Apple’s servers instead of to your Mac over USB. But iCloud backups use as little disk space as possible, thanks to judicious data juggling on Apple’s part. Backups include data like photos and video in the Camera Roll, mail, contacts, and calendar account settings, Home screen organization, and more. To turn them on, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup. There you can also tap Manage Storage and choose your device to fine-tune what app data gets copied. Just remember that media not purchased from the iTunes Store—including music, movies, and podcasts—isn’t included in the process.

iCloud.com

Come on, how can you go back to Gmail after seeing that?

When you can’t get to your Mac or iOS device, iCloud.com has you covered. It’s your Me.com mail, contacts, and calendars just as they look in iOS 5. The site also offers the conspicuously misnamed Find My iPhone service, which brings Apple’s Mac and iOS device locator to any computer with internet access. It can even remotely lock or wipe your wayward devices to keep their data from prying eyes. You can also control how you share your iWork files with other Macs and iOS devices from iCloud.com, but we’ll cover that in more depth on the next page.

iTunes in the Cloud

Pick your purchases and whether they sync over your cellular network.

iTunes in the Cloud syncs purchases on one device across all your devices and lets you re-download purchases as often as you like. To set it up, go to Settings > Store, then turn on Automatic Downloads for the media you want. On your Mac, launch iTunes, then click iTunes > Preferences > Store. To re-download purchases on your Mac, log in to the iTunes Store, then click the Purchased link in the Quick Links sidebar. In iOS, tap iTunes > Purchased to get your music and TV shows. Apps and books can be found in App Store and the Purchased section of the iBooks store, respectively. Movies and audiobooks, alas, aren’t eligible yet.

What About MobileMe?

If you’re a MobileMe user considering iCloud, we have good news. You’ll still get to use many of the features you rely on, like data syncing and your MobileMe email, after signing up. You can even continue using MobileMe-specific features like your iDisk side-by-side with the new iCloud services.

But you will lose some features. You’ll no longer be able to sync OS X’s keychains, Dock items, System Preferences, and Dashboard widgets across your Macs. And if you’re the administrator of a family account, make any changes to subaccounts before moving to iCloud (you won’t be able to edit them later). Those subaccounts will keep working, however, and can be moved to iCloud individually after you switch.

If you’re still on the fence, you have time to decide…but the clock is ticking. On June 30, 2012 Apple will pull the plug on all MobileMe services for good, and features like iWeb publishing, iDisk, photo galleries, and your MobileMe iOS apps will no longer work (expect plenty of activity in Software Update as apps are updated). For more information about how you’ll be affected, visit Apple’s MobileMe transition page.