Works well with bamboo tablet! (*edit, sorta- read issue in update)
So, I picked up a bamboo (wacom) tablet a while back with the simple goal of being able to take typed notes on my MBP but still reserve the right to insert my own diagrams. Diagrams not drawn with my finger on the trackpad... Any way, I was using the built in "Ink" function to paste jpegs on the fly into word (pages is horrible btw) when things started acting really funky/buggy.
Any way, that process was not exactly seamless when it did work and didnt really fit in with my original vision: a digital notebook. This app, however, works really well. You can draw directly on the notepad using the bamboo tablet, anywhere you want- even over your own text notes (if you feel so inclined). The audio recording function (limited to 5 min total in lite version) also works as advertised. Every word becomes a link to a specific time in the recording. I even played around with additions to a previously written line (as if though the meeting/lecture came back to previous bullet) and true to form, the new verbiage linked directly to the later discussion.
Another plus (kinda expected though) is that I can "print" to searchable .pdf (I would not want to archive my notes in proprietary format I may not be able to open in years down the line). This does not appear to be a direct option under the "save" menu however.
I also noticed a few omissions for those used to working in a word processor for note taking. None of these are too bad in my book, as I dont want a word processor to make my note taking complicated, just something I can search (and perhaps actually read...) later:
1. There does not appear to be a "bullets" system. These can easily be "inked" in if you want though.
2. Text cannot cannot simply be entered anywhere, its always left justified and one must tab/space over to the right if needed. I mention this only in the sense that some applications will let you double click where you want your cursor, and you can begin typing away. Of course if you wanted to label a diagram or something, you could just do so w/ handwriting.
And for those of you who keep complaining (generically) "this app is too expensive", please remember there is a developer on the other end trying to eat. How much would you pay for something as specialized as this at wal-mart? And there you dont even get the benefit of peer feedback. No Im not the dev on this app, but I do belive in buying something I like. Otherwise, you will soon be able to say goodbye to this try-it, then buy-it model.
*UPDATE:
Ive been playing with the program a bit more and have found a few oddities that I would like to see resolved:
1. There is no way to determine where a (printable) page break is when taking notes. The note pad looks like you might expect from a digital version of an infinitely long ancient scroll. Of course when you print (unless youre on a plotter) youre going to have to split your notes somewhere. I did a test by "printing" some test notes to a pdf, and, as I expected, it will cut diagrams right in half. And as I stated, there are no indications of page boundaries while taking notes.
2. There are no font options (bold, underline, color, etc.). Now I said before I didnt want (or truly miss) a super complicated system, and that still stands. But it is worth mentioning for those who would want the option.
3. I have noticed, on occasion, odd interations between the text (not sure if the term "layer" is actually approriate here) and the diagrams:
On one such occasion I had some text but wanted to circle something. When choosing the pen input option, the text "jumped" over about half an inch. I put my circle around the word and chose text input again. The text then jumped back, not taking the circle with it... I ended up having to guestimate where I thought the circle should be to get what I wanted.
Another instance of this happened just today. I had some text entries with a diagram to the right. While in text mode, on one of these entries, I accidentally hit delete (backspace) too many times and went to the prevous line. The diagram portion, directly to the right of the cursor, went up a line as well, sandwiching on top of the portion of the diagram prevously above it. Ugh. I hit ctrl+z (undo) immediately and the text portion went back; the diagram did not. Apparently no way to fix it other than to erase and redraw.
To avoid any confusion, I did pay for the program and that version is where I noticed these issues. As the two programs are identical, with the exception of recording time limits, I figured I would just update this review.
WACOM (Bamboo tablet) issue:
At first I thought the issue was with the WACOM itself, but then some further research has led be back to this application. At first the pen draws fairly smooth (within audio-note), but soon enough things get real choppy, cutting MAJOR corners and rendering the tablet fairly useless. As a quick exmple lets say you draw some figure eights. At first they look really nice. After about 10 though, they start looking like choppy squares (or something to that effect). While doing tihs I noticed a pretty major memory leak (or extremely inefficient rendering engine) where after only playing with the pen for 60 seconds the programs memory usage runs up from an initial 20 MB to well over 250 MB and does not go away. Closing the file does not help, it only resets after reloading the program itself. Upon reopening the program (and file) though, the pen usage is still just as bad. One has to have a brand new file to get a smooth pen again, and then only for a little while. (Note the file size in this example was only 1.8 MB on the hard drive)
One last note (promise): Ive only played with the audio recording feature on a minimal basis; the microphone on the MBP is not well-suited to lectures. If you want to try this feature in a large room, I would suggest looking for an external (perhaps directional) microphone.
dll31p about AudioNote 2 LITE
