CNET Editors' review
What began as a freeware project to easily share basic screen captures and screen recordings has grown into a solid application and capture distribution system with a premium component. Jing's attractive application takes a sound, simple approach to capturing; begin by dragging the crosshairs to define your capture field and then take a still or start a recording. When you're done, save it to your computer or upload it to Screencast.com (operated by Jing's publisher), an FTP site, Flickr, or YouTube (for a premium). If you've got Snagit or Camtasia Studio, TechSmith's premium programs for capturing and editing stills and videos, respectively, you can click a button on the post-capture toolbar to send the capture along for deeper editing than Jing's basics can supply.
Apart from sharing ease, Jing has some other clever features that don't diminish its conscious simplicity. The yellow "sun" icon that can be moved around the edges of your screen is what you hover over to get started, though in the brief preferences menu you can hide the sun and call up the crosshairs with a hot key. Two other hot keys now help Jing's capture crosshairs snap to common aspect ratios. Press Ctrl to maintain a 4:3 aspect ratio and Shift for 16:9 wide-screen proportions. While locked into a ratio, dragging out the crosshair shows you boundaries for common screen measurements within that ratio that you can easily snap to, like 320x240 or 640x480. This is a nice addition in keeping with Jing's visual, low-text-density design.
In the latest release, subscribers to the $15-a-year Jing Pro gain the ability to record from their Webcam. You can toggle between Webcam and screen recording during a screen capture.
Less convenient is the requirement of the Microsoft .NET Framework, which can take several minutes to install if it's absent. Once that's out of the way, though, you've got on your hands a well-featured screen capture app that's visual enough for nontechies to use and has enough features for sharehounds to easily distribute recordings and images that require limited post-capture modifications.
Watch the CNET video review of Jing:
Publisher's Description
From TechSmith:
Jing - Share Ideas Instantly. The always-ready program that allows you to instantly capture images and videos; then share them from your computer to anyone, anywhere. Snap a picture of your computer screen. Record video of onscreen action. And share instantly over the web. Whether for work, home or play, Jing is a great tool for adding basic visual elements to all of your online conversations.
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All versions:
2.9 starsout of 71 votes
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Current version:
2.3 starsout of 3 votes
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My rating:
Write review
Results 1-3 of 3
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"Thumb down"
Version: Jing 2.6
Pros
None observed
Cons
This aggressive program behaves like a virus. Awful. Fortunately, system restore helped to get rid off it. I wish there was a zero star rating. BTW, never had a problem with Greenshot.
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"Doesn't capture audio"
Version: Jing 2.6
Pros
Captures video great. Easy to use.
Cons
Does not capture system audio
Summary
Only captures audio from a mic. I want to capture the audio and video I see on my screen. If it did that I'd give it 5 stars but since it can't capture audio it's completely useless.
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"Super program and update!"
Version: Jing 2.6
Pros
Love this program. I had the old version and loved that one too! I have to do a lot of tutorials and explanations and being able to just click and drag for what I need is awesome. I don't know why others have a problem; thank goodness I haven't!
Cons
What's not to like?
Results 1-3 of 3
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