Manage updates with the Download AppCNET Editors' review
For students or professionals who often have to take notes during lectures, organizing them can prove difficult. Pear Note for Mac works well to track audio and typed notes in one program for later reference and organization.
While the full program costs $39.99 to purchase, a free, 14-day trial is available. Download and installation of Pear Note for Mac were fast, and startup occurred without any user interaction beyond accepting a licensing agreement. No instructions were easily available, but the interface is fairly easy to interpret and use. The program's basic graphics were a disappointment, but the layout of buttons along the top row linked to appropriate functions. Users are able to press Record, which tracks all audio coming through the computer's microphone. A box below the buttons allows users to type in notes as the program records. They can also highlight important notations. When the user plays back the recording, a marker tracks what was typed during a particular part of the presentation. Users can save these files for later reference. Additional features allow the webcam to record along with the sound, and users can also incorporate PowerPoint slides. Overall, the program's functions are well tailored for students who attend lecture classes and take copious notes.
For students who attend multiple lectures, Pear Note for Mac works well to track the lecture audio, video, and notes taken.
Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Pear Note for Mac 3.1.
Publisher's Description
From Useful Fruit Software:
Pear Note integrates audio, video, and slides with traditional text notes. By recording all activity, Pear Note keeps track of what's going on while taking notes as well as what the user has to say about it. This makes Pear Note incredibly useful for important meetings, class settings, or speeches. Recording Notes Pear Note records audio, video, and what the user does, including typing notes and changing slides, on a timeline. Since keystrokes and slide changes are kept on this timeline, users can easily find what was being said during typing or a particular slide. They can play back an entire recording to recreate a meeting, or jump straight to the point in the audio they care most about. Searching Instead of Organizing With Pear Note, there's no need to manually organize notes to find them. Users simply bring up search and start typing, and the note they're looking for will pop right up. There's no need to manually sort notes into folders or categories. Pear Note finds notes transparently so they don't have to go looking.
What's new in this version:
- Pear Note is now fully Retina-capable. So, if you've got a fancy new Retina MacBook Pro, Pear Note should now look a lot prettier. If you don't have one, then just pretend you never read this line.
- Support for images that can be used in Pear Note for iOS version 2.1 or greater
- Fixed bug where saving (including autosave) would cause the slides to move back
- Fixed bug that caused shared documents with special characters to display improperly when hosted on Dropbo... See all new features
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All versions:
4.0 starsout of 1 votes
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Current version:
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Results 1-2 of 2
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"Simple to use recording/note taking program"
Version: Pear Note 1.4
Pros
Easy to use.
Cons
Would like a clearer way to use outline form
Summary
Highly recommend.
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"It's Just Great"
Version: Pear Note 1.2
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
A very well thought out product - it works a treat. The only minor quiblle I have is that when you click on text to hear what was said at that time, you get the tap-tap of the keyboard keys that went with the notes you were typing as they were speaking.
A minor quibble tho - this is excellent software.
