Evernote-Another “Organize Your Brain” Software Option
On and off for the past week I have been playing around with Evernote (still in Beta), now that the program will be available for the Mac. Like other versions of the keep your brain organized programs (Devon, Yojimbo, OneNote), Evernote promises to let you “remember everything,” indeed its icon is an “elephant” (personally I think one of these programs should go with a goldfish, as in you only have to remember something for 3 seconds to use the program). While I am an avid user (some say fan-boy) for Devon I am willing to consider other options, and Evernote had three features which were enticing: 1) A clean simple “Mac-like” interface (this is my main complaint with Devon). 2) Web Syncing-which would allow me to use it anywhere via the iPhone and 3) Text recognition with images (i.e. you can handwrite notes, take a picture, and save it to your database).
The Apple Blog and The Unofficial Apple Weblog have reviews worth reading.
But my conclusion, not powerful enough, not even close. Evernote is designed to be a note capturing, note taking, program, not a research organization one. For example, you can clip info from websites and import easily to your database, but the process takes a couple of extra steps as it routes you through a webpage for confirmation, not for the high-powered clipping. Second, it doesn’t directly import .pdfs (or not at least as easily as Devon), instead you have to convert the content into notes, and I couldn’t figure out an easy way to import audio or video files (not even sure it can handle these). Third, and most importantly it doesn’t even come close to the search function of Devon, which suggests other terms, similar terms, related terms, does fuzzy logic, shows other articles which are similar, can suggest sorting and filing locations for articles, and summarize . . .
So, while one could use Evernote as an on-the-go note taking sorting application, a remember everything, organize your research application it is not.
I do have ten invites if others would like to beta-test. Leave a comment below and I will email you an invitation if you want to give it a try.
April 5th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Thanks for the insightful post, to date, I haven’t been giving much attention specifically to these types of apps. I wouldn’t mind an invite to Evernote, it sounds like it’s worth taking a look at.
April 5th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’ve done this sort of “peripheral brain” stuff on my own using Gmail (sending myself a picture/note), using Jott, and leaving myself voicemails for awhile. Evernote looks like a way to keep it all in one place. I’m not sure how I’d actually use it educationally, but travelling between 6 buildings makes organization and keeping track of things a challenge. I’d love an invite if you have extras.
By the way, I don’t know if it’s just the orange, black, and white, or what, but I love your blog’s layout.
April 5th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Dave - I’m a fellow fanboy of DevonThink, with SOHO Notes as in inbox, and I’d like to give EverNote a shot if you can spare an invite.
- mike
April 5th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I would love one, please, Dave.
April 5th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Can I haz invite plz?
(Gotta Love LOLSpeak)
April 5th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I watched the screencast of Evernote, and was immediately impressed. Then I tried it out and was disappointed. It’s just not what I hoped it would be. I am also a user of DEVONthink, and I have a bookmark in my browser that will automatically import the current website into my DT database. At first Evernote seemed to do the same kind of thing with an online- as well as an offline version, but as it can’t even import a PDF it’s definitely not so useful. I can imagine it’s a nice app for taking notes, and having them available online, but that’s about it.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Since it’s still in beta, maybe you could point them to this review and they would consider making changes?
April 7th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
yeah, it’s devon for me, I tried this but it just doesn’t cut it.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I’ve played some with Evernote 2.0 version and OneNote and found them both wanting. The video about Evernote beta version looked very interesting. Am PC user, though rave reviews of DevonThink might be reason to switch.
Hope you might still have invite for Evernote to send my way.
Thanks
May 21st, 2008 at 12:43 am
Evernote isn’t designed to replace devon, at least for people that use devon to its full capabilities. But for those that need what evernote does, without all the research stuff, it’s great. For many people, me included, devon is just a god awful, ugly program.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
If you’re unsure of Evernote’s future direction, you’ll jump in head first after listening to this Phil Liben interview (Evernote CEO). This guy is thinking *broad*.
http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail1744.html