AppFlow

Whenever I start a new course, I set myself a resolution: This year, I shall have all of my notes on computer, and it’ll all make my education so much easier. Each year so far, however, I’m sad to say I’ve failed!

This year however, was different. This year, I am having my note taking in class aided by PearNote.

The Concept

There are very few people in the world fast enough at typing to write a transcript of every lesson/lecture/tutorial. Even those that can type that fast often use a stenography machine! The point being, there is a much better way of taking notes so to speak: recording.

Recording is all very well, but it doesn’t give you the opportunity to add your own comments, as I sometimes like to. It is also a real hassle when it comes to revising. You quite literally have to listen through every in your course.

Pear Note combines these two methods, both the recording and the typing, in one neat little minimalist package.

The Interface

The Pear Note interface is something that immediately strikes me as somewhat minimal. Some people love this. Personally, I like a toolbar that looks full of functionality, but that’s just me. One thing I am certain of, is that the minimal interface for Pear Note works.

The buttons for recording control at the top are mainly used in revising, however the highlighter function is extremely useful for while taking notes – as is the ‘Quick List’ function.

Taking Notes

The general idea of Pear Note is that it’s simple to use. It really does ‘get out of your way’ when you’re taking notes: just hit record and go!

As you can see from my notes, highlighters can be used to highlight important bits of text. These are best used after the actual lesson, as I have ended up in quite a state with my highlighters on a couple of occasions!

One thing I dislike about Pear is just how much it gets out of your way. There is no option to customise the toolbar to put your favourite functions on there, and you have to be pretty proficient at keyboard shortcuts to use even basic formatting.

Some would argue that this is not the point of the application, and I’m trying to do too much, but things like Superscript and subscript I do like to do on the fly, and find it most annoying that I have to go to Font > Baseline > Superscript/subscript to get this!

Advanced Taking Notes

In addition to recording audio and text, Pear can record video and slides.

The slide function is something that I find very useful. If you get hold of the presentation your lecturer will be using before hand, you can click through on your screen, and Pear logs where in your text and audio you changed slide.

Video recording could also be potentially useful, however the Apple iSight only faces towards you, so unless you feel like recording your reactions to what is being said, I can’t exactly see a point. The obvious use for this function is when you have an external camera attached.

Revising

Pear really comes into it’s own when it comes to reviewing your notes. Let’s go back to my Chemistry notes, but this time with a look at reviewing:

Clicking in different places on my typed text, automatically skips the recording to a little bit before then. While using Pear, I have noticed that I write things down about 5 seconds after they’re said; Pear knows this, so it’s much more useful than skipping to what was being said when something was typed.

In it’s own way, however, knowing exactly when something was typed, can be useful. Pear shows this by highlighting a letter in yellow as it was typed, and the word in blue underline.

This is where slides and video also help. They skip along, exactly the same as the audio.

Conclusion

Pear Note is an excellent solution to taking notes. I’ve reviewed it in an education setting, as that’s where my experiences lie, but it could easily be applied to minuting meetings, take notes at conferences or even having an out-loud brainstorm!

Priced at $39.99 (Roughly £25), Pear Note is a great value application for what it does. Sure, I have a couple of niggles about the toolbar, but this is made up for in the ease of use for everything else.

A free trial is available from UsefulFruit.