A lot of great software has been released since we did our first article. Emily Hambidge takes a few moments to highlight ten of them.
For those of you who are loyal MacZealots readers, you will remember that last year we ran an article about the Top 10 Shareware applications of 2004. The article went over so well that we decided to do it again this year. With the release of Tiger there has been a great deal of third-party development recently. Although Macs are great straight out of the box, third-party developers are the glue that holds Apple and its customers together. Developers continue to create freeware and shareware applications that allow Macs to perform at their very best.
I chose this list using the following criteria:
- Affordability - no price limit was set, but as you read you will notice that no program cost over $70. This is a great deal, even in the eyes of a poor college student
- Variety - no developer had more than one program selected and the selections cover a broad range of user needs
- Practicality - in my opinion, all of these applications are useful on a daily basis and don’t require that the user be an uber-geek to find them valuable
Additionally, all of these applications offer free trials. Although that was not a requirement to make the list, it is a nice feature.
Of course, the list we have complied does not include every great piece of software available on the market, but these are 10 that we could not function without. As always, if there is something specific that you are looking for we recommend that you use MacUpdate. MacUpdate has a very comprehensive list of Mac OS X applications and is updated multiple times daily.
ecto
Cost: $17.95
Ecto is a blogging client designed for Mac OS X made by kung-foo tv. Ecto allows you to write and manage content for your blog offline. This is extremely useful if you want to write something while you are in a meeting, an airport or just away from an Internet connection. I find it useful because it has some features that blogging straight from the Web doesn’t offer, such as spell check and an easy way to upload files. Ecto is also extremely helpful for the beginning blogger. I used it to learn some of the basic HTML involved in writing a blog.
Ecto works on practically any Weblog platform. Ecto also has a version for Windows, which could be nice if you are a cross-platform user.
OmniOutliner
Cost: $39.95-$69.95
As someone who is obsessed with organization, I don’t know how I ever lived without OmniOutliner. It is designed for creative thinkers who have a rapid-moving train of thought. The ways you can use OmniOutliner are limitless, but I find it to be most helpful at keeping to-do lists, organizing my thoughts for short stories or papers I am working on, planning an event, reminding me when to breath and taking notes. Pretty all-inclusive, eh?
You may have noticed a price variation for OmniOutliner. This is because there is also a professional version available. Along with all the features of the regular version, OmniOutliner Pro adds a sections drawer that allows you to see your entire document at a glance and jump around easily, a clipping service to easily store text from anywhere and archive information and the ability to save templates that make it easy to repeat style and content. It is really up to your discretion if the added features are worth the extra cash. I would recommend starting out with the basic version and upgrading if you have a need for it.
Visit the OmniOutliner Homepage
TextMate
Cost: $49.00
TextMate by Macromates is a fabulous text editor for programmers and designers. TextMate offers easy ways to manage your project, keep it organized and automate monotonous tasks. Managing code and markup are made much easier by this application, too. Because most projects require many files, TextMate is also great because it helps you manage all these files. The most commonly used features are the dynamic file outline that allows you to arrange your files in an outline and keep your changes up to date, tabs that make jumping between files simple, a clipboard history so you will never forget where you are going and where you have been and the ability to hide what you don’t use with foldings. TextMate consistently gets high ratings and you can’t beat it for the money.
Some of the MacZealots crew use TextMate to write drafts of stories, create sample code for tutorials and even as a quick outliner. The reason is because TextMate is so lightweight compared to applications like Microsoft Word and Xcode. With less system overhead, we can use our dilapidated iBooks to work on the road.
NetNewsWire 2.0
Cost: Free and $24.95
We featured NetNewsWire last year, but it’s so fabulous how could we not mention it again? Plus there have been a ton of updates and a price reduction, which make it even more desirable. Definitely the best RSS aggregator on the market, NetNewsWire is even more helpful now that Safari in Tiger has support for RSS feeds directly in the browser bar. You can set NetNewsWire to receive the feed subscription to Safari, making one-click subscriptions a reality. It also comes in regular and lite versions depending on your needs. With the new, lower price, however, I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t use the regular version. For a list of features that each version has to offer go here. The basic gist of it is that you simply subscribe to RSS/XML feeds in NetNewsWire and as the sites publish new content the application is parsed.
Visit the NetNewsWire Homepage
Cocoalicious
Cost: Free
Written by the dashingly handsome Buzz Anderson, Cocoalicious is a del.icio.us client for Mac OS X that manages bookmarks. It retrieves the data from the servers and formats it in an iApp-like interface. On the left you have each of your tags listed. To the right of that is a listing of each link under a specific tag and an optional web browser to view the pages in. You can use it via its Post from Safari feature or from your news aggregator. You can specify Cocoalicious as your default Weblog editor. When you find a link of interest in the app, you can select Post to Weblog and it will send the link to Cocoalicious instead of a real blog editor. By far, the best feature of Cocolicious is that you can do full-text searching of your bookmarks. Never will you lose anything you saw on the Internet again. It’s your own personal Google!
Visit the Cocoalicious Homepage
Delicious Library
Cost: $39.95
Back in November, Justin posted a review of Delicious Library and highly recommended the application. It recently won the Mac OS X Best User Experience Apple Design Award for 2005 as well. Delicious Library is a great way to import, browse and share all your books, movies, music and video games. It has a sleek design that is sure to please even the pickiest Mac user. It also makes it possible for you to run your very own library from your Mac.
To do this, however, you will need a barcode scanner or an iSight. If you don’t already have one of these it can add to the cost, but I think it’s well worth it. Delicious Library is a great way to stay organized. When you have a million DVDs and your friends are constantly borrowing them it’s nice to know who has what. The borrower’s list feature makes this super easy. It is also a good way to keep from repeat buying. My favorite feature is that you can print out a list of everything you have which can be very useful when you are shopping, showing friends what you have or trying to tell your mom what not to buy your for Christmas.
Visit the Delicious Library Homepage
VoodooPad
Cost: Free and $24.95
VoodooPad is an awesome notepad for Mac OS X. I find that it’s a great way to takes notes during class because it is so simple to use. Unlike a normal word processor, VoodooPad connects all of your pages together. And the features list is much more extensive. What I love the most, as the site says, is that “you can export your VoodooPad library as html to share with others, or copy it to your iPod so you can view your library on the go.” This is so useful and makes me wonder why I ever took notes with any other program. Among the many features available, my favorites are the spotlight search ability that allows you to search the contents of your VP documents with Tiger’s Spotlight technology, the sketch pad, AppleScript support, Address book integration and tag support that allows you to assign tags and search through categories that you assign to your documents. This application definitely takes word processors and kicks them up a notch!
Adium
Cost: Free
Adium is an instant messaging client which supports AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Japan, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Novell Groupwise and Lotus Sametime: all the major players and then some. Once you start using Adium you will see that it has tabs, which many Safari users are accustomed to and will love. This is one feature that really sets Adium apart from iChat. The tabs are a great way to organize your messages and save space on your desktop. It also supports file transfer and WebKit message display among other things. If you are tired of the official AOL Instant Messenger client or iChat give Adium a try. It is different and fits in nicely with other Mac applications by using much of the same technology.
MenuCalendar Clock
Cost: Free or $18.95 for iCal and $24.95 for Entourage
Right off the bat I have to say that I wish this application would have an integration that allows it to work with both iCal and Entourage at the same time. Having to buy it twice seems a little silly, but I’m not a developer so what do I know?! Aside from this, I think it’s a great application. Since there is a basic version you can use for free I really can’t complain. MenuCalendar Clock gives you instant access to your calendars from your menu bar. It is very elegant and mirrors the simple design we have all come to expect from Mac applications.
There are many features that are included in the basic and the registered version of the iCal application such as pocket calendar display, configurable menubar clock, customizable window color and calendar autohiding. These are all great, but the features I really love are only available with the registered version. This includes syncing birthdays with iCal, showing events from iCal, a configurable hot key and a configurable automatic update check. For me, this application isn’t worth much without these features so I would recommend forking over the money.
The features included in the Entourage version are almost identical. Whenever you see the world iCal, replace it with Entourage and you will have a review of that as well. Because of this I am not sure why there is a difference in price, but then again I am not an Entourage user so I am not all that familiar with it.
View the MenuCalendar Clock Homepage
FetchArt for iTunes
Cost: Free
Finding album art isn’t that hard, but if you are lazy like me (and what Mac user isn’t with all these cool apps that make our lives easier?) you don’t want to put much effort into searching for it. FetchArt makes this very simple. It is “a program that will fetch album art for one or more songs using Amazon’s XML interface, allow you to preview the art that was found and add the art you want to iTunes.” How convenient is that? Once you install FetchArt all you have to do is select one or more songs and click on “Fetch Art” from the Script menu. Now you have no excuse for having a messy iTunes collection! Now, if only there was something that filled in the album name for me. Maybe you’ll see that on next year’s list!
This list is, by no means, comprehensive. There is a plethora of great shareware available, but these applications are some of my favorites. They are tried and true, and I don’t know how I ever functioned without some of them. Third-party developers definitely make the Mac experience more worthwhile than it is to begin with. They also help bridge a gap between the big dogs at Apple and the consumers.
Did we miss something? Let us know if there is an application you would like to have seen on this list in the comment section.
Emily Hambidge is the editor and public relations guru for MacZealots. She was forced into the world of Macs by her geeky boyfriend. In order to keep her sanity and relationship afloat, Emily now embraces everything Macintosh. You can read her personal blog or contact her at
Reader Comments (42)
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#1) On July 29, 2005 02:00 PM
I second the Adium nomination, as it beats Fire hands down. As for newsreaders, NewsFire is my favorite. Great, minimal UI with some nifty animation. Last I checked it’s $18.95, cheaper than the paid NNW version - so if you’re gonna pay it’s worth checking out.
#2) On July 29, 2005 02:28 PM
You definately missed one: Speed Download. Definately one of the best shareware apps for Mac OS X.
#3) On July 29, 2005 02:35 PM
definite+ly=definitely
#4) On July 29, 2005 04:16 PM
Regarding Delicious Library, which I absolutely love, you can use pretty much any digital/miniDV videocam (I use a Canon Optura 20) that is supported by iMovie instead of a barcode reader or an iSight.
#5) On July 29, 2005 06:59 PM
You can use Delicious Library just fine without a camera or barcode reader — you just have to enter UPCs by hand. It’s still awesome, it’s just not quite as painless to enter data.
#6) On July 29, 2005 09:23 PM
Andrew hahahahahahaha that’s totally my pet peeve
#7) On July 29, 2005 10:13 PM
Fetch Art seems interesting - I happen to like Sofa though. I addition to finding the pictures for my music, it also can display them on my desktop even though iTunes may be hidden. Combined with iEatBrainz (for all of those mp3s I ripped that just say ‘track1’ ‘track2’…) is a nice iTunes fixer-up-er.
You can’t beat the price either - free for both!
Sofa - http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/404958/sofa.dmg.zip iEatBrainz - http://www.indyjt.com/software/?show=ieatbrainz#ieatbrainz
#8) On July 30, 2005 02:30 AM
the fetch art installer crashes in tiger 10.4.2…
#9) On July 30, 2005 04:46 AM
menucalendarclock has my love — I was looking for that application from Jaguar up, and it has been a beautiful thing ever since. Why would you want ical/entrouge combo syncing, you shouldn’t be on Entourage anyway:)
Aside from that, I’m writing this in a NetNewsWire tab right now, a blessing to track all of my 100+ feeds — Safari just doesn’t cut it at that point.
#10) On July 30, 2005 10:22 AM
People are creation Mac sharewre faster than you can download it; A golden shareware era. The system hacks for OSX are also a boon to Mac users. Windows has tones of shareware, but most of it is crap; There are a few great ones.
I have many thousands of fonts and cannot get by without FontCard from unsanity. They also make two other system hacks I really like; Windowshade, is great for long time Mac users use to this function in the old OS, and FruitMenu lets you customize you contextual menus. If you have broadband, WeatherPop rocks. Shaddow Clipbaord is my fave for multi clipbaords. I like to try out all the wonderful browsers for Mac OSX but it makes a problem to keep the Bookmarks in order. BookIt does a good job of keeping your bookmarks in sync and it does a lot more.
Much of the fun and work of OSX is made possable by the wealth hacks and shareware.
Thanks for letting us know you faves Emily
Roger
#11) On July 30, 2005 01:55 PM
SizzlingKeys is my favorite free app
another pet peeve of mine is misspelling ‘a lot’
#12) On July 30, 2005 03:28 PM
Clutter is definitely the best Album art handler! It might not fit with the article though since it is free and opensource!
http://www.sprote.com/clutter/
#13) On July 30, 2005 04:20 PM
What, no SideNote!??? To hell with Voodoo Pad, if you want a really convenient notepad/scratchpad take a look at http://www.chatelp.org/?s=Sidenote It’s also free - ridiculously free.
#14) On July 30, 2005 05:00 PM
A few more to note: QuickSilver, PithHelmet, Saft, Sogudi, Synergy, Export Artwork (fetches album artwork and makes a great page as well!)
#15) On July 30, 2005 07:15 PM
My favorites:
Functionality -MaxMenus (share) -You Control (commercial) -Aquila Calendar ($10) -iAddressX (?) -World Clock Deluxe (share) -Keyboard maestro (free +) -Temperature Monitor (free) -Quicksilver (free) -IP in Menu Bar (free) -File Buddy (share)
Maintenance -Macaroni ($10) - Cocktail -Preferential Treatment -Xupport -Tinker Tool -Carbon Copy Cloner (free) -Prosoft DataBackup (commercial) -Disk Warrior (commercial) -TechTool Pro (commercial)
-Mac Tracker (free) -Peek-a-Boo (share)
Safari / Internet -Safari Menu (free) -Acid Search (free) -Pithelmet ($10) -Internet Cleanup / Netblockade -Shrook (free) -Fire (free) -Yahoo (free) -iVisit (free/paid) -Transmit (share) -Skype (free) -Advanced Web Ranking
Text -AbiWord (free) -Simply Journal -Hyperedit (share) -TextMate (commercial) -Text Forge -Ulysses -Tofu (free) -CharViewer
Books -Bookpedia (free) -Calillona (free)
Science -Celestia (free) -Earth Browser (free, with imitations) -Converter (free) OS9 -Atom in a Box (free)
Video -iVideo () -iGlasses (share) -iRecord -Quicktime broadcaster (free) -Fullscreen Movie Player -OSEx -VLC
Graphics -Pic2Icon (share) -Graphic Converter -Cam Media Master (OS9) -Sticher (very expensive-open source alternatives) -MorphX (free) -Pixadix
#16) On July 30, 2005 09:41 PM
Why are there free apps listed on a Top 10 Shareware list?
#17) On July 31, 2005 02:27 PM
Best is always in the eyes of the beholder. These are some of my favorites based on usage.
Comic Life (makes comic books pages) OUTSTANDING! Great for instructional or recreational activities. Fantastic Site license for schools
Crossword Wizard (makes crossword puzzles) Slightly expensive for individual copies ($49.95) but there are school licenses at better rates.
ExhibitionX (for presentations). A novel approach to slide presentations. $35?
iglasses (a necessity utility for anyone using an isight camera)
Mail Factory (great for making both professional looking labels and even business cards - using custom.) Lite and professional versions.
TextLightning 3 (a utility for converting PDF files into text)
OK - one freeware
Desktop Wrap (for keeping files organized on your desktop.(
All these can be found on versiontracker.com
best
#18) On August 1, 2005 12:48 AM
I’ll second the comment that the author of this article missed a great program, Synergy. Also, I tend to prefer Newsfire (www.newsfirerss.com) over NetNewsWire. Another favorite of mine is Interarchy (ftp client).
#19) On August 1, 2005 06:17 AM
What no VLC? It plays just about any kind of video that QuickTime Player won’t — even DVDs from other regions than your own. Can’t beat it! Perhaps you need a longer list since there’s so much great freeware and shareware being created for OS X! No software for the Mac? Pfui!
#20) On August 1, 2005 04:32 PM
Every user has different needs. Right now, things like OmniOutliner, Delicious Library, and Ecto are near-useless for me, great though they may be. On the list of near-absolute necessities are things like Default Folder, PullTab, LiteSwitch X and LaunchBar.
LaunchBar, IMO faster than the competition (including Spotlight), built-in, nearly -any-search-engine functionality.
PullTab - A must for any Adobe Illustrator user that uses Command-Tab to switch selection tools.
LiteSwitch X - Superior app switcher to replace Command-Tab.
Default Folder - Saving my precious time struggling with Apple’s anemic dialog box concept.
WindowShade - Make translucent windows float above all other apps with a couple of clicks.
Synergy & the still-in-beta Synergy Advance - Making iTunes music a seamless part of my computing experience.
Eudora (Technically commercial, but since it can be used fully for free….).
MaxMenus - Correcting other programmers’ menu interface oversights.
FruitMenu - Control-click > Gather Items In New Folder. Folder browsing via contextual menu. ‘Nuff said.
Speed Download - Tip: Make the floater semitransparent and place it so that only the top 15% or so shows above the bottom of the screen (mine is just to the right of center). Easy drag & drop to download and double-click to open target for those with a crowded Dock.
#21) On August 1, 2005 05:05 PM
Being a new Mac user, two of the best resources I’ve found are:
1) the comments left by users to articles like these.
2) MacUpdate.com to find the software mentioned by said users.
I love aticles like this (which prompted me to start one myself), but a lot of the best programs get repeated, so it’s nice to have the users comments which detail some of the lesser known gems.
Craig (#19): You’ll notice VLC made the 2004 list that was linked at the beginning of this article.
#22) On August 2, 2005 06:13 AM
I like MarsEdit for blog editing, and iScroll is great to reproduce the two-finger scroll trick on older laptops.
#23) On August 2, 2005 07:23 AM
Maybe these are a slightly different class of applications, but a few I can’t live without (all free): Quicksilver (app launcher + more more more) Witch (app switcher) Del.iciou.us2Safari (automatically download my delicious links into my safari toolbar) Skype (VOIP + IM) ClamAV (just in case!)
#24) On August 2, 2005 08:49 AM
I find Salling Clicker something I cann’t live without - lets you control iTunes from a mobile phone/PDA + more
http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/
#25) On August 2, 2005 09:30 AM
Fantastic list, thanks! I somehow haven’t heard of a few of these titles (how is that, since I scour the boards daily?!?). Anyway, as someone else mentioned, you missed one that should definitely have made top 10: Saft. I was dubious of Saft at first (their site doesn’t put the best foot forward visually, and there are a couple typos along the way). But…when I saw their update the morning after 10.4.2, I decided to give it a try. Man!! Saft is the best enhancement plugin I’ve come across, ever. The newest feature, blocking banner ads, is just plain ridiculously cool. I use a “freebie” email account from time to time and it is heinously encumbered by blinking, talking, flashing, shaking banners. No more!
I would also say EvoCam should be up there on the top 10 list, or if not at least the top 20. Check it out. It makes publishing a webcam a snap, including all the bells and whistles a “regular” user could ever want, and even a security measure so you’re not opening your cam to the whole world if you don’t want to. And their support is solid.
#26) On August 2, 2005 10:01 AM
I created a similar list of my favoirte “hard to find” software. It doesn’t include the more standard stuff, but stuff I had to dig a while and try out various competitors. See it here: http://www.divnull.com/lward/software.html
#27) On August 2, 2005 10:11 AM
Personally I like Camino and Growl :)
#28) On August 2, 2005 11:35 AM
The two I can’t live without
Little Snitch Cocktail
#29) On August 2, 2005 04:48 PM
Forgot five essentials:
ASM - Auto hide apps and auto hide the Dock on a per-application basis
Little Snitch! (Thank you, Barry!)
Net Monitor - Traffic throughput monitor and auto-reconnect (a godsend on flaky dialup)
PTHCPUMonitor and PTHPasteboard - They still “work” in Panther and Tiger, just without menu items (which are really superfluous for these two apps). Hot tip, Command-Shift-D is (I think the default) hotkey to show the process manager window in PTHCPUMonitor. No other multi clipboard app that I’ve tried is as simple and direct as PTHPasteboard and I’ll use it until it stops working.
#30) On August 10, 2005 06:34 AM
My two cents: smultron.sf.net (free text editor) and Homerun, a mobile phone remote control tool for home automation, by www.findleystudios.com/homerun/ .
#31) On August 12, 2005 12:25 PM
There are tons of freeware or shareware apps that I use daily (Longhand, SlimBatteryMonitor, many more) that I’m a big fan of - but if I was putting together a Top 10 list it would have to include QuickSilver. And Skype. And FireFox. I suggest you post a few different Top 10 lists: Top 10 Freeware, Top 10 Under $50, Top 10 $50-$100. Leave it at that and you’ll basically have a list of all the best budget software for the Mac.
#32) On August 17, 2005 11:49 PM
SizzlingKeys is my favorite free app
another pet peeve of mine is misspelling a lotThis from someone who does not capitalize and punctuate.
TypeIt4Me has been one of my favorites since the Classic OS days.
#33) On October 7, 2005 12:56 PM
burn again (free)
#34) On October 15, 2005 10:46 AM
Nice job. I’m planning to come back here in the future. thins that excited you at 14: http://www.winneronline.com , think that will make relief
#35) On October 26, 2005 07:56 AM
Textpander is an awesome utility. I use it to quickly type things with abbreviations.
Example: “mymail” = tomklaver at gmail.com “myflickr” = http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomklaver “myip” = my IP address. “ggsearch” = google search “wpsearch” = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ “mud” = http://www.macupdate.com/
I recommend this app to everyone. Just try it and you will love it.
http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=textpander
#36) On December 18, 2005 11:01 PM
Just switched from a PC to G4. Only PC utility I can’t find for a MAC is “FinePrint”. FinePrint is a printer driver for any Windows-compatible printer that saves paper and print time by printing more pages on fewer sheets of paper with perfect legibility. ( http://www.fineprint.com/products/fineprint/index.html ). Anyone offer up a MAC alternative ? Thanx
#37) On December 19, 2005 04:29 AM
Two excellent and well-supported Mac shareware apps I’m surprised haven’t been mentioned here are DEVONthink Pro and SuperDuper!.
#38) On January 5, 2006 11:45 AM
I think this list has some great apps (I first heard about ecto from this list!).
I will say that I think the best iTunes album art app is:
iTunes Catalog, which is $15 at the time of this writing.
And a nice freeware app I use every freakin’ day to learn the weather forecast is:
WeatherDock
#39) On January 19, 2006 12:30 PM
Polishsumgai: FinePrint has a few features that aren’t built into OS X, but n-up printing isn’t one of them.
In any print dialog box, just choose “Layout” from the options drop-down list. Then choose 2, 4, 6, 9, or 16 from the Pages per Sheet list, selected your Layout Direction and border style (if desired), and go! No third-party program needed. :-)
#40) On February 1, 2006 09:27 AM
I love onyx for maintenence and 1 finger snap for those of us who are still using a single button mouse
#41) On February 4, 2006 11:11 AM
1.) I think the delicious library is a great tool for organizing some parts of my very chaotic life. But i don’t know which of my personal data is really transmitted to amazon or to the authors of the software?
2.) Why don’t you just use vim.app for your text editing it works and has so many features you don’t have in other text editors.
#42) On February 6, 2006 02:06 PM
All right. Now I have to put my 2 cents in since no one listed my 2 favorite shareware apps. They are:
Mac the Ripper Now I know this app has the potential to allow a user to commit a crime punishable by upto 2 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but I mean, come on. It’s by far the best app for removing the encrytion from DVD’d so that users can make backup copies of all the DVD’s they own. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
WireTap Allows users to record any and all audio playing through through their OS X running Mac. Great if you want to record Zarvox in the throws of passion and post it to your website. Also great for recording audio playing through applications, Internet Radio, Flash Audio from websites, Internal/ External Mic Recordings, or any other audio source that you want to have a recording of.