Sometimes I want to scream “Hey Microsoft, I don’t always have access to my PC.” Also I want to scream “Hey Google, I don’t always have access to the Internet.” I did this once in an old folks home and was asked to leave. This always seems to be my problem, (the PC and internet thing, not screaming in old folks homes) there are times where I don’t have access to my laptop, or it’s too much hassle to get it out, and for whatever reason I don’t always have access to the Internet. Mind you it is rarely at the same time. I’ll usually have one or the other.
That is why I really like applications such as Evernote (evernote.com) (I’m using it to write this article now). It’s a solid Notebook software (just like Microsoft OneNote) that keeps a copy of your notes on your PC and a copy in the cloud that can be accessed via a web app. Along with that I have several PCs, each can access the same web account, and synchronize the notes with each other. You can also access your notes on your Smart-phone, however I’m not as thrilled with using my Smart-phone (I use a Blackberry) with Evernote. I have to access the notes on the web, there is not local storage of files. This is a good feature to have in a pinch, but be warned the bigger the notebook the more bandwidth you’ll spend getting your notes.
Feature wise it’s pretty comparable with Microsoft OneNote and to Evernote’s credit they are continuously adding features to it. If you aren’t familiar with notebook software, the quick answer to “What is Notebook software?” is “Word processing software on Steroids”. All of the ones I’ve used all have basic Word processing capabilities, like formatting, plus some extras. For example creating Tables, and numbered and bulleted lists. Then you can use the Clip features, to capture Web pages, screen shots, and e-mails. In addition you can upload PDF files into Evernote. The captured items are then easily organized with in the software in different Notebooks that you create.
Oh yeah did I mention it’s free. You are limited to 60MB of data. If you need more and can afford $5 a month (or save $15 and pay $45 for the year) you can store up to Upload 1GB a month in notes. I found that the first month was the closest I came to reaching the 60MB of data, but I was uploading several PDF files at the time which took up a lot of Bandwidth.
