[Athen] Notetaker apps for iPad

[Sean J Keegan]

A question was posed on the RESNA list earlier today regarding iPad apps 
that are available for notetaking and I thought I would post my response 
to these lists as well.

********
There are several screen-recording apps that your student may want to 
consider.  I have used a few and they all seem to have various pros and 
cons, but do a decent job overall.  I (generally) focused on those apps 
that are at least 3+ stars in terms of reviews.  You can find more 
information about these through the iTunes store.  I did not try these 
with an external keyboard, but only used the on-screen keyboard (I have 
spoken with others who have used external keyboard with no issues, but I 
have not tested personally).

Auditorium ($6.99)
Auditorium allows you to record as well as take notes via the keyboard. 
  It has a nice category system as well as the capability to send your 
text and audio notes via e-mail.  You can also change the paper 
background as well as the typing font.  You can bookmark content to 
refer back to later.  I have had some issues when attempting to jump 
around on the audio "timeline", so I am not sure what is happening. 
Also, the interface changes slightly when you move from landscape to 
portrait view, which is a bit frustrating when you are looking for a 
very specific option that you know exists but you can't seem to 
find...unless you rotate the iPad.  Then you have to remember in which 
orientation you need to be to get the functions you want - that just not 
right, IMO.

Very nice looking app, but it just has some functionality issues that 
really need to be corrected.



Evernote (Free)
I have not had the chance to really test Evernote, but have tried out 
some of the basic features.  Evernote is also a Web-based application 
that stores your notes.  You can either take simple text notes and audio 
recordings on the iPad and then sync this information with your 
Web-based account.  If you have pictures on your iPad, you can add these 
pictures to your note and then upload that to the Evernote Web interface.

The interface for the Web-based account is very similar to wiki-style 
editing, so you can do a lot more in terms of formatting.  The audio 
recording option was okay, but it looks like there may be a limit of 20 
minutes for a recording (I have not gone beyond 20 minutes).  You are 
limited with the free account to a 40MB upload allowance, but the 
premium account gives you lots of options.



Simplenote (Free)
Simplenote is a bit simpler than Evernote, and while similar in that 
both have a Web-based interface as well for synchronization/sharing, it 
does not seem to have quite as many features or options as Evernote. 
Basically, it takes basic text notes (much like the Notepad app) and 
then you can upload these to your Web account.  There does not appear to 
be any audio recording options.



Sound Paper ($4.99)
Sound Paper is perhaps the most similar to using the Pulse Livescribe 
pen in that it records audio and synchronizes the audio with text notes 
on the page.  You enter text via the keyboard and this text information 
is synchronized with the audio stream.  There is an option to have a 
"pen" interface which allows you to use your finger to draw on the pad. 
  Interesting feature for when you have lots of diagrams/charts you need 
to record (with the audio), but it is limited when attempting to enter 
words.  You can e-mail the text content, a PDF of the page, the audio 
content *with* PDF information, or share with a Mac or PC (need to be on 
same network).

This app really nailed the functionality aspect with respect to 
synchronized notes and audio, whereas Auditorium has a nicer user 
interface.  A blend of these two apps would be really cool, but in terms 
of functionality, Sound Paper is definitely much better and does not 
suffer from some of the awkward behavior of Auditorium.



Penultimate ($2.99)
I also added Penultimate even though this app does not record audio. 
Basically, Penultimate allows you to use your finger as a stylus/pen and 
"write" your notes or sketch diagrams.  It does a very nice job of 
tracking your finger movements and also has a "wrist-protection" mode so 
that it ignores other interactions with the display (e.g., when your 
wrist touches the display when writing/sketching).  It does get a bit 
tiring to "write" all content with your finger, but in terms of 
sketching diagrams, this app is very nice.

So, while it does not do audio, it is very handy in terms of sketching 
diagrams or charts.  There are Undo and Redo options, which are always a 
plus for me.


Hope this helps.  There may be other apps out there - AllNotes is one I 
want to try out - but these are the ones that I have played with so far.

Take care,
Sean
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