What are your three favourite shareware apps?

[Macette]

I thought it would be cool to know what little freeware / shareware / super cheap non-Apple apps other people use to make their Mac lives easier.

My (current) top three are:

Hog Bay Notebook
It's a notes database app which lets you add pictures, format text (in a basic way) and use Wiki-style links to link to other notes in your notebook. It sounds boring... but then you start using it, and you get addicted. It's great for all those little bits of information you never know what to do with.

http://www.hogbay.com


Anything from the Iconfactory
Particularly iPulse (skinable CPU / memory usage monitor), Pixadex (place for storing all your icons) and CandyBar (icon replacement app). These guys do great, great work - everything is very beautiful to look at, and fits right in with OS X. It also works well and is generally a joy. Anybody who hasn't discovered the IconFactory yet should go and check it out: http://www.iconfactory.com

UnCoverIT
Cool app for making CD covers from data on a disk (for example, if you have a data cd that you want a cover for, that details all the stuff that's on that cd, you just open UnCoverIt, select the disk, and the rest is done for you - you don't have to type any info in yourself). It's great for if you've got a CD with a project on it that has lots of associated bits and pieces - a website for example, or a Quark layout with associated image files, fonts etc.
http://www.iwascoding.com

Anyway, i'd love to hear what other people are using (provide links if you can) - the only way I ever find out about this stuff is by recommendation. And it's good to support all these people making stuff for OSX.

[Bluefusion]

Synergy (http://synergy.wincent.org) -- the best iTunes controller ever created. Play, pause, shuffle, next track, last track and more, all through universal keyboard commands or the menubar; keeps track of the last 10 or so songs you've played, displays a BEAUTIFUL floater when a new track comes in, complete with album cover (automatically fetched from Amazon)...

Impossible to not love. No iTunes lover should be without it!

2nd would probably be iOrganize (http://www.brunoblondeau.com/iorganize/) , a clean and simple way to organize all those tiny little notes and junk you've got lying around. StickyBrain (http://www.chronosnet.com/&/products/sb_product.html) is good for this, too, but I don't like the fact that it's so slow and bulky. I also can't get used to completely "unorganizing" myself (the idea is you just make sticky notes, and it has a very fast search engine to find the text you want).

3rd... hmm, I don't know. Everyone should have the top two, though! :)

[VladDracul]

- VirtualDesktop by CodeTek

- escapePod

[DavidFDM]

1. Watson - nice, efficient little app
2. VueScan - saved from buying 2 new scanners - Ed Hamrick rocks!
3. Addressix - made Christmas cards a breeze last year.

- David

[Balin64]

Carbon Copy Cloner: Stable, awesome price. I have used it to make bootable clone volumes and back ups.

KeyXing: It is only 7 dollars, but I CANNOT use my Macs without it: it is so awesome to control apps, apple scripts and pre-sets from the function keys. I am actually worried that exposé in Panther will make me decide between the two.

Image Buddy: I am a fairly experienced Photo Imaging user, but I find that this program is awesome when it comes to printing an image in several sizes in one sheet.

If you have not tried these excellent programs, give it a go. All three combined cost less tan 30 dollars. Well worth the cash.

[ahunter3]

GraphicConverter, hands down winner in its category.

Eudora, the paid version of which should count as shareware.

DefaultFolder, critical/essential under 9 and X alike.

[maradong]

transmit
konfabulator, it is just so good when you can put the panels in the back.
don t have any other :)

[mnkeybsness]

CodeTek's DockExtender (http://www.codetek.com): this adds icons to your dock that, when clicked, display a menu of whatever you want in them... folders, apps, documents, links, etc

Transmit (http://www.panic.com/transmit/): cheap and easy to use, powerful FTP tool

Desktop Manager (http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net/): virtual desktops... a little slow on development lately, but it's very fast and FREE!

[Chealion]

Escape Velocity
Escape Velocity:Override
Escape Velocity Nova

:)

I also have really loved Graphic Converter and Konfabulator. Mac Shareware is awesome :)

[D0ct0rteeth]

Fuzzyclock - Just plain cool
Backlight - animates my desktop picture
Nosleep - Lets me dock my powerbook
RBrowser - FTP
PDF Browser Plugin 1.2 - opens pdf's in safari.. doesnt download to desktop

- Doc

[Rower_CPU]

BBEdit
Transmit

All the goodies that come with .Mac

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by D0ct0rteeth
RBrowser - FTP
- Doc just to chime in--this app is awesome for FTP. ever since my transmit demo ran out, i have been using the freeware version of this, and it ROCKS. it's much faster than Transmit.

[jywv8]

Ethereal
http://www.ethereal.com/
Awesome for debugging networking apps.

Fugu
http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/
For SFTP

Fink
http://fink.sourceforge.net/
Binary package management

[shadowfax]

fink isn't shareware ;)

[irmongoose]

1. LaunchBar (http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/). The best way to launch apps, documents, links, and others. Very addicting.

2. Transparent Dock (http://www.freerangemac.com/). To... make the dock transparent.

3. Speed Download (http://yazsoft.com/). Seriously speeds downloads up... with Safari I get 250kbps even when it is at maximum speed, while with SD I get a constant 450kbps.




irmongoose

[homeshire]

fluid
buddypop
stilllife

[mnkeybsness]

Originally posted by homeshire
fluid
buddypop
stilllife

i only know what one of these is. wouldn't it be nice, since you felt that they were good enough to share, to give a little detail?:) :)

[CrackedButter]

Mp3 Rage from Mp3Rage.com

Lets you do a whole lot more to your mp3 files (as well as others) than what itunes allows.

Its the only peice of shareware that i have personally found useful.

[WinterMute]

GraphicConverter as noted above, I've been using this sice V3, it is the mutts nuts...:D

Thoth: the best newsreader made, stable and efficient, if a little odd to set up.

FuzzyClock: set to Hacker, Midnight Dood!

[irmongoose]

Originally posted by WinterMute
FuzzyClock: set to Hacker, Midnight Dood!

I was also going to choose FuzzyClock but realized that it's freeware.



irmongoose

[jywv8]

Originally posted by shadowfax
fink isn't shareware ;)

You said "freeware / shareware / super cheap non-Apple apps". It is free so I thought that meant it was freeware. What is the difference (I'm being serious)?

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by jywv8
You said "freeware / shareware / super cheap non-Apple apps". It is free so I thought that meant it was freeware. What is the difference (I'm being serious)? true, my bad. i hadn't reviewed the actual post; i was going on the thread title. sorry :)

[TigerPRO]

Desktop Manager
RocketLauncher
MutiDock 1.5