StackSocial Offers 8 Mac Apps in 'MacLovin' Bundle for $39.99

Boom is a nice little app if you frequently find that your laptop speakers are not loud enough.

But it's $7, not $70 (it was $5 when I bought it a while ago).

Can't speak to all of these (the ones that sound good to me I already own so I won't be taking part in the bundle), but Boom is definitely very useful. I use it on my wife's 2006-era MacBook and my 2009 MacBook Pro without issues and it really really helps make those laptops audible in not-completely-silent environments. I have DropZone (I think an earlier version) and never found it more useful than the built-in tools for moving files between Macs, but it is an AirDrop-like bit of functionality which works on older pre-Bluetooth Macs so some might find it useful. I also used it to copy clipboard contents between computers, although these days I just open up a screen sharing session and copy the clipboard over when necessary. Keyboard Maestro seems to get a bit of press, but I do everything I could see myself using it for using Alfred these days. I've tried the likes of Moom a few times and just can't get into arranging windows that way. I like "disorganized" windows. Maybe this is a draw to some folks, although can't vouch for this particular incarnation's stability or usability.

The others all seem like "if you need it, there it is" type of apps. The WiFi mapping software seems like a cool bit of software, but the price on it alone makes me wonder if it will be around a few years from now.

Oh: and StackSocial, in general, seems to be a good company. They do periodic bundles amongst their "deals". As always, there are good deals and there are not-good deals; just do your research before buying. But, I've bought several items from them over the past year and have had nothing but good experiences. Just wanted to say that in case someone had not heard of them or was unsure about sending money to a company you've never heard of.

Retail Value

Isn't the retail value $39.99?

I usually dislike these bundles, as they're usually filled with useless and unnecessary applications. But this bundle includes some pretty handy apps, I'll be definitely looking into this one.

I got Boom for free through an Amazon promotion a few months back. It seemed like just the sort of app I needed to boost my MBA's weak speaker, but I found that Boom simply boosted the audio so it began clipping about any audio source. Maybe I was using it wrong? In any case, I decided it wasn't worth the time.

iSee said:

Boom is a nice little app if you frequently find that your laptop speakers are not loud enough.

But it's $7, not $70 (it was $5 when I bought it a while ago).

Click to expand...

OS X already comes with a system wide EQ... it's either a standard utility that simply comes with all OS X installs or a sample applications that you can get if you install the developer add-ons (which were optional installs on the disk up until Snow Leopard - and now they're online in the free portion of the dev center. Or you can get them with Xcode for free.)

I suspect that Boom uses the exact code from that application and slaps a fresh coat of paint on it and nothing else.

As for the other apps:

Cinemagic Pro - Never heard of it before. It looks really cool, but I feel like it's kind of pointless. Like something I would use once, show to my friends, then never use again. And heck, I can just show them the samples for free, we can marvel at how cool it is, then never buy or use it.

djay - I got the app when it was free on iOS. Never used it a single time.

NetSpot Pro - Looks useful, but I don't know if it's worth buying the bundle just for this. One of the reviews mentioned something about a free version which I'll have to look into... maybe that'll be good enough for me.

Keyboard Maestro - Eh, when I need something to be easy and automated I write a Python or Apple or Bash or Java Script and take care of it using that. So seems kind of pointless.

Hype 2 - Might be useful - I'd need to try a demo version before deciding to buy it.

Dropzone 3 - Same thoughts about this as I had about Keyboard Maestro.

Moom - Currently I'm using a free version of BetterTouchTool for this kind of thing and I like it fine. They mention a few things in the description that make it sound like this might be better. Kind of funny that they mention how useless the green button is - I can't remember the last time I clicked on it, and it's weird Apple hasn't ditched it entirely yet.

The name is like one of the characters in the movie super bad

Already own 4...

- Keyboard Maestro
- Dropzone
- Moom
- Boom

I use Keyboard Maestro often as I create a lot of illustrations/images with iDraw/Pixelmator, and I use this to script many of the actions so I don't have to do as much.

I use Boom for movies and when I want my volume LOUDER

Moom I haven't used in ages, same with Dropzone.

ArtOfWarfare said:

OS X already comes with a system wide EQ... it's either a standard utility that simply comes with all OS X installs or a sample applications that you can get if you install the developer add-ons ..

Click to expand...

Can you point me to the right area? I can’t find any with XCode or the Dev Centre.

In other words...

...these 8 apps are about to be upgraded to new versions so we're going to make a bit of cash from the old versions?

Every time I fall for one of these, the one or two apps I actually want very soon get updates which I'm invited to upgrade to 'for a special price'.

H2SO4 said:

Can you point me to the right area? I can’t find any with XCode or the Dev Centre.

Click to expand...

It's called AU Lab - this website says where to get it from Apple's developer center and how to use it (it's not a particularly great UI, but it's fully functional. Which is why I said I suspect Boom is just this exact app with a better looking UI).
http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/18/equalizer-for-all-audio-mac-os-x/

I already have most of the apps available in this bundle. However, I would like to get Keyboard Maestro. So if anyone is interested, I'd love to split the bundle up with someone else. I'll pay $20 for Keyboard Maestro and whoever wants to join in can pay the other $20 and keep all the other apps. Anyone interested?

Update: Found someone to buy the bundle with. Thanks!

ArtOfWarfare said:

It's called AU Lab - this website says where to get it from Apple's developer center and how to use it (it's not a particularly great UI, but it's fully functional. Which is why I said I suspect Boom is just this exact app with a better looking UI).
http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/18/equalizer-for-all-audio-mac-os-x/

Click to expand...

I used to use AU Lab but I found the app had to always be open in dock and that annoyed me. Boom is pretty good, it just hides in the menubar and has hotkeys. Totally worth it for me.

ArtOfWarfare said:

It's called AU Lab - this website says where to get it from Apple's developer center and how to use it (it's not a particularly great UI, but it's fully functional. Which is why I said I suspect Boom is just this exact app with a better looking UI).
http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/18/equalizer-for-all-audio-mac-os-x/

Click to expand...

Will give it a shot. Thx.

SvenSvenson said:

...these 8 apps are about to be upgraded to new versions so we're going to make a bit of cash from the old versions?

Every time I fall for one of these, the one or two apps I actually want very soon get updates which I'm invited to upgrade to 'for a special price'.

Click to expand...

^ this

kirky29 said:

I used to use AU Lab but I found the app had to always be open in dock and that annoyed me. Boom is pretty good, it just hides in the menubar and has hotkeys. Totally worth it for me.

Click to expand...

As I said, the UI sucks. Making it so an app doesn't show up in the dock is fairly trivial, unless I'm mistaken. I think there's just a single value you need to change in the app's info.plist. Set LSHiddenElement (off the top of my head - I haven't needed to touch this property in over 3 years) to True and the app no longer shows up in the dock. Adding it to the menubar would be a bit more difficult... you'd have to program a UI for it. Not too difficult, and the source for the program is readily available, but not as easy as just removing it from the dock.

markgpearse said:

Isn't the retail value $39.99?

Click to expand...

Well, there's really no such thing as retail "value", despite the phrase being used by marketers for many years.