I’m sure all of you are aware of the devastation in Japan. I, like many of you, want to help out. So, I’m donating all sales revenue for tomorrow, March 18, 2011, to relief efforts. This will include revenue from sales here on this site as well as the Mac App Store, but not from Amazon (as I currently have no way of figuring out when sales at Amazon happened).

As I did last year with Haiti, I will be donating to UMCOR, the relief organization associated with the United Methodist Church. If you’re not into the church thing, don’t worry. This is an organization that is focused on helping people with their basic needs, as I’ve seen first-hand when I volunteered with them in the past. Even better, they get lots of volunteer labor, so funds donated to them can be used efficiently.

So please spread the word. Tomorrow is a great day to buy Pear Note. You’ll get some great software, and help those in need as well.

A few months ago, the only place to purchase Pear Note was right here. Then the Mac App Store gave you another choice. Now, Pear Note is also available for purchase from Amazon through their Software Downloads store.

Pear Note on Amazon

What you get from Amazon is identical to what you get here. The only difference is that you’re paying Amazon instead of me directly.

A plea for reviews

If you check out the listing on Amazon, please think about rating/reviewing the app there. I do not think you are required to have purchased the app through Amazon to review it there. So, please consider rating/reviewing it there to help Amazon shoppers checking it out.

Also, if you’ve purchased Pear Note through Apple’s Mac App Store, please don’t forget to rate/review Pear Note there as well. It’s a great way to help others find Pear Note.

I love hearing about people using Pear Note in different fields. Harry Brignull just posted about his use of Pear Note in user experience research. I know several others have also used Pear Note in fields that have interviews or sessions with individuals.

If you use Pear Note in some way beyond the norm, please let me know. I’d love to post about it here or have you write a guest post.

If you haven’t heard yet, Apple has released the Mac App Store as part of OS X 10.6.6. This is a storefront tied to your iTunes account much like the iOS App Store, except that it sells Mac applications. You can get this store simply by running Software Update on your Mac to update to 10.6.6, assuming you’re already running an earlier version of Snow Leopard. The best part of this is that you can get Pear Note there! In fact, it’s currently #45 on the Top Grossing productivity apps list! I know a lot of you have questions about this, so I wanted to answer the common ones here.

Where can I get Pear Note?

Pear Note is and will continue to be available both directly from this website as well as through the Mac App Store. While some developers are ignoring the Mac App Store and others are making their applications available solely through it, many of us (including myself) have decided to make both options available to users. So, if you want to buy Pear Note through the Mac App Store, go for it. If you’d rather buy it here, that’s great too.

The Pear Note you get from either place is functionally the same. It’s the same version, with the same feature set, at the same price. You should be able to use Pear Note from either place to take notes in the exact same manner. That said, there are some differences between the two, which I’ll talk about below.

Where should I get Pear Note?

You can get Pear Note either here or in the Mac App Store. As I said, it’s the same application. The main differences are:

• Updates – The version in the Mac App Store will be updated through the Mac App Store, which is nice as you can update all your apps at once there (much like you can in iOS today). The version here will update itself. On the other hand, updates to the version here will go out more quickly, as they do not have to go through Apple’s review process which can take a week or so.
• Upgrades – At some point in the future, I’ll release Pear Note 3 (though not any time soon). When that happens, I’ll likely offer upgrade pricing (say 30% of the full price) for current users. Apple does not currently have a way to offer upgrade pricing on their store, so new versions must be purchased  for full price. This may be worked out by Apple before the time comes, but it’s good to be aware of a potential future pain point.
• Convenience – While I try to make it as convenient as possible to purchase Pear Note here, it’s never going to be as easy as the Mac App Store. With the Mac App Store, you click buy, enter your iTunes password, and the app is installed. No credit cards, no license codes.
• Leopard Support – The Mac App Store only supports Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 and later. If you’re still running Leopard, you have to get Pear Note here.
• Trials – Apple currently offers no way to try out software through the Mac App Store. That said, you can always download the trial here, then delete it before purchasing through the Mac App Store.
• Refunds – I offer a 60 day no questions asked return policy here. Refunds from Apple are possible, but not as easy or straightforward.
• Reviews – You get to review the app on the Mac App Store if you buy it there, which can be fun (but only if it’s a five star review – other reviews are not any fun ).

I already own Pear Note, can I migrate my purchase to the Mac App Store?

Sadly, no. Apple currently offers no way for 3rd party developers to do this, and I doubt they ever will as it would create a mechanism that developers could use to cheat Apple out of their cut of the sale. The good news is that there are a lot of advantages to continuing to use the non-Mac App Store version (as outlined above).

Why doesn’t Pear Note show up in the Mac App Store as “INSTALLED”?

Some people have been confused by launching the Mac App Store and having it mark some of their previously installed 3rd party applications as “INSTALLED.” Some have assumed this meant that the Mac App Store would now start treating these as Mac App Store purchases (auto-updating, allowing you to review, allowing you to re-download). This is not the case. The Mac App Store will not treat these apps as purchases. Even worse, the Mac App Store will refuse to let the user purchase these apps (even if what is installed is just a trial). Developers of these apps are currently scrambling to figure out what to do.

The apps that show as installed are using the same unique identifier for the Mac App Store and non-Mac App Store version. Pear Note does not use the same identifier, and consequently does not suffer from this problem.

Questions?

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to shoot an email to support@usefulfruit.com or post something in the forum.

I want to thank Andreas over at Mac OS X Screencasts for the excellent screencast he just posted of Pear Note. If you’re looking for something that really shows off some of the features of Pear Note, I’d recommend checking it out.

A big thank you to Mike Rohde, the designer behind the new Pear Note 2 design. He’s got a blog post up today about the making of Pear Note 2. It was great to work with Mike, and I think the results speak for themselves.

It’s been a long time coming, but Pear Note 2 is right around the corner. I hope to release it in early August, but I just can’t keep completely quiet about it any more. So, I thought I’d give you guys a bit of a tease. Pear Note 2 has a bunch of improvements, but the most obvious is the complete redesign that’s gone into it. I’ll talk about the new features and changes soon, but first I wanted to give you a glimpse of the new look.

I think it looks great and is much more usable than Pear Note 1. I can’t wait for you guys to get your hands on it.

Oh, and since this will likely be your first question – there is no charge for upgrading from Pear Note 1 to Pear Note 2. In general, major upgrades will come with an upgrade fee, but I’m so grateful to all of you for being early adopters that I couldn’t bring myself to charge you for it.

Pear Note 1.4.2 is now out. This update improves error handling when something goes wrong while recording or importing audio/video, which should make the experience when something goes wrong a little smoother. Also improved is the first launch experience, though if you’re reading this you’ve probably launched Pear Note at least once before now . Also, this has a few little bug fixes. Thanks to all who reported problems.