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Ask HN: Would you pay for a better note-keeping solution?

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Re: Ask HN: Would you pay for a better note-keeping solution?

#11

Post by matt_the_bass »

PaulHoule wrote: post #9
methochris wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

must be alot of unhappy note-taking devs

My usual reply is that I am compelled to write notes in email, on wikis, in docstrings, etc. This is because I work for various companies at different points in time, work on open source projects, serve on a standards committee, etc. All of these groups have different tools. For a while I used OneNote heavily even though it is by no means optimized for writing technical notes (formatting source code is much harder th…

Any good wikis you can recommend? I'd love to use github wikimore if it was trivial to upload images the way one cane with gh issues.

Re: Ask HN: Would you pay for a better note-keeping solution?

#12

Post by crispinb »

I think the very fact that there are 'dozens' is part of the problem. Avid or consistent note-takers (like me!) are getting tired of having their notes stranded on platforms that go out of business, or go stale, or turn in directions the user doesn't like. There are usually export functions available, but they nearly always lack fidelity somewhere (metadata, or notebook structure, etc).

For this reason, having used many different systems over the years, I won't ever again use an online notes-island not under my control. I think this is why when this comes up, so many people respond with "markdown!", "org-mode!" etc. These can be invested in without the stranding risk.

Re: Ask HN: Would you pay for a better note-keeping solution?

#13

Post by zapperdapper »

I am happy with Emacs / GitHub which are both free and very effective.

Having said that, I have paid for writing/note taking tools in the past. I bought Ulysses which is a Markdown note taking/writing app. It's available for Mac and iOS. That was a one-off payment of around $30 for the Mac app. I loved it, used it for years, but moved away when they introduced a subscription model. I do still occasionally use my paid for app though.

With regards your $5/$10 a month - personally I would not pay it. I know that because I was paying around $7 a month for a private GitHub repo and that cost annoyed me. It doesn't sound a lot, but over years it does add up.

So, I guess, are the new features you are going to build into your app worth 5/10 bucks a month?

Re: Ask HN: Would you pay for a better note-keeping solution?

#14

Post by methochris »

zapperdapper wrote: post #13

I am happy with Emacs / GitHub which are both free and very effective. Having said that, I have paid for writing/note taking tools in the past. I bought Ulysses which is a Markdown note taking/writing app. It's available for Mac and iOS. That was a one-off payment of around $30 for the Mac app. I loved it, used it for years, but moved away when they introduced a subscription model. I do still occasionally use my paid…

I guess that will be up to each user to decide. I don't have any never-been-done before features planned, but I do think I'm putting them together in a stand-out way that provides just a pleasant note-taking experience. simple/fast/effective/expansive without being bloated, waiting for syncing (this will be a "hybrid app"), or annoying in all the ways i find other apps to be.

Re: Ask HN: Would you pay for a better note-keeping solution?

#15

Post by pokemongoaway »

methochris wrote: post #3
ng-user wrote: post #2

My advice, build it. If no one ever spends a dime on the service, you've always got one happy customer (yourself). Don't think about customers, build it for yourself and solve your own use case. If it's a good product, customers will find you/it. As soon as you get into tailoring it towards the needs of paying customers you've lost your original battle of creating something you enjoy for your own needs.

Thanks. To be honest, I am way too invested already to not finish this thing, despite whatever response I get from posts like this. Sometimes I do get curious though. A surprising number of people I've asked in person simply are not interested in saving things from the internet. I guess if all you are into is watching Snapchat and Instagram all day, why would you? This makes me think I need to tap into the larger bus…

Would love a mix between workflowy and Google keep. Ideally, a web app with mobile clients that has an open source server side that you can either pay to have hosted or run yourself :)))
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