anyone tried idata?

David Pogue made a splash this week by touting iData 3 as a freeform database for the Mac. (Actually, tho he uses it freeform, it also has the power to create various fields for sorting.)

Has anyone tried this, and what do you think? I’d never heard of it before.

I’ve been playing with it after seeing the same article, but don’t think I’ll be buying it.

Its distinguishing features seem to be printing (envelopes, labels, forms) and dialing the phone. It might use it if I were maintaining a mailing list, library, or collection of some sort.

I’m not sure what it can do that Bento can’t. I’m not sure what it can do that DevonThink’s Sheets can’t do for a similar price. It doesn’t seem to be Spotlight searchable, and once you sync documents, you can no longer alter the data fields.

I’m sure it was the coolest thing in the world in 1988 when Pogue started using it, but now it seems like a living relic. Maybe there should be some kind of Hall of Fame.

It’s certainly not any kind of competition to Eagle Filer as far as I can see. The idea of having “cards” with custom metadata is certainly appealing. But that would require having a document type peculiar to EF, which would go against EF’s unique appeal- having files and a folder structure open and visible to the Finder, and just the way you set it up.

If you want an app to play with, I’ve been grooving to Default Folder X- very very powerful. I can navigate easily all over the computer straight from the menu bar. This includes going straight into the Eagle Filer library without Eagle Filer being open.

When you’re saving documents, you can tag and label them right on the spot, and EF will read the tags.

Just don’t try to save them straight into the EF library. They’ll be in the folder, but EF itself won’t “see” the files.

iData 3
Yeah, it definitely has an archaic feel to it. (Especially since Pogue doesn’t use any of the new features, like customizable fields, that actually make it interesting.) I do like the idea of “cards” sortable along all sorts of different criteria (tags, dates, authors, and so on). That was the appealing thing. Does Bento let you do that?

I’m suffering from trial-software burnout, but will check out Folder X at some point.