(Archived) Premium Upgrade - Worth it?

[sflorack 3]

I don't intend on trolling, or want people to become defensive. I really enjoy Evernote, but am confused about the benefits of upgrading to Premium (aside from showing support to Evernote).

According to the website, Premium users receive:

1. Monthly upload allowance increased to 500MB*

2. Add, synchronize, and access any file across platforms and devices

3. Maximum note size upgraded to 50MB

4. For Android, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users, access your notebooks offline

5. Search within PDFs

6. Stronger security through SSL encryption at login and note transfer

7. Priority image recognition

8. Premium support

9. No ads

10. More premium only features coming soon!

I won't even discuss numbers 1, 3 and 9 as they are completely straightforward.

I don't know what #2 means when #4 talks about mobile phone syncing.

4. I am able to add and synchronize on my iPhone with a free account. "Access your notebooks offline" means I can access them as long as I'm connected to the internet..? Also, if I have a Premium account, all notes are locally cached on my phone for offline reading? If I had 1,000 PDF's, wouldn't that take up an extremely large part of my iPhone's storage space? Is there a way to disable local caching?

5. I can search within a PDF when using the free mode. I'm not sure what this means.

6. I can connect to Evernote web over HTTPS with the free mode. Also, according to this post (http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=20756&p=87577), it seems I'm getting SSL over the desktop client regardless.

7. I haven't noticed significant delay when comparing free vs paid.

8. Haven't had to use support, so can't comment on the time difference of a response.

10. What future developments are there? (I understand this could be a whole new thread itself..)

Again, I love Evernote and wouldn't mind supporting the cause. I just don't understand what I'm getting aside from larger uploads and an increased quota. Doesn't the current pricing scheme promote users to upgrade for a single month, upload all/most of their files, and then revert back to free?

[baumgarr 17]

#2 means that you can attach any type of file in a note. Free accounts are limited to gif, pdf, jpeg, png, wav, amr, & mpeg.

#4 will allow you to specify certain notebooks as available offline so when you don't have internet connectivity you can still access those notes. You can specify which notebooks you wish to conserve space.

#5 means (I think) that image recognition within a PDF is performed. I don't believe that free accounts have that.

#6 is out of date. At one time the content of free accounts (not the userid or password) were not encrypted. They've changed this so everyone gets that benefit now.

#7 means you get pushed to the head of the line. There have been times where image recognition has been backed up for a few hours. Premium members get done before free users so they didn't need to wait as long.

#8 I can't comment on either. I'm premium & have always gotten very quick response but I don't know how quick of a response free users get.

#10 I have no idea. Evernote doesn't pre-announce features.

For me, #2 was probably the biggest deciding factor. It is nice to be able to attach other types of files when you need them.

[sflorack 3]

Thanks for the response! I didn't realize you could specify which files you wanted to cache offline. I suppose that could be handy.

I don't understand "image recognition within a PDF". (Sorry, it's Monday!) When I type a word, i.e. "taxes" it shows all of my PDF's that have the word "taxes" in the content (not just the header/title). What other image recognition is there?

I personally don't see the advantage of sending any file type to Evernote. IMHO, sending a Word document to Evernote (for example) is useless for anything other than backup (which may be the very reason others use it). Still, I think there are other devices available to backup these types of files (i.e. Sugarsync, WebDAV backups, etc) that exceed Evernotes ability/intent. Now, if Evernote displayed the file (rather than showing only the icon) and indexed it for searches, then I would see the advantage.

[jbenson2 2,147]

From a moral perspective, for a product I rely on and use every day, I think the $5 per month is a honorable thing to do.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I don't understand "image recognition within a PDF". (Sorry, it's Monday!) When I type a word, i.e. "taxes" it shows all of my PDF's that have the word "taxes" in the content (not just the header/title). What other image recognition is there?

The example you provided is text within a PDF. Images within a PDF would be if you had a picture of a stop sign in your PDF. Like Baumgarr, I'm not sure if that's what they are talking about.

I personally don't see the advantage of sending any file type to Evernote. IMHO, sending a Word document to Evernote (for example) is useless for anything other than backup (which may be the very reason others use it). Still, I think there are other devices available to backup these types of files (i.e. Sugarsync, WebDAV backups, etc) that exceed Evernotes ability/intent. Now, if Evernote displayed the file (rather than showing only the icon) and indexed it for searches, then I would see the advantage.

I add different file types all the time. The Word example you provided is useful if I want to add a nicely formatted Word document from home & be able to open/view/modify it on a work computer that can edit/view Word documents. Yes, other apps may serve similar purposes...but some people like Dropbox, some like Sugarsync, etc. Since I'm already using EN much of the time, it's easier for me to store those things in EN rather than another app.

Another advantage EN has over Dropbox (which I use) is I can add comments or other attachments. I use a Livescribe pen to record many conversations. I can put the handwritten notes and the audio into the same note. So if I call up the note pertaining to taking my mom to the doctor on 11/24/10, all my notes (handwritten, audio as well as other notes added after the appointment) are in a single note. In order to do that in Dropbox, I'd probably have several nested folders & then two or three notes. Much easier to do this in EN, IMO.

[engberg 89]

5. The PDF search thing is a little cryptic, sorry. If you add a PDF that already contains text that you can select/copy/paste/search within Acrobat or Preview, then you'll also be able to search for it within Evernote.

If you attach a PDF that is a scan of a paper document, which can't be searched from your desktop PDF reader, then we will only perform "OCR" on this for search purposes if you have a Premium account. (If you upgrade to Premium, we'll also go back and OCR all of your existing PDF scans over the following 24 hours.)

6. Yes, we're working on changing the clients to offer SSL for Free users without charge.

10. For example, when we added the PDF OCR feature, this was a "Premium only" feature on the day it launched. Same thing with offline support for iPhone and Android. In general, many future big new capabilities may be Premium-only.

[Pitamakan 2]

I'm wondering about how Premium accounts handle the additional file types: do you actually see the contents of the attached file when viewing the note online or with a client, as you do with pdf and jog files, or do you just see an icon? Are the files saved both on the cloud and with the local clients? Is the text within those files indexed?

And a related question: if a user's premium subscription lapses, what happens to the premium-only file attachments? Are they deleted, or do they remain available but unchangeable? Does the indexing go away?

[sflorack 3]

If you attach a PDF that is a scan of a paper document, which can't be searched from your desktop PDF reader, then we will only perform "OCR" on this for search purposes if you have a Premium account.

Great, I understand the difference between text searching and OCR now. However, I've noticed that I am able to search for text in a JPG picture of a scanned receipt. I used to be Premium and have since reverted back to Free. Does the OCR conversion (and subsequent indexing for searches) only affect new documents as a Free, and documents uploaded as Premium are still searchable?

The fact that I can do an OCR search as a Free user is one of the reasons why I was confused to begin with, and have since questioned the rationale of upgrading beyond moral correctness.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I'm wondering about how Premium accounts handle the additional file types: do you actually see the contents of the attached file when viewing the note online or with a client, as you do with pdf and jog files, or do you just see an icon? Are the files saved both on the cloud and with the local clients? Is the text within those files indexed?

And a related question: if a user's premium subscription lapses, what happens to the premium-only file attachments? Are they deleted, or do they remain available but unchangeable? Does the indexing go away?

The other file types are icons/attachments. They are handed off to third party apps. So if you put a MOV file in EN, you won't be able to play that on a computer that doesn't have an app that can play MOV files. Attachments are not indexed, but you can add note info such as "video of the dogs with Santa." (The same way you can add text to notes with PDF attachments.) The MOV (and other attachments) are stored in your desktop database and the cloud.

If your premium subscription lapses, previously indexed/OCR'd files remain the same. If you added a MOV file, that MOV file is still in your desktop database (if you use a desktop client) and the EN cloud.

I think if you try to change a note with a premium only file type (IE MOV), that may not work. Say, you have a MOV file with the note text/title "video of the dogs with Santa" and you want to change that to "video of the dogs with Santa Dec 2010", that may not work. Not sure on that.

[Pitamakan 2]

Many thanks, BNF ... that clarifies things a lot.

[crispinb 8]

From a moral perspective, for a product I rely on and use every day, I think the $5 per month is a honorable thing to do.

Honourable, certainly. But I don't think it's *dis*honourable to rely on the free product. After all, Evernote offer it, and it's clearly to their advantage to do so. I'm sure they consider the free users very welcome.

There's a good pragmatic reason for subscribing, in addition to direct benefits, which is that the higher the conversion rate, the stronger Evernote will be as a company. I want to invest my time and data in software that's going to stay around, and whose owners that will have the resources to be able to keep up development. I would probably subscribe even if I wasn't too fussed about the particular features on offer (at the current low price, anyway). The extra features are handy, though (most particularly #2,4 and 9)

[sflorack 3]

There's a good pragmatic reason for subscribing, in addition to direct benefits, which is that the higher the conversion rate, the stronger Evernote will be as a company.

I whole-heartedly agree; hence my concern that there isn't a lot of difference between Free and Premium. Even if *I* support them, will enough of the other users agree that it's the "right thing to do"?

While I'm not suggesting it be changed, even the advertisements in Evernote are so unobstrusive, it's almost not worth hiding them.

I imagine that I'll be signing up very shortly.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

There's a good pragmatic reason for subscribing, in addition to direct benefits, which is that the higher the conversion rate, the stronger Evernote will be as a company.

I whole-heartedly agree; hence my concern that there isn't a lot of difference between Free and Premium. Even if *I* support them, will enough of the other users agree that it's the "right thing to do"?

While I'm not suggesting it be changed, even the advertisements in Evernote are so unobstrusive, it's almost not worth hiding them.

I imagine that I'll be signing up very shortly.

Yes, it seems to me, that it's only been in the past few years that "free" software has been so prevalent. Well, except for Yahoo, IE, Google, b/c I remember when you had to pay for browsers. I remember the jaw drops when Microsoft first announced they were providing a free browser!

Speaking of Dropbox, I'd gladly pay for more space. I've got more than the standard 2 gb b/c they have some options you can exercise. But I'd be interested in something that's a bit more than the 2.x gigs free gigs I currently have & the 50 gigs for $100/year. I'm not saying $100/year for 50 gigs is overpriced or not worth it. Just not worth it to me. Everyone has to decide how to spend their money & I'm just not ready to drop $100/year at Dropbox b/c I'd like to have 10 gb. Another nice thing (IMO) about EN's pricing is it's reasonable. If you have a need for the premium service for a month or three, you can drop $15 for that & be done with it. OTOH, if you tend to use the premium features a lot, you can pay annually & that takes it down to $3.75/month. Very inexpensive for something you use a lot. And yet, if you use it only occasionally or don't need the premium features, you can do what I do with Dropbox & just be a non-paying customer. But for me, I'd definitely be stifled, if I had to revert to a free subscription. There's probably not an hour that goes by, when I'm using a computer, that I don't use EN at least once or twice.

[crispinb 8]

While I'm not suggesting it be changed, even the advertisements in Evernote are so unobstrusive, it's almost not worth hiding them.

That depends on your tolerance for advertising! Mine is low enough to defeat the best of limbo dancers.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

That depends on your tolerance for advertising! Mine is low enough to defeat the best of limbo dancers.

[sflorack 3]

FWIW, I've (re)upgraded today. Here are my reasons:

1) Show support for an excellent product and it's community.

2) Offline notes on my iPhone.

3) Note revisions (I commonly make mistakes and wish there was a back button!).

I'm certain I could have done without 2 and 3, but feel strongly about well-developed products receiving (financial) support. There seems to be a lack of things worthy of getting excited about, and I feel Evernote may be one of these things. Good work!

[jefito 5,589]

My tolerance for advertisement must be pretty high, since I leave it on even though I have a premium subscription.

Either that or my observational skill are pretty low...

~Jeff

[Pitamakan 2]

I'm upgrading the morning of December 26th. I'd do it sooner, but for some unknown reason a friend told me that I had to wait until after Christmas gifts were exchanged. :?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I'm upgrading the morning of December 26th. I'd do it sooner, but for some unknown reason a friend told me that I had to wait until after Christmas gifts were exchanged. :?

Hmmm...wonder what Pitamakan's getting from Santa?

[Pitamakan 2]

I'm upgrading the morning of December 26th. I'd do it sooner, but for some unknown reason a friend told me that I had to wait until after Christmas gifts were exchanged. :?

Hmmm...wonder what Pitamakan's getting from Santa?

It just better not be a copy of Onenote, that's all I have to say!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

It just better not be a copy of Onenote, that's all I have to say!

[manasvi 0]

Honestly..for me its just not worth it to go for premium.Keeping in mind my current usage.

But I would gladly pay to support the product, even for the features that are free currently.

Just to give back to the developers and designers who have created something awesome.

 

They can probably have a middle level of upgraded account.

So that evernote can attract new users with the free account.

And the users who are happy with the product,can upgrade and have some premium features, even if they dont need all the premium features.

Users like me, to be specific.

 

 

 

 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Honestly..for me its just not worth it to go for premium.Keeping in mind my current usage.

But I would gladly pay to support the product, even for the features that are free currently.

Just to give back to the developers and designers who have created something awesome.

They can probably have a middle level of upgraded account.

So that evernote can attract new users with the free account.

And the users who are happy with the product,can upgrade and have some premium features, even if they dont need all the premium features.

Users like me, to be specific.

I don't understand what you're saying. If you're asking for a lesser priced "premium lite" account, it's already pretty inexpensive at $45 USD per year, if you rely upon Evernote. If you're simply wanting to donate $$$, then just upgrade to premium for a month or two.