Freeware alternatives for that Mac shareware

Over the past few months I have spent a ton of money on Mac shareware. I kind of felt like I was more a part of the Mac community by tossing some money at these developers and getting the software that all the Mac geeks have. After using it for some time I realized that the shareware community is great, but there are a lot of free alternatives to that 30 dollar piece of software.

Transmit/Cyberduck

FTP clients means a lot more to some people than they do to others. I used GoDaddy’s web based FTP client for a while, so obviously I care very little.

Transmit offers editing any remote file, folder size calculation, .Mac synchronization, Spotlight integration, Tabs view, Searching, and column view.

Cyberduck offers a Spotlight Importer, Keychain interaction, Browser view, and integration with External editors. Not too shabby.

Transmit: $17.95
Cyberduck: $0.00

Awaken/Aurora

When I started college I wanted my laptop to be my key tool in everything I do. Pzizz puts me to sleep and Awaken gets me up, boy do I regret that.

Awaken is an alarm clock for your Mac that offers iTunes playlist and podcast integration. It utilizes the Apple Remote, and has a sleep timer too.

Aurora has the same basic idea as Awaken, it uses iTunes to wake you up, but also is able to wake your Mac up while it is asleep. Like Awaken, it also allows podcasts to be played, but allows Applications to be opened upon the alarm being played.

The final aspect that makes Aurora a better download then Awaken is its integration with EyeTV. You can play a channel on your computer while your alarm is going off.

Awaken: $8.95
Aurora: $0.00

Disco/Burn

When I picked up the Macheist bundle the first application that I opened up was disco. I burned some of my “Handbraked” movies to a DVD (a backup of course.)

If you are not impressed by fancy smoke when your burning files then you may as well skip over Disco, because that is the only difference between these two apps.

They both offer data, audio, video and image burning. While Disco’s interface is a simple “drag and drop” tool, Burn does what Disco does in a more basic look and feel.

Disco: $14.95
Burn: $0.00

Assignment Planner/Schoolhouse

I talked about Awaken being an essential student application for me in college, but Assignment planner was even more important! I needed something to keep organized, record my grades, and manage my GPA while at school. Too bad I found Assignment Planner before Schoolhouse.

At the core of Assignment Planner, homework is managed and maintained, but it also allows integration with iCal, textbook references, color coding assignments and output to the iPod.

While I used some of these options I found that most of them went unused. When testing School House I found a similar look and feel, with homework tracking as the key idea. Organizing the assignments is something that School House does better than Assignment Planner. They also feature a new technology called Classcasts, which is the ability to publish assignments to the web for anyone to subscribe too, much like iPhoto’s photocasts.

Both of apps tools have their perks, but I found the main tools I was using in Assignment Planner I was using in Schoolhouse.

Assignment Planner: $5.00
School House: $0.00

AppZapper/AppDelete

The great part about Apple Shareware is that it is simple and easy to use. It does not get any easier than AppZapper “The uninstaller Apple forgot.”

When I bought a Mac the first Application I bought was AppZapper and I didn’t think twice about it. All you have to do to uninstall an Application is drag it in and zap it, it even plays a cool noise.

But I found AppDelete yesterday, which does the same thing as AppZapper, without the stunning looks. Though AppDelete isn’t the prettiest program it gets the job done and saves you some cash.

AppZapper: $12.95
AppDelete: $0.00

Shape Shifter/Theme Changer

A lot of people love Mac OSX because it looks so beautiful. Many people download icons, move their docks around and change their themes.

ShapeShifter is a simple Application that allows users to download themes for OSX and manage them within the Preferences. Unfortunately for their developers Theme Changer does the same thing.

Both apps allows users to tweak themes and change the overall appearance of OSX.

ShapeShifter: $20.00
Theme Changer: $0.00

Delicious Library/DVD Manager

For some strange reason the fanboys love Delicious Library. They love seeing their DVDs on a fancy wooden rack on their computer monitor. I never understood it, but I got it with the Machiest Bundle so I messed around with the program.

Delicious library allows users to categorize their books, CDs, DVDs and Video games in a beautiful interface.

While DVD Manager only covers DVDs its options are about the same. You can rank your DVDs, much like ranking in iTunes. The also feature the Author and year of release, allow box sets to be created and enables full exporting of the entire library.

To be completely honest Delicious Library offers more capabilities than DVD Manger, but if you are torn between going a free route and opening the wallet, I’d say stick with DVD Manager.

Delicious Library: $40.00
DVD Manger: $0.00

The Open Source community is often pushed aside by applications with great interfaces, but the same general idea. While I am not taking anything away from the developers of shareware, I believe there is always a free alternative to your software solution.

Shareware total: $119.80
Freeware total: $0.00

You decide.