Frequently Asked Questions

• What are Pear Note's system requirements?
• My built-in iSight faces directly at me. How am I supposed to record any useful video with it?
• Why doesn't Pear Note have a library or some other mechanism for organizing my notes like other notes programs?
• What video cameras does Pear Note support?
• Is it legal for me to record others?
• Can I get a discount?
• How big are Pear Note files if I record audio or video?
• Why does Pear Note have trouble playing back shared notes in Firefox and Internet Explorer when opened from the local disk?

What are Pear Note's system requirements?

The current version of Pear Note for Mac requires a Mac running macOS 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or later. Most likely, you'll want a microphone to record audio (which is generally built into all Apple laptops), and possibly a video camera if you'd like to record video as well. If you're still using Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), you can use Pear Note 2. If you're still using Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion), you can use Pear Note 3.1.4. Both of these can be downloade here.

My built-in iSight faces directly at me. How am I supposed to record any useful video with it?

The most common solution is to use an external webcam if you want to take video, as this allows you to point the camera in any direction you like. See What video cameras does Pear Note support? for more information.

Why doesn't Pear Note have a library or some other mechanism for organizing my notes like other notes programs?

Many applications have you find your notes by forcing you to organize them. This may involve folders, libraries, or other similar concepts. While these methods can be effective, they are labor intensive. This frequently results in poor organization. If you want to organize your Pear Note notes, feel free to, as they are all individual files that can be placed in folders or other organizers (such as Together or DEVONthink).

However, if you're like me and would rather not worry about organizing your notes and instead just search for them, you can definitely do that too. With the recent improvements of search technology, particularly in the form of Spotlight, search has become an excellent method for finding things. This is often preferable to organizational methods as it takes much of the work off of you, the user, and instead puts it on the computer. Pear Note documents are searchable by Spotlight. For more information, see Finding Notes.

What video cameras does Pear Note support?

Pear Note should work with any video device that works with OS X. This includes built-in and external iSight cameras, DV camcorders, and most newer USB webcams.

Is it legal for me to record others?

Laws regarding recording others vary dramatically from region to region. Some regions have no restrictions over this, while others may require consent from some or all of those being recorded. Also, many regions that require consent only require it if there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. That said, I am not a lawyer, so please seek one out if you are worried about this issue.

Can I get a discount?

Perhaps. We offer bulk discounts on a case by case basis. We also offer standard educational and non-profit discounts, which can be obtained by emailing support@usefulfruit.com with proof of educational or non-profit status.

How big are Pear Note files if I record audio or video?

That depends on the audio and video quality settings you've set in Preferences. As an example, recording audio for an hour at the default setting (Voice quality) would likely result in about 30-40MB. If you were to add video at Medium quality, the file would likely be around 100-150MB. Note that Pear Note is compressing audio and video using modern codecs (aac, alac, h.264), so file sizes will vary somewhat depending on how well the codec can compress that particular audio/video.

Why does Pear Note have trouble playing back shared notes in Firefox and Internet Explorer when opened from the local disk?

Pear Note's web player uses HTML5 to play back media in Safari and Chrome. Firefox and older versions of Internet Explorer do not support the media format Pear Note uses (h.264/AAC in an mp4 container), so the web player falls back to using Flash to play the media. Unfortunately, Flash's security settings will not allow a Flash player to load media off the local disk unless that Flash player is "trusted." To work around this, you can do one of the following:

1. Use Safari or Chrome to view the web player.
2. Put the file on the Internet somewhere since the security settings only apply to accessing your local disk.
3. Mark the player as trusted in Flash's security settings. To do that, just go to this link, click Edit Locations, Add Location, and add the location of the flowplayer-3.1.5.swf file within the web player you shared. I realize this is complicated and technical, and I'm sorry.