Mac App Reviews » Bundle Watch

MacHeist Nano Bundle 2

Elliott Bradley — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:53:19 +0000

There is a new MacHeist Nano Bundle available for purchase. In case some aren’t familiar with how MacHeist works, here is a brief explanation. There is a main bundle that will probably be available for purchase later this spring and it will be priced a bit higher. Between now and then there will be puzzles to solve, called heists, and apps will be given away in promotions. This year is starting with a smaller bundle called a nano bundle which is not the same as the regular bundle. Back in December they gave away a nano bundle supposedly to test the waters. This is why there are some apps that have been in other bundles and why it is substantially cheaper than the regular bundles generally are.

Right now they are selling:

Macjournal
Ripit
Clips
CoverScout
Flow
Tales of Monkey Island (unlocked after 50,000 purchases)
RapidWeaver (locked with no information as of now)

It is available for $20, or $18 if you bought the previous MacHeist bundle. This is a very good value if you want any of these apps. The apps are of good quality, which is typical of MacHeist.

For those with concerns about “locked” apps, don’t worry about it. In the past all MacHeist bundle apps have been unlocked: whether they reached the target number or not. They advertise seven apps for the $20, so there is little question that everyone will get the licenses. The introduction video also all but said there would be additional apps added as the sale went on. So, if you’re interested in any of the apps, picking up the bundle is highly recommended.

MacUpdate Promo Winter Bundle

Elliott Bradley — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:13:15 +0000

MacUpdate Promo is running their winter bundle and it is a good one. For the standard $49.99 you get the following apps.

Path Finder
Speed Download
Socialite
HealthNut
Yep
PCalc
Radio Gaga
Machinarium
GarageSale
iRip
DragThing

For the first 10,000 buyers they are including:

PowerTunes
Holiday DVD Templates
FlagIt!

There are several headline apps in this bundle such as Path Finder, Speed Download, Socialite (recently acquired by Real Mac Software), and Yep. Most of the others are not unknown apps, but they are not really front-runners in the mac shareware space. Overall, it is another above-average bundle from MacUpdate. If you like Path Finder and one of the other apps such as Yep then this bundle will probably be worth it for you.

MacHeist nanoBundle

Elliott Bradley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:17:19 +0000

MacHeist is at it again with yet more free software. This time they are giving away six pieces of software in what they are calling a nanoBundle. It is completely free, though they do ask what price you would consider paying for it. The bundle includes some genuinely useful and stand-by favorites of mac software.

ShoveBox
WriteRoom
Twitterrific
TinyGrab
Hordes of Orcs
Mariner Write

Usually, the MacHeist free apps are good quality, but this is even a step above that. ShoveBox and WriteRoom in particular are good productivity apps; while Hordes of Orcs is an excellent time-waster. Do yourself a favor and download the bundle.

Edit: Macheist has added another bonus to the bundle. If you share the bundle via Facebook, they will give you a free copy of VirusBarrier X5.

MacWeed Creative Bundle

Elliott Bradley — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:00:33 +0000

There is a new bundle on sale. This one is comparatively much smaller than most of the recent ones. Here are the included programs.

Amnesia
DEVONthink 1
Finance 6
Interarchy
ImageFramer
Media Catalog
MacSnapper
SkypeCap
Optimism
ProfCast
Photo Styler
Voila
Sandvox

This isn’t quite the high-profile bundle that some of the other recently sold bundles were. As of this writing they have sold less than one hundred copies. There are some decent apps here, like ProfCast, DEVONthink (only 1.0), and Sandvox; but the majority are either relatively unknown apps or have been around in many of the recent bundles like Voila.

Overall, I’m not impressed. I won’t be picking it up as the better apps will not be unlocked within the 12 days (as of this writing) that the bundle will be on sale.

TheMacBundles Bundle

Elliott Bradley — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:55:11 +0000

Yet another bundle has just gone on sale. TheMacBundles is decidedly much smaller than MacHeist or MUPromo, and it has a smaller selection of much smaller apps. The indued apps being:

Cover Stream
Default Folder X
DragThing
GraphicConverter
HoudahSpot
iPrint
Mariner Write
Spell Catcher X

The selling price is the standard $50.

These are mostly utilities add some function to the normal usage of the computer. There are two larger apps, a word processor and a graphics editor, but they are older apps that have been largely eclipsed by newer competitors.

Overall, the MUPromo bundle is a better deal with better apps. If you’re lookingi into getting a bundle, I would recommend that one instead of this bundle.

MacUpdate Promo Bundle

Elliott Bradley — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:36:54 +0000

MacUpdate Promo has introduced a new bundle with some very good and useful software. Here is a list of the included apps.

TechTool Pro 5
Parallels Desktop 4
Circus Ponies Notebook 3
NetBarrier X5
DVDRemaster Pro 5
Multiplex
RipIt
MoneyWell
Paperless
Posterino
BetterZip

These apps are being sold for the standard $50.

This is one of the better bundles I’ve seen recently. Parallels, Notebook, and TechTool Pro are very useful apps that the average user should get more than their money’s worth out of. In addition to these general use utilities, there are three DVD related apps for ripping, converting, and playing DVDs. These apps are easy enough for the average user to pick up and start building their collection of DVDs on their mac.

Overall, this is a good bundle with worthwhile software.