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What's a good memorization software?

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kingding:
I spent several hours the other day researching on this topic.

These three shareware apps seem to stick out:
1: SuperMemo
The original, super old-skool
+ Exhaustive(!) feature set, proven algorithm
+ Largest user base, active community: Yahoo Group, Wiki
 - Ugly as hell, unbearable GUI, sometimes buggy

2:FullRecall
The new generation, attracting switchers from SuperMemo. There's a Ruby script on their website that converts data and statistics from SuperMemo databases to FullRecall.
+ Lightweight and simple, yet powerful. Features an advanced SuperMemo-inspired algorithm based on a neural net.
+ Can be operated entirely by keyboard
+ A caring community and a responsive developer
- Lacks rich-media and organization features, not yet fully grown-up

3:VTrain
+ A proven, stable and elegant implemenatation of the Leitner Method.
The Quingle review index seems to be biased, since its author has contributed to the development of VTrain.

Eventually, I bought a license for SuperMemo 2006.

Check this for Flashcards about music theory.

superboyac:
Thanks kingding...I can't tell which one is best for me.  Those flashcards are nice, but not for me...I'm trying to memorize things specific to jazz.

I can't decide between vtrain and supermemo.  I like Vtrain because it's fairly straightforward, but I am feature-aholic, and I can see that Supermemo has tons of features, I just can't figure the program out yet (it's pretty complicated).  I wonder, is there anything Vtrain can do that supermemo can't do?

Templates:
One cool thing I like about vtrain is that you can apply a template (sort of).  For example, if there are 12 keys to memorize, instead of writing the question out 12 times with just the key letter being different, I can write a general question "This scale is for _ key?" and just fill in the blank part in my flashcards.

Also, because for each "thing" that I have to memorize, I need to memorize it in all keys, so I am doing some stuff in excel (transposing, etc.) and I want to import the content from excel into the program.  Vtrain can do this with delimiters, I can't see how to do it in Supermemo (although I see import functions available).

Also, does Supermemo make it easy to work with different symbols?  I have a special music font, and I have to switch back and forth between a normal text font and the music symbols fonts.  Vtrain has a symbol map that pops up with each question for this, can Supermemo accomplish something like this also?

I don't plan on doing anything really complicated...most of the difficult work will be done in excel, as far as the content of the questions.  I'll need to import them in and perhaps tweak them a little bit.  The template thing would help, if there was a way I could ask all the questions in the same way, without having to write the same repetitive stuff out every time.

Basically, I don't want to use the software so much as to make and format the questions, but rather to present me the questions/answers using whatever learning algorithm it has.

superboyac:
kingding, I've been looking at these softwares all day (almost 10 hours!)!  Supermemo is ridiculous.  Like you said, the interface is unbearable.  I would have tolerated it if there was a way to somehow import excel files into it (by way of csv or tab-delimited, something!).  But there was nothing, not even a difficult way.

You're right about full recall, it's much better than Supermemo.  I don't know about all of supermemo's fancy features, but all I need is the excel import capability and Full Recall seems to do that fairly easily.  Also, the content of my flashcards are just plain, simple text, so I don't need to do much with it--once it's imported from excel, I doubt I'll tweak it much.  Besides, supermemo is $45, and full recall is $25, AND it seems like FUll Recall is maintained more often, AND it's interface is not a throwback to windows 3.1

Like I said, if supermemo was easy to use, it would be great.  But it's almost impossible to use.  I think I'm going to get Full Recall...I'll sit on it for a while.  I like features and power, but sometimes these authors go overboard and completely forget about usability.  I had a similar experience with the GodFather vs. Tag & Rename (for mp3 tag editing).  The Godfather is really powerful, but using it is like flying a plane.  It's tag editing for goodness sake!  Anyway, what a long day, I wasted all Friday checking out memory software, great.  That's going to impress the ladies.

suleika:
Anyway, what a long day, I wasted all Friday checking out memory software, great.  That's going to impress the ladies.
-superboyac (May 05, 2007, 12:51 AM)
--- End quote ---

LOL

Yes, supermemo is crazy.  Sometimes when I'm searching the endless FAQ-style help pages to work out how to do something I actually feel embarrassed -  as if someone were watching me and having a laugh.  But the program somehow still works for me. 

I am going to keep my eye on FullRecall though. 

superboyac:
So, I think that I am almost 90% sure that I will get FullRecall (thanks kingding!).

Supermemo is powerful, but not well-designed.  Sometimes, when programs are powerful, they can't avoid being complicated.  But Supermemo ("not trying to be rude, but...") is unnecessarily complicated.  The interface, like kingding said, is truly "unbearable".  I don't know why the author doesn't update it to some more modern interface.  Honestly, the GUI is from windows 3.1 days, not even Windows 98.

It joins the list of my top 3 Worst Interfaces Ever:
The Godfather, Supermemo, (something I can't think of right now)

Now, hopefully, FullRecall will continue to evolve quickly.

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