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Mac screencast recording choices

I’ve been mulling over doing a screencast so I made a small survey looking for the best choices for Mac screencast apps. This is not a review since I haven’t had time to actually try them all out. But if you’re looking for what’s available and some links to useful reviews, this is a good starting point. Screenflow and Snapz Pro seem to be excellent choices although I had people recommend iShowU and Zing to me as well. I tried iShowU and wasn’t too impressed. I tried Screenflow and thought it was pretty amazing.

Software:

ScreenFlow - $100
Snapz Pro X - $69
Screenflick - $29
iShowU - $20
Copernicus - free (no audio)
Jing - free (max 5 minute recording)

Reviews:

ScreenFlow: The iTunes of Screencasting (March, 2008)
Screenflow: Screencast for the Mac with style (February, 2008)
Screencasting Software (February, 2008)
Screencast Software Options (March, 2007)

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You’re currently reading “Mac screencast recording choices,” an entry on Pure Danger Tech

Published:: Jun 11 2008 / 12:27 pm

Category:: Apple, screencast

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Tonio Loewald Jun 13 2008 / 9am

I think you’re referring to my review here http://loewald.com/blog/?p=149 but I think you’ve missed a few things. ScreenFlow costs a LOT and is intended at a different audience (people doing this kind of thing “professionally”). As such, I think it’s a clearly superior product, and while much-improved remains flawed even for its intended audience (its keystroke display is unattractive and not sufficiently configurable).

IShowU has a killer feature shared by one other program — you pick a preset, capture your video, and you’re done. No “export delay”. If you produce videos to explain things quickly for a small audience, IShowU will save you a LOT of time compared to ScreenFlow.

If you produce videos to make money for a large audience, ScreenFlow is incomparably superior.

Alex Jun 13 2008 / 9am

Thanks for the comments Tonio. As I said, I’m just doing first looks at these things so I’m likely missing important stuff like the difference in target audience. I don’t consider $100 much at all for a quality piece of software but then maybe I’m unusual. :)

When I tried iShowU, it acted strangely - I got scrolling portions of my other screen in parts of the background and I couldn’t figure out how to lock the screen area. Granted, I only spent 10 minutes on it, which is why I wouldn’t call this a review.

Screenflow did exactly what I expected on the first try. I found it easier to get started with than iShowU.

But I’m sure I’ll learn more when I try these in earnest.

Pure Danger TechAlex Miller’s technical blog

Mac screencast recording choices

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