MJHARPER  Hmm. Curious Realmac Software specifically warned about being beta and bleeding edge, and suggested that if you didn't want bugs you shouldn't upgrade yet.

Try reading the release notes before whining.

http://www.realmacsoftware.com/forums/index.php/forums/viewthread/25838/  
(Version 1.0)

MJHARPER  Just because someone is not having the same problems you are doesn't mean their review is fake.  
(Version 1.0)

MJHARPER  It's worth noting that TTS 2 is a free upgrade to anyone who purchased TTS 1 after 3 July 2008 - which is a very generous time-frame. And the price of TTS 2 is only fractionally more expensive than TTS 1 in euros, but the current exchange rate with the dollar makes it seems more expensive to US customers.  
(Version 2.0)

MJHARPER  I've been using iVolume since version 1.0 too, and like you I have about 15,000 songs in my library. I don't think I'm missing the point though (correct me if I am).

As mjpw said, open source is open to people to put a wrapper around (although you're right to point out that OS X isn't really a valid analogy). Also, unless I'm much mistaken, the developer of iVolume had to change the actual algorithm (or at least, which algorithm was used) when the Adjust by X% option stopped working a while ago. So it isn't simply a case of wrapping somebody else's work, since there is also quality control and so on involved. and making sure that your app does what it's supposed to. But all that's beside the point.

There should be a reset adjustment, actually. In iVol3, you can select 'Forget Analyzing Results' from under the Tracks menu, and I'm sure there was something similar in iVol2. And personally, I would probably turn off the iTunes sound adjustments altogether if I couldn't use iVol, since the track-by-track thing blows.

I agree about the money. I paid $9 for 1.0, with an upgrade of $7 for 2.0, and now $20 for 3.0. That's pretty steep. But 3.0 was re-written from the ground up, and is being improved with every release at the moment. Since 3.0 was released, I'd say it's become about twice as fast (on Intel). I imported 15-odd albums earlier, and iVol scanned and corrected the _entire_ iTunes library in about 5 minutes. And plenty of features have been added. I'm not writing a review, but I've been using 3.0 since the day it was released and I'm happy with it. Some of the features—like organising albums according to whether they've been set as gapless, and listing the entire contents of your library when iVol loads—are fantastic.

The interface is indeed a little too flashy, but I'd say it's just part of the Delicious generation, rather than a problem with this app specifically.

What it comes down to, I think, is whether you think that the app is still worth it. I do. I agree that the $20 was a bit much—in my book, previous users should never have to pay more 50% to upgrade—but my music collection has always felt better for iVolume, and still feels better for it. I thought hard about the upgrade fee, and decided that iVolume was still worth the price of a CD to me (about €16) and so I upgraded. iVol1 came out in 2004, iVol2 in 2006, and iVol3 in 2008. In the end, I feel that $20—for probably 2 years of use—for an app I will use as much as this is worth it.

I have given up on apps with ridiculous upgrades strategies before (Photo2Movie and Toast). If you're at the same point with iVol, I know where you're coming from. But complaints about upgrade policies still don't constitute a review of the application itself.  
(Version 3.1.1)

MJHARPER  While I agree with some of what you say—the price for example—I think you go too far. After all, you're essentially complaining that an old (unsupported) version of iVolume no longer works with the latest version of iTunes. And that isn't the case because the developer of iVolume changed something in a cynical attempt to get you to upgrade, but because Apple changed something in iTunes.

If you don't want to pay for the upgrade, fair enough. But don't complain that unsupported software is unsupported.   
(Version 3.1.1)

MJHARPER  A quick update to my last post: Clothesline is actually kind of like an automated DragThing dock…  
(Version 2.1.1)

MJHARPER  Great to see the page overview back, along with the smarter drawing tools and the HUD. Some of the features which seemed to get 'lost' in the 2.0 update have returned, and that's very cool.

What I really want to see is a manual with details of the all the features. The help file says it's for 2.1, but it doesn't cover the most impressive new features at all. Groups, for example, which are basically desktop stacks—put things in a box, click it, and the contents spread over your desktop; click the box again, and they're instantly cleared away.

Or the new system for manipulating objects—I'm assuming this is Clothesline, but it isn't stated anywhere. But here's what I've found. Drag an image to the desktop, then drag two fingers left or right on the trackpad to rotate the image. drag two fingers up and down to zoom the resolution while the image remains the same size. Click on a the image for the resize cursor to appear; reduce the image, tuck it in a corner—then double-click the image for it to zoom back to full size and be positioned at the centre of the screen. Double click again for it to be returned to the corner.

What I'm getting at is that there are all sorts of cool things going on in Conjure, but even with the version history it's hard to find out the real capabilities of the app. I'm sure the developer is hard at work on the app itself, and documentation comes second—but a few more pointers would be good! I was about to bemoan the lack of image rotation when I accidentally stumbled on the method above…

Well, I guess I'd better finish with a review-like comment. In the end you'll either 'get' Conjure or you won't. I love it: for clearing stuff away to give yourself thinking space, for brainstorming mind-maps, for task based organisation. More than ever, with Conjure you need to download it, check it out, and see what it can do. Hands on is the only way…  
(Version 2.1)

MJHARPER  Will launch in Leopard. (see below)  
(Version 2.0)

MJHARPER  I fell into the $24 upgrade group, because I never used Picadex. And it felt a bit steep, to be honest, given that the upgrade is almost twice what I originally paid for CandyBar (four years ago, upgrading to version 2 three years ago). But then again, having played around with the new version for a while, I have to conclude that integrating Pucadex was a great idea. Instead of having a bunch of icontainers and folders stuffed full of icons scattered across my Mac, everything is in one place, and as easy to organise as music in iTunes. The ability to change the dock appearance is great, especially if it lives on the bottom of your display. And even though the new icons for Leopard are much larger than the old, Panic have clearly put some effort into updating a number of their older icon sets to be compatible (do a search for 'dock' and 'leopard' on their site). It has to be said that, with the frankly annoying default folder icons in Leopard, CandyBar is even more relevant now than it ever was before.

Yes, the upgrading prices are controversial, as is the decision to integrate Picadex. But CandyBar is a much *much* better product for it. I wouldn't want to go back to version 2, even if I could.  
(Version 3.0)

MJHARPER  Just to give a different perspective to the last poster: the new inspector is not just a little bigger with new icons. It's actually integrated like the one in Pages (for example) so that rather than having different inspectors for theme, page, site - as in RW 3.5 - they are all included in the one inspector, and you switch between them using those new icons. And there are a good deal more options than before.

As for commenting, yes, RW still uses Haloscan. But Haloscan provides an excellent service for free, with an option to upgrade, so unless you have a problem with Haloscan per se, it isn't really an issue. And, new to RW 3.6, you have the option to have inline comments on the post's permalink page, rather than having to have comments in a separate window. New feature, anyone?  
(Version 3.6)

MJHARPER  Just to add a rating - 4 stars because although the upgrade is awesome, and despite the fact that there IS a free upgrade, eight weeks isn't really THAT long (in comparison, I bought Mellel yesterday for the same price as RW, and Mellel comes with two years of free upgrades.)  
(Version 3.6)

MJHARPER  You can still get a free upgrade for RW if you bought it on or since 1 April 2007. The contact form on the site is broken at the moment, but the email to write to is: support dot ninjas at realmacsoftware dot com.

Don't forget they're in the UK though, as well as being inundated with support requests at the moment.

As for bugs, I've been using RW for a month (so thankfully I qualify for the upgrade) and the only problem I've had is with a 3rd-party theme. RW itself has been rock solid.

And to be honest, I have no idea why they didn't call this version 4.0 anyway, it's so full of awesome features.  
(Version 3.6)