The Cadillac - & fun. Wow.

Feature rich isn’t always fun.
But MentalCase gets you started, then is handy and addictive, and then just keeps delivering as you mature as a flashcard user.

(Me: I’ve used it, and several others, for ~10 yrs. I love paper flashcards. Long ago I made my own flashcard tool in MS Access… a flashcard old-timer/nut.)

This month I set MentalCase up again from scratch to give it an in-depth look: on 2 Macs, 1 iPad & 1 iPhone. I have to say… Wow.
This is what you want on your phone, for standing in line at the grocery store/cafe. And, open on your computer, to create cards on the fly… each time you note something you ought to learn, a person whose name/face you want to remember, etc.
I prefer to read books as PDF/eBook, and copy-paste words, sentences, screen shots straight into new cards.

On your FIRST card to your 100th… You find all the things are there you would hope for, getting started…
- it is beautiful software (they’re Dutch! :-p)
- it has both desktop software & mobile apps
- it supports images (and, well)
- quick and easy to create cards

With your 100th-to-300th cards… You realize it ALSO…
- does import/export really well, including from the standard websites with Millions of decks…
- synchronizes betwen devices really, really well (as good as Evernote, effortless background sync… and actual sync for offline use by default). This is a YOSEMITE-era enhancement, optionally leveraging either DropBox or iCloud. I hate iCloud, but use it, and I’m surprised how much I love MentalCase sync. (I’ve done tests between my 2 MacBooks, iPad & iPhone… 4 installations… it’s impressive how well it works.)

Finally, as you get into 100’s & 100’s of cards
- The MentalFaculty (these folks) have really noodled out how “smart” flashcard software SHOULD behave: remembering what you’ve missed, reinforcing what you need to repeat… You might not care about these features at first (because they didn’t teach it in the 4th grade, when you made your first flashcards), but this is really the whole point & WORTH using. It does it automatically, but eventually, go read the documentation — it’s short, easy, to the point.
- …your old cards become more fun & valuable, when you can sculpt your “sessions” on the cards that gave you troubles long ago.

Bravo, guys.
Sooo worth the money.

Justapersona about Mental Case 2 — Flashcards for the Serious Student