Soundnote for iPad

I'll keep this short because I recently did another post reviewing the iPad 2 itself and I'm a bit winded.

I read about an app called Soundnote, which is 4.99 in the appstore and was listed as one of the top 5 productivity tools for under 5 dollars (full article here). I was skeptical at first; I felt I'd been getting plenty of utility out of Evernote, a free note taking app (see previous post for my thoughts on it) that lets you record lectures, type notes, share them, and organize them into notebooks. Anyway, when I read about Soundnote, I felt like I had to give it a shot and if I didn't like it, it was just a pack of smokes, right?
I had been using my Samsung Vibrant before the iPad came into my life to record the lectures, having to refresh the voice recorder every five minutes and hoping I didn't forget. It was tedious but having the audio lecture was nearly a necessity for me, I can't write as fast as my professor talks and he talks A LOT. Bear in mind, Evernote has a voice recording function as well.

THE TEST

Typing on the iPad is pretty easy for me, albeit the keyboard is a little cramped. I notice when writing emails or anything else with the iPad, I type more slowly to insure the upmost accuracy for my incredibly important document [;)], but with soundnote, I knew I could listen to the lecture later and fill in whatever didn't make sense, so I pounded away, nearly at the speed my professor was typing. I did a pretty good job and racked up a decent amount of notes without getting frustrated or breaking my stride. The recorder was also high quality, and didn't segment the lecture into five minute pieces.

But the best part was the doodle function. Now, I'm sure it wasn't meant for doodling, but it's what I used it for. I get distracted easily and all of my greatest masterpieces are in the margins of my notes, so living without the past week has been void of artistic expression. So, here's a breakdown of the pros:
It records the lecture
You can doodle
You can share it via email or write a link for your current network
Simple layout, easy to use

I feel that for five dollars, it's lacking in some areas. First of all, a virtual highlighter would be nice. I'd like to be able to press a button and drag my finger across important lines. Often I highlight something if my professor elaborates on something for too long, repeats it again in the lecture, or uses suggestive this-is-important body language. This is also a key in mine and many others study plan, because it's efficient to sort through the highlighted things first.

Next, there's no font controls. No making bigger, no changing the font, no anything. You get one font with one size/color pencil to draw with and that's all. This is also an issue because it leaves no room to compromise with those of us with highlighter habits. There's no underline feature, no bold, no way to distinguish one piece of text from another. This is a pretty big con in my opinion.

Lastly, there isn't an organization system. There is a search function, but it would still be a lot easier to navigate notes with folders.
THE VERDICT

The doodle function is the only thing separating it from a free app.
At the top of the page, I've included pictures of the layouts/ differences. Both are valuable note-taking tools and they have good features, but never pay for what you can get for free.



Which one do you like better? I vote the free one.