December 2010 Macintosh Software Bundles

Software bundles have always been a great way of building up a collection of useful applications, and the massively discounted price means you only need a couple of top class apps to make the price a bargain. There are several software bundles available for Macintosh users right now, offering a range of applications for prices between $9.99 and $63. Unfortunately there’s nothing currently available from Macheist or MacUpdate. The bundles are listed here in increasing price, with the second price in brackets a pound/dollar conversion at the current exchange rate (on 6th December 2010).

Macbasket.com – 7 apps for $9.99 (£6.36), ending 9th December 2010:

1. NuKit – Finder productivity enhancer
2. Money³ – Financial Management
3. rooSwitch – profiles for your applications
4. Radium – Internet radio player
5. Healthnut – Diet/health tracker
6. Chronicle 3 – Manage your bills
7. Tracks -Play/browse music from the menubar

MacbundlePro – 7 apps for $19.95 (£12.69), ending 31st December 2010:

1. AirRadar 2 – Wireless network scanner
2. Inpaint – Remove objects from your images
3. MacHider – Hide private data
4. TranslateIt – Language translation
5. ManPower – Man page GUI
6. PacketStream – network monitoring tool
7. DVDsnap 2 – capture screen shots from Apple DVD player

Mac Bundle Box – 12 apps for $29 (£18.45), ending 23rd December 2010:

1. Compartments – Home inventory
2. QuickScale – Batch image resizing
3. Semonto – Web server monitoring for 6 months
4. Radium – Internet radio player
5. iCollage – Image scrapbook
6. AllMyTube – Download/convert FLV video
7. DVD Ripper – Convert DVD’s to other formats
8. PDF Converter – PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPUB, Text and HTML
9. Photo Recovery – recover lost, deleted or formatted photos, videos and music files
10. iMedia Converter – DVD ripping and video conversion
11. TinyGrab – Screenshot utility
12. Caboodle – Snippet machine

BundlesForMac – 12 apps for $49.99 (£31.80), ending 15th December 2010:

1. skEdit – Text/html editor
2. Yummy FTP – FTP client
3. MyStuff – home inventory
4. BlogAssist – blog/website editor
5. AlienDestroyer – Secure erase sensitive data
6. Involer – Invoicing app
7. Deliver – File delivery to local and remote destinations
8. ProfCast – Lecture recording app
9. PDF to Word – Document converter
10. iCash – Personal finance
11. PDF to Epub – Document converter
12. GadgetTrak – Laptop theft recovery

MacPromo.com – 10 apps for £39.99 ($63), ending 31st December 2010:

1. TypeIt4Me – Text expander
2. PathFinder 5 – Finder replacement
3. DragThing – document, folder, and application and URL dock
4. Name Mangler 2 – Batch file renamer
5. Personal Antispam 10.6 – Antispam component of Intego Internet Security Barrier
6. MacFreelance 2 – Invoice management
7. Keyboard Maestro 4 – Keyboard macro app
8. Personal Backup – backup component of Intego Internet Security Barrier
9. Folx Pro – Download manager
10. CuteClips 3 – Clipboard history
11. The First 5000 buyers get Star Wars: Empire at War

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Mac Software Bundles

If you love a cheap bundle of quality software as much as I do there are three offerings available right now, all priced just under $50. First up is TheMacBundles at $49.95, offering the following:

The bonus programs expire over  the next few days so the bundle goes against previous form by getting smaller as time passes, rather than adding software as sales targets are reached. There are no killer apps in this one and it doesn’t offer the same amount of saving as some of the previous Mac Heist or MacUpdate bundles.

The second bundle is MacBundleBox, offering 12 apps for $49. Standouts for me are Freeway Express, iCash and Stomp. The last is a video convertor that looks like it could fill the shoes of the much missed Visualhub. Several of  the included apps sell for $60+ so there’s some fine savings here.

The final package is TheMacSale, with 10 strong apps for $49.99. Standouts for me are Flux, a WYSIWYG web editor with strong CSS support, Iris for photoshop style image editing, and the personnal version of REALbasic for writing software.

I’ve passed on TheMacBundles and bought TheMacSale package. I’m tempted by MacBundleBox so will probably end up buying that as well. The real benefit of these software packages is that after buying them for the past few years I have an app for most things you could want to do with a Mac.

MacUpdate Spring Bundle

The latest MacUpdate software bundle has launched today, offering 11 apps, plus 2 more for the first 15,000 buyers. There’s some high quality software included, and since I was looking at buying upgrades for Parallels 4 and Techtool Pro 5 this is a bargain. Here’s the full list:

• TechTool Pro 5 ($98): Check the health of your RAM and hard drives, repair problems, optimize performance. Boot and fix all but the newest March 2009 Macs
• Parallels 4 ($79.99): Run Windows, Linux, and more alongside your Mac.
• Circus Ponies Notebook 3 ($49.95): Organize your tasks, and collate you ideas, clippings, photos, and more.
• Intego NetBarrier X5 ($49.95): Robust firewall and intrusion detection.D
• DVDRemaster Pro 5 ($44.99): Backup your DVDs and put them on other Apple devices.
• Multiplex ($35): Browse and watch your entire DVD collection from your Mac with a gorgeous interface.
• RipIt ($18.99): Copy DVDs to your hard drive with one-click and create region-free, encryption-free backups.
• MoneyWell ($49.99): Manage your personal finances.
• Paperless ($44.95): Digital document manager.
• Posterino ($24.95): Create attractive posters, stylish postcards, photo frames, greeting cards and more.
• BetterZip ($24.95): Take Mac OS X’s built-in .zip compression tool to the next level. Extract only the files you want, create and encrypt archives, split large files, and more!

The MacBundleBox

The MacHeist 3 challenge is proving to be good fun with some tricky puzzles and free software, and the promise of big savings when the final bundle in unveiled. Anyone looking for a software bundle now should take a look at the MacBundleBox, a package of (currently) 13 apps for the usual $49.99. There’s a mix of utilities and creative apps on offer and 5% of the proceeds go to charity, so while it may not be anything revolutionary it’s certaily good value.

Macheist is go

Anyone wanting some puzzles to solve for free software should head over to Macheist.com and sign up for an account. There are three titles on offer for those who solve the puzzles (or read the solutions in the forum), with more puzzles and free software to come. If this plays out like the last Macheist there should be discount vouchers toward the final software bundle.

Ambrosia Software 15th Anniversary bundle

Not free but offering outstanding value, Ambrosia Software is celebrating its 15th year with a bundle of six games for $19. The titles are a mix of old (updated) and new, so there’s something here for everyone. I’ve already bought this one to keep me going over the Christmas holiday. Here’s the descriptions from the Ambrosia web site:

• Apeiron X Arcade-style, fast-paced, frantic gameplay. You versus the nefarious Pentipede and other mushroom patch baddies.
• Redline! Put the pedal to the metal in this intense 3D racing game. Hop in and burn rubber through myriad race tracks across the Web.
• Bubble Trouble X – Arcade-style family fun, filled with frolic, fins, and fishy foes. Use the maze itself to pop the cutthroat competition.
• Darwinia Save a virtual world from a deadly computer virus. Real-time strategy and lush3D landscapes remind you remember why gaming is fun.
• SketchFighter Pilot your sketched ship through hand-drawn graph paper mazes, battle bugs and bosses, solo or with a friend.
• Aki Mahjong Solitaire is an elegant blend of the ancient Chinese game of Mahjong with an enchanting journey across Japan.

The offer ends midnight December 24th, and the titles purchased separately cost $123. Sounds like a bargain.

MacUpdate Holiday Bundle released

Software bundle’s have become something of a tradition for Mac users, and the latest from MacUpdate offers some useful and varied apps. The package is priced at the usual price of $49.99, offering a saving of over $470 on the individual price of the software. I’ve already bought it, as it offered some apps I wanted at a big saving even though I already owned three of them. Here’s the full list:

• Drive Genius 2.1 – Diagnose, repair, and optimize your Mac.
• RapidWeaver 4.2.1 – Web site design and construction made easy.
• Default Folder X 4.1 – Enhances Open and Save dialog boxes.
• VirusBarrier X5 10.5.5 – Anti-virus software for Mac.
• MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0.5 – Create, build, and share your recipes.
• Little Snitch 2.0.4 – Alerts you to outgoing network connections.
• iVolume 3.1.4 – Improves iTunes’ Sound Check feature.
• KeyCue 4.3 – Displays all menu commands.
• MacPilot 3.2.1 – Enables over 700 hidden features in Mac OS X.
• WhatSize 4.4.1 – Measure file and folder sizes easily.
• iDive 1.8.8 – the first 5,000 buyers get iDive, the ‘Digital video shoebox’.

The inclusion of VirusBarrier X5 is ironic with the amount of fuss about Apple’s take on Mac anti-virus products.