Espresso is now 1.0 and it's pricy
Espresso 59.95€ ≈ $81.68 USD Regular
Espresso 49.95€ ≈ $68.06 USD with the CSSEdit 2 discount
I love CSSEdit 2 and I’ve been using the Espresso betas since they went public, and while I enjoy it as a source code editor I’m very skeptical of the app being worth the steep price. Espresso isn’t even a replacement for CSSEdit, Espresso has very basic CSS support… I’d keep using CSSEdit for live preview also. The FTP support hasn’t impressed me either.
Comparably TextMate that doesn’t have built-in FTP or editing.
TextMate €39 ≈ $55 without any discounts
Espresso is still cheaper than Coda that IS a full web design package including beefy CSS support and FTP…
Coda $99 without discount
Coda $85 with Transmit discount
While still more pricy than Espresso, the feature completeness of Coda is making me take a 2nd look at Coda… I feel Espresso needs to cost less or at least built-in CSSEdit feature complete.
Espresso public beta 1
The new web design program Espresso for Mac, (that I’m honestly excited for as a fan of their CSSEdit app) is now in public beta. The private beta was mostly boring “engine” preview builds for developers of add-ons called “Sugars” so I’m excited to finally get my hands on the user end features.
FileMagnet vs DataCase (iPhone / Touch Apps)
While trying to find the best file solution for my iPod Touch I purchased both applications to make sure I wasn’t missing out on anything. Both apps are for uploading/downloading and viewing files on your iPhone / iPod Touch wirelessly via WiFi; in a sense turning your iPhone into a wireless flash drive plus allowing you to view and manage the files directly on the iPhone itself.
FileMagnet $5.99
FileMagnet has the more slick interface and graphics of the two apps. The interface functions as you would expect any iPhone app to. The downside is that it requires you to run a Mac OS X only application to upload/download files to and from your iPhone.
My only feature request would be password protected files/folders for more sensitive data you might want to put on your iPhone.
DataCase $6.99
While the more ugly of the two apps it’s got the most features, and no application is required to upload/download files. With Mac OS X the iPhone shows-up in Finder as a shared volume. You can also use FTP to access the iPhone on any platform.
My only complaint is the really ugly and sometimes buggy interface (viewing photos), and again my only real feature request would be password protected files/folders.
Final Thoughts
I hope by having both apps I’ll be able to compare and contrast both apps as they are updated and improved upon. The low price points made it easy to buy both apps without much hesitation, and I commend both developers for selling their apps for under $10. For now my favorite of the two is FileMagnet just for it’s much more polished interface, even though a separate Mac application is required.
