Filed under: Software, Beta Beat
Beta Beat: Cha-Ching! 0.4
Midnight Apps has just released a major update to it's stupid-easy personal book-keeping software, Cha-Ching!. Version 0.4 brings a total interface overhaul, new features such as the ability to have a negative starting balance (for those starving art students such as yours-truly), associating files with transactions, as well as numerous bug fixes which fix Auto-complete and Autofill functionality.
Many might consider Cha-Ching! a pretty simple application, but for many people, simplicity is king. I don't need to be able to track taxes and all that stuff. I just want to know how many days I'll be eating ramen this month, and Cha-Ching! does just that, without all the cruft of other more complex apps.
Cha-Ching is available for $24.95, which is pricey, but is certainly worth it for an app that finally does something well the first time, and looks damn good doing it.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TJ said 9:13PM on 12-09-2006
I want to appreciate Cha-Ching, but there is no import or exporting features yet! I refuse to start from scratch from my Checkbook app.
Hook up the import/export and you have a new user on board :)
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Scott said 9:42PM on 12-09-2006
24.95 is pricey? Dude, you need to seriously request an increase in your allowance.
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DC said 9:51PM on 12-09-2006
What's with the exclamation points? It's just "Cha-Ching" no "!" necessary. Also wasn't this out a couple days ago?
Neat app though.
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Matthew Arevalo said 9:54PM on 12-09-2006
Cha-Ching is currently $14.95 for life. As you can see from our forum discussions we are very, very user focused. We are just getting started. We've had 400 Diggs so far and people have been very supportive.
Please stop by if you have any questions and contact us if you need anything. Thanks!
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Ricky said 10:18PM on 12-09-2006
I think this app looks great and will be exactly what I need once the import/export features are in place. Also, the price is right at $14.95 (although I was able to pick it up for free as part of a certain Heist - I was very excited when I saw that this was the prize).
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Terry Jarrell said 11:46PM on 12-09-2006
Excellent app so far and I expect we will see much more to come. I have already found this to be a very easy, streamlined way to keep track of our consulting business' invoices and for that alone, it is well worth the money. Great software usually doesn't come cheap, but I have to say that this is a bargain.
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Brian Sexton said 1:39AM on 12-10-2006
Dan Lurie wrote:
"I just want to know how many days I'll be eating ramen this month . . ."
When I am not working (e.g. because I am trying to be a good student and focus on school), I have found that the number of days I eat ramen in a given month can be approximated by substituting the total number of days in said month. Here is a handy reference guide:
January - 31
February - 28 or 29
March - 31
April - 30
May - 31
June - 30
July - 31
August - 31
September - 30
October - 31
November - 30
December - 31
That reminds me of something: I just ran out of ramen!
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Trevor said 3:53AM on 12-10-2006
to it's stupid-easy personal book-keeping software -->
to its stupid-easy personal book-keeping software
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Bill said 4:34AM on 12-10-2006
The interface is really nice. It must be very pleasant to use this software.
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Famous Pete said 7:52AM on 12-10-2006
Welcome Cha-Ching! We're long overdue for a usable Mac app in this space. (Nope. Quicken for Mac doesn't cut it. In fact, Quicken is the last Windows app I still use.) If you can have the following features by the time you have a 1.0 release, I'll gladly thrown down $50 for a copy.
-Importing from Quicken (for Windows).
-One-click auto-updating from banks, credit card companies, investment firms, etc. using OFX. In other words, I click one button, and Cha-Ching fetches the latest transactions and balances from *all* of my institutions (that support OFX) in one easy step.
-Simple reports. For example...
-How much have I spent on category x over the past n days?
-What is my ROI year-to-date for investment x?
-etc.
Good luck!
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Adam Whitlock said 9:55AM on 12-10-2006
It's a great application which I've been using since I got my grubby hands on it (a couple weeks ago). I'm awful with money and the way it displays the current balance is great! If the balance wasn't so clear at the bottom, I would probably have never gone with Cha-Ching at all.
I can't wait for even more updates, since I'm already satisfied with the features it offers now. If you are really bad with money, I'd highly suggest grabbing the beta and trying it out. It may cost $14.95, but it has already paid for itself in my eyes.
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Soho Jose said 3:20PM on 12-10-2006
I just wanted to put 2 my two cents....
The only other app that downloads transactions on a Mac is Moneydance. I use it only for this reason.
MD has a few quirks (it's a JAVA app that looks a lot like a Mac app) but it works great for me.
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Jeem said 2:38PM on 12-10-2006
It's actually 'bookkeeping', and, BTW, the only word in English with three pairs of letters in a row. Neat.
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Craig said 10:49AM on 12-11-2006
1. I love the look of this app.
2. This app is definitely appropriately a 0.4 release as it is marginally functional in the basic task of balancing a checkbook. How about some importing, how about some ability to navigate without taking my hand off the keyboard after every transaction.
3. To paraphrase a prior commenter, it show's the balance clearly, and that's worth a lot. Hmmm, it is. I think my checkbook's paper register is easier to use than this app.
4. Still, it is quite purty, and I do not love Quicken myself, but Quicken costs $60 and even if you use it only for a couple of accounts, it has tons more functionality.
5. I want to like this app, but it typifies a very ugly trend in mac os development where the look of the app generates ALL of the buzz. If this app had a basic interface like AppleMail, it would be laughably ignored.
6. Tags for the sake of tags are not necessarily good. Categories are needed.
7. Still, they seem to be sincere in wanting to build something useful. Famous Pete's comments nail what would be required to make this a basically functional app, and when those are implemented, I will be ready to buy.
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mandaris Moore said 12:39PM on 12-11-2006
You might be interested in cashbox http://fadingred.com/cashbox/ it can process and import quicken files plus it's free!
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Catt said 2:35PM on 12-11-2006
I downloaded, tried and purchased Cha-Ching about a month ago and have been using it regularly. I used to use Quicken coz I was familiar with this program from the PC days but I wanted to move to a different program coz I found quicken boring. It does the job but the eyecandy is lacking. I like being able to add photos to the things I purchase it helps me to see where my $ is going. Was a tad annoyed that I could not import my quicken files but I did notice an import/export function in the latest release. Not sure if it works but the function is in there.
Overall I've been pleased with the program and would recommend it to those who wish to have a more visual interface for what can be a daunting task. Plus these guys keeps adding new features and making them available weekly.
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