Filed under: Software
LicenseKeeper tracks your serial number collection
The crew at Outer Level (developers of the kid-friendly, bug-chomping game Bullfrog) apparently have a problem in common with me, and plenty of other Mac users: too many software license codes and no system for organizing them. Excel and FileMaker, too bulky; flat text files, too plain; leave them in email and let Spotlight sort them out... tempting... but no. Enter LicenseKeeper, a $20 solution to this age-old challenge.LicenseKeeper 1.0 will let you type or copy in your registration info, sure -- but it's also prepared to keep track of vendor website URLs, support email addresses, and lots of the other bitsies that tend to go missing when you need them. It will import directly from Mail.app and scan for serial numbers in the inbound registration message (a killer feature if you use Mail; I'm waiting for the equivalent Entourage capability). You can even attach files to the serial number records. A downloadable demo will handle up to five license records and three attachments each before asking you to pay up.
There are two other options for this task that I haven't mentioned so far: a general snippet organizer like Yojimbo or KIT, or a free license tracker like Licensed. Either path might work for you if LicenseKeeper isn't to your taste.
Thanks to those who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
derek said 2:58PM on 3-08-2007
cool app, not worth $20
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Dan said 2:29PM on 3-08-2007
I just put a Secure Note in Keychain and dump everything in there.
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superg said 2:35PM on 3-08-2007
I should totally pirate this *ducks*
Just kidding!
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Jon Niola said 2:39PM on 3-08-2007
I have been using Yojimbo for this myself.
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brett said 2:39PM on 3-08-2007
I currently use Wallet and it works charmingly well. Passwords, serial #'s, whatever data I need. I can even lock the database when I have it open and don't want prying eyes to see it.
$10 shareware. Can't beat it.
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navstar said 3:01PM on 3-08-2007
gee, how about a simple HTML file located in an encypted disc image?
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James Young said 3:27PM on 3-08-2007
I use "Pastor" - it does not have the search (yet) or cool icon view, but worth a mention as a donationware alternative for Mac UB encypted data manager.
http://www.mehlau.net/pastor/
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Dave Barnes said 3:54PM on 3-08-2007
I took a quick look at Licensed and rejected it immediately as it does not have an export function. These types of tools are cool and useful, but I think you need to export the data to a text file, just in case.
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Peter said 4:02PM on 3-08-2007
A good free and flexible alternative would be Journler.
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Steve said 5:02PM on 3-08-2007
"Serial Box" does this for free...
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Anthony said 6:20PM on 3-08-2007
With xCode and Core Data, in roughly 15 minutes (give or take) you could build an app with 90% of the functionality of this one. Of course, adding the pretty icons and stuff would take a few minutes longer :)
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john russell said 7:55PM on 3-08-2007
Same as the first guy. Just use secure notes.
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darleen Michael-Baker said 3:43PM on 3-09-2007
Oh please. What a bunch of whiners.
I jumped on this. It is worth $20 to ME at least. We have a TON of games and I have serial numbers scattered all over the place. This is PERFECT and 20 bucks is CHEAP. That's less than I pay for one game. pfft.
It's nice to see people make alternative suggestions. But let's stop complaining about the price. The person(s) who wrote the program deserves to be compensated. Why should anyone work for free. Do YOU?
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The Plaid Cow said 5:51PM on 3-09-2007
I keep a folder in Mail called "Macintosh Registrations". Hasn't let me down yet.
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rahul said 8:25PM on 3-09-2007
Why is everyone so negative, here? (Except Darleen). It's a good program and worth $20.
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darleen Michael-Baker said 4:02PM on 3-11-2007
And I'm back. Yes, I keep all my registration numbers in a folder so marked in my Mail. What I really like about LicenseKeeper (and why I immediately plunked down $20 for it) is that it pulls that info from the email and also allows you to attach the email AND you can add the icon to the listing.
It's quick, easy and FINALLY all my registration numbers are in ONE place.
I LOVE this little program.
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Xavier said 1:23PM on 5-17-2007
I use Licensed. A little FREE app, nice!
Can be found on: http://amarsagoo.info/licensed/index.shtml
Freeware & Open Source matters!
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