Emiko Writes

Hi there!

Today I’m going to talk to you about apps, or applications, as you may know them. Over the course of the year, I’ve discovered some pretty darn useful and/or just amazing apps for my Macbook Pro that I think a lot of you students (or really just people in general) might really enjoy. Also, all the ones I am mentioning here are either FREE or around $5, nothing expensive.

So here is a list:

1. Spotify.

I cannot believe I didn’t know about this program sooner. It’s not really an “app” in the sense that you download it from the App Store. It comes from the internet. But Jesus crap, this is an amazing application. Basically all you need is a Facebook account to sign up for it, and it is literally all the free music you could ever want.You know how on the iTunes store, you can listen to songs, but only like 30-second samples of them? Well, imagine if you could listen to the entire song, as many times as you want, for no cost! That’s Spotify.It plays ads on occasion, but way less often than Pandora (the online radio that many of you know about), and it’s far better than Pandora because you can choose the actual songs to listen to, not just a radio. (It does have the Pandora-esque radio feature too, if that’s what you’re into.)Oh, and did I mention everything is FREE?

You can subscribe for a Premium account for $10 a month if you want no ads, and then you can use it on your cellphone and listen to songs even without internet. Cool stuff like that. But nobody I know actually has the Premium, and everyone I know loves their free account.

2. Evernote.

This little baby is actually an app from the mac App Store, and it is also free! This is basically a program that is good for keeping track of everything you ever need to keep track of.

I use it to organize future blog post ideas, as well as take notes in all my classes, keep track of recipes, and file away various poetry and other writing I’ve done on the fly.It’s a fairly simple app, once you get used to navigating it (which doesn’t take too long at all), and yet it can do so much! There aren’t many fonts and the formatting for each note is pretty standard, like a dumbed-down Microsoft Word, which I actually prefer for note-taking (so I don’t get all wrapped up in making it look pretty and miss what I’m supposed to be writing down).

My favorite feature, though, is the easy screen-shot saving mechanism it has. It makes it incredibly easy to clip either the full screen, or just a rectangle of it, immediately to a new note in Evernote. That’s how I’ve made these screenshots in the blog post, actually. If you own a Mac, you will know that they are not the easiest to do screenshots on, and I love how simple this makes it.

It also has the options to take pictures using your computer’s webcam, and record audio (such as a class lecture). I’ve used it to record a lecture before and it was pretty decent quality.

I can’t believe this app is free, because I would completely pay money for it. A lot of money.

3. Cashculator Free.

If you are like me, a poor college student/possibly makeup junkie trying to manage a budget for the first time, and avoid spending too much on shopping, this app is perfect for you. It has helped me basically learn how to manage my own budget. It’s easy to use, free, and has a clean, simple layout. I think that’s all that needs to be said.

4. Optimism.

As some of you may know, I struggle a lot with anxiety, and this year I’ve been trying to make some actual changes in my lifestyle to keep my stress and sadness levels as low as possible. This app (again, free) that I discovered only a few days ago, is already making me optimistic ( ha ha see what I did there ) about the future of my mental health.

Basically, it allows you to keep track of your daily mood or really anything you want to keep track of, and also various helpful or triggering things you did or experienced that day. It’s easy to customize this app, I read a review where someone used it when they were quitting smoking, and I’m sure many people also use this for dieting or other health programs.


The purpose of this app is NOT to cure your mental illness or whatever you are dealing with, and it explains that in the instructions. It is simply to help you keep track of your behavior so you know what things to avoid, as well as kind of remind yourself that not all days are bad days.

5. Relax Melodies.

Kind of going along with the last app, this has been wonderful for helping me relax and sleep better at night! It also is great for studying with, because it has all kinds of white noise and different calming beach/rain/forest-type sounds (all of which are very smoothly recorded and on a loop so there is no skipping or anything).I downloaded the free version and after about 3 hours I liked it so much I bought the $5 premium version, called Relax Melodies Premium. It has a lot more sounds and a few new features as well. The screenshots are of the Premium version:

What I really like is that it allows you to layer as many sounds as you want, and adjust the volume of each layer, and it’s incredibly easy to do so. You can also (below) save your favorite combinations of sounds, I believe up to 50 combinations in Premium.

Tags: applications, apps, apps for students, cashculator, college students, computer apps, evernote, free apps, inexpensive, macbook pro app, optimism, relax melodies, spotify, useful