At $20, this has to be one of the best-value shareware programs around. I’m a professional writer and DevonNote serves as my text archive, my research hub, my writing tool and, on occasion, my surrogate brain.

It’s got all the functionality you might expect of a cutting-edge notebook program (basic outlining and word processing, wiki links, file cloning, live stats, excellent Services support, etc) then a whole lot more, including an in-built browser for taking notes from the net or storing/classifying bookmarks. More importantly, it shares the advanced AI functions of its (much pricier) big brother DevonThink, helping you classify your files and then find associations between them (read this NY Times article about DevonThink's AI functions: http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/movabletype/archives/000230.html).

If you work with a lot of text, you could find yourself living in this application.

Other plus points: an excellent forum, on-going development and virtually no learning curve.