Journler stores items as files inside of ~/Library/Application\ Support/Journler, so you might give it another look.

I know some people are in love with Tinderbox, but I can’t justify the price.

When I have to have good notetaking capability, I’m never disappointed by turning to OmniOutliner Pro. I say Pro because it will also let you record the lecture inside your notes.

You should really consider taking the notes on paper, then putting them into the computer later. The computer will just be a distraction, and you won’t be engaged in what the professor is saying. That screen creates a little wall between you and everyone else in the room. I had a former manager ban laptops from meetings for this very reason.

Even if you possess the self-control to not check your email, IM, surf the web, etc, the temptation will be too great to twiddle around with the settings/formats/tags in your note taking program and you won’t really grasp what’s going on. It will be pretty and fantastically searchable, but it won’t mean anything because you just copied it down like a robot. Your brain will be more actively engaged as you write by hand. Plus, you can revise and review when you type them up later, and you’ll retain it better for exam time.

Might be too lofi for you, but I’m partial to text files for stuff like this — I’d recommend one per class-session, then use a consistent naming system that makes sense for you.

I do love OmniOutliner too, as well as Devonthink and Yojimbo. All great. But it’s also really important IMHO to find the simplest tool you can tolerate. Less fiddly. :)

OT: have you tried Schoolhouse for tracking assignments?

I’ve been using Word the first three years of college but I bought a license for NoteBook by CircusPonies last semester and really like it. You have a virtual NoteBook with dividers for each class you are taking and can take your notes in there but can also attach your lecture slides and digital reading materials to it (for pdfs it will show a thumbnail of the first page and when you click it, the pdf automatically gets opened in your pdf-viewer od choice). Today I even saw that it works with Skim (the pdf-viewer) so that when you highlight something in Skim you can automatically copy that to NoteBook and make some annotations to what you have highlighted.

You can also highlight things in NoteBook and it has the ability to export what you have written in many different formats (including Word docs).

I’d definitely give it a test spin. It has a very clean interface but at the same time it has tons of features you can use.

Lifehack.org recently wrote a post on why you better remember what you write. It has to do with the different mental path that written information takes compared to other methods.

I was writing in my blog as well about this (blog.protoscholar.com) after I caught myself essentially rewriting my notes as I study for an exam. It helps, although until I read the lifehack post I didn’t know quite why.

wood.tang already beat me to it, but pencil and paper are my weapon of choice. This is a no-brainer for me since I study graphic arts, but I think I'd stick with a low-tech solution regardless of the class subject matter. For me, the point is to make capture as easy as possible. The organization can be done later.

There're plenty of personal wikis which can be great for storing and revising notes. Just don't try to juggle one in class.

Journler has been good to me, I must say. It’s very versatile, but not adequate for GTD in my opinion. I’ve used Journler for note taking and iGTD for GTD - together, the pair has helped me tremendously.

We’ve all seen how a stack and index cards and binder clip might be the best tool for ubiquitous capture and to-do listing. Perhaps paper is the best tool here. Later, go back to your mac and type up the notes if you’d like. It’s another step, but when it comes to studying, steps are good.

So it’s a WYSIWYG wiki editor, can do images, export to html if you want to share your notes, words you select as links are AUTOMATICALLY LINKED. So, could be useful, depending on your style. Check on interoperation with his FlySketch program if you want to incorporate drawings.

http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/

“I’ve also heard wiki’s are a great way to take notes but have no clue how to do so on my mac.”

Try MoinX. It’s a mac version of moinmoin wiki - it’s pretty much foolproof compared to other wikis, and designed to be a personal wiki from the get-go.

Allows folding, context-specific highlighting, use of Markdown cleverly, text snippets.

I did one semester of law school with OmniOutliner. Great program, but nothing beats ASCII for a brain dumb.

The best tool for taking notes is Tinderbox at eastgate.com. It’s not cheap, and it takes time to use, but nothing beats it for taking notes. It also comes with Yojimbo.

A point worth making: you probably want a system that will remain useful to you throughout your education. And the fact is, as you move into more difficult classes, the profs will cover things more quickly. If you’re in a class that involves math, you’ll find it hard to keep up with the equations. Either you’ll treat everything like images (in which case, what’s the point? you could just scan in paper notes) or you’ll be lost because you’re trying to switch from image mode to text mode and back.

I’m a grad student in theoretical chemistry. This fall, I’m TA’ing a class in quantum mechanics. You do not want to try to type notes during that class.

Non-Mac solution: one of my students has a Tablet PC. Seems to work well for him.

Mac (or any other) solution: use plain white loose-leaf paper for the notes, and buy a scanner. With good choices of scan quality, you’ll can probably keep your whole undergraduate education on a single CD.

Hi adamschoales, I’m also a college student and last year (my freshman year) I came across the same dilemma. I guess I’ll share the methods that worked for me. If the teacher actually gives you any files, for example the powerpoint/presentation used by the teacher during class, I would take notes on that. Especially in that case, having the extra notes coupled with the presentation will allow for you to easily follow the mental process of the presentation and remember things for later. For classes without actual files I am a huge advocate of simplicity on this. Merlin and wood.tang have it right, paper and text files are where its at. Much like the GTD “Inbox”, it doesn’t matter what you use to collect your inputs, just that it works for you. Also, like I believe either Merlin or David Allen said, it should be something with the least amount of interference. Wood.tang is right that the screen is a wall, or better yet a window to all the other things you could do (internet,etc) which keeps you from concentrating.

The truth is, you are supposed to concentrate on the information in the notes not the program/media its on, so the notes should be well named or organized in places you can find them easily. Getting fancy with pictures and links sounds nice, but in reality it only distracts you from the information at hand. In the time it takes to make a word a special color, or attach a picture, you probably missed something important the professor just said. Choose the path of least interference between brain and storage, and you shall prosper. Oh…and study them. Notes don’t help if they remain un-read. Good Luck!

As you can see from the responses so far, there are many ways to take notes on (or off) your Mac.

Before deciding whether to go analog or digital, I'd ask yourself which is more comfortable for you. I do a tremendous amount of work on a keyboard, and I'm a touch typist, so I can put write much more rapidly with my laptop than I can by hand. But I know other students who are much more comfortable with the physical process of writing by hand. I suppose the legibility of your writing is a factor as well.

Beyond that, there are advantages to each approach. Going analog does mean you can quickly jot down notes for diagrams, equations, and so on. While OmniGraffle is an excellent tool, it's never going to be as fast as a pencil and paper. On the other hand, when you enter your notes in digital form, they can be easily transformed later. I frequently combine class notes with notes from reading, discussions, and so on. I find it much easier when the original is in digital form.

If you are interested in using a digital tool for notetaking, there are several articles covering Mori, OmniOutliner, Notebook, and other apps at my site, http://www.maclawstudents.com.