Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Printable Version

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Printable Version

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Mnemosyne vs. Anki - MnemosyneFan - 2010-07-15

I thought I'd post this topic just go make things interesting around here Tongue

. It seems to me, the majority of users here are Anki fans. Are there no Mnemosyne users?

I like Mnemosyne for it's clean, minimalist user interface. I also like the fact the project makes an attempt at memory research as users can opt to periodically contribute anonymous logs of their learning process.

I think Anki is very slick and feature-packed, but I find it overwhelming sometimes. I'm also curious as to what users think of the ability to somewhat control when a card next appears in Anki. I get the feeling that I may end up "skewing" my cards and not be getting the most of the scheduling algorithm. Shouldn't the user not have to worry about scheduling and let the SRS take care of things?

Why do you prefer one over the other?

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - HerrPetersen - 2010-07-15

I do not know, if he belongs to the mnemosyne project. It can happen really quick, that after reviewing a long time with your srs you come to love it.

Anyhow I like the flexibilty features of anki. Card templates, multiple fields for facts, plugins (how many hanzi do I review, ...). I tried mnemosyne at the start of my srsing career but after switching to anki I never wanted to go back. I remember mnemosyne not having a card editor (in the way anki has one) which is/was? a great plus for anki.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Nukemarine - 2010-07-15

I think the problem is many of us have not used mnemosyne for quite a while if at all. I only used it 3 years ago because it had media support at a time Anki did not.

If you think there are features that merit mnemosyne, please offer them up. Certainly having more options for users to choose from when it comes to an SRS is not a bad thing. And yes, ease of use is a valid feature.

The big selling point for Anki for me has been Damien's interaction with users in updating his app and more importantly the online/syncing support.

PS: Like was stated before in the other thread, try to take part in more than just conversations pushing mnemosyne. Yeah, I get that you moniker almost demands debate, but try to bring more to the table as it'll make you feel welcomed.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - JimmySeal - 2010-07-15

Reasons I switched from Mnemosyne to Anki and never looked back:

-Deck synchronization - effortlessly using the same deck from multiple computers and from a browser.
-Graphs - Lots of different ones
-Knowing what the intervals for each button are - I can see the potential benefits of this information being hidden, but I think there are times when it's important to know, so you don't over-delay a card

I haven't used it in about 2 years, and maybe ther have been some modifications, but compared to Anki, Mnemosyne felt like being trapped inside a box without any knowledge of what was going on. I can understand that may be a design principle, but it's not my cup of tea.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - mezbup - 2010-07-15

I've never used mnemosyne tbh cos I've been with Anki from day 1 and have seen just how much effort and hardwork Damien has put into it and how he's really listened to his users and responded to what they want. Kinda feels like Anki will really be there for you when you need it.

I have to say looking at the Mnemosyne app for iPhone it did appear to have a deck-editor built into the app which Anki currently does not (though i'm confident will in the future) but that's definitely not a deal breaker/maker enough to switch my whole SRS routine over though the features off the app certainly looked a bit more comprehensive than Anki's are currently. Good things take time though and i'm sure it will all come to pass.

Anki has a bit of a learning curve on it, I thought. Though once I fully understood the features of it I was rather amazed at the versatility and flexibility of it enabling the user to do quite incredible things. I always give people a decent run down and how to do everything in it when I introduce them to it these days anyways Tongue

Essentially they boil down to the same thing. An SRS. For those who have already built huge decks and spent a lot of time with their SRS and gotten to know it back to front and are comfortable they know how to utilize it to get the most out of their learning... then a feature or two's difference here and there isn't worth the hassle of changing over to something entirely new. Guess it matters most for those who are new to it and are making the choice.

Personally the biggest things that make Anki work so brilliantly for me are:

I can make a deck work for me however I want to on my own terms.

I can sync that deck and have it with me where I am.

I have useful feedback via graphs and stats + JxPlugin that enable me to evaluate how i'm doing in ways that make sense to me.

Anki has a vast array of decks shared that have been very beneficial to me and my Japanese learning. I also love how everyone has the opportunity to contribute to that and for the community to really grow.

lolz that was a bit long.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - hereticalrants - 2010-07-15

I use mnemosyne for short term memorization. I then either import the information into anki or let the deck die.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Blahah - 2010-07-15

Tzadeck Wrote:Wow, I really thought when you posted on the other thread that you were not a Mnemosyne drone, and you just ended up coming across like one. But, not it's pretty much obvious that you are.

Seriously, cut the bullshit, we don't need it here. Luckily, this forum is probably full of the smartest people I've ever seen on any forum online, so it's not like they're gonna fall for your crap.

I used Mnemosyne for a bit, but now I'm certainly never using it again. I hate this kind of advertising.

I'm pretty sure he's not part of the Mnemosyne project - those guys are alright. Peter Bienstman et. al are open source veterans and there's no way they'd promote their own stuff like this.

Your reaction is knee-jerk and excessive. The user joined, posted one misguided thread, got some advice in the thread, then posted what he thought was a less offensive to promote discussion. He might be obsessed with Mnemosyne, but that's no so bizarre. Plenty of people here are Anki fanatics.

As for Anki vs. Mnemosyne - I actually started out using Mnemosyne a couple of years ago. I moved over to Anki once I found it. Both programs have come a long way in the last 2 years but Anki really has come further. My main reasons for choosing and sticking with Anki are:
- Damien works very hard to perfect the software. Ask for something worthwhile and you're likely to get it, or a very good reason why not.
- Very extensive settings which can be changed in the UI, not a settings file like Mnemo.
- A fantastic range of plugins and shared decks.
- Very rich stats, giving you almost all the useful information that could be recorded from your study data. By contrast Mnemo has little stats reporting.
- In general I prefer the UI of Anki.

I agree that some users will be overwhelmed by the wealth of options in Anki, but for many people that's a bonus. It gives you more control, and as you learn to understand the options you will find you can fine-tune your learning methods to an unprecendented degree.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Tzadeck - 2010-07-15

Fine fine fine, I suppose I'll delete my post. I didn't know anything about the Mnemosyne guys.

It does sound a lot like an advertisement, but I suppose it's best to withhold judgment.

Sorry!
orz

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Tobberoth - 2010-07-15

I used mnemosyne many many years ago and at that point, I didn't understand the concept of SRS at all. Now that I do though, I couldn't stop using anki. Its features might be overwhelming, but once you're used to a lot of features and customization, you can't stop using it since your decks and your routine will depend on it.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - CompGeek812 - 2010-07-15

I personally like that anyone can create a deck or plug-in for Anki. This enables proficient users to share knowledge easily and create plug-ins to fill a need without waiting and hoping the creator will have the time to make it. Also the sheer amount of shared decks available is amazing everything from math to chemistry to programming, the decks may not all be high quality but they can offer a good starting point, and if not, are easily deleted.
Something I'm coming to realize about the advanced features and options with Anki is that you can function just fine with never touching them, but if you do take the extra time to learn them it pays off very well.
Though to be fair its been a long time since I tried Mnemosyne so they may have updated their features and I'd have no idea Smile

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - JimmySeal - 2010-07-15

CompGeek812 Wrote:I personally like that anyone can create a deck or plug-in for Anki. This enables proficient users to share knowledge easily and create plug-ins to fill a need without waiting and hoping the creator will have the time to make it.

Actually, as far as I know Mnemosyne has been open source for a very long time, so anyone is free to modify the program itself and submit changes for inclusion in the future. This might be a bit of a larger barrier than Anki's plugin interface, though I'm not that familiar with either, so can't give an informed comparison.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Zarxrax - 2010-07-15

I tried mnemosyne about 2 years ago, and I also tried anki. Mnemosyne lacked a lot of the features that anki had, so anki seemed clearly more useful to me, so that's the one that I went with. Anki also has a very clean and minimalist interface, so I don't really see that as a selling point for mnemosyne.
One thing that I always thought was interesting about mnemosyne was that the data was to be collected and studied, but, unfortunately I have never heard ANYTHING about any results that were obtained from that, despite a few years passing by.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - thurd - 2010-07-15

Anki is the most complete SRS solution on the market now and there is just no point in using anything else (don't get mad Fabrice Smile

). It can be used as a simple SRS (download deck and start SRSing) out of the box without configuring anything but also offers everything you need if you're a power user.

Argument about Ankis complexity is like complaining about Ferrari being too fast.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - gavmck - 2010-07-15

MnemosyneFan Wrote:I'm also curious as to what users think of the ability to somewhat control when a card next appears in Anki. I get the feeling that I may end up "skewing" my cards and not be getting the most of the scheduling algorithm. Shouldn't the user not have to worry about scheduling and let the SRS take care of things?

Is Anki placing rescheduling too much in the hands of the user? That's a good point. At first I wondered about that. But after using Anki for a few months I began to appreciate it. As I became more familiar with my own ability to remember, I could use my own judgement to fine tune when the card would appear again.

I began using SRS (not counting RevTK) around 6 months ago. I did try both Mnemosyne and Anki. At first, Anki would occasionally freeze on my Apple computer and I switched to Mmemosyne. I agree that it has a nice clean, simple interface but I really missed the ability of Anki to automatically generate furigana so I switched back to Anki again. And an Anki update seemed to fix the slight instability on my iMac. Just occasionally Anki still freezes on me so I'm in the habit of periodically saving if I'm inputting a lot of new cards in one session.

I'm currently building a deck to help me learn kanji readings. I appreciate the formatting options such as italics etc.On this deck I'm colour coding the words (blue = kun yomi, orange = on yomi) but if you do this the furigana generation runs into problems. It no longer appears above the kanji but appears in square brackets afterwards instead. Another poster (Nukemarine?) once mentioned this as well. I haven't spent time looking into whether there's a fix. Other than that, I cannot find any fault with Anki.

I also have a laptop running Windows ME which no longer seems to be supported by either Anki or Mmemosyne. However, I can still use Anki online to review (although adding new cards or editing is awkward) and the syncing feature is very convenient.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Tobberoth - 2010-07-15

There is unfortunately no fix for the color issue. I've discussed it with Damien and he said it's non-trivial to fix, and it's not in any of his priorities.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - oregum - 2010-07-15

When I began using SRS I tried Mnemosyne, Anki, and Khatzu's thing and settled on Anki.

I like to be in control of the intervals. Sometimes, I see a card that I barely recalled (almost guessed really) and see that the interval for easy/v.easy is 6m/1y and decide to hit the hard=1month.

I like:
-the name
-the interface
-the intervals not hidden
-plugins
-shared decks
-graphs
-kanji stats
-sync
-Anki online

In no particular order

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - masaman - 2010-07-15

I tried Mnemosyne a year and a half ago, thinking I'd like the minimalist approach better, but it did not have a scroll bar on the review page so if the card had a big answer page, I couldn't even see the whole answer or even the grade buttons, which was pretty much the deal breaker. It was kind of hard to put pictures too. Now I switched to Anki, I don't think I'll go back even if they put scroll bar and made adding pictures easier. I like multiple categories, graphs, sync and the online feature.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - duder - 2010-07-15

i used mnemosyne for a long time (because it had support for sound before anki did), and during that period anki surpassed Mnemosyne by a long ways

how many times has anki ever failed you? It's never failed me.

Mnemosyne has failed me 3 catastrophic times, with each time losing at least a week of reviews. Stupid shit like "pickling errors" - im not a programmer, but i know end users shouldn't deal with errors like that.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - slivir - 2010-07-15

Tried it when I first scoured the internet for an electronic alternative to flash cards. Discovered this thing called 'SRS' and all signs led to anki. I was reluctant to switch over at first since it seemed a bit complicated but I love the customization of anki, I doubt I'll ever go back to mnemosyne.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - CKBrown1000 - 2010-07-16

To quote mezbup,

mezbup Wrote:Anki has a bit of a learning curve on it, I thought. Though once I fully understood the features of it I was rather amazed at the versatility and flexibility of it enabling the user to do quite incredible things. [...] Essentially they boil down to the same thing. An SRS. For those who have already built huge decks and spent a lot of time with their SRS and gotten to know it back to front and are comfortable they know how to utilize it to get the most out of their learning... then a feature or two's difference here and there isn't worth the hassle of changing over to something entirely new. Guess it matters most for those who are new to it and are making the choice....

Pretty much what he said, everyone here who has been using Anki for a long time has already programmed all of their cards, spent lots of time with it (and don't want to start over), and gotten quite familiar with it. They have no reason to switch.

But when it comes down to the people just starting out, I like to shout "STOP! WAIT" before they go diving on the Anki bandwagon like everyone else. I want them to do what I did: When it came to the point where I wanted to start using an SRS, I looked deep into the features lists and reviews of Anki and Mnemosyne, and even a few others. I downloaded them and fiddled around with them. I spent a week then using Anki, and a week using Mnemosyne. And although I really liked the Mnemosyne interface I eventually decided to go with Anki due to its power and customization. I have been an Anki user ever since, and will not switch; I'm just too ingrained in the system.

In summary, the Mnemosyne vs. Anki debate isn't for us users who've already used either or for the past number of months-years, it is for the new user who is just about to get an SRS program.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - Nukemarine - 2010-07-17

Actually, I think that experienced users of both systems rationally post pro's and con's to each system. The problem though has been the lack of mnemosyne users posting information about the system to help new users make a better first choice.

I'd hoped that the original poster would post more information about the benefits of mnemosyne. Trust me, if mnemosyne allowed for spreadsheet like bulk editing, many users here would prefer that feature as Anki currently lacks that (most plug-ins are work arounds atm.)

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - adutrifoy - 2010-07-17

Nukemarine Wrote:Trust me, if mnemosyne allowed for spreadsheet like bulk editing, many users here would prefer that feature as Anki currently lacks that (most plug-ins are work arounds atm.)

Yes, I switched from Anki to Flashcards (a simple iPhone application) just for that reason. A deck in Flashcards can be exported as a plain text file containing both the data and the statistics; then you can easily make bulk editing on it and import it back without losing the schedule.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - cangy - 2010-07-17

Nukemarine Wrote:Trust me, if mnemosyne allowed for spreadsheet like bulk editing, many users here would prefer that feature as Anki currently lacks that (most plug-ins are work arounds atm.)

yeah, it should have been bulit-in from the start, but have you tried franki? it sucks a lot less than the overwrite fields plugin (provided you're comfortable with a CLI) and I might add a simple export/import option later

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - ocircle - 2010-07-17

I think I decided not to use Mnemo because it has no way to choose my own way of displaying text.

Mnemosyne vs. Anki - hereticalrants - 2010-08-26

ocircle Wrote:I think I decided not to use Mnemo because it has no way to choose my own way of displaying text.

That's a big one.

For example, with RTK, you might want to use the kanji stroke order fonts.