Existential Backpack

I have been a Backpack user for a while, along with Basecamp and Highrise. While Backpack was my first 37Signals web app, I quickly graduated to the feature-rich and seemingly more useful Basecamp and Highrise, and left my Backpack pages languishing in ignominy. Granted, I mostly use Basecamp and Highrise at work and for other professional endeavors, for which they both are perfectly suited. I didn’t seem to have much of a need for the ‘personal’ nature of Backpack.

Recently the guys over at 37Signals have given backpack a slew of upgrades and new features so I have decided to dive back into Backpack and give it another go.

I am using the free account, so some of my options are a bit limited (only 2 Writeboards active at a time, no file uploading and no calendar), but it does the job for now. The only thing I really miss is the calendaring which would be useful, especially for work, but I can use Basecamp Milestones for that.

So, I have started using Backpack to organize everything related to the ‘Existentialism in Film & Literature’ class taught by Herbert Dreyfus currently being podcasted by UC Berkeley. I have ToDo lists for each of the reading assignments and the lectures, so I can check them off as a read and listen to them, respectively.

Also, the Writeboard is a great place to organize the notes I am taking as I listen (yes, I am an Uber-Geek, thank you). Typing the notes is much more beneficial for me personally, as my handwriting is so atrocious that I have a hard time reading it only moments later. Plus, the Writeboards let you use Textile for HTML markup, which I love.

All in all, I am rediscovering my initial love for Backpack. I used to think that Backback was not very useful once Basecamp came around, but after using both for a bit now, I am learning the strengths and limitations of both, and I find that they fit together rather nicely.