Duden Wörterbücher Deutsch App Reviews
I have already bought two of the dictionaries which provide content for this product running on the iOS platform as in-app purchases. However, that (identical) content is not available to me when I try to “Restore Purchases” on the Mac platform. Since I already have been coerced into buying the iOS product twice, after Duden decided to desupport their Duden-branded app which had been developed and marketed by Paragon, I’ll be d****d if I’ll buy it a third time! Good dictionary (of course), but sleazy marketing.
Although I paid US$ 29.00 for the MacOS version, I cannot use the license for the iOS version - you have to purchase that one separately (another US$ 19). Great product. Very poor marketing.
I guess it’s my own fault, not paying attention to the fact that the “Universal Dictionary” is NOT titled “German-English/English-German Dictionary” or listed as the German “Universalwörterbuch”, and so now I’ve spent $33.99 for a German-only dictionary. It’s a dictionary of the German language, in German, for those with good comprehension of written German. That does not include me (yet), so this dictionary is basically useless to me. This is a real shame, because Duden is THE authoritative German-language reference. I love my hard copy of the “Oxford Duden” G-E/E-G dictionary, and I expected the app to be the equivalent, but as far as I can tell, there is no Duden G-E/E-G app. Since the app clearly is suitable only for those with good command of German, the entire item description should have been in German, or at the very least the list of modules for in-app purchase. In fact, the etymology module IS listed only under its German title, “Herkunftswörterbuch, 5. Auflage”, not as “Etymological Dictionary, 5th Edition”, while every other IAP module is named in English! This is why I assumed that the Universal Dictionary was a translating dictionary. The one-star rating refers only to the publisher’s lack of foresight in not making it clear before purchase that the Universal Dictionary, despite use of its English name, is not a German-English one.
The Duden Universal (just German, not a German-English) Dictionary is the one I prefer to use. I orginally bought it in paper in Austria; that was about $29.99. Then it came out as an app. Super. It bought that. $29.99. But that app stopped working after a little while. Instead, Duden came out with another app. That was another $29.99. I tried to console myself with the idea that it might be a "new edition," but I cant say that it was, and, anyway, why shouldnt the vocabulary be continually updated? Now that new app has stopped working - completely on my iPod touch and partially on my iPads - and Ive discovered that there is now another new app. Does it recognize the presence of the earlier app? No. You have to buy the dictionary yet again (in-app) - and this time it is indeed exactly the same editon. Yet another $29.99. No, thank you. I wont buy Duden products anymore - Duden is just too abusive. This program is essentially the same as the iOS one. If you want Duden content, know that it is available for free online at duden.de.