Another which bundle to buy query

Phenole

Member
Hello! I am a full-time college student in a third-world country considering purchasing a bundle.

I studied in a Chinese-speaking kindergarten, abandoned it in primary school and am now trying to improve my Chinese. I understand about 60 percent of what is said in TV shows.

I plan to use the flashcard system for all words in the Guifan that I don't understand. I also plan to read long novels with the reader system and add flashcards for all words I don't understand in the books too. Better TTS is definitely a bonus but given my socioeconomic status 8 dollars is quite expensive.

I am torn between:
1. Basic bundle + Guifan + Oxford Chinese/ABC English-Chinese (Which is better, by the way?) and
2. Professional Bundle (Basic bundle + Guifan + ABC C-E + ABC E-C + NWP E-C + Tuttle Learner's C-E + 21st Century E-C + Song Font + Xing Font + Cantonese Audio (female) + Hui)
The first bundle costs 55-60 dollars while the second costs 80 dollars. Are the additional dictionaries, fonts, and Hui worth 20-25 dollars?

Also, I read a lot of hype about ABC E-C and C-E but I can't seem to get how they are so great. Are they really better than the Oxford Chinese Dictionary? The Oxford Chinese Dictionary has clarification for usage of Chinese words, right?
e.g. Abbreviate: (Chinese word) ‹word, sentence, name› ; (Chinese word) ‹passage, speech› (Oxford)
vs
Abbreviate: (Chinese word) ; (Chinese word) (ABC)

Is it to do with the number of entries in ABC's E-C and C-E?

Also, my studies will bring me to multiple countries. I worry that changing the country of an Apple ID can result in loss of purchase status. Can I transfer my purchase from one account (in one country) to another? Also, how sustainable is Pleco? This potential purchase is a rather major one for me. I am wary of buying from Pleco only to have development stopped in 1-5 years.

Thank you!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
ABC has quite a lot more entries than Oxford in its C-E half, yes. It also has some other advantages - Victor Mair's review discusses them a bit relative to Oxford, though he's obviously rather biased as someone involved in ABC's development.

I wouldn't want to weigh in on subjective decisions about "better"ness myself, but regarding your other questions: you can indeed transfer your purchases with a new Apple ID, just write down the "Registration ID" at the top of the Pleco "Registration" screen and you can re-enter the ID in that same screen if for whatever reason you have to delete Pleco and reinstall it under a different iTunes account.

For sustainability, we've been around since 2000 - 3 years older than Facebook, just 2 years younger than Google, twice as old as the iPhone or the Amazon Kindle - so in the mobile app world we're probably about as close to a sure thing you can get. (not many developers successfully transitioned from Palm OS to Windows Mobile to iOS [and Android], but we did) Business is going great, we set a new record for revenues last year, and the vast majority of our money comes from iOS, so the iOS version of our software is a particularly safe bet, though since we allow free transfers to Android you'll have that as a fallback in the unlikely event that iOS falters and Android takes over the high-end market. And if both of those falter, by the time that happens we'll probably be on whatever new platform replaces them - we've pulled that off three times already and can certainly manage it again if we have to :)
 

Phenole

Member
Thank you for the detailed and really useful reply! Can I use the Registration ID on multiple iOS devices? (e.g. if my iOS device is lost and I haven't unregistered it and I get a replacement, or in the unlikely event in which I get another iOS device.)
 
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I am torn between:
1. Basic bundle + Guifan + Oxford Chinese/ABC English-Chinese (Which is better, by the way?) and
2. Professional Bundle (Basic bundle + Guifan + ABC C-E + ABC E-C + NWP E-C + Tuttle Learner's C-E + 21st Century E-C + Song Font + Xing Font + Cantonese Audio (female) + Hui)
The first bundle costs 55-60 dollars while the second costs 80 dollars. Are the additional dictionaries, fonts, and Hui worth 20-25 dollars?

I would say that the "21st Century E-C" dictionary is worth "20-25 dollars" alone.
 

Phenole

Member
Thanks everyone! I made the jump and bought the Professional Bundle. Loving it so far! Just wish the flashcard system (downloaded the HSK lists) displayed sentences (so I can study words with additional context) after I answer the flashcards. Kudos to Mike!
 
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