Slashdot Mirror
Apple Justifies iLife Price Tag
CameronWolf writes "Just in case there was any doubt about Apple computers decision to sell applications they used to give away, I got this response, via email, from Apple upon my enquiry: 'As the iLife applications have become increasingly integrated it has become more and more important for a user to have all of the "correct" versions on their Mac at once, working together, giving a unified user experience. This is one of the main reasons we've decided to offer iLife in suite form only. In addition, for iLife users who want the latest and greatest applications on their Macs, the iLife suite is priced very affordably.' Apple are running an upgrade scheme for those who bought a qualifying Mac after Jan 6th. Too bad I just had to have the iBook G4 the second it was released!" For those who used only the free iLife apps before -- those without SuperDrives -- this reason doesn't make any sense. If the goal were really to make sure you had the latest versions, they could simply make the latest iMovie require the latest iDVD.
I just don't understand what the poster is talking about.
1) Apple now sells software which used to be free beforehand.
2) Poster asks for explanation from Apple
3) Answer explains why they sell the software in a suit as opposed to single apps, but now why they are now selling what used to be free
4) Story gets on Slashdot
So why is Apple charging for these products? Where's the news here?
My Stack Overflow user
The minute they released garageband.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
OK, first of all, unconfirmed submission: can someone point out where on the web Apple actually said this? And second of all, it should be pointed out that iLife comes bundled with every new Mac at no extra charge. And third of all, what's the big deal?
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
so people are complaining they are offering 5 apps in a bundle for 50.00, when apple COULD go and sell them individually for 30-50 dollars. Yes they were free, but 50 dollars is nothing to complain about.
Please mod parent to "Troll".
I've been nothing but pleased with my Ti Powerbook since I purchased it 18 months ago. The apps are of a very high quality, much better than any compariable windows app.
People need to remember that Apple needs to stay in business. They are offering a great product suite for a very low price. They are not ripping anyone off. We all have our current versions of these apps and if we get a new Mac we get the newest version with it. If you want to always have the newest software you have to pay for it. What the heck is wrong with that?
...for four applications (since iTunes is free) that do as much as these do. I think most people would be willing to pay $40-50 for just one of these apps(if they needed it).
Also, if you have more than 1 computer that you want to install iLife on, you can buy a 5 user family license for $79.
Anyway, the real story should be that iLife is a bargain.
My other sig is extremely clever...
The story links to the Australian Apple site. Here's the American one. The update costs $19.95 and that includes shipping.
I don't really see what's to complain about. Given it includes an entirely new application, and iDVD now doesn't require a SuperDrive...
(It's not even like Apple are preventing you from using the old versions. You can even still download the older versions. Nothing is being taken away.)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
...nope, can't do it.
As a software person I just can't manage to work up any ire that Apple wants to be paid for some of the work they do.
So, Apple charges the user for updates to its operating sytems and applications, but delivers capabilities that are attractive to the users.
This is typical for Apple. Not to bash MS, but it's useful to contrast Apple's situation with Microsofts. Apple's customers are its users, MS's customers are the OEMs and large IT operations.
Consequently , Apple updates have to pay for themselves, and give end users a sense of value received for their upgrade fee. MS updates simply have to keep the monopoly rolling so its core business continues to make money. MS would like home users and hobbyists to pay for upgrades and be happy with them, but in the grand scheme of things it is not all that important. Which is why you get update series like 95->98->98SE->ME.
In any closed source application, you can't have every possible permutation you might wish for. The owner has to package things so maintenance and marketing costs are reasonable, and that it provides a good value for its most important customers. It would be nice that if you only needed one tiny slice of the update you could buy it a la carte, but you have to accept that Apple is going to package their software in a way that maximizes revenue and reduces costs.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Because, don't you understand EVERYTHING HAS TO BE FREE!!!!!! We can't let 73h 3\/i|_ C0|2P0|247i0|\|5 have money. I paid once, so I should be entitled to FREE updates forever and ever and ever. ME ME ME ME MINE MINE MINE.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
I don't see a problem spending $50 for iLife, or for that matter, $130 (or so) for every next major OSX release. We pay for the latest and greatest video card, CPU, TV, Car, portable MP3 player, etc.. Why shouldn't software be the same?
_______
2B1ASK1
That the new iDVD supported external non-Apple firewire DVD writers (I haven't checked whether it does or not, but the old version didn't). It would be well worth it then....
*Burning DVDs requires an Apple SuperDrive.
Do you know something we don't?
"And now you shall learn the secret of boot to the head"
So they charge? Big deal. Remember when MS word was free? Then once it got popular MS started intergrating it with other apps they started selling it. Standard business practice really. Why shouldn't a company get some compensation for the thousands they put out on their products. Sure I would never buy iPhoto or iTunes, but iMovie, iDVD and now GarageBand are great full featured apps for the every day user. Almost all Mac owners can pony up an extra $50 if they wanted to. Also what are your alternatives? Add up the cost of Premier or FinalCut Express, Acid Pro or Sound Track and DVD authoring software and you end up spending a lot more. I think it's really a great value, I just wish they would roll back the free upgrade offer to Christmas since that's when I bought my PowerBook.
Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
It's not that they are selling iLife for 50 dollars its how they get people to buy into the product. They get people dependent on their free products and then they start charging. We've seen this before with .Mac. I find it extremely sleazy. Just wait people you will be paying to use iCal and iSync.
because the money you paid was for time and labor to make the app you bought WHEN you bought it. SINCE THEN, hundreds, perhaps thousands of man hours have been spent on making the app better and adding features you never even knew you would want when your originally made your purchase. should those programmers and designers starve because of YOU and YOURS?
when you buy a car, are you entiled to next years model too?
That Apple's consumer software has huge educational discounts. The student price on the iLife DVD is $29.
"Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity" -Alvy Ray Smith
Sadly, I left my illiterate troll dictionary at home. What are "produts"? Idiot.
This should be at least downloadable free for us .mac subscribers. It would make me want to continue my subscription.
Christ, you can barely get an oil-change for the price of iTunes+iMovie+iDVD+GarageBand etc etc etc.
Quit your bitching and drop the $50, people.
Lalala
Let's be at least a little more realistic here. Clearly most of the iLife apps leverage iTunes with the little mini-iTunes browsers to choose songs for slideshows etc. You'll note that all the new transitions in iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD are the same, so those are probably shared between them. It's very possible that the entire slideshow code is partially shared between iPhoto and iMovie, with the later just recording the result. Finally, this is speculation, but since iMovie allows imports from SoundTrack (complete with a SoundTrack-like view of the audio which I would bet is a shared control), I wouldn't be at all surprised if it also worked the same way with GarageBand.
I'm not saying this is a good excuse to force people to buy the whole suite, but at least admit that the interdependencies stretch farther than iMovie and iDVD. It is reasonable for Apple to be concerned with users having the latest and greatest versions of all these apps when there is so much emphasis on their interconnectivity. If they aren't careful, they could wind up with their own version of "DLL Hell."
Dude. Chill. It was sarcasm.
Can anyone give me a comparison of Garageband vs Protools as far as their feature sets? I wonder how much Protool free edition has in common with Garageband? http://secure.digidesign.com/index.cfm?page=produc t_index&categoryid=11
Inferior? Huh? I'll let that go due to ignorance.
Long history of screwing customers? There has been some of that from Apple over the years. No excuses here.
Charging for OS updates? Are you running Linux or BSD? If not and you are running WINXX, BeOS, Amiga-OS, Solaris, SCO or any other commercial OS then you pay for updates. Companies have to defray the costs of development even if they aren't interested in making a profit. Apple's price/feature ratio for upgrades is extremely high compared to say WINXX. You may be confused by the marketing nonsense that goes on with most other companies. Apple choses to identify its products with point-releases while Microsoft choses to completely rename their product. Sun choses to jump whole version numbers for what should be point-releases. So What. The marketing name for the product is irrelevant. The additional functionality is the only important consideration in justifying the cost of the upgrade.
BTW-iDVD and GarageBand are too large to be downloaded and if they are required for the Suite then the only solution is to distribute everything on CDs/DVDs. The price that Apple is charging is reasonable under the circumstances.
So someone complains that Apple is now charging for what they used to give away for free.
And Apple users responses? So predictable. So what, pay for it, Steve says so, Steve is God, he knows whats best for us, and we should be GRATEFUL to pay for this stuff.
Apple users aren't users, they're cult members.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I'm reading a lot of "that's okay, the apps are great" Mac apology here, and as a Mac user, I gotta say that it's a bad attitude to take.
Personally, I chose a Mac because I demanded more out of a computer. You pay more at the start, you pay more for system upgrades, but you get a machine that does exactly what you tell it (for the most part) and doesn't break for no reason.
I found the "yearly OS upgrade" strategy for Mac OS X pretty suspect. And now that the "iApps" are being pruned from the OS, how could they possibly justify $130 per annum?
Mac users, you don't have to take this. I recommend contacting Apple and telling them exactly how you feel about this. The OS price should drop to $50 if they're going to pull this, or there should be free upgrades to the iApps for at least a few years with the price of system software.
Then again, let's not forget the "chilling effect" that iApps have had on competitors. Safari kills MS internet explorer, iPhoto kills Photoshop Elements, etc...maybe charging for them will open up another window of opportunity for companies other than Apple to produce great Mac software. It seems like it's been awhile...
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
No, Irony is a high art form that is very difficult to master. I true master can be found by noticing that others are unable to dicerne whether the author is truely serious.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
If you think you can find something better out there for free, use that instead.
If you don't, you can (a) buy apple's software, or you can (b) write some yourself and give it away!
What's the gripe? They owe you nothing.
Family pack is for 5 liscences, not unlimited, just like the Panther Family Pack.
Too bad I just had to have the iBook G4 the second it was released!
Dude, it's only $49. If you can afford to run out and buy an iBook G4 the second it's released then you can afford $49.
It's not like the old software has stopped working - it will continue to work just fine. If you want the updated software then you buy it.
Downloadable?
iDVD and GarageBand, if you haven't heard, require a DVD drive to install. Not because Apple's trying to make you buy combo-drive machines, but because there's so much damn stuff (themes for iDVD, music and loops for GB) that otherwise you'd be schlepping through 7-8 CDs to install 'em.
Yeah, right. Download that.
-- Niherlas
You might find some info. in these discussion threads:y .php?s=&fo rumid=65
o ard =audio;action=display;num=1073846311
http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdispla
And if you're interested, a Soundtrack vs. GarageBand editorial -
http://www.emotionent.com/perl/yabb/YaBB.cgi?b
I'm saying Apple charging now for what was once free (I however think it's a fair price). But if you're using iMovie, etc. now then just keep using that version and be done with it. No one says you have to update to the latest versions. If however you want them then pay. Your "freebies" are working so I don't see the problem.
GB is worth the 50 bucks to me alone. All the other stuff is just gravy. And they never gave GB away anyway.
1. Apple never said that the iLife apps would be free for the duration of YOUR iLife.
.Mac. People bitched and complained because it was no longer free, but the cost of the service (a little over $8/mo.) pales in comparison to its benefits and features. For instance, currently .Mac members get a free $80 photo editing program. .Mac only costs $99/year. And that isn't the only free software they've given away with .Mac. Plus you still get the email account, the 100MB online server space, the integration w/ iPhoto, Virex, Backup, etc.
2. iMovie 2 was a $20 upgrade from iMovie 1, so the precedent to charge for iLife upgrades has already been set.
3. iDVD has only ever been available as either a pre-installed app or as part or the iLife bundle, it has NEVER been a free download. The fact that the price point for the new iLife is the same but they've added a whole new (and fairly incredible) app called GarageBand goes to show that they are ADDING VALUE, NOT ADDING COST.
4. If you buy a new Mac, its free. And chances are that on the next OS update, these apps will be included. I can't say that for certain, but when you buy Panther, all the then-current iApps are included.
5. $50 for the functionality you're getting is a bargain. I doubt it covers the R&D they put into it, let alone the packaging, distribution, etc.
6. They haven't removed the free ones from the distribution chain. You can still use the current versions for free ad infinitum. No one promised free updates for life.
This reminds me of when they started charging for
Whenever Apple decides to charge for something, trust me, its usually well worth the cost.
I think the $50 investment isn't just to pay for this app suite, but it also goes towards new innovation, research, etc. that will one day benefit you too! I can't believe people are so surprised they charge for software. This sofware is worth hundreds, but they practically give it away for $50. If you complain, go cry home and buy a Dell. Then you will really be hating life.
I do not find it acceptable that Apple is now charging for the latest version of iPhoto, even if they include it with new Macs. The reason is a very simple one that I think will make sense to anyone who has worked in software development...
iPhoto 4 is a big fix release.
I will say it again. The latest version if iPhoto, 4.0, is a bug fix release. The most appealing feature of his version is that it fixes a problem that has been present in iPhoto since version 1.0, the ridiculously slow speeds with large photo libraries.
It is common practice that major bugs should be fixed as part of free, bug-fix releases. It just isn't right to release buggy software, and then charge people when you make it work the way you promised all along.
Unless Apple makes a revised version of iPhoto 3 available, that works with reasonably-sized photo libraries, it is unethical for them to be charging for iPhoto 4.
My Photography - http://ian-x.com
The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
Look, just tell yourself that you are buying garage band and that you are getting the "once free" applications as a bonus. -good- music creation/editing software with a very slim learning curve is a rare find and here Apple is offering it bundled with other application for $50. Stop complaining and just buy it. If you have no interest in garage band then just continue to use the free versions.
This is just to cover machines that came out after the launch. It doesn't cover the iBook I bought in December, let alone the G4 I would like to be using a functioning version of iPhoto on.
My Photography - http://ian-x.com
The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
If you think that the price asked for OS and iLife upgrades is unreasonable, then don't upgrade. Of the 5 Macintoshes I use on a regular basis:
1 runs Mac OS 10.1.5
2 run Mac OS X 10.2.8
2 run Mac OS X 10.3.2
Admittedly, I'm probably a special case, but the general point I'm trying to make is that you're not required to pay for upgrades unless you need the new features.
I also note that iLife '04 runs on Mac OS 10.2 as well as 10.3, so you don't have to buy the latest OS to run the new iLife.
-Mark
I attended MacWorld in San Francisco a week ago and was able to demo the new iLife applications first hand. When I returned home that evening, I immediately went to the Apple Store and purchased iLife. While the incremental upgrades certainly justify the cost, the reason for the immediate purchase was special.
What is so special? GarageBand!
I've been looking for a similar program on MacOS for about a year and have been frustrated to find that they typically cost hundreds of dollars. Now apple releases GarageBand for a fraction of the cost and they throw in improvements to all their other applications. As a music enthusiast with beginer's skills I cannot wait to make my own music tracks using prerecorded loops and my own samples.
I left MacWorld not questioning why they would charge for iLife but wondering how they can afford to put out such high-quality software at such a low price. (My guess is subsidies from their hardware.)
Michael.
Linux : Mac
I can see why they'd only want to sell the suite together. $49 is pretty cheap to begin with for that many useful applications.
If there was a universe where Apple sold each application separately, they could charge $10, maybe $15 at best given the pricing of the suite as a whole. The costs of manufacturing, distributing, and warehousing this even cheaper software would certainly eat into Apple's margins. I'm not trained in business, so this is just my brain working out the logic of the matter.
Anyway, it's only 49 bucks. You bought an Apple, so you clearly don't have a problem paying for quality merchandise.
I think the real question is whether the new iLife programs will be included in the next version of OS X. If they are, then the cost of OS X becomes much less; a $120 upgrade ends up being a $70 OS upgrade with a $50 bundled iLife upgrade. Alternatively, the $50 iLife upgrade ends up being a tax on the people who can't wait for the next version of OS X.
I remember all the shrieking back when Apple started charging for the yearly OS updates, then people began to realize just how much progress Apple was making with each of the updates and many of those folk (including me) started to accept that the cost may be worth it (and then some). I'm hoping the same holds true for the iLife apps -- if everyone is going to have to start contributing some $$$ for them, we should be assured of a fairly quick upgrade cycle with some significant improvements for each new donation.
HOWEVER, since these are no longer free, I think it's reasonable for Apple to start supporting DVD writers other than built-in Superdrives. Quite frankly, I don't have a couple grand to drop on a new G5. I'd love to spend a few hundred, tho, on a DVD burner ... and I'd be more than happy to kick out an extra $50 for the latest iLife suite. Apple might want to think about talking to some third-party drive manufacturers about bundling drives and iLife for sale at the Apple Store. I imagine there are a good number of others out there like me who aren't in the market for a new desktop (so Apple isn't going to cut its throat by doing this) but would be willing to purchase a bundle like this (getting Apple some extra cash and making their 3rd-party developers happy).
... otherwise, I really don't see the need to pay for an upgrade where many of the major changes benefit people with DVD burners.
17 million is not "chump change" if the estimation is correct. If it makes you feel better think of it this way: iLife 4 costs the same paltry $49 as the previous iLife that was released last Jan. Lets see...for one year that's
$4.08 per month
13.4 per day
I am hoping most of the $17,000,000 goes to a few good iMovie developers, myself. Damned finicky program that version 3!
--
Daniel C. Slagle
Keeper of the "Unofficial" iMovie FAQ
You do not need a "Apple SuperDrive"just a compatiable drive (Pioneer A03,A04, or A05) and you can install it yourself. ;-)
That is what I did.
--
Daniel C. Slagle
Keeper of the "Unofficial" iMovie FAQ
Think how much you spend a month on prOn, booze, NyQuil, ink, coffee, paper clips and post-it's and you can't even part with a little cash for apps that are quite remarkable? I really don't see any news here, there must be something better to talk about. That romote controled monkey idea sounds great.
My eyes, my eyes! These goggles do nothing!
One of the small-print notices I found on Apple's site is that both iDVD and GarageBand require a DVD-ROM to install them. Since I don't have one of those, I can only install iPhoto 4 and iMovie 4 on my Mac (I've already got iTunes 4 as a free download).
This is mildly annoying, since I'd love to be able to work on iDVD projects and take them to another Mac to burn them, and my daughter would have a huge amount of fun fiddling with GarageBand. As it is, I'd be getting two out of four apps worth -- which may still be worth $49 in many people's minds, but I still feel cheated.
Like the Panther OS, iLife '04 is free with all new Macs starting Friday. In that regard, iLife is as much an incentive to buy a new SuperDrive-equipped G5 as it is to spend cash on formerly-free software.
It's starting to work, too. My mom recently got a 1.8GHz G5 tower for $1,799 (discounted since it was replaced with the dual 1.8GHz), and my current G4 Mac is SuperDrive-less.
I don't know why Garageband would require a DVD burner, but iDVD does not require a DVD drive to install.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
I bought a mac one month ago. There were a lot of reasons I bought a mac, but iPhoto was one of them. It turns out iPhoto really sucks for me because it's performance is terrible. With only 700 photos it takes like a minute to load on my G4 iBook. I consider this a serious bug, and I don't want to have to pay $50 just to fix broken software. Sure there are other features to the new iLife. But I'm so peeved at having to pay $50 for a bug fix for software I just bought a month ago that I can't look past that to see if iLife '04 is a good value.
So I'll probably be buying it, and I might be glad I got all of those new features, but right now I feel like I'm getting my arm twisted.
DVD Drive != DVD Burner
iDVD and Garageband are on DVDs
therefore
you need a DVD drive to install Garageband and iDVD.
$29.99.
Educational discount baby! And I'm not even a student anymore!
I'd like to thank my college for forgetting to delete my school account. So far I have gotten $200 off of an iBook and $20 off of iLife. Now what else can I get before my school decides to do housekeeping?
I ordered a new powerbook ($3k+) in December and it arrived on Jan 3. Since my order was placed 2 weeks earlier, I'm not eligible for the upgrade price, and if I would have waited a month, the PB would have shipped with iLife 4.
Just another screwover by the boys in Cupertino. Just ask the guy that lives next door to me that bought a 1.8gz G5 in October - now you can get the same box BUT DUAL G5's for 100 bucks more!
Sucks, but having just switched from a dual boot linux/w2k laptop, I must say I am way impressed with the PB.
I don't understand how people could have not expected this to happen. The previous version of iLife was $49 mostly due to iDVD's included media. The other iApps were available for download, including iMovie and iPhoto's very large updates. It seems just as likely now as it did then that the "free" iApps will be available for download at some point. If they aren't the old versions will not delete themselves from your hard drive. These new programs have been out for a couple days now and iPhoto imported pictures off my camera just fine. They've all yet to self destruct.
I'm also having trouble seeing how the new iLife suite isn't worth the price. The educational discount cuts the price down to $29 which will set you back a couple Frappucinos for the month. If it isn't worth the upgrade stick with the old stuff. I ordered it because GarageBand seems like an awesome app to play around with. I liked what I saw of SoundTrack but really do not need all of its features nor do I want to spend that sort of money. Even the full retail price isn't too bad considering what's included. It didn't bother me too much paying $50 for a suite of programs I use all the time.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
I have one worry about the iLife applications being broken off...
What other applications that are currently part of the standard install of the operating system might be farmed out? Afterall, iChatAV is already available as a separate purchase, so what about iSync, or iCal?
I would be less concerned if they increased the price of Panther (or future operating system upgrades) and included the iLife applications in the bundle.
Note that this price does not have any bearing on whether or not you have the prior versions of these apps. It's not like Mac OS X Upgrade CDs that won't install if you don't have the requisite prior versions of the OS.
After reading these posts Apple has it made. If I were Apple marketing I would immediately start making plans to charge for everything possible and attach a reasonable price to applications that were once free. It seems logical, every mac drone under the sun is willing to justify reasonable prices for products that were once free. Apple has a captive user base willing to justify the prices they set to a product. It's fucking brilliant.
I don't have a DVD burner, so I don't use iDVD.
I don't have a camcorder, so I don't use iMovie.
I don't have any musical talent, so I wouldn't use GarageBand.
$50 for the new iPhoto? iThink not. That's life I guess.
As a musician who's always wanted to toy with hard drive recording and software synthesis I have to say that $50 (or $30 if you can get the academic price!) for Garage Band alone would be a steal. The closest comparably priced music apps I know of are Tracktion (a Windows program with a beta OS X port) and Intuem Squared (which seems to have questionable stability). Each of these is $80. Neither includes amplifier modeling, an instrument library, or a loop library. Tracktion is damn cool, but there's just one guy working on it, meaning updates can only come so fast. Plus he's developing on Windows primarily so OS X will always be a step behind.
I can see complaining about the price if you just want the newest version of iPhoto, but if you have the slightest inkling of an interest in making music then this upgrade is a stunningly good deal. I'll be getting mine on day one!
-DA
In a related story, Apple reported that
"For the quarter [ended 27 Dec 2003], the Company posted a net profit of $63 million, or $.17 per diluted share. These results compare to a net loss of $8 million, or $.02 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter."
Capitalism. Learn to love it. Hint: net profit = more shiny toys later. net loss = fewer shiny toys.
You bought a Mac, which also happened to come with a free included copy of iPhoto. The Mac would have cost the same if iPhoto hadn't been there. The iLife suite is something that Apple has, until now, very nicely, given away free (except iDVD) to all whether they were buying a new computer or already had a Mac.
I use a Mac, and my first reaction was to be peeved at having to buy any new version of the iLife apps I use. Almost immediately, however I realised a number of things.
1) My reaction was that of a spoiled child, who, accustomed to getting great things for free, is suddenly expected to pay for them.
2) US$49/AUS$79 isn't a bad price considering what you get, even if you don't use all the apps (I can't use iDVD, for instance).
Simple because a piece of free software doesn't work the way you expected it to work, shouldn't mean you get to gripe about having to shell out a fairly modest sum to get an improved version.
I don't want to sound like an Apple apologist - not everything they do is great, and I'd be the first to admit that I'd love to be able to keep getting these apps for free - but treating this like "paying $50 for a bug-fix" is a pretty glass-half-empty way of looking at this.
US$49 really *isn't* a bad price for what you get. If only other software vendors were so reasonable.
SofaMan -- Occasionally Battling Evil With His Mighty Powers Of Indolence.
In addition to everything else, iLife also contains about 2GBs of loops, instruments and sounds for use with GarageBand...
Too bad I just had to have the iBook G4 the second it was released!
What's the problem? If you've got to have the latest and greatest, then be willing to pay for an occasional upgrade. In this case, the upgrade fee is a mere $49, and that seems like a pretty good deal for GarageBand alone.
Just another screwover by the boys in Cupertino.
<sarcasm>Yeah, those sneaky bastards at Apple, purposely waiting until after you ordered your laptop to whip up that unprecedented San Francisco trade show on short notice and announce new stuff there. Just to piss YOU off.</sarcasm>
They've only been doing Expo-centric product announcements for damned near two decades, you fucking tool. Didn't pick up on the pattern? If you buy any Apple product a month prior to a Macworld Expo, you forfeit your right to bitch.
And as for your buddy next door, tough titties. Technology marches on. He was satisfied with the terms of the deal in October, end of story.
Perhaps you failed to notice you can't download a Safari that works with a current OS on a current computer?
1. Use iDVD 4 to create a new DVD project.
;-)
2. Export project to a VIDEO_TS folder.
3. Use Toast (or any other DVD-burning app) to burn the VIDEO_TS as a DVD.
There. Now go buy iLife 04 already.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
I purchased Photoshop Elements 1.0 (yes, for the Mac) for $99.
Six months later, Adobe releases Photoshop Elements 2.0, and wants $70 to upgrade.
By your "logic," Adobe should have given me PE2 for free. Yet somehow I don't recall anyone making a fuss when this happened.
Moral of the story: Just because Apple (or anyone else) gives you ThisProgram version x for free doesn't mean they're obligated to give you ThisProgram version x+1 for free.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
Sorry, but the charging for OS updates horse is a dead one. While Sun is obnoxious in their versioning scheme, you can get patch sets as far back as Solaris 2.6 for free.
When was the last time that you paid for a Windows Service Pack or Hotfix? Anyone can download windows service packs for free. Service packs often introduce signifigant new features.
The whole point is that plenty of people do not want iDVD or GarageBand. If just want iTunes and iPhoto, have have to buy other crap that I do not want or need.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Not photoshop elements
Looking under the System Requirements on http://www.apple.com/ilife/ it states:
"DVD drive required to install GarageBand and iDVD"
I'm guessing because they are both installed from a DVD (I've never seen iDVD on anything but a DVD).
I bought my grandma an eMac on 1/7.
:-(
Guess what -- no iLife. Even after watching Steve Jobs say it would be included with all new Macs.
Apple pointed me to the "Up-to-date" program, which charged me $19.95+tax ($21.23 total) for software that was supposed to be included.
Mike
I think iLife is definitely worth it. I use iPhoto 2 all the time for my digital photos, and its kinda slow, even on my 1 GHz eMac with 1 GB of ram. It will be worth it to me to have the speed increases that iPhoto 4 promises. Besides, I work for an educational institution, so I got it for $29.00 (government people get it even cheaper at $24.50)
on Dec 18.
Bastages!
This is not the first time that Apple has offered an app for free and then started charging for it. Hell; this isn't the first time Apple has offered [i]iMovie[/i] for free and then started charging for it.
Very, very uncool. Within their legal rights, I suppose, but 'free' implies a promise that it will remain so.
If more developers use product activation, we will be forced to. If your system gets trashed and you have to reinstall a piece of software, but the developer has long since gone defunct, taking their product activation servers with them...I'd say you're up the creek.
Otherwise, I whole heartedly agree.
----- Original Message -----
From: orderstatus@group.apple.com
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 9:43 AM
Subject: RE: iLife on my eMac
Dear (insert name here)
Thank you for your email. The iLife '04 is not currently shipping on Apple computers. If you would like to purchase iLife you can contact our sales department at 1-800-MY-APPLE.
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
Regards,
The Apple Store Team