Re: Re: Re: Steve wanted to refocus attention on GOOD things
Originally posted by jamdr
Sorry, you're wrong. People have always wanted a way to edit their home videos, and before iMovie, many people had to pay professionals or use two VCRs to do it. iMovie just made it a lot easier for people to do it themselves. There is no preexisting need like that for GarageBand.
You sound like someone who is interested in editing movies, but not interested in playing an instrument or making music. That's OK. It's not a problem.
The problem is that you are making arguments based on your inability to understand that other people want different things.
Jobs pointed out that 50% of households have one person in it that _currently_ plays some instrument. That seems high to me, but I know it's got to be a pretty significant percentage. I was always amazed (as a guitar player) at how many guys know how to play some guitar. Nearly everyone dreams of being a rock star at some point.
So, Jobs says there is a huge market for this product. I can say that from my experience, there seems to be a large existing audience. Now figure in all the people who wanted to learn an instrument but never got around to it.. My freaking wife's uncle just bought a keyboard and is taking lessons.. and he's nearly 60. He used to play guitar 20 years ago and he always wanted to play piano! He'd love this product (and he's a PC user).
But wait, there's more. Apple's been working on this for 2 years. They have always been tied into the music industry to a high degree. You don't think that Apple did some market research before they dumped a bunch of money on this?
No wait.. you never commented when I posted that I ran across two people within 10 minutes of the end of the keynote who actually told me, seriously told me 'now I have to buy a Mac for the house'. One of these guys never used a mac till he started working with me 6 months ago.. he's a unix/linux admin. The other is an old school Mac guy who long ago gave up Apple for Unix/Linux. He's got a powerbook from the office so he had Zero need to actually buy a home mac. Even HE want's to buy a desktop for the home based on the release of GarageBand.
These people aren't rabid mac fans. They like the Apple's they use now, but they had no plans to buy one themselves. They didn't even watch the keynote, I had to tell them what was released. 2 out of the first 4 people I ran across want to buy macs now because of GarageBand.
I think you just don't get it. This is really revolutionary software. It is easy to use, Extremely cheap, and it has the features of multiple other apps that cost hundreds each.
True, but you could still download iPhoto and iMovie for free, so it didn't really matter. You were basically paying the $49 for iDVD only. I only use iTunes and iPhoto, so it was never a problem. Now I have to pay for a bunch of applications I don't want and will never use, just to be able to update the programs that I have been using for free for years.
You don't have to pay for anything.
iPhoto will still work. iTunes will still work. iDVD and iMovie will still work.
You pay if you want to upgrade all the apps. $50 for 5 excellent apps.. one entirely new. It's only $29 for anyone in Edu (or if you know someone in Edu).
BTW.. iTunes will still be updated for free. You're forgetting that they give it away to windows users too... they have to provide the updates gratis. Of course you can get all the iApps bundled with any new machine.
I think Apple did a terrible job of spoiling it's users with the iApps. They really are the MS Office for your life. I use iTunes and iPhoto individually more than the whole Office suite. The same would be true of iMovie, iDVD if I had a DV camera.. and I'll certainly use the hell out of GarageBand.
So, Apple gave away all these great apps (they have all had quirks, but they really are great apps) and people just got spoiled. How much does MS charge for an update to Office? How much would you pay for these apps from other vendors? Jobs put a price on competing products at around $300 didn't he?
I could just take these from a new machine when it comes in.. but I appreciate the work. I'm buying a copy of iLife for myself because I can't wait till I get the new G5 this summer.
It really kills me. People bitch about how Apple's market share is low.. how they have to pay too much for hardware (to cover all that R&D) but when it comes to paying $29 to $49 for something like iLife, they bitch and moan. That's less than or as much as ONE game, something that people buy and use for 10, maybe 20 hours before they finish it or move on.
I think iLife is a deal. I'm happy to toss a bit of cash back to Apple for the hard work.
Apple, thanks for GarageBand.
