Pay Once - Licensed for all your Machines. Not just iLife?

[roland.g]

From the Mac App Store page on Apple.com

"Buy, download, and even redownload.

You can install apps on every Mac you use and even download them again. This is especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own."

I assume this means that all Apps are multi-license to the same owner, i.e. you can install an app on as many machines as you own, so a household with an iMac and a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro only has to pay once for the same app. Why then does Apple continue to list iLife on their store for $49 for a single user and $79 for a family pack when you can install iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband for $14.99 each, or $45 on all your machines. I suppose the only downside to this would be kids, etc, where you don't want to authorize your Apple ID and CC on their machines, but if you own a desktop and laptop yourself, why wouldn't you just pay once?

 

[Mal]

Well, while iWeb and iDVD weren't updated this time around, they are still part of the iLife suite, so technically, buying the full suite from the App Store would cost you $74.95, but that doesn't really negate your point.

I think Apple's intentionally making the App Store a significantly better deal on some of their apps in order to encourage people to start using it (i.e. Aperture for $120 cheaper than in-store). I also think they really believe that licensing apps per user and not per machine is a more fair way of doing it, despite the fact that they've always licensed their own apps per machine. Maybe they just couldn't figure out a good way of handling that until they could get this launched.

jW

 

[roland.g]

I've always (as I'm sure many do) believed in per user not per machine. Truth is I can't simultaneously use iPhoto on two machines at the same time. My dexterity in my right hand is not on par with my left. However, that is not true of all Apps, especially those doing heavy work, such as MTR or even iMovie, where you have encoding/rendering or some other time intensive task going on tying up the app and possibly the machine.