Apple Computer buys Emagic,

July 1, 2002 6:02 AM

Apple Computer buys Emagic, an industry-leading audio software and hardware manufacturer who produces Logic Audio, the professional-level software used to make thousands of records (incl. Radiohead's KidA and Amnesiac.) The announcement heralds the end of Emagic's Windows offerings as well, which will orphan hundreds of thousands of people who paid upwards of $1000 for their software. em411 has some commentary on the announcement.
posted by n9 (18 comments total)

For those who don't obsessively follow Apple, this comes on the heels of them buying Prismo Graphics, a professional video software company, and Raycer, who makes high-end video cards. Apple seems pretty clearly getting ready to position themselves for a push into the professional A/V workstation market, where struggling companies like SGI have traditionally held sway. These days, though, the market is increasingly up for grabs, as Windows and Linux have been encroaching.

A good move by Apple, snapping up these companies on the cheap with their still-huge war chest. The bigger unknown is, what effect, if any, will this move have on Apple's traditional consumer market?
posted by mkultra at 6:45 AM on July 1, 2002

will orphan hundreds of thousands of people who paid upwards of $1000 for their software

I bet there will be an sidegrade offer. Seems like an upgrade to me though...
posted by machaus at 6:57 AM on July 1, 2002

Apple also recently purchased Nothing Real and Silicon Grail. Last year they bought FilmLogic to bring 24p to Final Cut Pro.

Apple basically now owns a complete suite of professional feature film creation software, from editing to effects to sound to hardware. I'm looking forward to seeing how they'll bring these products to market and integrate the technologies with their existing tools. Hopefully they'll even make these things somewhat affordable...
posted by joemaller at 7:23 AM on July 1, 2002

They'll all be free as iApps or in a more robust form incorporated into their pro apps. (Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, etc)

As for price, a flat screen monitor, dvd burner, g4 chip, with OSX handling the UI and the unix underpinnings for under 2 grand: that's cheap.

Add more powerful iApps in there and more people will notice just how aggressively Apple's positioned their machines.
posted by jragon at 7:33 AM on July 1, 2002

apple is... well they... the thing is... they totally rock is the deal. i remember getting my g4. even opening the box was an experience. everything is so well designed, or if you argue that, it seems true that much thought goes into everything.

off to work
posted by folktrash at 7:50 AM on July 1, 2002

Last year they bought FilmLogic to bring 24p to Final Cut Pro.

FilmLogic is now Cinema Tools for Final Cut Pro. As for upgrades/crossgrades, Apple is only asking for $40 on this FilmLogic/Cinema Tools upgrade form (PDF), which may bode well for future products. Of course, since you will need the Mac hardware (which is where Apple makes its money) to run them, Apple can afford to be generous, methinks.
posted by mcwetboy at 8:18 AM on July 1, 2002

I don't understand... Logic on the PC is one of the few high-end sound programs that works as well as it does on the Mac. Why would Apple want to turn away Windows users' money? I'd think they'd rejoyce in investing Windows users' funds into more Mac development....
posted by anildash at 8:48 AM on July 1, 2002

in the immortal words of paul muadib :) "he who can destroy a thing can control a thing."

the apps must flow!
posted by kliuless at 9:14 AM on July 1, 2002

Logic on the PC is one of the few high-end sound programs that works as well as it does on the Mac. Why would Apple want to turn away Windows users' money?

To eliminate the PC as a competitor to the Mac in high-end audio. Logic and Digital Performer will both be Mac-only. I've heard that Pro Tools on Windows doesn't compare well with Pro Tools on Mac (I don't know how accurate that is). What other comparable programs are there?
posted by andrewraff at 9:38 AM on July 1, 2002

Why would Apple want to turn away Windows users' money?

It's the same reason why there's no iPod support for Windows, and no Mac OS X for Intel chips: Apple is in the business of selling Macs. Not software, and not peripherals. They only offer those things to encourage people to buy Macs. Any product strategy that does not help sell Macs only makes short-term gains at the expense of long-term goals.
posted by jjg at 10:09 AM on July 1, 2002

Wow. Hardly anything ever makes me go WOW anymore. This was one of them. As a professional musician, I love the Mac as a creative tool. I have an old Power Mac 9500 and a G4 Cube. I still have a PC as well. Usually use the PC as a recording tool (with sound forge).

What I would have expected was that Apple would have bought Mark of the Unicorn. Digital Performer has been Mac only since the beginning. Emagic and Logic I didn't really consider. Makes me wonder if either Emagic's announcement of an OS X version was the deal maker. Perhaps have a windows and mac version of the software allowed Emagic to get to OS X sooner than MOTU? Maybe MOTU is making more money with it's slick FireWire/PCI audio interfaces?

Well. I have been a loyal user of Digital Performer for a LONG time. I also have used Emagic Software when it was on the ATARI ST. Notator and Creator I believe. Oh my. That was a LONG time ago.....
posted by ericdano at 11:01 AM on July 1, 2002

I love Macs, but Apple's practice of buying up companies and killing off their Windows' products seem a bit too heavy-handed and Microsoft-ish. Can you imagine the uproar if for example Microsoft bought out Adobe and killed off the Mac version of Photoshop?
posted by gyc at 11:55 AM on July 1, 2002

...eliminate the PC as a competitor to the Mac in high-end audio.

I don't think that Logic's sequencer alone will cause too many PC loyalists to jump ship.

The sequencer market is heavily competitive; with a new release from Steinberg and now a decent Cakewalk candidate (Sonar 2.0), most PC musicicans will probably just move along to a different app that will run on their machine.
posted by Pinwheel at 12:11 PM on July 1, 2002

I've heard that Pro Tools on Windows doesn't compare well with Pro Tools on Mac (I don't know how accurate that is).

andrewraff, from what i understand, that is correct. A friend of mine's band is getting close to releasing their second album. Back in the beginning, they bought a G4 just for the purpose of running Pro Tools, because the Windows version would crash on them in the middle of a mix and they'd have to start all over again.

Now they are anticipating an OS X version of Pro Tools, which has not yet come to exist.
posted by schlaager at 12:41 PM on July 1, 2002

Can you imagine the uproar if for example Microsoft bought out Adobe and killed off the Mac version of Photoshop?

The rules change when you have more than 90% market share. This is the one thing Microsoft has never understood.
posted by jjg at 1:03 PM on July 1, 2002

The rules don't change, marooning thousands of people who have bought this software and forcing them to use your hardware if they wish to continue using the latest revs of the software simply isn't cricket. Just because this is poor yickle Apple who are so cuddly and wonderful shouldn't exempt them from having a corporate conscience.
posted by zeoslap at 1:31 PM on July 1, 2002

The main reason Pro Tools sucks on Windows is because Digidesign has foolishly decided to focus on the pathetic Win9x versions of Windows, (for Mac users: 9x vs. Windows 2000 or XP is as unstable as OS 9 compared to OS X) probably because the drivers for their hardware were easier or cheaper to write on those versions. A *very* bad decision, as they still don't really have a functional version of Pro Tools on the only Windows operating systems you can use in a professional environment.
posted by anildash at 2:13 PM on July 1, 2002

god protools is horrible on the pc, despite being so great on a mac... and though i enjoy using photoshop on my mac at work, i've never once had any problems with my home pc where it told me i was out of memory and couldn't even save my file, which happens to me at least twice a day with my office mac... so i wouldn't mind so much if microsoft bought adobe... so long as they, you know... didn't actually mess with the development.
posted by lotsofno at 3:15 PM on July 1, 2002