Pants in Motion

Yeah, probably no surprise to anybody who knows me.

But let’s explore the logic behind spending $399 on some video titling software!

Okay. Apple has this excellent video editing software known as Final Cut Pro. It’s been used for heaps of TV shows, trailers and even a few movies. It’s Good Stuff. It also used to cost a little over a grand.

Apple also made a few other applications, such as Motion, Soundtrack Pro and DVD Studio Pro. The idea was that you’d buy FCP, then buy the extra apps as you needed them. I guess it became too much of a pain for resellers to guess how many copies of each application they’d need to order to keep them all on the shelf (because when pros need a piece of software to get something done before a deadline, they usually need it right now). So, Apple decided to bundle all the apps together and push the price up.

All well and good – you’d now be able to get four applications in one box for a little less than you’d pay for them all individually. But what if you wanted to crossgrade one of the apps to run it on the new Intel-based Macs? They’re no longer sold. Apple solved this by offering a crossgrade plan – Final Cut owners could get the entire Final Cut Studio package for AU$150, owners of the lesser apps would have to spend AU$300.

The standalone copy of Motion 2 that I found over at Desktop Power cost me $399. The upgrade is another $300. The Final Cut Studio package retails for… $1899. I just saved myself $1200 on a stunning video production suite which will run both on my PowerBook and on the Intel-based iMac I’ll be buying later this year…

Just in time to make video clips for our new project!!!!11!