With the launch of Apple Creator Studio, did you know that Apple previously offered a “pro apps” bundle in its early Mac OS X era? On April 17, 2005, Apple unveiled Final Cut Studio at the National Association of Broadcasters (NBA), which was a one-time purchase that bundled all of its industry-leading pro applications. This first version of Apple’s deluxe suite of pro applications included:
- Final Cut Pro 5,
- Motion 2,
- DVD Studio Pro 4, and
- Soundtrack Pro, a then-new application that Apple introduced that day.
On March 30, 2006, Apple updated Final Cut Studio as a Universal binary in light of the Mac’s transition from PowerPC to Intel processors. Final Cut Studio did see a few major updates. On April 15, 2007, Apple unveiled Final Cut Studio 2, and on July 23, 2009, Apple announced the next major release of Final Cut Studio.
It wasn’t until June 21, 2011, that Apple debuted Final Cut Pro X, which was entirely built from the ground up. With that announcement, Apple discontinued Final Cut Studio alongside Final Cut Express, which was Apple’s ‘stripped-down’ version of Final Cut Pro. As the industry moved from boxed software to digital downloads, Apple followed suit by stopping distributing physical boxes that packaged the Final Cut Studio software, and going forward, Apple distributed Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor in its Mac App Store. That also saw the demise of DVD Studio Pro. Interesting, as we mentioned in our previous article, at some point, Apple did offer a “Pro Apps Bundle for Education”, which was a similar bundle that included Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage.
Do you know what the original price of Apple’s Final Cut Studio bundle was? It originally retailed for $1,299 (USD). Not counting inflation, that would be ten years’ worth of today’s Apple Creator Studio if users select the regular yearly plan ($129/year).
[Doing the math: $129/year ✕ 10 years = $1,290 total]
Since Final Cut Studio was a one-time purchase, that technically meant users who purchased the bundle could keep it forever; however, as you could tell, Apple no longer supports any of the old versions of those applications in the bundle. On the other hand, while paying yearly for Apple Creator Studio would be much cheaper than buying it outright, you still don’t own all of those features at the end of the ten-year period. So really, there are now both pros/cons between one-time purchases and recurring subscriptions.
Still, I’d consider Apple Creator Studio as the spiritual successor to Final Cut Studio, as it paid a nod to the past. I gotta give kudos to @TheComputerClan for making that reference.
What do you think, do you still prefer subscriptions or one-time purchases? Sound off in the comments below.
