With a US$250 price difference (not including other bundled apps), it's understandable that recent purchasers of the standalone Soundtrack may be kicking themselves with Apple's announcement today of Garage Band. But there are important differences between the apps and their markets. Let's compare:

Soundtrack:
- Geared at pro, video markets
- Video editing
- Frame markers for scoring
- 24 bit / 96 KHz (unconfirmed in Garage Band)
- 4,000 loops (instead of 1,000!)
- $299 separately, free with Final Cut Pro

Garage Band:
- Geared at home, musicians (no video!), integration with iLife suite -- video export, no video import
- Guitar amps (also useful for home musician)
- MIDI support, software instruments (and anyone who bought Soundtrack WITHOUT this may have been making a mistake anyway!)
- $49 with iLife, free with new Mac

It's great to see Apple reaching out to entry-level users, and with a tool that's likely to be a value for pros, too -- just as Soundtrack found its way into pro studios, and not just movie producers looking to save money by not hiring a musician! There are a lot of questions left to answer about the new software, but in the meantime, kudos to Apple for recognizing, unlike the mass media, that computer music isn't just about listening: it's about music-making for the masses, too. What do you think? Sound off by hitting the feedback link and let us know what you've been able to dig up. (And if you're a Soundtrack user, by all means, weigh in!)

Ask Blinkbits BlinkList Blogmarks Bluedot Connotea Del.icio.us Digg

Diigo Dzone Facebook Fark Google Bookmarks Ma.gnolia Netscape Newsvine

Rawsugar reddit Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Smarking Spurl Squidoo

StumbleUpon SWiK Tailrank Technorati Windows Live Wists Yahoo! My Web