Mac App Store musings

[icedsushi]

I don't really get it, so how about apps you've already bought for iPhone. There's some apps in there that seem the same to have the same content as the iPhone version. iReal Book for example.

Can you get a duplicate to run on your mac or you've got to buy it all over again?

[beats me]

I don't really get it, so how about apps you've already bought for iPhone. Can you get a duplicate to run on your mac or you've got to buy it all over again?

Two different things. The iTunes app store is for idevice apps. The Mac App Store is for Apple computer software.

[icedsushi]

Well, yeah I get that but there is & will be a grey area where there are some apps that work the same on both platforms. iReal book probably has all the same songs on both the iPhone & in the full app. It's basically the same thing but on a bigger screen.

I guess the answer is yes, you need to buy it again if you want to run it on your Mac, even if it's almost the same thing. They should at least give a discount for buying both versions...

[icedsushi]

It seems as both App Store & iTunes App Store already detect what's already installed on your computer. Wouldn't be that hard to make a discount automatically apply if you've already got one of the versions installed.

[beats me]

It seems as both App Store & iTunes App Store already detect what's already installed on your computer. Wouldn't be that hard to make a discount automatically apply if you've already got one of the versions installed.

I don't know if that will happen and it may be Apple putting something in the way. There were already situations where a developer would make an iPhone version of an app and a separate iPad version and you have pay for both separately and there's no discount if you own the other.

But with the Mac App store I have read about some situations where there is a Mac app that you can use together with an idevice app and one of the two is free and the other you have to pay for.

[icedsushi]

Oh, ok well it's still only a day or 2 old & there's not a whole lot off apps on there yet. It will be interesting to see how that situation pans out.

[LoopStationZebra]

Indeed. No doubt many developers are going to start making Universal versions of their apps - for all devices. It's financially silly at this point for someone to not do that....

[beats me]

I'm proud to say after less than 24 hours I've determined for me the Mac App store, although extremely useful, will not be the money pit that the idevice app store is and will continue to be. I will not be lustfully trolling it in search of anything that catches my fancy. It will be more about having a specific need in mind and then looking for it.

So far all I got:

SoundCloud - iTunes-like interface for SoundCloud

Chopper 2 - flight simulator game you can use the iPhone to control, and I already had the iPhone and iPad versions so why not have the trilogy. Also if you just have the iPhone and the iPad version you can also use the iPhone as a controller for playing the iPad version.

Pixelmator - great inexpensive alternative to Photoshop, or at least has all the same features I used when I had Photoshop back in the day. It's been on my "buy" list for quite some time, but now that it's a single click app purchase, done and done. I think they also cut the price in half, about $30. (COMPLAINT: Once you buy apps it no longer displays the price on the interface and replaces it with "Installed", great for letting you know you already have it but sucks when you want to know or share the price with others. )

And those are the only apps I really see myself interested in at the moment and no need to browse for more, although I'm sure at some point I'll buy the individual apps of iLife (Garage Band, iMovie, iPhoto) at $15 a pop.

And BEST OF ALL I can go to my Mac Mini and on the App Store on there it will show all the apps I bought on my MBP and I can single click install all of them. Also there's no 5 computer limitation like there is with iTunes. All the computers just have to be using the same Apple ID.

Overall, A. Again.

[beats me]

Another cool FREE app: Caffeine. It puts a little coffee cup icon on your menu bar and you click it on when you don't want your computer to fall asleep, dim the screen, or turn on your screen saver. Cool for when you are streaming something and the damn Mac can't figure that out for itself and just passes out mid stream.

Another great looking app with potential is Compartments. It's for inventorying your shit for insurance of whatever and organizes it by rooms in your crib and for each item you can attach a picture, value, warranty information, and notes. A couple people complained you can only attach 1 photo so it's not cool if you want to attach multiple angles or a scan of the receipt. My biggest issue is there isn't a companion iPhone app. You'd think it's pretty damn obvious if you're going to make an inventory of your shit with pictures it would be ideal to run around your room and take pictures of each item and sync it with the program from your phone....but no. Maybe they'll fix all that with some updates cause it sure beats the hell out of making a spreadsheet.

[liveISlife]

$20 for bejeweled?! Reminds me of the price inflation for PBR.

[beats me]

$20 for bejeweled?! Reminds me of the price inflation for PBR.

Even in idevice app land I've found some prices purely based on name recognition to be stupid when you consider what the devices are capable of. Why anybody would pay more than $1 for an emulator of Pac Man is beyond me and yet developers are charging $4 and up.

Of course when the icade sees the light of day that might make a slightly higher priced classic game worth it.

[rikhyray]

My ears (and mind) are grateful for Timeout, another free app that might be useful is Evernote. I use iphone for examining my mixes while on the move and always make notes - corrections, ideas, etc- might start using Evernote instead of plain notes.

[beats me]

Just got a handy little app called PinPoint. It puts a graphic around your pointer so it's easier to spot, great for me because I run dual monitors on my main set up and more importantly on my Mini I have hooked up to a projector I have the keyboard and mouse right below the wall it's showing on so it's really difficult some times to find the pointer when looking straight up at a massive display. The graphic has the usual circle you see in tutorial videos but also has a bunch of other options, some animated.

Some more cool features:

-use a color wheel to choose the color of the graphic

-if it's animated set the speed

-set the transparency level of the graphic

-and my favorite, set it to display only when you are moving the mouse along with a delay rate on how quickly it disappears after you stop moving the mouse.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinpoint ... 5505?mt=12

$2 well spent.

[beats me]

So, Apple reinvented the Internet? But all connected with one interface...like Steam? What's cool about this?

Assuming you may have a lot of music related software on your computer. Imagine if all those purchases by different developers were made from one application where you could redownload those purchases to any computer you have from that application and more importantly all updates would also be available from that one application.

This is as opposed to using any number methods tracking down updates depending on the developer and using whatever convoluted method they may impose to prove you should have access to the update.

Also all those purchases are made with a single click and tied to one account.

THAT is what is cool.

[beats me]

So, Apple reinvented the Internet? But all connected with one interface...like Steam? What's cool about this?

Assuming you may have a lot of music related software on your computer. Imagine if all those purchases by different developers were made from one application where you could redownload those purchases to any computer you have from that application and more importantly all updates would also be available from that one application.

This is as opposed to using any number methods tracking down updates depending on the developer and using whatever convoluted method they may impose to prove you should have access to the update.

Also all those purchases are made with a single click and tied to one account.

THAT is what is cool.

So...Steam? They've been doing that since 2003.

I haven't used Steam. Does Steam cover every type of application out there? I've only heard Steam in reference to games, so I don't know.