The Hotly Anticipated New Version Is Available Now for Just Under $300 Online

Apple this morning finally gave Final Cut devotees what they’ve been waiting for since April and officially released Final Cut Pro X, the revamped new version of its twelve-year-old editing software program. Final Cut Pro X is available now in Apple’s Mac App Store for $299.99.
Built for Apple’s latest 64-bit MackBook Pros and iMacs, FCP X joins a growing number of NLEs engineered for full 64-bit compatibility, including Sony Vegas and, more recently, Adobe Premiere Pro. Avid has not yet made that leap, but word on the street is that Media Composer 5.5 will be the last 32-bit version Avid will release.

Several banner FCP X features, such as the Magnetic Timeline, have tremendous potential for streamlining edits and appear to be intuitive from the outset. According to Apple’s release today, this and other new features like background rendering, comparing multiple takes of the same shot in real time, and analyzing and metadata tagging content on the fly are being endorsed by some of the industry’s top talent, including Academy Award-winner Angus Wall, co-editor with Kirk Baxter of The Social Network.

Since its official announcement at the Final Cut Pro SuperMeet at NAB back in April, FCPX has also attracted its share of controversy. The move to introduce the new software to its most faithful users backfired when, days before the annual SuperMeet, Apple’s FCP marketing team replaced the event’s other presenters and reserved the entire program for a demo of the new software.

Some users have also voiced concerns that the new timeline, however intuitive, feels as if it was lifted directly out of iMovie, Apple’s consumer-level editing app that ships on all of its computers. (Apple’s Chief video architect, Randy Ubillos, is the connective link here.) Other existing FCP users have questioned Apple’s decision to make Compressor a separate application.

But given Final Cut Pro X’s affordable price, Apple is obviously hoping to reach a much wider group of new users who have grown up using iMovie. And the software’s advantages for current pro users, once transitioned to the new interface, should make themselves clear enough if the features deliver the flow, and the speed, they are promising.

(Note: StudioDaily will be getting an in-depth look at Final Cut Pro X this Thursday and will post more details at that time.)