Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Apple
Why isn't Photo Booth free?
I
inevitably ended up playing around with Photo Booth for a while. As much as I wanted to hate it as a frivolous bit of
code on my new iMac, I have to agree with
Scott. It's a cool little app.I also have to ask... why doesn't Apple release this for everyone? I mean, it's not a part of iLife (nor is Front Row). Why is Apple only offering these programs with new hardware? I'd think giving them away for free would be good karma for Apple.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michael Boutros said 4:38PM on 1-18-2006
I was at the Apple Store a few days ago for a Mac Genius appointment, and I got so caught up in Photo Booth I almost lost track of time!
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Tom said 4:41PM on 1-18-2006
Main reason:
New hardware has integrated camera.
I have a G4 iMac (Lamp) which has no built in camera.
This product (besides iChat AV) shows off the included hardware.
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Dave Thomson said 4:43PM on 1-18-2006
I agree - why can't I download this for use with my iSight? My mac can run it, I have purchased 10.4, so why isn't this available to me?
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Alex said 4:55PM on 1-18-2006
In Response to Tom, photobooth works with the standard iSight. I have successfuly tested it on a G4 PowerBook, G4 iBook, and G4 MDD Powermac. I unsuccessfully tested it on a G4 sawtooth.
Granted, it isn't nearly as snappy as on the iMacs, the frame rate is maybe 5 fps on all of those machines, but for a fun little app it's not a big deal. I definately think apple should release it as either a separate download, or include it in 10.4.5.
There are already plenty of little apps that don't use on my macs because they don't have the necessary hardware (airport admin utility, iDVD come to mind) and to add one more would not be out of place.
As for front row, I don't understand why they don't include a USB IR adapter with the Apple Remote and a disc with front row on it. They already have a USB modem, one more peripheral won't hurt.
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Philip Liu said 4:59PM on 1-18-2006
There is an unofficial version floating around the internet. Apple must know about the site but as far as I can tell, it's done nothing to cause the owner to "cease and desist".
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Sam said 5:01PM on 1-18-2006
1. Because the new iMacs / MacBook Pro have screens that *flash* when you take pictures with Photo Booth.
2. While Photo Booth isn't a huge selling point, it's still one of those "small new feature" that makes iMac and MacBook Pro more special than the other macs.
By the way, did anyone download Photo Booth from a torrent site and try it with their iSight? Did it work?
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dave said 5:03PM on 1-18-2006
I love Apple, but I don't think they believe in Karma(TM). These days, it's the bottom line or bust :)
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dave said 5:05PM on 1-18-2006
Sam, I believe that "flash" you refer to is nothing more than a simple software trick. It has nothing to do with the LCD display itself.
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Paul said 5:06PM on 1-18-2006
You should try an app called toysight, its like the itoy for PS2. pretty cool for parties...
http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2003/12/toysight/
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Kurt Williams said 5:09PM on 1-18-2006
Yes, PhotoBooth works great with my iSight and 1.67ghz 15" PowerBook G4. I would say that it works just as well as PhotoBooth I've tested on iMac G5s and yes, the screen flashes just like it does on the iMac.
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Shane said 5:19PM on 1-18-2006
I would love to have a copy of this for my iMac G5 (sans iSight). It might even ENCOURAGE me to buy an iSight. (God knows iChat AV doesn't encourage me to do that).
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Rob Knight said 5:21PM on 1-18-2006
A word of caution: You video card must support "Tiger Core" graphics. Probably not a big deal for most people, but I have an ATi Rage Pro 128 from 2001 with 16MB of video RAM and Photo Booth (internet version) does not open.
Same for Front Row. It works on my video card, but the text in the menus is upside down and when my screen fades into the background, it is just a white box, not my actual desktop. That said, I love watching movie trailers with it.
And the blinking screen in Photo Booth is done with the software.
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ijw said 5:22PM on 1-18-2006
Technical reason: newer machines ship with video cards supported by Core Image, the technology that enables those groovy effects. If you downloaded Photobooth and ran it on a non-Core-Image-happy Mac, it'd be slow as molasses. You wouldn't have a great user experience, and you'd complain that it was crap. Providing it with external iSights doesn't help either, as it's the video card in the computer that matters.
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ezy said 5:33PM on 1-18-2006
works with a usb cam on my ibook too
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Nathan said 5:39PM on 1-18-2006
I think the reason is that Photo Booth is not so much a program for users, but more of a in-store tech demo to grab attention. I can see PB getting old quite quickly once the novelty has worn off, but it is very popular on demo machines in stores.
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jimmie geddes said 6:27PM on 1-18-2006
I want to see the video podcast of the imac review!!!!
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Natrino said 6:33PM on 1-18-2006
I am surprised it doesn't ship with iSights. I had never thought of the Core Image involvement, though.
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Dominik Wagner said 6:35PM on 1-18-2006
If you ever played with PhotoBooth on older hardware (and by that I mean iMac G5 and PowerBook G4 Alu) you understand why it isn't downloadable. The performance is abysmal, as PhotoBooth relies on Quartz Composer and core video, both of which need very recent graphics cards. It's just no fun on the other machines.
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Rmpmw said 9:17PM on 1-18-2006
I using the internet versions of Photobooth & Front Row
on my 2005 iMac G5 And Both work great!
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Chris Clark said 11:34PM on 1-18-2006
Dominik Wagner nailed it: both apps run like crap on G4s, and run even worse on machines with video cards below spec. Making them freely available would only draw the ire of a million people with slightly-too-old computers.
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