Filed under: iLife, Software, Apple, Universal Binary
iLife '09 begins move to Intel-only mainstream software from Apple
Our friends over at Ars have discovered a potentially foreboding sign concerning the recently shipping iLife '09. Apparently, GarageBand's new Learn to Play feature, in which various recording artists talk about their songs and "teach" you to play them, will not run on PowerPC Macs.In the very fine print of the System Requirements section of the iLife '09 page at the Apple online store you'll find: "GarageBand Learn to Play requires an Intel-based Mac with a dual-core processor or better." One can't help but suspect that this is the start of more of the same to come. When the architecture switch was first announced Apple went out of their way to extol the virtues of Universal binaries. But it was only a matter of time before even consumer software went in this direction. it's yet another sign that Apple sees the PPC Macs as rapidly heading for obsolescence.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
vandil said 10:11AM on 2-04-2009
I wonder if this is a software-setting limitation.
iMovie '08 officially required a G5 or an Intel processor. However if you copy the iLife '08 installer package to your desktop, you can modify the installer's preferences to skip the hardware check, install the full suite, and install a small patch to get iMovie '08 running on a G4.
I wonder if the same will happen for these music lessons.
I know some people out there with Quad G5s that would be pretty pissed if they got lumped in with the slower single/dual processor PPC systems.
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brian said 11:29AM on 2-04-2009
I could never run iMovie '08 on my ex-PowerBook G4. Why would need a patch?? C'mon people its 2009, time to get rid of your obsolete 2003-2004 Macs!
Either way iLife'09 does not seem to be anything revolutionary....Be happy with your iLfe '08.
http://www.livbit.com
vandil said 5:43AM on 2-05-2009
And it appears the same hack works to make iMovie '09 work on a G4.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090130074400511
Alex said 9:47AM on 2-05-2009
@ Brian
My car is a 2004 BMW X5 with 38,000 miles and runs absolutely perfectly. Based on your logic, should I ditch it because it's not current? C'mon... your response seems silly.
ack154 said 10:27AM on 2-04-2009
I saw a PowerMac G5 on craigslist just yesterday or the day before for a decent price and this is kind of the reason I'm not really interested in it. I'd like to have a Mac tower at some point, but no point in going with the G5 if they're not going to run the future stuff.
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michas_pi said 10:36AM on 2-04-2009
My iMac G5 is a sad panda.
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Johnny said 10:37AM on 2-04-2009
Back when they announced the transition to Intel, I'm pretty sure Steve said the transition would be complete by then end of 2008. It's 2009 now, so I guess it's about that time.
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rhinosaur75 said 10:53AM on 2-04-2009
My first gen Intel iMac with a Duo Core (not Dual-Core) also refuses to play the lessons. I'm a little bummed - I had bought an M-Audio USB/Midi keyboard to go with the new Garageband. Guess it's time to start saving for that new iMac. :(
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niko said 11:16AM on 2-04-2009
your first-gen Intel iMac is a Core Duo and therefore has two cores. Dual Core = two cores = Core Duo. The Core 2 Duo's were just improved Core Duos... Better power management, more efficient processing, etc. that made them a solid replacement for the original Core Duo.
Check again, it should work for you, your computer fulfills the requirements... well, hopefully you have enough RAM, too.
Bizzle said 11:22AM on 2-04-2009
Your mac is Dual Core. All Intel iMacs are dual core. You may be thinking of a Core 2 Duo, which is the 2nd generation of the Dual Core processor named Core Duo.
Eric said 11:40AM on 2-04-2009
The only non-dual core Intel Mac I can think of is the first-generation, low-end Mac mini. That had a Core Solo.
mabhatter said 12:05PM on 2-04-2009
The thing that will bite many early macbook and macbook pro owners is that little number "2". Core Duo is a dual core 32 bit only chip. Core 2 Duo is a fully 64 bit chip. The Java 6 update a few months back already made that distinction. It would only run on G5 and C2D macs, not G4 or CD macs...
"Intel Mac" isn't enough... it has to be Core "2" Duo to be fully supported for the future.
iGO said 12:20PM on 2-04-2009
ALL Lessons work perfectly on my son's 20" Core Duo iMac, with 2GM Ram, without any performance issues whatsoever.
Try again
rhinosaur75 said 5:59PM on 2-04-2009
I'll give it another go - Garageband unexpectedly quits whenever I try to run one of the lessons - reading the fine print I had assumed it was semantics (my Core Duo vs. Core 2 Duo - the main difference aside from ghz being the L2 cache). I realize they both have 2 cores - but the first "technically" doesn't fit the specs. Maybe the new update will help. BTW - I have 2GB of RAM and plenty of HD space. And have been running Garageband without any other apps open. Thanks for the comments.
K. Meyers said 10:55AM on 2-04-2009
I believe I previously noticed an iTunes requirement for Intel processors only when attenpting to view purchased HD TV shows. I would assume these training videos may be in HD also and thus the same requirement applies. On my dual G5, I have had no problem purchasing and viewing the iTunes HD content, but I hear the training option in Garage Band is all-out disabled unless you have an Intel Processor. As a work-around, the videos can be viewed directly from the "/Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Learn to Play/Lessons/" folder. Sad to see the training option disabled directly from the application.
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Jim C. said 11:20AM on 2-04-2009
Interesting. I wasn't even aware of the iTunes Intel-only requirement for HD shows (and for the record, I haven't yet looked to see if it's actually there). However, just this past week my wife purchased an episode of "Lost," (which gives you both the SD and HD versions) and downloaded without any problem.
Sadly, HD playback was a bit too much for the aging 867MHz 12" PowerBook, and it kept stuttering along the way. However, nothing actually prevented the system from attempting playback.
Hammer said 10:58AM on 2-04-2009
It's not really that surprising (especially as it was pointed out in Ballmer's keynote). Third-party developers seem to have been releasing less and less universal binaries in the last year, instead going with Intel only products.
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Christina Warren said 11:09AM on 2-04-2009
And Snow Leopard is NOT going to be PPC compatible (they said it at WWDC, I heard Bertrand Serlet confirm it to an Expo goer at the Delicious Monster booth at Macworld '09). They aren't cutting PPC users off at the knees, they just aren't going to make sure all the software from this point forward is both PPC and Intel compatible.
It sucks for the last revision G5 tower users, because they were sold a "supercomputer" and didn't really get the software commitment they probably expected (if I had a quad-G5, I'd be annoyed). Then again, we're heading on nearly four years since the last Power Mac update (I know they were sold until, what, August '06 but the last update to the line came sometime in 2005), performance specs on the Intel machines are fantastic and existing owners still have systems that run well on good software, even if it won't run all the latest and greatest apps.
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niko said 11:31AM on 2-04-2009
how is the fact that Snow Leopard not being made for PPC NOT cutting PPC users off at the knees? I'd kill to have my 12" PBG4 running that newly streamlined OS. Leopard just destroys it (well, sort of). Snow Leopard would at least give you a better experience than Leopard did because of all the performance enhancements, and nothing shows software speed improvements better than a slow piece of hardware.
It's cutting off at the knees in the worst way, simply because there's no way to get the PPC version of the software... at least before when a computer was no longer "supported" as part of the OS update, we had XPostFacto and other gems that at least let you to be capable of getting it up and running. Removing the code for PPC is a death blow.
I would love for 10.6 to be the last version released for the PPC, but it's just not meant to be.
/cry
Christina Warren said 1:24PM on 2-04-2009
Well that's assuming that you would see the improvements in Snow Leopard on a PPC. Other than whatever minor visual changes appear, the backend stuff is optimized for Intel (and Intel 64-bit, so Intel Core Duo machines are likely SOL) machines, so even if it was a Universal Binary, it is very likely PPC machines wouldn't see any improvement. At last from what I've been able to gather.