Shake 4 - Should i bother?

[vict0r]

Hi!
I've just been accepted at a college in norway, and i'm taking the "media" classes. (movies, music, animations etc..) I've already decided to get a macbook for my studies, because i heard mac is what you should have when working with films and music and such.
But a couple of days ago, i got a mail from apple where they announce their new software, shake 4.

Looking at the site, and different reviews and such, i find the software irresistible. And the price isn't too bad either,($499.00) for a software like this. But is it worth it?
If anyone have any experience with the program, or anyone have any opinions, it would be nice if you could let me know what you think. Is it hard to work with? Too advanced for a 16-year old?

Yours truly - vict0r

[ildu]

The link doesn't work. Here's a better one:

http://www.apple.com/shake/

So it's a video/image editing application? Well, the whole PC-Mac conflict has been over for years. In almost every field the best applications are available for both systems and there's really no difference in using them. I don't want to get into a PC-Mac debate, but I tend to like PC's more since they are a hell of a lot cheaper and you have more control over your system. And having used both systems for media work, I can't really tell the difference, except for the Mac being more difficult to customize to my liking. I do admit that Mac's are fancier in a way .

So that's all for the whole system conflict. As for this software, what exactly would you need it for? Sure it might be affordable compared to the leading and pretty much best products from Adobe, but that's still quite a bundle for something you may not end up using. If it has any specific benefits that some 'experts' swear by, it probably won't be beneficial to an amateur or intermediate user.

What I think you should do is wait until your school starts. Buy your macbook or whatever, but don't buy the software yet. One great thing about being in a media university is having loads of the best applications readily available. It's also very possible that you can get teacher-student licenses for most of these applications, which will cost you like 10x less than the original, or in many cases nothing at all. So when your school starts, ask about what programs they use there and what licenses they have. School's are required by law to pay license fees for each piece of software for each computer. So that's why they have these bundle licenses, which often extend to students. Also, you'll probably be spending quite a lot of time at the school, so I really don't think you'd need any applications at home, and perhaps not even a computer. Most of my schoolmates survive by doing all their media school work at school and doing their reports and such at home. You're gonna have a lot of empty time to do stuff like that, too.

Also, by buying some new and obscure software, you may end up with a few compatibility issues. While you and your schoolmates are doing all your media at school on Photoshop, Premiere, After-Effects, 3DSMax, etc., you'll be shaking it up at home with something different. But again, what exactly do you need it for?

[biothlebop]

I would not purchase it (unless it were essential to the curriculum, which I doubt).