Edible Apple

Apple this June created quite a stir when it revamped Final Cut Pro and took away a long list of features professional editors had grown accustomed to. Despite a cheaper pricepoint – thanks to its availability as a download via the Mac App Store – FCP X was criticized by many for sacrificing professional features in an effort to appeal to a broader audience.

Daniel Jalkut aptly summed things up when he explained that “Apple will happily piss off 5,000 professionals to please 5,000,000 amateurs.”

In the wake of the FCP X release, Apple published an FAQ addressing a litany of complaints while also taking to the New York Times to address certain usability issues professional editors were concerned with. All the while, Apple explained that FCP updates would be coming fast and furious and that they were listening intently to customer feedback.

Now, about three months later, Apple has finally issued its first update to FCP X. What’s more, Apple today put up a demo version of the app enabling users to try out FCP X for 30 days.

Jim Dalrymple writes about the update for The Loop:

“We got a lot of feedback from our professional users,” Richard Townhill, Apple’s senior director applications marketing, told The Loop. “We listened to the pros and have taken their top feature requests and put them in this update.”

Final Cut Pro now has Xsan support, which includes projects and events. With Xsan support, users can access the same source media while creating separate projects on the SAN. Of course, this means that users can edit from any system attached to the SAN.

The new version also includes support for Rich XML import and export. XML interchange gives users access to third-party workflows like high-end visual effects, color grading and media asset management. This includes products like Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve and Square Box System’s CatDV.

You can read more about some of the new changes in FCP X over here on Apple’s website.