An interesting Adobe rumor

Think Secret reports, if that’s what you call what a rumor site does, that Adobe is planning to release a Mac version of Production Studio 2 sometime during the second half of 2007.

This would mean that not only is Premiere returning to the Mac, but Encore’s DVD authoring and Audition’s audio sweetening and mixing would be ported as well. On the After Effects mailing list, Chris Meyer cited that the time is right for Adobe to strike. Adobe would be entering Apple’s new hardware cycle early, and would be able to market against Apple effectively as Apple now only sells Final Cut Pro as part of a suite of tools. (Although I can’t imagine any getting too worked up over having to buy Motion, DVD Studio Pro, and Soundtrack for only $300 over the previous stand alone price of FCP.)

I think it’s a great idea. Adobe’s in the perfect position to go toe to toe with Apple. The Production Studio Premium currently sells for $1,699. That’s only $400 more than the Final Cut Pro Studio. For that $400 the customer gets full versions of Photoshop and Illustrator. FCP offers not paint or illustration options.

Some comparisons of the remaining tools in the bundles…

Final Cut Pro vs. Premiere Pro: I personally think Adobe blew it with the professional community by failing to drop the Premiere name when it released Premiere Pro 1.0. It’s a great name, but it had baggage – enough to keep it off a Cape Air flight. As an NLE it’s very, very good. I can pretty much do anything Final Cut Pro can, though FCP’s media management is superior. Team Premiere Pro with Matrox’s Axio hardware and you’ve got a kickin’ system. If this rumor is true, editors should hope Matrox goes along for the ride.

DVD Studio Pro vs. Encore: I can’t comment on this intelligently because my DVD authoring requirements are so basic that anything more sophisticated than iDVD works for me. I have to say I like Adobe’s menu templates better, but I’ll defer to Philip Hodgetts of the Digital Production Buzz. He prefers DVD Studio Pro and believes it’s an all-around superior authoring environment.

Motion vs. After Effects: If you have to ask you probably don’t give a lick about motion graphics anyway. With the release of After Effects 7, Adobe trumped the one advantage Motion previously had – a bunch of pre-built motion graphic templates for the motion graphics challenged. Adobe’s templates are more professional looking, easier to edit, and they reside in the vastly superior application. Even After Effect’s standard version (as opposed to the professional version) towers over Motion.

Soundtrack vs. Audition: It’s not even close. Advantage Audition. In fact, Premiere Pro’s built-in audio functionality compares favorably with Soundtrack. Neither’s a ProTools, but Audition is catching up.

And did I mention you get Photoshop and Illustrator? The Production Studio on Windows XP stands up pretty darn well to Apple’s offerings. Put it on OS X and Apple’s going to be feeling the squeeze.

Of course it’s just a rumor, but several Adobe people have asked me what I thought about Apple selling FCP only as part of a bundle. This tells me the video folks never completely took their eye off the Apple video market, and that is a good thing.