The True Story of Audion
- November 16, 2004
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I remember in the days before OS X, trying to decide on an MP3 player for OS 9. There were really only three options: MacAMP, SoundJam and Audion. I settled on Audion, which was made by a cool, little software company called Panic. Out of the three, it seemed to have the most features and sounded the best. Plus it had cool, customizeable faces.
Of course, when iTunes (which was SoundJam reinvented) came out, everything changed. It didn’t have all the features of Audion, but what it did, it did superbly. I never looked back after switching to iTunes.
Now the guys at Panic have decided to “retire” Audion. To celebrate it’s long and interesting life, they’ve put up The True Story of Audion, a lengthy but excellent account of Audion’s life. I didn’t know how close Audion was to becoming the base for iTunes, but it was very close. There are all kinds of funny bits of information scattered throughout, and if you’re a Mac (or Panic) fan, then it’s a must read.
Panic isn’t going out of business though. They’ve still got a couple apps out in the wild and others are planned. I use their excellent FTP app called Transmit all the time. It’s exciting to read they’ve got big plans for it. And even though they’ve “retired” Audion, they will still let users download and use it for free. There just won’t be any support.