The Biography of a Once-Popular Program

Back in the days before iTunes, the guys at Panic Software created the best music player for the Mac: Audion. But now, with iTunes ruling the digital music arena, Audion is bowing out, and heading off to the digital sunrise.

But the developers of Audion are not whining or ranting, as other developers have done when Apple products have “copied” them or overtaken them.

Cabel Sasser, the co-founder of Panic, has written The True Story of Audion, an interesting, though sometimes disjointed biography of this program that was once the most innovative music player on the Mac, and that was big in Japan as well!

This is a good read for many reasons: it tells how the software was imagined, developed and how it progressed. But it also shows clearly how software development depends on competition and how what is big one day will be retired another.

The guys at Panic nevertheless continue making great software, such as Transmit, their FTP program which has one of the best and simplest interfaces for any such tool.

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