Any Limitations on getting FCP X on App Store vs. Traditional DVD?

[Craig Seeman]

I haven’t even been able to download it until I replace my GPU but there are some things I think I grasp.

It’s tied to your Apple ID.
You can move the program around I believe and register on a new computer using your Apple ID so you don’t have to keep downloading it (but you can).
I’m not sure how you can sell it since there’s no serial number to sell. I don’t think you’ll want to sell your Apple ID.

[Chris Kenny]

You can’t resell App Store apps, but backing them up and moving them between systems is no problem. Not that you really need to back up; you can just re-download from the App Store for free at any time. In fact, you can install on a new system by just logging into your App Store account and downloading there.

The copy protection is super low-key. You can install an App Store app on any number of systems authorized on your iTunes account. With pro apps like Final Cut you’re required to buy one copy per user or per multiuser system (so for instance, you can use your personal copy on a laptop and desktop, but in a facility each edit bay should have a separate copy purchased for it), but this appears to be on the honor system, so you’re not going to have some issue in the future where you can’t run software you’ve paid for because the copy protection system has gotten cranky.

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[Jamie Franklin]

[Chris Kenny] “you can use your personal copy on a laptop and desktop”

Nice! Good to know

[Pj Palomaki]

[Chris Kenny] “The copy protection is super low-key. You can install an App Store app on any number of systems authorized on your iTunes account. With pro apps like Final Cut you’re required to buy one copy per user or per multiuser system (so for instance, you can use your personal copy on a laptop and desktop, but in a facility each edit bay should have a separate copy purchased for it), but this appears to be on the honor system, so you’re not going to have some issue in the future where you can’t run software you’ve paid for because the copy protection system has gotten cranky.”

So how does this work in practice? If you have, let’s say 5 editing stations, would you have to have 5 Apple IDs and each have FCPX purchased? Or is there a way to say “I want to be able to run 5 copies of FCPX on this Apple ID” and then use the same Apple ID? How is the usage limited in the software – the same as old FCP where it gives “Protection Error” and quits if more than one copy is running?

And would this all apply to Motion 5 & Compressor 4 as well?

Would really appreciate an answer!

Thanks,
PJ

[Craig Seeman]

I believe you can download once and copy to other machines and then authorize by logging into the Apple ID that purchased on each machine. Of course the ideal would be if Apple did with FCPX what they’re supposedly going to do with Lion.

[Pj Palomaki]

Ok, but this haven’t been tested yet?

Also the bigger question is what will happen if you run a copy on two or more machines? Will it only let it run on one as the old FCS did?

[Craig Seeman]

I believe I’ve read that people have already tested all this and it works. One download, authorized on multiple machines and working simultaneously. Buried in the legion of posts on this forum there are a couple of folks who’ve said they’ve done this. I wish I could point them out to you but the subjects in this forum often veer off into useful information impossible to find.

[Pj Palomaki]

On the Motion forum, Alan McCormick tested this with Motion 5 using a MacBook Pro and Mac Pro (both running Motion 5 at the same time with the same Apple ID) and it worked fine without receiving any messages or issues. I’m still checking that they were both on the same network when he tested this.

I hope this works on more than two computers on same network and above all – Apple doesn’t change this in consequent updates!