Garage Band
Returning to the audio innovation that distinguished the original Macintosh, which actually introduced itself to audiences with synthesized speech, Jobs announced the highlight of iLife '04: a fifth application named Garage Band.
Jobs says Garage Band is "a major new pro music tool, but it's for everyone." Citing research that found more than half of all households have at least one current musician, he sees a huge market here.
Garage Band can record, live, up to 64 tracks and features 50 software instruments (playable via USB or MIDI keyboard), 1000 professional audio loops, 200 audio effects and both "vintage and modern" guitar amp simulators.
Other features let you jam along with the system, varying tempo and styles, and building compositions piece by piece, as Jobs demonstrated with the able assistance of talented young musician John Mayer. And then you can drop the music into your iPod.