Should Quicktime Pro be free?

I've always thought that the features that come when you pay $30 should be free (saving web movies, encoding, basic editing, etc). Granted, it's not much money, but people all over the internet are speaking ill of Quicktime from what I've seen. I am a Pro user and I really don't think Apple would lose much money from just making one, all-capable version of Quicktime (extra and 3rd party plug-ins would cost more like it is now). But if Quicktime had the features and abilities of Pro to everyone, I think Quicktime would start regaining favor amongst more people, especially Windows users. I'd rather see everyone using Quicktime than WMV or (god fobid) Realplayer. Another good thing to do would be to make it easier to download Quicktime without iTunes on the Windows side. I don't blame anyone who hates iTunes.

What are your thoughts on this mildly controversial subject?

I agree. Although I am also a pro user and don't mind paying the $30 I think Quicktime and Apple would benefit from making the full version free.

The only thing I thought should have been free was full screen view and now it is, so I'm happy. When you think about it, it was kind of dumb since you could just add the video into iTunes and watch it full screen anyway.

Well, I paid for the pro version for the video editting capabilities mainly but was happy with the free version for a while. I feel that having just the one version would bundle unneccessary, advanced tools which might just clutter the application if you didn't need or use them. I didn't mind paying $20 or whatever to get the pro version at all, it's a good application.

I always felt that Quicktime pro should be part of iLife for sure. Then essentially it would be free if iLife on every new Mac. I agree it should be free..

i kind of agree with the last post, not so much a part of iLife, but i think when you purchase a new mac, you should get the latest version of quicktime pro. and if else, it would be 30$

I don't think it's that controversial, and not sure why you threw in iTunes at the end, which is a completely different application.

Apple is following the same business model as virtually everyone else here. You can download Quicktime free, or if you have a Mac it installs as part of the OS.

Think about DivX, it's 'free', for watching movies. But if you want to encode or edit, or download streaming DivX you have to pay. What about Flash? Again, a free plugin, pay to encode. PDFs? Same. xVid? Same.

So why should Apple give this away for free?

Good point.... if you want to extend what you know about it, it's worth purchasing if you edit... As Zoolook said... you can download the Acrobat Reader for free, but if you're a designer (like I am) being able to edit a PDF is crucial... so we must pay to get those extended capabilities...

I have Quicktime Pro as well and didn't mind the $30... beats paying $100 or more!

not sure why you threw in iTunes at the end, which is a completely different application.

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Many Windows users complained that they could not download Quicktime without iTunes. Has Apple fixed this?

Joe Redifer said:

Many Windows users complained that they could not download Quicktime without iTunes. Has Apple fixed this?

Click to expand...

i was under the impression it was the other way around, that you needed quicktime to download itunes.

I agree. Quicktime should just be Quicktime. The fact that they include "grayed out" features to milk an extra $30 out of people is ludicrous. And that's coming from someone who paid the $30. I just think it's a shame that people can drop a couple thousand bucks on a computer and not have the whole program. Just my opinion.