In one of the most significant developments in the music industry in recent history, Apple is placing entry-level yet powerful music-making tools within the grasp of the novice musician. Noting that half of the families in the U.S. had at least one member who plays a musical instrument, Jobs announced in his Macworld Keynote address that the GarageBand music creation application would ship with all new Macintosh computers as part of iLife ’04.

In the same motion, Jobs identified M-Audio’s Keystation 49e as an ideal complement to GarageBand, and since that point the momentum behind both products has been irrepressible. The Apple webstore and retail locations began offering the Keystation 49e—in addtion to M-Audio’s MobilePre USB—and began selling thousands of units immediately.

The combination of GarageBand and the 49e have garnered an unprecedented level of media coverage, from Rolling Stone to the Wall Street Journal.

Rolling Stone, February

The magazine reviews GarageBand and positions it relative to Propellerhead Reason and other applications. M-Audio’s FireWire 410 is shown as part of a laptop-based recording system featuring a guitar player tracking into GarageBand.

Newsweek, February

If you picked up this week’s issue of Newsweek, the first thing you saw when you peeled back the cover was a 4-page spread for iLife, Apple’s new suite of software that includes GarageBand. The Keystation 49e—already one of the hottest music products of the year—is pictured in the music section of the ad.

Wall Street Journal, February

In a thorough review lauding GarageBand as “a terrific tool for amateur musicians,” the reviewer recommends the use of a keyboard such as the Keystation 49e to take full advantage of the program.

For additional information on the Keystation 49e, please visit http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=610159a15deb91828e65b9fa4a91.

To learn more about Apple’s GarageBand and iLife, please visit http://www.apple.com/ilife/.

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