Apple Garage Band was easy to install, as it came installed with my Mac Book Pro when I bought it. It is designed by Apple, for Apple computers, so I never had any compatibility problems at all and it has always run smoothly for me. The interface of the program is very easy to follow, and is really just a simplified version of Apple Logic. I mostly use this software to record ideas and demos straight from the microphone on my Mac into Garage Band. I don't have a manual for this, but if you have never used any program like this, it might be a good idea to have around. However, on the other hand, if you have any experience with audio or MIDI software, you should be able to figure this out without a manual.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I am currently running Apple Garage Band on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I have never had a problem running as many audio or MIDI tracks as I'd like in Garage Band with this set up. I have run up to about twenty tracks of audio or mixed audio and MIDI at once without issues. However, how many tracks and effects you can run at once really depends on your machine more than the software itself.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using Apple Garage Band for around year since I got my Apple computer that it came installed on. While I have Apple Logic and Pro Tools that I use for most of my projects, I use Garage Band for demos and ideas when I just want to record straight from my computer microphone. The price of Garage Band is free with an Apple computer, but is cheap within the iLife bundle if you need to buy it. Garage Band is powerful software even though it comes with all Mac computers. It is great for beginners looking to try out this type of software.