Apple is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its popular music creation app GarageBand on Mac this upcoming Sunday, January 6.

garageband
Apple says GarageBand, introduced at Macworld 2004 by its late co-founder Steve Jobs and musician John Mayer, has grown to be the most widely used music app in the world and is now on over one billion iPhones, iPads, and Macs globally.

Apple provided a timeline of significant GarageBand milestones, including the releases of iPhone and iPad versions in 2011:

  • January 2004: GarageBand debuted at Macworld by Steve Jobs with John Mayer

  • April 2005: NIN release "The Hand That Feeds" as GarageBand project file that fans can remix

  • December 2005: T-Pain creates his first album,"Rappa Ternt Sanga" in GarageBand for Mac

  • March 2007: Rihanna "Umbrella" built with GarageBand bundled drum loop "Vintage Funk Kit 03"

  • March 2007: Fall Out Boy records "Thnks fr th Mmrs" in GarageBand for Mac

  • November 2007: Duran Duran releases GarageBand version of "Nite-Runner" that fans can remix

  • February 2008: Usher "Love in This Club" built with GarageBand bundled synth loop "Euro Hero Synth 02"

  • February 2008: Ting Tings record "Great DJ" on GarageBand for Mac

  • April 2008: Radiohead release "Nude" as GarageBand project file that fans can remix

  • 2008: "It Might Get Loud" documentary shows Edge from U2 using GarageBand on his laptop

  • 2009: Learn to Play and Artist Lessons announced on GarageBand for Mac

  • May 2009: St. Vincent creates "Actor" album in GarageBand

  • March 2011: GarageBand for iPad announced

  • November 2011: GarageBand for iPhone announced

  • October 2013: GarageBand 10 for Mac with new design announced

  • August 2014: Haim records "My Song 5" in GarageBand

  • June 2015: Marc Maron interviews President Obama in a podcast recorded in his garage using GarageBand for Mac

  • January 2016: Live Loops feature added to GarageBand for iOS

  • May 2016: GarageBand for Greater China announced with traditional Chinese instruments

  • April 2017: Steve Lacey produces the Kendrick Lamar song "PRIDE" using GarageBand for iOS

GarageBand is a free download on the Mac App Store and App Store for iOS devices.

Tag: GarageBand

Top Rated Comments

keysofanxiety Avatar
keysofanxiety
51 months ago
Me in 2004: Awesome! I'm going to use that all the time!
Me in 2019: Whoa... is that thing even still on my computer?
Genuine question: what's changed between then and now for you not want to use it? It's fast, stable, and has some really decent sounds.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Musocat Avatar
Musocat
51 months ago
GarageBand is what got me on to Macs. About a week before the announcement, I had bought one of those 4-track cassette recorders to make demos on. You know, the all-in-one decks where you could record a whopping 4 tracks... onto a cassette. lol. Anyway, when I heard about GB I checked out how much an iBook cost, and it wasn't much more than that 4-track cassette recorder cost. So I returned the 4-track and used the $ to get a 12" iBook G4, which came with GB. Typing this on a 13" MBP 15 years later :-)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DocMultimedia Avatar
DocMultimedia
51 months ago
A pity they didn't feel like maintaining Aperture. In a mere two years they could have done the 15th anniversary for it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Soba Avatar
Soba
51 months ago
15 years later, I still think this was one of Apple's most effective product introductions, ever. It's fun to watch even now. (We miss you, Steve!)

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
otozuz Avatar
otozuz
51 months ago
I remember watching the presentation keynote 15 years ago (streamed through the old QuickTime Player) with my dad when I was 17 year-old and being super excited by it. In the following years I then recorded probably 150 songs/ideas with my Fender Strato :):):) So much fun.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JimmyJimmyYam Avatar
JimmyJimmyYam
51 months ago
GarageBand is a truly awesome piece of software - there is nothing else like it (except of course, Logic Pro X, but GB is really Logic Pro X Lite these days). If you have aspirations to make music, it justifies the price of entry into the Mac ecosystem IMHO.

On the downside, it makes me worry what I will do when my 2015 MBP gives up the ghost - hopefully by then USB C audio interfaces will be plentiful, the emoji bar will be consigned to the dustbin of “interesting ideas that didn’t pan out”, and the design balance will have tipped back from thinness to power / versatility!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

applefifthavenue

Man Robbed After Buying 300 iPhones From Apple Fifth Avenue

Tuesday November 29, 2022 11:54 am PST by
An unnamed 27-year-old man who purchased 300 iPhones from Apple Fifth Avenue on Monday morning was robbed shortly after leaving the store, according to 1010Wins Radio in New York. He was carrying 300 iPhone 13s in three bags and walking to his car at 1:45 a.m. when another car pulled up next to him. Two men jumped out and demanded that he hand over the bags. Not wanting to hand over 300...
Read Full Article • 375 comments
iOS 16

Apple Releases iOS 16.1.2 With Carrier Improvements and Crash Detection Optimizations

Wednesday November 30, 2022 10:09 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 16.1.2, another minor bug fix update that comes one week after the release of iOS 16.1.1 and three weeks after the launch of iOS 16.1, an update that added support for iCloud Shared Photo Library, Matter, Live Activities, and more. The iOS 16.1.2 update can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. According...
Read Full Article • 130 comments
app store awards 2021

Apple Announces 2022 App Store Award Winners, Highlighting Best Apps of the Year

Tuesday November 29, 2022 3:10 am PST by
Apple today announced its 2022 App Store Award winners, highlighting the 16 best apps and games selected by Apple's global App Store editorial team. The top apps were chosen by Apple for their quality, innovative technology, creative design, positive cultural impact, and ability to deliver "exceptional experiences." Apple CEO Tim Cook said: This year's App Store Award winners reimagined...
Read Full Article • 43 comments
14 vs 16 inch mbp m2 pro and max feature 1

'M2 Max' Geekbench Scores Leak Online, Revealing Rumored Specs and Performance

Wednesday November 30, 2022 2:39 am PST by
Geekbench scores allegedly for the upcoming "M2 Max" chip have surfaced online, offering a closer look at the performance levels and specific details of the forthcoming Apple silicon processor. The Geekbench results, first spotted on Twitter, are for a Mac configuration of with the M2 Max chip, a 12-core CPU, and 96GB of memory. The Mac listed has an identifier "Mac14,6," which could be...
Read Full Article • 278 comments
eufy camera

Anker's Eufy Cameras Caught Uploading Content to the Cloud Without User Consent [Updated]

Tuesday November 29, 2022 1:01 pm PST by
Anker's popular Eufy-branded security cameras appear to be sending some data to the cloud, even when cloud storage is disabled and local only storage settings are turned on. The information comes from security consultant Paul Moore, who last week published a video outlining the issue. According to Moore, he purchased a Eufy Doorbell Dual, which was meant to be a device that stored video...
Read Full Article • 150 comments
Apple Park View

Elon Musk Meets With Apple CEO Tim Cook Amid Claims of Twitter App Store Dispute [Updated]

Wednesday November 30, 2022 12:43 pm PST by
Twitter CEO Elon Musk today met with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, according to a tweet shared by Musk this afternoon. Musk thanked Cook for taking him around Apple's headquarters, with no mention of what the two might have discussed. The meeting comes just after Musk on Monday claimed that Apple has "mostly stopped" offering ads on Twitter, and that...
Read Full Article • 360 comments
iphone 11 tesla cybertruck close up

Elon Musk Pledges to Build iPhone Rival If Apple Ousts Twitter

Tuesday November 29, 2022 2:48 am PST by
Elon Musk has pledged to offer an "alternative phone" if Apple and Google remove Twitter from their app stores, adding to long-standing rumors about an iPhone rival from Tesla. Modified iPhone 11 Pro in the style of the Tesla Cybertruck, by Caviar. Musk's remark came after being asked about the potential scenario of Twitter being removed from app stores, which could conceivably happen if the...
Read Full Article
Cyber Monday Deals Feature 2022

Best Cyber Monday Apple Deals Still Available for AirPods, Apple TV, iPad, and More

Monday November 28, 2022 5:24 am PST by
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping rush is drawing to a close, but there are still some good deals to be had out there. For Apple products, many of the deals you've seen since last week are still available, though some have expired. So for anyone who missed out on Black Friday deals, there's still an opportunity to get some of the year's best prices on many Apple devices. Note: ...
Read Full Article • 12 comments
apple music replay 2022 highlight reel cropped

Apple Music Replay 2022 Revamped With 'Highlight Reel' [Updated]

Tuesday November 29, 2022 4:02 am PST by
Apple today rolled out an updated Apple Music Replay experience for 2022, showcasing a new "highlight reel" feature. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The overhauled experience, which started to be noticed by Apple Music subcribers on Twitter earlier today, puts the new highlight reel feature at the forefront of the Replay webpage, which users are encouraged to...
Read Full Article • 81 comments
iPhone 14 Pro Rear Camera

iPhone 15 to Use 'State-of-the-Art' Image Sensor From Sony for Better Low-Light Performance

Monday November 28, 2022 11:00 am PST by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 15 models will be equipped with Sony's newest "state of the art" image sensors, according to a report from Nikkei. Compared to standard sensors, Sony's image sensor doubles the saturation signal in each pixel, allowing it to capture more light to cut down on underexposure and overexposure. Nikkei says that it is able to better photograph a person's face even with...
Read Full Article • 159 comments