Rogue Amoeba launches Piezo for Mac App Store

TUAW has long been a fan of Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro application, which provides both audio capture and live filtering for OS X. Now, Piezo (US$10) brings many of those same features to the Mac App Store.

Although Rogue Amoeba had to cut down on features to make it through app review, they were able to successfully create a product that can record any app. Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba said, "We really weren't sure this would be approved, so we submitted a barebones tech demo. When it was accepted, we commenced work on really polishing things and getting to our true 1.0."

There were real compromises. Unlike AHP, Piezo cannot use "Instant On" technology to grab audio from an already-running application. Instead, you must relaunch source applications from Piezo. Kafasis added, "While not as perfect as we'd like, it's a tradeoff we're willing to make, if it means more people are able to record audio as they desire."

Rogue Amoeba found that the journey to Piezo was a complicated one. In order to comply with App Store regulations, they would have had to have demolished Audio Hijack Pro. "We could have chopped out a whole lot of functionality, but then it wouldn't be AHP," Kafasis explained. "Instead, we decided to go the opposite route, and make a new application. Even then, we weren't sure it'd be approved, as noted. Thankfully, it was."

Kafasis concluded, with a typical developer sigh, "Our feelings about the Mac App Store have always been complex, and they're evolving even now." Speaking as a developer, I know exactly what he's saying.

I personally am looking forward to downloading Piezo and giving it a try. Even without Instant On, it looks like a well-priced offering into the app-recording arena. And as for why I love AHP, you might want to read this recent post, which talks about some of the tricks you can perform with it.