Mac OS X software developer Panic has announced the retirement of its venerable Mac MP3 software Audion. “Panic isn’t going anywhere, but Audion will be soaking up the sun in Software Florida, if you will,” said Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser. Although Audion is no longer being actively developed or supported, Panic has released the software for free. Users who have registered Audion have been sent a special coupon code by e-mail off the purchase of other Panic products.
Sasser has used the opportunity to post a retrospective of Audion called The True Story of Audion, explaining the software’s genesis as a tool he and Steven Frank envisioned simply as an audio CD playback utility. Sasser humorously recounts meetings with AOL and Apple executives that, if things had gone differently, might have led Audion and Panic down a very different path. Sasser also talks about Audion’s long-running rivalry with SoundJam and what happened after iTunes was released.