by , 11:30 AM EDT, April 29th, 2005

Apple Computer has released QuickTime 7 for Panther users. QuickTime 7 is a component of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger," which is being released today, but the company has made a standalone update for Mac OS X 10.3 users that brings all of the new features to Panther. QuickTime 7 Pro will require a new key, which is priced at US$29.99.

Apple's release notes:

QuickTime 7 provides a vast array of new features, including:

• H.264 video support
• Live player resize
• Zero-configuration streaming
• Surround sound
• New and improved playback controls
• All-new content guide

Additionally, QuickTime 7 Pro users will enjoy the following new capabilities:

• Audio and video recording
• Simplified movie sharing
• Full-screen floating controls
• H.264 video creation
• Surround audio creation
• Concurrent exports
• Improved movie authoring
• AAC constant-quality encoding
• 3G streaming content creation

Apple stressed in the release notes that installation of QuickTime 7 will disable the QuickTime Pro functionality in prior versions of QuickTime. If you proceed with this installation, you must purchase a new QuickTime 7 Pro key, which can be purchased at Apple's QuickTime site, to regain QuickTime Pro functionality.

You can find more information on QuickTime 7 at Apple's Web site.