With the release of Avid Media Composer 3.5 just over a week ago Avid also released a fully functional 14 day demo. If you’ve never had the opportunity to use Avid (Avid FreeDV doesn’t really count) then this is a great way to try. If you are coming from Final Cut Pro then you need to know you can’t just jump right in and understand the differences without some frustration. While very, very similar there are some very distinct differences. One place that Final Cut Pro editors can go to begin to learn the differences in the two applications are some of my Avid & (vs?) FCP articles and links to other Avid/FCP articles around the internet. I know, I need to update the image there that says Avid Xpress Pro but most all of the articles refer to Media Composer as well. Another great place to learn some of the basics of Avid is this list of 90+ tips, tricks and tutorials. It’s at 92 right now and looks like it will keep growing so keep your eye on that forum thread. Give Avid a chance and learn the differences (and more importantly, why some of the features are different) between Avid and FCP and you might learn to love Avid too.