As more and more video camera manufacturers abandon tape-based conventional recording, smaller, more powerful video cameras have evolved, recording increasingly vast amounts of data. With FCP X, Apple shifts its flagship video editor's emphasis to tapeless, metadata-based shooting and production techniques that accommodate this emerging data-centric workflow.

In acknowledging and embracing this change, Apple offers users a new paradigm for editing, organization, performance, and post-production workflow.

Most of the features introduced in FCP X are welcome and badly needed. Some are long overdue. Still, others are positively jarring and require a change in mindset to appreciate.

The burning question is whether FCP X is a real professional NLE application, designed for industrial delivery of video assets to businesses large and small, or whether it's merely a souped-up version of iMovie, just one step ahead of the consumer market.

Part of why I say that FCP X represents a radical change is that perhaps we should consider that the question might no longer be relevant. There are all different kinds of professional video editors and editing environments, and to try to limit that definition seems self-defeating.