Q: final cut express osx 10.8.5

>>Does Final Cut Express run on OSX 10.8.5<<

It wasn't designed to.  FCE was discontinued by Apple about 3 years ago - long before OS 10.8 was written.  I don't think it would install on that OS even if you had a disc drive.

-DH

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Not 100% clear which version of FCE you are using:

You just referred to FCE 1.01l, then referred to FCE 3.5. That hasn’t worked in years, as I recall. I don’t remember the OS version it stopped working, I believe it was probably Snow Leopard.

You never actually said that you have FCE HD & whether you’ve tried that version. Best bet is check the Apple store about upgrading.

If it costs the same as the upgrade originally did - that’s $100 & a third of the way to Final Cut X, with FCE as a dead-ended product.

I’m running 10.9.3 (Mavericks) & Final Cut Express HD (4.01) works.

My most recent use was fairly light, but it worked all right. It worked just fine on earlier versions of the OS for me.

I can’t swear that everything works as well as it used to, but I haven’t noticed any big problems.

I timed out on last post edits so I have to add to a new one.

There is some reading between the lines in your post:

When you said you recent;y bought an iMac, was it NEW? I didn’t think they came with Mountain Lion anymore.

Do YOU actually own the copy of FCE, or were you just given the disks with a used iMac?

You can buy external USB 2.0 DVD drives quite cheaply or maybe borrow one.

If you have access to another Mac with a DVD drive you could connect both Macs in Target Disk Mode and install FCE using the other Mac's DVD drive.

Good suggestion, Ian.

The remaining trick is costing an FCE HD upgrade (assessing whether he/she has a well-priced copy of the later software),

or whether its worth biting the bullet for FCE X, if 3.5 wasn’t working.

Compatabiliy:

http://roaringapps.com/app/final-cut-express

Incidentally FCE has been called FCE HD since version 3.0, so he/she needs to check they are getting FCE 4.

The ideal solution would be to go for FCP X as FCE has been obsolete for the last 3 years.

Everybody has to decide their own path & price points.

I would have a hard time justifying Final Cut X myself unless I had a big project coming up.

Yes, I know the feeling as I've a friend with a new iMac who insists on using FCE 4 in spite of the possible complications arising with new operating systems.

Last year I discovered that FCE and legacy FCP could do one thing that FCP X couldn't.

I had some old mini-DV films that I had edited and exported back to tape for storage.

I needed to get these videos back in the computer and naturally chose FCP X to import them.

After the lengthy real-time import I discovered to my horror that the hundreds of clips were all jumbled as FCP X had dutifully split them into their individual clips and rearranged them in the order they were shot.

After lengthy experimenting and questioning on the forums, it appeared there was no solution and the quickest way round the problem was to reimport using FCE which imported each video as a single long clip.

The only advantage you will get with FCE 4 is the ability to import and edit AVCHD video.

If you are shooting AVCHD you would be much better off using FCP X  .  .  .  .  unless you can get FCE 4 dirt cheap, say under 20 quid.