GarageBand

GarageBand is a music creation software that has a recording studio and an express mode. When recording real instruments GarageBand has loads of effects to make the instrument sound it's best.

GarageBand '11 (with iLife '11) now comes with one lesson in each instrument with more available for $4.99 each. GarageBand is the little brother to Logic Studio which is the top of the music department (Logic Express was previously in the middle). Extra GarageBand Loop Packs are available to add to the collection of in-built items.

Versions
GarageBand has evolved but now it's pretty stable so not much is changing.

Version 1.0
GarageBand was made by Emagic just after they were bought by Apple who also make Logic Studio. It was announced at MacWorld '04 by Steve Jobs.

Version 2
Version 2 was released the following year at the MacWorld '05. This had a ton of new features, making it 100% Apple. Major new features included to be able view and edit music in Musical Notation form, record up to 8 tracks at once, fix timing and pitch of recordings, automate track pan position, master volume and pitch, work with MIDI files.

Version 3
Version 3 was released at the next MacWorld. This featured podcast creation which involves integrating iChat and having over 200 effects and jingles available.

Version 4
Version 4 was released as part of iLife '08. This featured to be able to record parts of songs, make iPhone ringtones and Magic GarageBand where you can easily make a song (mainly cheating, unless you do parts yourself)

Version 5
Version 5 is a version which comes with iLife '09. This features new videos and to be able to buy them. For guitar players you could now use your mac as an amp and pick which one you want.

Version 6
GarageBand 6, also known as GarageBand '11, is part of the iLife '11 package, which was released on October 20, 2010. This version brings new features such as Flex Time, a tool to adjust the rhythm of a recording. It also includes the ability to match the tempo of one track with another instantly, additional guitar amps and stompboxes, 22 new lessons for guitar and piano, and "How Did I Play?", a tool to measure the accuracy and progress of a piano or guitar performance in a lesson. [promotional language]|undefined

New Sound Library
GarageBand ’11's sound library had changed very little from the application's very first release. You could add more sounds via Apple’s Jam Pack bundles and by dragging in compatible loops and sounds but this release contains the first real refresh of the sound library and instruments we’ve seen. And the sounds are good—some culled from Logic’s library and others a “rethinking” of previous GarageBand sounds and loops. With the free version of GarageBand you get 50 instrument sounds and 500 loops. The in-app purchase provides you with 200 instrument sounds and an amazing two thousand loops.

Speaking of instrument sounds, there are fresh new instruments as well. As a keyboard player I’m thrilled to see that the vintage electric piano, vintage B3 organ, vintage clavinet, and some of the old-time synth models from Logic are available to me in GarageBand. At one time you paid a small fortune for the real versions of these instruments and — a decade or two later — paid a somewhat smaller fortune for their virtual counterparts. You can have them all today for a measly five bucks. This is an astonishing value.

Drummer Track
Introduced in Logic Pro X, the Drummer track is designed to provide the sound and feel of a human drummer. Unlike in the past this is done without static loops. Instead, the “drummer” generates a performance using the nicely sampled work of some of the world’s most popular players. It does this based on the drummer you select, the preset you choose, which drums are played, plus the current configuration of the X/Y pad you use to determine the drummer's volume and the complexity of his or her work. It sounds complicated (and under the hood it undoubtedly is). But in performance, it's a snap to use.

The drummers play in a variety of styles—rock, alternative, songwriter, and R&B. In the free version of GarageBand you get a single rock drummer named Kyle who generally plays in a straight-ahead rock style (though he can play over a million unique grooves). He can use eight presets and play on one of a few drum kits. With that in-app purchase you get 14 more drummers, more styles and presets, and more drum kits.