I’ve read wildly different answers to this question… hope you can help me drill down!
Currently I’m running OS 10.8.5 and Audacity 2.0.3. (Yes, I know there’s a newer version of Audacity.)
I’ve heard horror stories about updating to El Capitan (OS 10.11, I believe?): Audacity crashes or won’t run at all. Older Audacity files unable to be opened. Blah, blah, blah…
What’s the truth? Will Audacity 2.0.3 work on El Cap? If not, will the newer version work? If so, what’s the sequence? Upgrade to El Cap first? Or newer Audacity first? Or does it matter?
Hope you can help. My entire business depends on Audacity working. Thanks!
Huh. Are Macs really that different from each other? I have a MacBook Pro circa 2012, if that makes any difference. Now, did you have Audacity 2.1.2 on your Mac already BEFORE you upgraded to El Cap? Or did you upgrade to El Cap and THEN download/upgrade to Audacity 2.1.2?
Then stay there. I froze two 2012 machines at 10.9.5 because of the odd reports of what happens with the 10.10 upgrade. That was the serious step, although I did lose one important program at the 10.8 to 10.9 step.
There’s nothing wrong with Audacity 2.0.3. I have a simple voice recording system still running on 2.0.3.
Upgrade when you can point to at least one specific important benefit when you do. Because it’s cool doesn’t count.
There are downsides to freezing like that. We don’t officially offer product support for earlier versions. It’s a complete nightmare trying to remember all the tools and filters through all the version variations.
I do have an upgraded machine. I treated myself to a MacBook Air (two birthdays and a Christmas) and it is fully updated. OS-X 10.11.4 and Audacity 2.1.2. The benefit was being able to easily troubleshoot from the field (like I’m doing right now) and have the latest, supported Audacity.
I have a Mac Mini, circa 2016 with El Capitan pre-installed. I’ve has Audacity 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 alpha running on it. As per the release notes, no software is bug free, but all three versions have worked for me. I’ve also heard nightmare stories about people having major problems when they update their operating system - I guess that’s always going to happen to someone. No-one shouts about an upgrade that goes smoothly
I would not want my business to depend on one piece of software (“any” software). That’s all the eggs in one basket. What’s your back-up plan? You really should have an exigency plan if your business depends on it.
El Capitan did not exist when 2.0.3 was current, but 2.1.2 supports Mountain Lion.
So if you are scared about El Capitan, which you might have reason to be if you have ancient audio hardware, you should not upgrade to El Capitan until you need to.
Obviously Apple will not push security updates to Mountain Lion for ever. I think they are already supporting Mountain Lion with updates longer than they normally do, given their policy is usually to only support the current OS X and two versions before.
