Here's another rough draft:
If there were a back story about what fur traders descending the Missouri in 1845 has to do with the product or it's creator, I'm sure it would be fascinating. But still distracting. Not to mention I'm rather disturbed by the idea of tethering a cat to a canoe.
If there could be one page that any prospective user would be directed to, I think the challenge is you have only seconds (well, certainly less than a minute) to make the case for hitting the download button. For anybody who would be happy with the software, that shouldn't be difficult to do.
First, include something to enhance the credibility of the assertion it's "clearly the best software..." A slide show is probably a good way to do that—it can convey awesome imagery without the reader doing anything. Using those words alone is not. It just makes me think, "yeah, right, I'll be the judge of that." Maybe it could be linked to a page of testimonials, or a feature comparison chart.
Having made the case in the reader's mind, "whether or not the best, it looks very interesting," counter the objection "but maybe it's a lot more than I need." We all know MC is a lot more than any one of us needs, but that doesn't make it "too much" for any of us. Try to convey the idea, "no matter what your needs, there's no reason not to use the best." Put the highly technical and advanced stuff in linked pages where curious geeks can find them—but so mere mortals will not be frightened-off.
Remove objections to giving it a try. I just downloaded, installed and started the latest version of the program—it took 45 seconds. Tell them that! Then make it easy to try out. After the download, go to a "getting started" page which includes some simple step-by-step instructions for trying out various things. This would provide a much more positive experience than the heart-stopper of the program automatically scanning for media to add. If anything should happen automatically (on first use), it should be the opening of the
Media Import dialog—and the instructions should address how to use this.
It's very likely a new user will have music files on their system. It's likely they've used something to manage them to date, and so there's a reasonable likelihood the media is tagged. So the first and most prominent instruction set should be for adding music media to the library. Let the user tell the program where their "iTunes folder" is—and demonstrate the program will immediately import all the files and meta data they are familiar with. Then walk them through how easy it is to manipulate that information and add to it. There should be instruction sets for images and video as well, but most people would probably be sold at this point. Or at least committed to exploring further on their own.
These introductory instructions should have the limited scope of demonstrating some key aspect of the program—in a way that nothing can go wrong. For example, care must be taken that an "Add your video files" demo does not "fail" because the user's system doesn't have the necessary filters. Be clear about this limitation, and invite the user to explore further by providing some "for further information" links. Those could be to additional web pages, but at some point should be to applicable wiki and forum topics. That may be the best way to provide a gentle introduction to the documentation and help currently available.
And, yes, it would be wonderful if there were a nicely produced video for each one of these walk-throughs. Located on this "getting started" page, they would serve the dual purpose of providing introductory instruction
and persuading those not yet convinced to give the program a try. They would also be great for those interested in a certain aspect of the program, but don't yet have the media or devices necessary to actually try it out.
