Under the requirements it mentions a three button mouse. My Mac has one. I didn't even know they made a three button mouse. Does anyone know if this is necessary?

It is most definitely necessary.

Yes, it is necessary. I just purchased Shake 4.1 about 4 weeks ago--thankfully at the wonderful $499 price!

I also purchased Apple's Mighty Mouse, their very cool and well designed 3-button mouse. You can learn more about it here: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/1.RSLID?mco=392EC8B&nplm=MA086LL%2FA

Will Shake work with the Shuttle Pro?

As long as you can program the buttons to perform specific functions when pressed, then yes.

Most multi-button controllers should work.

All devices like the Shuttle Pro do is "trick" the OS into thinking that specific keyboard button sequences have been pressed. So yes, the Shuttle Pro will work with Shake - and ANY other program you have on your system. I'm not sure it would replace a 3-button mouse though, as you cannot get the Shuttle Pro to "mimic" mouse actions.

You can use keyboard modifiers to get around not having a multibutton mouse (eg. Control + click for the second button, Option + click for the third button),
but this starts to wear thin pretty quickly.

The Apple Mighty Mouse is certainly worth a look, and is also very useful for apps like Final Cut Pro, Photoshop & After Effects.

Cheers

Al

Steve:

If you haven't purchased a 3-button mouse or the Shuttle Pro yet, Apple just announced the wireless version of its Mighty Mouse.

http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/