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iLife - A collection of amazing programs Pick of the Week
The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 9 out of 10]
[This is the Pick of the Week for the week of July 24th]

Typically, I use the Pick of the Week to highlight interesting but not necessarily mainstream applications and utilities. That's clearly not the case this week, with the selection of iLife '06, Apple's self-described "suite of digital lifestyle applications." Looking at the prior picks, I've never chosen iLife as a winner, though I did select iDVD a few years back when it was a standalone app.

So why a mainstream pick, especially from Apple themselves? Well, I've spent the last week or so working on a modest-sized video project for my wife's company--it's actually an update to a project I created for them back in 2000. I'm far from a professional video editor, and haven't ever taken the time necessary to learn to use Final Cut Express, which I also have sitting on the shelf. So that means I've spent most of my free time in the last week in iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Garage Band, updating the video project, adding new content, and revisiting the soundtrack.

During the week, it struck me that these apps really reflect many of the reasons I prefer OS X to Windows or Linux. The applications in iLife are all well designed, and have intuitive interfaces that can be learned without spending 400 hours reading manuals. This is especially impressive when you consider iMovie and iDVD, as editing video and creating DVDs are two very complex subjects. And yet nearly everyone I've talked to has been able to use both apps without doing much more than reading the Read Me. And while tradeoffs have been made in the name of simplicity, they are tradeoffs that typical amateurs such as myself aren't going to bump into much, if at all. All but one of the iLife apps has carved out a major role on my Macs. iPhoto has become the keeper of my ever-growing digital image collection. iMovie has (finally, after some missteps) become a fast, powerful-enough-for-me, and very simple to use movie editing tool. iDVD lets me create some truly amazing looking final products, thanks to its amazing built-in themes. GarageBand, even though I have about .0002 ounces of musical talent in my entire body, has let me attach some not-too-annoying background music to many of my projects. iWeb ... well, I've launched it about twice, just to test some hints here, but others seem to think it's a pretty cool app :). (Since the sites I maintain are all based on either Geeklog or WordPress, I don't have much need for iWeb.)

The real power of iLife, however, is in the integration of the apps, especially iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD. Updating my project, which was created in iMovie 2, was pretty simple. I created an iPhoto library containing all of the images I needed to use, and then accessed them directly from iMovie. When I was done editing, I added chapter markers and then sent the project file over to iDVD, where I again grabbed a few images from iPhoto and then burned the project to a DVD. This isn't an overly large project (about 30 minutes run time), but it's complex by my simple standards, and the iLife apps did a great job getting through the project. Sure, there are still little things that annoy me (the process of trying to replicate transitions is far from obvious, for instance), but overall, the iLife applications really do let complete amateurs edit and create video projects with a minimum of training. The professional themes available in iDVD and, to a lesser extent, iMovie, also help insure that people such as my self don't end up creating something that's a complete artistic atrocity.

For $79, or free with a new Mac, iLife is also an amazing bargain -- any one of these applications is probably worth at least $79 on its own. To get five solid apps for that price is simply amazing.
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iLife - A collection of amazing programs
Authored by: g-man on Jul 24, '06 02:56:19PM

I sure agree with this review. iLife is an amazing set of apps. My grandmother recently dumped a three month old Dell laptop to switch to Mac. The main reason was for iLife. She wanted to be able to develop attractice web content with ease. Since switching, she found OS X to be wonderful as well.

I switched about 18 months ago and I love iLife. Previously I never would have had a reason to use most of the apps. Now I try to think up creative projects just so I can play with the apps. They are a joy to use.



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iLife - A collection of amazing programs
Authored by: ben_k on Jul 24, '06 04:15:41PM

i was already a mac user but iLife was the sole reason my girlfriend switched



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iLife - A collection of amazing programs
Authored by: fresler on Jul 25, '06 07:38:02AM

I've always been a big fan of iLife. Last Christmas, I put together a DVD for some friends. The video was about 90 minutes long. I tried to make it as much like a movie DVD as possible. I had a Special Features section complete with a "theatrical trailer" plus a lot of other cool things. Other than the opening title sequence, everything was done in iMovie and iDVD. I used Final Cut for the opening title sequence because I wanted to use the cube spin transition and I wanted to control which way it spun. I'm sure there's an iMovie plug-in out there that can do that. Bottom line, though, is that my friends were absolutely amazed! And, of course, I told them how easy it was on a Mac! :)



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iLife - A collection of amazing programs
Authored by: gordo on Jul 25, '06 11:47:51AM

Definitely agree, ABSOLUTELY a KILLER app.
I am anxious for this iLife to be optimized. iDVD can be very slow at rendering some complex work. However, the ease of use and final results are always worth the wait.



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