The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 9 out of 10]
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.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060724132529731