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In 2002, when I first heard that Apple was releasing iLife, a series of four programs, for only $49, I thought the company was nuts. But now Apple has woven together iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie, as well as the new application, GarageBand, into what it calls "Microsoft Office for your life." At the outset, iLife was a package that every Mac-using digital content creator should have, and it has been a large factor in many PC users defecting to Mac (or at least including one in the edit suite).
The new version, iLife '04, comes pre-installed on all new Macs. With the addition of GarageBand music-creation software, it goes one step further than its predecessor. All of iLife's applications have received significant updates, in some cases bringing a steeper learning curve. Luckily, a new crop of tutorial books, CDs, and DVDs are available, as are plenty of online user groups.
I'll focus on the three applications germane to what most Video Systems readers do - editing video with iMovie 4, creating DVDs with iDVD 4, and creating music beds with GarageBand.
With a beautiful interface, iMovie 4 is one of the more polished apps. It has a number of new and important features, although it is still somewhat slow and CPU-hungry (especially true with longer projects). One new feature is the ability to trim clips directly in the editing timeline, a simpler and quicker way of editing that combines three or four steps into one. Just click on the clip, and drag either end to the duration desired. Unlike in the old version, a clip is not destroyed (non-destructive editing) and can easily be restored or re-edited, as is the case with Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express. You can also choose any number of clips and add an effect globally.
There's more. Plenty of new transitions and CG effects...