iLife ‘08 Mini-Review
I recently procured iLife ‘08, Apple’s suite of fun and creative apps: iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband. And we shouldn’t forget iWeb!
Specifically, I’ve played with iPhoto the most, and like the new “events” organization. It also feels very snappy.
I made an iMovie and used it to produce a video I shared for our work website. A few things happened which I didn’t care for: I asked for 250kbit/rate on my exported movie, and it gave me 350 instead. I asked for 15fps, and I got 30. Twice. Perhaps recording in 60i fps on the camcorder was the issue, but I don’t like asking for one thing, and getting another.
Also, iMovie takes some getting used to. It did speed up the editing time, a bit, but only for videos that you will edit in a particular way. The “fine-tuned” control felt missing, and I think in some ways, the “new” paradigm and interface are steps backwards. But it is screaming fast.
It felt maybe this could have cooked longer in the labs. Few transitions and effects and “looks,” and no more themes.
iDVD feels the least-amount touched; it still looks like the old iMovie. I think this program needs the MOST help and improvement, over the past 3 cycles. I still find it confusing to use. More themes here, but not much else to write-home about.
GBand looks interesting; I used the Magic GarageBand. It was cool. Not sure if its useful, but it was FUN. And I can see the educational implications, too.
The software is all good, and still a value at $79. Oh, and there’s iWeb.
iWeb is not a favorite program; it feels backwards to me. Of course, I design websites. For our teachers, they loved it… the idea of drop-drag-documents is appealing. It feels backwards if you’ve been using blogs or CMSs for too long, though. The new additions are welcome, as were the new templates. The concept of putting photo sharing on the web (an extension of iPhoto’s capabilities) is interesting, as Apple attempts to put Web 2.0 spins on their iLife apps.
Apple had the opportunity to make a world-class blogging client with iWeb and .Mac but didn’t present that. Instead, they strengthened their earlier attempt with the iWeb model of document-style publishing. iWeb will be of primary concern to folks who use .Mac and want something simple to use.
I’m personally considering dropping .Mac services, as I already pay for website hosting and have enough e-mail accounts.