Apple's iLife '08 adds major new version of iPhoto and iMovie

[AppleInsider]

Alongside new iMacs, Apple today introduced iLife '08, which the company is calling "the most significant upgrade ever" to the award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications -- featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely reinvented version of iMovie.

With iLife '08, a new version of iPhoto automatically organizes photo libraries into Events that let users more easily manage their growing photo collections, and a new version of iMovie introduces an entirely new way for users to quickly make movies and share them online.

Both iPhoto and iMovie integrate seamlessly with the new .Mac Web Gallery, Apple's new service for .Mac members to instantly create and host online websites for their photos and videos. iLife '08 also features iWeb '08, with live web widgets such as Google Maps that let users create even more dynamic websites, and GarageBand '08, with its new Magic GarageBand feature that makes it fun and easy for both musicians and non-musicians to create great sounding songs.

"Apple has taken iLife '08 to a new level that is years ahead of anything available for the PC," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "We think iLife '08 gives Mac users even more reasons to love their Macs, and PC users even more reasons to switch."

iPhoto '08

iPhoto '08 automatically groups all photos into Events, each containing a day's worth of photos represented by a single picture. Users can simply move their mouse over an Event to instantly "skim" through all its photos. Users can split a single day's event into multiple events, such as a birthday party in the morning and a wedding in the evening, or merge events on multiple days into a single event, such as a weekend ski vacation. Additionally, iPhoto '08 lets users hide photos they don't want to see every day but don't want to throw away, while a new unified search lets users instantly find all their photos across all Events by rating, date and keywords.



iPhoto '08 users can also produce frame-worthy prints on a home printer with new Apple-designed photo themes, and order keepsake books with customizable dust jackets and professional quality hardcovers with elegant foil printing, new spiral-bound softcover books that can be laid flat for easy viewing, or new larger wall calendars.

iMovie '08

With iMovie '08, Apple's movie-making software has been completely reinvented to let users rediscover and enjoy their video library, make movies in minutes instead of hours, and share their movies with family, friends or the entire world in a snap. iMovie '08 can import video from the latest AVCHD, HDV and DV camcorders, as well as from digital cameras, and displays a user's entire video library whether it's stored on internal or external drives. Users can preview any of their video clips by simply moving their mouse over the clip to "skim" through it forward or backward at any speed, including faster than real time. Users can also select video as easily as selecting text, make a movie by simply dragging the selected video into a project, then easily add a soundtrack from iTunes, voiceovers, and elegant effects and cinematic titles. Additionally, iMovie '08 makes it as easy as a few clicks to enjoy your movies on an iPod, iPhone or Apple TV, or share with the entire world on YouTube.



For .Mac members, Apple is also introduced a new .Mac Web Gallery that is fully integrated with iPhoto '08 and iMovie '08, letting users share their photos and movies on the web with just a few clicks. The gallery automatically builds a website containing photo galleries and movies that can be viewed on any modern computer or iPhone. Photos can be downloaded to print at sizes up to 16x20, and movies can be viewed at higher-than-DVD resolution.

iWeb '08

Meanwhile, iWeb '08 offers new features to make websites more interactive by adding live web widgets such as Google Maps, targeted ads using Google AdSense and photos or movies from .Mac Web Galleries. Users can also add Internet video, news headlines, weather and more from any site that supports HTML snippets. A new "My Album" page template lets users easily organize photo albums and videos into one simple index web page. The new iWeb includes a range of beautiful new Apple-designed themes that users can change at any time to experiment with different web page designs, even after their site has been published. With a .Mac membership, users can also now host iWeb websites using their own personal domains.



GarageBand '08

Finally, GarageBand '08 introduces Magic GarageBand, an easy and fun way for musicians and non-musicians alike to create a song. Users can pick from nine musical genres and interact with a band of "players" on a virtual stage by selecting an instrument and musical part for each player to create thousands of possible song combinations. Users can play along with a built-in software instrument or record their voice to sing along to their own music. The new GarageBand also offers powerful new features for more advanced musicians, including multi-take recording to capture the best performance, arrangements to cut, copy and paste intros, verses and choruses, and support for 24-bit audio interfaces.



Pricing & Availability

iLife '08 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife '08 suite of applications will be included with all new Macs beginning today. .Mac is available as a subscription-based service for $99.95 (US) per year for individuals and $179.95 (US) for a Family Pack which includes one master account and four sub accounts. Anyone can sign up for a free, 60-day .Mac trial from www.mac.com.



iLife '08 requires Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or later, a Macintosh computer with an Intel processor, a PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4, QuickTime 7.2 or later, a DVD drive for installation and 3GB of available disk space. iPhoto print services are available in the US, Canada, Japan and select European countries. A .Mac account is recommended for iWeb. Full system requirements and more information on iLife '08 can be found at Apple's iLife website.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[bobmarksdale]

The iMovie update is the best. And the integration with .mac is pretty darned good. The preview faster than real-time thing=. I will have to wait for it to be included with leopard though since I am cheap.

[MsNly]

I wont be getting anything till they release a minitower, that or my iBook totally dies, its been hanging on the edge forever i think im gonna go INSANE!!!

[sandau]

Originally Posted by MsNly

I wont be getting anything till they release a minitower, that or my iBook totally dies, its been hanging on the edge forever i think im gonna go INSANE!!!

go to the shed, get your shiny white and aluminum iHammer and adjust your iBook, repeat. Just bite the bullet and upgrade already!

[Buck]

go to the shed, get your shiny white and aluminum iHammer...

Is it true by the way that they had Apple-certified glossy white chisels for opening those Mac Minis?

[Ireland]

Just ordered a new wired keyboard and iLife '08 - they're practically giving this stuff away.

[a_greer]

Wow...I cant beleive that I am typing this, but i would LOVE a 24 inch imac with the new ATI HD GPU and a core 2 ex, damn...that would be sooooo cool and although upgradability is sortof sacraficed, not having a noisy tower would be incredible, I think I just found my next PC...

[a_greer]

Originally Posted by Buck

Is it true by the way that they had Apple-certified glossy white chisels for opening those Mac Minis?

In my experiance, the walmart black and shiny aluminum modle works just as well.. I find it more tricky to get it back together.

[yblanco]

I bought a brand new Macbook Pro less than 3 weeks ago. Will Apple consider giving me a coupon for free or discounted upgrade to iLife 08? I think they have done this in the past.

[addabox]

Not positive, but it looks like iMovie has completely done away with any kind of time line, in favor of clip based editing.

Not sure how I feel about that, a lot of the improvements look great, but.....

I guess I'm just more comfortable with a time line with frame count and seconds that allows me see my whole project graphically, instead of a lot of poster frames (scrubbable though they may be) on a black background.

Hare to say from the video what the work flow actually feels like, though, so I'll reserve final judgement till I get a chance to use it.

I will say the scrubbable video library and fast clip joining look amazing.

[rtx]

As some who's seriously involved with music production and engineering, I gotta say I'm totally impressed with Garageband 08. The "Magic" feature is useless to me, but may be sort of fun. On the other hand, the multi-take and effects automation are VERY handy.

Now, compared to pro audio DAW's it's not quite up to par with something like even Tracktion 3. T3 is at the low end of features/functionality in the word of DAW's, but at $100 is itself an amazing value. HOWEVER - get a small USB MIDI keyboard, a decent firewire interface, a couple good mics, and GB, and you could really do some SERIOUS damage - quickly and easily.

It's also damn fun to use.

Can't wait to try it out. Also can't wait for Logic 8!!!!

[hmurchison]

I think Timeline based editing is where the difficulty is for consumers. Pros understand Timelines and Timecode and how to master then but consumers simply want a "Best Of" grouping of clips with a bit of text and music.

I think iMovie is going to be a nice new paradigm for quick and easy video creation. If people need more there's Final Cut Express and Studio.

I can't wait to try it out.

[rtx]

Originally Posted by addabox

Not positive, but it looks like iMovie has completely done away with any kind of time line, in favor of clip based editing.

Not sure how I feel about that, a lot of the improvements look great, but.....

I guess I'm just more comfortable with a time line with frame count and seconds that allows me see my whole project graphically, instead of a lot of poster frames (scrubbable though they may be) on a black background.

Sounds like you actually know something about video editing, thus I'd say you're probably not the target market for iMovie. My girlfriend knows nothing about video editing at all, but with the old iMovie she was able to edit a bunch of video we took on our Pure Digital, and it came out nicely. Hopefully this is even easier... it sounds like they're no longer storing all of a project's videos in one massive imovie project file, which would certainly be welcome.

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by MsNly

I wont be getting anything till they release a minitower, that or my iBook totally dies, its been hanging on the edge forever i think im gonna go INSANE!!!

What?!?! Apple didn't come out with the headless iMac aka low end midtower... I'm.... so.... shocked....

[addabox]

Originally Posted by rtx

Sounds like you actually know something about video editing, thus I'd say you're probably not the target market for iMovie. My girlfriend knows nothing about video editing at all, but with the old iMovie she was able to edit a bunch of video we took on our Pure Digital, and it came out nicely. Hopefully this is even easier... it sounds like they're no longer storing all of a project's videos in one massive imovie project file, which would certainly be welcome.

Yeah, yes and no.

iMovie can be surprisingly effective for quick projects, where you don't want to fire up FCP. Yes, I admit it, my secret shame: I sometimes use iMovie for "real" projects.

For me, being able to toggle into timeline mode meant iMovie could hit a good spot between easy and functional, for simple single video track dissolve and cuts only stuff-- but I can see where I'm not necessarily the target demo.

Bet I'm not the only one pressing iMovie into service for fast edits, though.

[GQB]

I've been wanting to port our website from Mindspring (yeccchhh) to .Mac, but need to maintain our domain name.
So we're really excited about the possibility of being able to finally use .Mac.

Anyone have any idea on how 'personal domains' will be implemented now in .Mac?

Does .Mac handle changing DNS forwarding to point to .Mac instead of our current hosting service?

Will .Mac handle periodic renewal of domain (as Mindspring does) or will we have to somehow manage that?

Any good place to get real answers to these kinds of questions?

[NOFEER]

now what about homepage. i've kept iphoto 5 so i can use homepage which is a snap to add pictures to share with family(it took me awhile to get my wife comfortable to use it).....is this as easy as homepage to set up and use??? i could do everything from iphoto......what i've seen of the previous iweb it was much more tedious (from an apple point of view)

[elroth]

I think this new iMovie could be terrible. They're emphasizing simplicity and speed, but where is the control? Can you edit frame-by-frame, and cut exactly where you want (to 1/30 of a second)? It doesn't look like it. I'm afraid it's going to be so dumbed-down, that a lot of us are going to have to stay with iMovie '06 until it doesn't work anymore, or buy Final Cut.

iMovie '06 has been good - I can do everything I need to do to make instructional videos exactly like I want them. Adjust audio levels within a clip, and especially edit at exact points - remove one frame if necessary. I don't see that in this new version.

iDVD, on the other hand, needs some improvements from the '06 version - mainly more control over menus. I doubt we'll get anything there.

I'm pretty disappointed right now. I guess when I buy a new iMac I can try to load in iMovie '06 and see how that might work (with Leopard?).

[jabohn]

Well, my Mac is officially outdated, now that the new iMovie won't run on it. I haven't even had the machine for 3 years! Guess I'l have to wait until I get a new mac...

[mowenbrown]

I would love to hear an iWeb opinion. I have a small sight to put up by mid-november and really would love for iWeb to be sufficient. Google maps is great, but if it crashees IE as it does on my work computer still, that's a no-go.

[kemcqueen]

Originally Posted by elroth

I think this new iMovie could be terrible. They're emphasizing simplicity and speed, but where is the control? Can you edit frame-by-frame, and cut exactly where you want (to 1/30 of a second)? It doesn't look like it. I'm afraid it's going to be so dumbed-down, that a lot of us are going to have to stay with iMovie '06 until it doesn't work anymore, or buy Final Cut.

iMovie '06 has been good - I can do everything I need to do to make instructional videos exactly like I want them. Adjust audio levels within a clip, and especially edit at exact points - remove one frame if necessary. I don't see that in this new version.

iDVD, on the other hand, needs some improvements from the '06 version - mainly more control over menus. I doubt we'll get anything there.

I'm pretty disappointed right now. I guess when I buy a new iMac I can try to load in iMovie '06 and see how that might work (with Leopard?).

I'm willing to bet that they haven't removed any functionality from iMovie. If you remember, earlier iterations of iMovie also used the "clips" navigation by default, but you could change to timeline very easily. I think they are just showing the screenshots with "clips" on because its prettier. They said during the presentation that they were not removing features of iMovie to not compete with Final Cut (Express/Pro/Studio). In other words, they aren't worried that iMovie will take away from Final Cut, so they aren't intentionally dumbing it down. Bottom line: expect iMovie to be at least as good, feature-wise and workflow-wise, as the previous version.

[drogers]

Originally Posted by elroth

I think this new iMovie could be terrible. They're emphasizing simplicity and speed, but where is the control? Can you edit frame-by-frame, and cut exactly where you want (to 1/30 of a second)? It doesn't look like it. I'm afraid it's going to be so dumbed-down, that a lot of us are going to have to stay with iMovie '06 until it doesn't work anymore, or buy Final Cut.

iMovie '06 has been good - I can do everything I need to do to make instructional videos exactly like I want them. Adjust audio levels within a clip, and especially edit at exact points - remove one frame if necessary. I don't see that in this new version.

iDVD, on the other hand, needs some improvements from the '06 version - mainly more control over menus. I doubt we'll get anything there.

I'm pretty disappointed right now. I guess when I buy a new iMac I can try to load in iMovie '06 and see how that might work (with Leopard?).

Hey negative nancy - you really oughta try the product before making wild speculative claims about it...

I have the new iMovie on front of me right now, and I can assure you, you won't likely be looking to downgrade. You can edit and trim frame by frame, and have lots of control - more than before. There really doesn't seem to be any functionality missing.

As a matter of fact, the frame accurate editing seems to be much easier to use, and way smoother than before. I really really like this....

[addabox]

Originally Posted by drogers

Hey negative nancy - you really oughta try the product before making wild speculative claims about it...

I have the new iMovie on front of me right now, and I can assure you, you won't likely be looking to downgrade. You can edit and trim frame by frame, and have lots of control - more than before. There really doesn't seem to be any functionality missing.

As a matter of fact, the frame accurate editing seems to be much easier to use, and way smoother than before. I really really like this....

Could you elaborate a little? How is frame accurate editing implemented? By scrubbing along a clip and watching the time-out? Is there some kind of timeline hidden in the menus? Because there is no toggle button in the area it used to be.

Also, how is changing audio level handled? Without a timeline, I'm not seeing how it would be convenient or even possible to do detailed level changes.

[aiolos]

Wow this stuff all looks awesome, especially magic garageband :-). Can't wait to try the new iPhoto and iMovie!

[addabox]

OK, I've watched most of the iMovie tutorial videos on the Apple site, and I have to say, while some of the interface is terrific, they've made it unusable for a lot of the people that use it.

There doesn't appear to be anyway to adjust a sound clip beyond louder of softer for the whole clip. This is a huge reduction in functionality, and actually sort of insane.

As is making the only control over the relative volume of tracks a button that says "reduce volume of other tracks".

At least the phrasing of that implies you can do more than one track (beyond the sound recorded with the video) at a time, because watching how things are layed out it kind of looks like you can't.

Everything is "drag the sound onto the clip and watch were you want it start, then drop it. If you want to adjust the volume, move the slider left or right."

And, no, there isn't frame accurate info in the clip scrub, time gets displayed in tenths of a second.

This is looking sort of like the price and capacity delta between the iMac and the Pro-- to get even a modicum of control over even simple video projects, I have to step up to FCP. iMovie has been dumbed down to the point of crippling it compared to its previous capabilities (although I realize that it will work just fine for many people).

Really, the more I look at this, the more it pisses me off. Why not leave timeline stuff in there for people who want it, and hide it in a drop down menu, if it is deemed confusing to the average user?

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by aiolos

Wow this stuff all looks awesome, especially magic garageband :-). Can't wait to try the new iPhoto and iMovie!

New iPhoto, meh. New iMovie, wowzer!!

[Shintocam]

I ordered my new Mac 3 weeks ago. It finally arrives last friday (ie 3 days ago) and NOW they update iWork (which I had preinstalled) and iLife (which comes with the new Mac). Grrrrrrrrr.......

I wouldn't care if the new apps didn't look so nice......

[BRussell]

It looks like the timeline icon is still there, the last on the right of the middle icons. Maybe they just didn't demo it because it didn't change (hopefully).

[addabox]

Originally Posted by BRussell

It looks like the timeline icon is still there, the last on the right of the middle icons. Maybe they just didn't demo it because it didn't change (hopefully).

OK, I hadn't noticed that, although I can't tell for sure if that is actually a little clock.

If it is, and timeline with sound edit functionality is still there, I will happily declare myself an idiot for shooting off my mouth without all the info and eagerly await our new UI overlords. That would actually be what I would have expected and what seems reasonable: super easy mode for the default UI with slightly more complicated mode available in a menu or button.

Seriously, if there is still basic timeline functions with draggable sound levels and multi-track, plus all the new goodies, I will declare iMovie teh win.

Anybody know if the new software is running on machines at the Apple retail stores yet?

[BRussell]

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I hope what is being demoed is just a bunch of new functionality added to "clip mode."

[edit] No, it looks like you were right addabox. Editing is more limited on this compared to the last.

[rtx]

it's worth noting that you'll need a G5 dual-proc or better to run the new imovie. at least according to the specs on the box. I was going to pick up iLife 08 this afternoon, but I decided against seeing as how my dual-proc G4 1.25 powermac won't keep pace. Other ilife programs don't require such advanced hardware, however.

[trumptman]

I know... look at this...

# iMovie requires a Mac with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster).

Doesn't this mean that iMovie officially requires around double the Mac of say... Final Cut Pro?!?!?!

Hmmm.... yep.

Minimum Requirements to Install All Final Cut Studio Applications

* A Macintosh computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, or Intel Xeon processor

That is insane...

Nick

[bdkennedy1]

Oh....my.... God.... Magic Garageband is Microsoft Bob for music!

[bikerdude]

Originally Posted by rtx

it's worth noting that you'll need a G5 dual-proc or better to run the new imovie. at least according to the specs on the box. I was going to pick up iLife 08 this afternoon, but I decided against seeing as how my dual-proc G4 1.25 powermac won't keep pace. Other ilife programs don't require such advanced hardware, however.

On Apple's website it does say the following:

Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 processor.
iMovie requires a Mac with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster),
or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster).

I have added bold text to highlight the iMac part

[admactanium]

Originally Posted by addabox

OK, I hadn't noticed that, although I can't tell for sure if that is actually a little clock.

here's a picture of it. i'll check tomorrow as my brother just picked it up today and installed it but he's at work tonight.

[strubcube]

Originally Posted by bikerdude

On Apple's website it does say the following:

Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 processor.
iMovie requires a Mac with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster),
or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster).

I have added bold text to highlight the iMac part

So my Powermac G5 with 1.8Ghz single processor isn't fast enough to run the new iMovie, yet a 1.9Ghz iMac G5 can? What the hell? I was so happy to see them releasing this iLife until I read this...why would they make this part of the iLife so demanding, yet the others okay. I guess I won't be getting it now. Thanks Apple.

[success]

good...now we can get on with the real news and get ready for Logic 8.

[NOFEER]

i know you get this with new macs, but will imovie, iphoto be upgraded with leopard. i'm buying leopard but don't want to pay twice.

[johnmcboston]

Originally Posted by addabox

Not positive, but it looks like iMovie has completely done away with any kind of time line, in favor of clip based editing.

Not sure how I feel about that, a lot of the improvements look great, but.....

I'm with you there. The mac store won't have new imacs with new ilife installed for consumer play until Thursday But seeing the demos it looks almost harder to do imovie stuff. Cant' see a timeline, can't see how to edit specific clips. (very FCExpress like now thought...) They're probably still there - just not sure how easy it will be to use.

Curious about the 'see all your available movie clips'. Am I supposed to be putting my vid files in one place??? I've been dumping them into iphoto because I'm too lazy to do anything else. I suppose it would be nice just to see clips, and not to have to waste space by copying them from <wherever> into the imovie project...

Just surprised to see that much of an interface change

[willrob]

The new iMovie doesn't open previous projects completely: all effects and transitions, and sound effects, are lost. It may be necessary to run version 6 and 8 together for a while; until Leopard breaks the former.

And there is no timeline. See the mini review at xlr8yourmac.com

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/.