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Apple iLife '09 Video

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Apple iLife '09
Created: 01/30/2009
Video description: Apple updates its popular production suite that aims to corral your video, photo, music, and Web needs inside one big fence. Facebook compatibility, facial recognition algorithms, advanced editing features, and music lessons from the stars are just some of the improvements.

Apple iLife '09 Video Transcript

>> Seth: Every new Mac will find the iLife Suite included and the major improvements are definitely upgrading to if you're an iLife obsessive. Hi, I'm Seth Rosenblatt [assumed spelling] for CNETdownload.com and in this first look we're checking out iLife, Apple's photo, movie, web design and music editing super sweet suite. If you're new to Macs it's going to sound like there's a lot going on here and there is so we're going to focus on just the most noteworthy changes. In iMovie the most welcomed changes seem to be the return of more advanced editing features that were axed in last year's version; there's a ton of new titles, transitions and affects notably video stabilization, green screens, audio only and cut away. Title tweaks can be made in the new preview pallet, drag and drop has been improved to offer an editing menu and dynamic themes returns with 32 optional packages of transitions, titles and end credits that can be applied as a group or individually. The new precision editor will help you make cleaner cuts but iMovie still lacks a traditional time-line and still can't import an imPeg, since when did think different be frustrating. Next up is iPhoto which introduces 3 big changes faces, places and social networking. The first two features you're going to be hearing a lot about. Faces goes through your photos to identify the faces in each picture and then shows you a cork board so that you can identify the people once you've tagged a few iPhoto will scan the rest of your library and auto identify your friends and family and even your enemies. Places takes faces organizing and searching concepts and applies them to locations the search is based on GO tag photos which means you better have a GPS enabled camera or an iPhone but for now it's a cool novelty. Also new in iPhoto '09 is the ability to directly post images to social networking sites Facebook and Flicker are currently the only ones supported but they're the ones you want to see support for. In GarageBand new features include basic lessons to teach you the fundamentals; this is great for people like me who have no musical acumen, not yet at any rate. Piano and guitar instruction are included and come with notation, video instruction and an animated instrument for finger placement. If you're looking for a step beyond the basics you can splurge a bit and pay for artist's lessons these are the basic lesson expanded to include pre-recorded video from musicians like Nora Jones and groups like Fallout Boy as well as simplified versions of hit tunes so beginners don't have to wait until their skills are up to snuff; there are also some cool guitar amp and stump box affects and the ability to create a virtual band so you have some accompaniment. Apple's website for dummies iWeb is meant for users that want a simple what you see is what you get website builder; there are tons of widgets that you can now drag and drop and there's a built-in FTP client, finally. Although I haven't built a site myself using iWeb a number of users say that while iWeb '09 claims to play nice with non-mobile me sites that there's a lot left to be desired clearly iWeb is the weak link in this otherwise fantastic four suite. Depending on how much you use Facebook and iPhoto '08 iLife '09 might be worth upgrading to just for those improvements alone, otherwise, well, you can always get the suite when you upgrade your Mac. With a first look at iLife '09 I'm Seth Rosenblatt for Download.com. ^E00:03:38

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iLife '09 Review

The good: Apple iLife '09 sees several improvements over iLife '08: iPhoto now has face recognition, geotagging, and social network integration; iMovie regains a few advanced tools; and music lessons come to GarageBand.

The bad: iPhoto's face detection isn't perfect, and the social network integration needs some work; iMovie's great for simple editing, but advanced users might find it lacking.

The bottom line: Apple iLife '09 is a great application suite for simple media organizing and editing, and the addition of features like face recognition, geotagging, and music lessons makes it worth the update.

Read full review

iLife '09 Specs

Manufacturer: Apple
Part number: MB966Z/A

Product Specifications
  • Product Specifications

  • Product Basic Spec

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