Apple iLife '08 Family Pack [OLD VERSION]

I am new to the Mac World. iLife has been revolutionary in my computing experience. Specifically, I am now able to actually use and enjoy the hundreds of photos and movies I have on my computer. Once again, Apple has developed something that works the way REAL people do, rather than the way developers THINK people work (ahem, Windows-based photo programs).

Good program for the price. My mac was disappointing until I bought this and iwork, Now I like my mac. If your a first time mac user it will suck until you figure out to hold down 2 fingers and click. Its like a right click on your PC.

iLife is a terrific suite of products - iWeb is especially simple to use and creates a surprisingly elegant websites quickly and without requiring any particular experience in web design. The new templates are well considered, and offer sufficient variety. IPhoto is an extremely good way to organize your graphic images - if you already have everything stored and organized, you can import the image to iPhoto without actually copying it from your hard drive location, thus saving you memory, and enabling you to utilize the organizational power of iPhoto. Because iTunes is constantly updating, you may find, as I did, that this suite has a conflict with iTunes. I had to reinstall iTunes from the web. This was quick and did not disrupt my library in any way. It was, however, a surprise - so, now you know.

Yeah, iMovie '06 provides features not found in iMovie '08 but Apple rethought the concept so there are benefits to both (and you can download iMovie '06 free anyways).

Like iWork, this is a great package for almost everyone. Professionals are going to go with the pro tools but where else can you get a family bundle for this price? iPhoto alone will make the purchase worth it for most people who use a digital camera (and, who doesn't?). I've never even used iWeb and I consider this a deal.

I have to admit, I don't use iDVD or Garageband much yet, but I use iPhoto quite a bit. I have almost 20,000 photos to manage, and iPhoto does a good job. I hope to use Garageband at some point after I get a new music keyboard, although that isn't necessary.

I am disappointed with iMovie, though. They really dumbed-down its capabilities. For many people, it may be easier, if all you want to do is some minor processing and move your recorded video onto a DVD. However, they removed a lot of tools for actually creating a video presentation. To get a lot of what iMovie used to have, you either have to get the old version (can you still downgrade for free? not sure), or purchase the $300 Final Cut Express (which, of course, gives you a lot more than even old iMovie had).

Worth the $80, but there are things I would like to see Apple improve in iPhoto, as much as I like it. There are some things that are hard to manage using keyboard shortcuts, some of the interface has odd non-Mac-standard behavior, and I've had some issues with Smart Albums. I hope they continue to improve it, but it's definitely worth what it costs.