PC Magazine:

Apple takes another step toward making the Mac work with a variety of digital entertainment options—what the company refers to as its digital hub strategy—with the release of Apple iLife ($49 direct), a suite containing iTunes and updated versions of iDVD, iMovie, and iPhoto. In addition to new features that help them keep pace with the competition, the upgraded apps also work with one another, letting you easily draw from your photo library when making a movie, for example, or quickly add an iTunes soundtrack to an iPhoto slide show.

The next generation of Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications is making me one happy iMovie producer.

The introduction of GarageBand(TM), a revolutionary new music application that turns a Mac(R) into a professional-quality musical instrument and recording studio for musicians and aspiring musicians alike, is a big tease.

iLife '04 also features the recently-released iTunes(R) 4.2, the digital music jukebox software which includes the iTunes Music Store, my favorite digital music service. iLife '04 allows me to easily organize my photos, manage my music collection, create movies, author DVDs and now create music.

"With iLife '04, Apple is taking another leap far ahead of its PC competitors in offering the most innovative software for organizing and creating digital music, photos and movies," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "And now GarageBand does for music creation what iMovie did for video and iPhoto did for photos -- makes the creative process easy and affordable for everyone. Over half of U.S. households have at least one member who currently plays a musical instrument, so we think GarageBand is going to find a very receptive audience."

iPhoto 4 now lets users scroll through and resize up to 25,000 photos in seconds to find exactly the photo they're looking for. New time-based photo organization gives users even easier access to their photos, and Smart Albums automatically organizes photos based on date, keyword or the user's own rating. New slideshows include cinematic transitions and controls for rotating, rating and deleting photos on the fly. With Rendezvous(TM) photo sharing, photos can easily be shared between computers across home networks.

iMovie 4 features editing directly in the timeline to make movie creation easier and faster. Users can select and edit multiple clips simultaneously to modify and render clips faster and more efficiently. With graphical audio waveforms and live audio scrubbing, users can find specific edit points in audio tracks, and alignment guides make it easy to precisely sync video and audio. Live video can be imported directly from an iSight(TM) camera to the clips panel. iMovie 4 also makes it simple to share movies over the Internet via email or web with a .Mac HomePage, and users can take movies with them when they travel with a compatible Bluetooth mobile phone or PDA.

iDVD 4 includes 20 new Hollywood-style themes, many with intro movies and sub-menus, that can be personalized with music, photos and movies for truly original DVDs. Movies from iMovie, photos from iPhoto and music from iTunes or GarageBand can be added directly to a DVD via the media browser, and enhanced photo slideshows can include cinematic transitions and iTunes playlists. The DVD Map provides an overview of entire DVD projects, and professional-quality encoding can fit over two hours of video on a single DVD.

iLife '04 also includes the latest version of iTunes, the world's best digital music jukebox software with the iTunes Music Store inside. iTunes allows users to import music from CDs, legally download music for just 99 cents per track, organize and mix the music in their digital music libraries into custom playlists, burn custom CDs or take their entire music collection with them on their iPod. The pioneering iTunes Music Store, iTunes digital music jukebox software and market-leading iPod portable digital music player provide a complete solution for music fans to buy, manage and listen to their digital music collections anywhere.

Pricing & Availability

iLife '04 will be available on January 16 for a suggested retail price of $49 (US).

Check out: Apple's iLife site for further details and to view their introductory video featuring Tony Hawk, Elijah Wood, and Sheryl Crow.

Since I started making iMovies a few years ago, we have found there is no better wedding gift than this to present to a bride and groom. Our eight year-old's birthday celebration at school was also a big hit when we presented an iMovie starring our daughter and her classmates. And my sister who is in Heaven, having received an iMac for Christmas, keeps calling, she is so excited about this new thing called "iLife." Needless to say, her enthusiasm is inspiring us to want to do more.

It is definitely starting out to be a good year in this household, thanks, in part, to Steve Jobs and Apple Computer. Now, if I could just get that iMovie finished from last year's "Wedding of the Summer in Sweden." Perhaps by Valentine's Day I'll be shipping off 50 DVDs with the bride and groom's photo album put to music.

~Jennifer