Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm not sure how to review this: some people could potentially be buying this to upgrade a very old version of iLife. If I review this as a standalone piece of software, it's fantastic and quite a value. For less than $50 you get a world class digital music studio, one of the best photo organizing programs, and a remarkably capable video editing package. (Oh, and passable web editing and DVD authoring programs, but nobody cares much about those, least of all Apple.) Easily five stars.
However, if I judge this as an upgrade from iLife '09, it's extremely weak. Here's what you get of any substance: the ability to better edit audio in iMovie, slightly better full screen modes in iPhoto, really impressive time warping facilities in Garage Band to fix timing, and some very nice guitar and piano lessons which actually show you where you making mistakes. All great features, to be sure. But are these worth $50 if you have '09? Probably not.
The frustrating thing is that the most major feature in this upgrade is just plain silly: they added the ability to make cutesy little fake "trailers" in iMovie. This is apparently their big innovation. You can now replace your boring home movies with one of eight or so two minute jokes that I guarantee you will get old very quickly. Very quickly. They also added a fake news program theme, and a fake sports theme. All very gaudy and over-the-top, even for iMovie standards. And not at all useful beyond just playing with them once.
It's pretty clear that Apple's focus has shifted away from Mac OS X and iLife and on to the greener pastures of iOS: the iPad and iPhone. In fact, from now on we'll likely see features come first to their consumer devices, and then later to their desktop computers. I'm afraid the days of getting truly major updates to iLife every two years is a thing of the past.
So, as an upgrade from '09, I give this one or two stars at best. If you're upgrading from '09, I hope I've saved you some money. Otherwise, this is a great software package, easily five stars, just not much of an improvement from what you could get two years ago. As such, I'll split the difference and give the package three stars.
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iLife '11 helps you do more with photos, movies, and music than you ever thought possible. In iPhoto, you can browse, edit, and share your photos in stunning new full-screen views. Create epic Hollywood-style movie trailers from your home video in iMovie. And GarageBand gives you everything you need to make a great-sounding song—including tools for keeping your song in perfect rhythm and guitar and piano lessons.
The incredible new iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand.
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