“Apple is touting what it calls the biggest changes to iLife in more than five years. iPhoto gets some nice ease-of-use adjustments; iMovie changes radically from its predecessor; and the most obvious addition to GarageBand is a virtual stage for composing original songs. iDVD offers new themes and customizations as well as professional-level encoding. Overall, this package for editing photos, movies, and music seems to be a great deal, still $79, plus it’s free with the purchase of a new Mac,” Elsa Wenzel reports for CNET Reviews.
“Movie ’08 is a far cry from the ’06 version. It’s built to simplify on-the-fly video editing, but Apple has removed many controls that added depth to the older version. But you can keep both programs on one machine when you install iLife ’08, and you can download iMovie ’06 version 6.0.4 for free,” Wenzel reports.
“We’re not crazy about iMovie’s new split personality, with features removed from the new version in the name of simplification,” Wenzel reports.
“We wish the altered interface could have retained more features from iMovie ’06, instead of forcing longtime users either to suffer with less functionality or use the old software,” Wenzel reports.
“Newcomers to iLife will find uncluttered interfaces and a well-rounded set of features for managing pictures and making movies, songs, and podcasts,” Wenzel reports. “For those upgrading to iLife ’08 from a prior version, the alterations to iPhoto are the most practical, especially for managing massive picture libraries. Although GarageBand gets more controls, iMovie eliminates many in its upgrade, and users may consider it dumbed down. And Apple seems to be pushing serious video hobbyists away from iMovie and toward Final Cut Express. We wish there were a happy medium.”
Full review covering more of iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWebhere.
MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve been answering in emails all day, we consider iMovie ’08 to be well-suited to the target market (entry-level consumers) and believe that it will help new users to edit videos more quickly and easily. If Apple had not offered iMovie ’06 HD for free to current users, we would have had an entirely different take on iMovie ’08. We understand the reaction to the new iMovie from long-time iMovie users, but we also believe iMovie ’08 has great potential. Current iMovie users lose nothing (they can use iMovie ’06 HD if they wish) and new users gain much in terms of simplicity and speed. We believe iMovie ’08 offers a better, easier way for novices to edit video; making video editing more accessible to more people, which we believe was the original intent of iMovie. iMovie in recent years had become a sort of “Final Cut Express Lite,” which did not address the novice video editor as appropriately as iMovie ’08. Bottom line for iMovie ’08: In general, old users will be mad; new users will be glad.
PC Magazine and now CNET are both catering to the Apple advertising dollar.
Lets face it, iMove ’08 just plain sucks.
Ahh headline fixed now. So much better.
I like iMovie ’08, but I prefer the polish iMovie ’06 offered. To me, though, the current iMovie makes more sense from a sales perspective– makes Final Cut Express far more enticing now. Before, most people could do without, as iMovie was actually pretty powerful.
I liked Apple better when they were a small monopoly.
Now that the beast is growing…
Hopefully by the time it gets to be a big problem, Linux will have a decent desktop version ready to go.
So far I hear one can pick up a basic Linux PC for about $250, surfs the web and emails just fine. If that’s all you need it to do.
To me, though, the current iMovie makes more sense from a sales perspective– makes Final Cut Express far more enticing now
Bleeding the sheep in other words.
1: Pay for upgrade with less features than previous version.
2: Users then need to buy FCE to regain features
3: DOUBLE PROFIT!!!
I think when SJ said “If I was in charge of Apple (again) I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth and move on to the next big thing”
I think he was telling the truth.
Too bad they make finding the iMovie 06 download a major pain in the ass.
I’m so upset with Apple lately, if it was’t for the intense smog of Cupertino, I would protest at 1 Infinate Loop.
Perhaps I can find a gas mask at the local Army/Navy Store?
Wouldn’t that be a media hit?
Muhhalalallalal!!!
the truth is Apple invented a better way to edit video.
period
all this crap is noise
from jerks
MDN: “we also believe iMovie ’08 has great potential”
Absolutely agree. Once some of the previous features are added back in (think Themes, Chapter markers, FX), it will kick butt.
I’d love to have the timeline option though. Not sure if that will make it back as a selectable option.
Looks like Apple did drop the ball on this one.
It’s true that iMovie – and in fact the whole iLife suite – has always been a steal for the price, way underpriced by market standards (and free with a Mac purchase) for the features offered.
But once you offer certain features in a piece of software, to then take them away in an “upgrade” is a slip in the decision-making process.
Having said that, the free iMovie06 download allows you to have what are essentially two distinct pieces of software. Perhaps they should be renamed iMovie Express and iMovie Full or something.
For me, the free download not only heals the inadvertent wound but in fact allows the user to use the iMovie version that best suits his/her ultimate purpose.
Calling them ‘jerks’ is way too kind for these assholes.
yeah the term for u haters is ‘newbie’, you want to be ‘real’ editors on imovie ’06. Get a life, read a book and learn FCE, toughen up for a change u whiners. imovie is INTENDED for my grandma, not cheapskates. Now we have differentiation among product lines, instead of cannibalized sales, that’s good for business. Of course, people who use imovie for business, probably have no point being in business anyway. Schmucks.
Don’t like the new iMovie?
How about moving over to the magnificent Microsoft Windows Movie Maker? It makes digital home movies amazingly easy and fun. You can create home movie masterpieces on your computer using Windows Movie Maker and share them with family and friends.
The reality is that image and video editing isn’t any good on a MAC. And it’s proprietary so you’re working in weird Apple-only formats and the drivers for video camera aren’t there on the MAC. The IT guys at work told me so and they should know. They take Microsoft certification exams.
Give Microsoft Windows Movie Maker a try!
Your potential. Our passion.™
a lot of people are defending imovie ’08 for being much simplified and better for entry level.
and it is.
a lot of people are upset it is also dumbed down.
and it is.
the vast majority of Mac users are used to getting pro level power AND simplicity in one package. if they keep the new interface and skimming but put the sound and more powerful editing tools back, they have a hit.
i have tried FCE, and it is awkward and difficult for me. the interface is designed for pros. understandably, but iMovie ’08 is short in too many areas.
…guess i need to learn FCE.
MW: the complaint about iMovie ’08 isn’t about what it isn’t, but what it isn’t. the “value in ’06 was greater for too many.
“Once some of the previous features are added back in (think Themes, Chapter markers, FX), it will kick butt.”
bingo. that is the trouble right there.
i don’t even mind doing the sound work in garageband and importing it, but when i have all the goodies removed, i feel a bit shorted.
I’m actually looking forward to trying iMovie ’08. I never did use iMovie before as I have FCP. I am interested, however, in a quick method of throwing home video together without feeling the need of producing an epic.
Apple should release an update to iMovie ’08 that would put back all the features they removed. This time, the new version should boot up to the current “Lite” version but with all the “Pro” features hidden away and invoked at will by more experienced users.
you missed the point. people have been using iMovie for years and have invested in third party plug-ins. we know the software, don’t want to be a “real” editor, don’t want to spend the money on FCE for home movies, but we do want ease of use and we want to produce a professional looking project. iMovie ’08 is a downgrade for all the loyal iMovie users. MDN can try to rationalize it all they want, but the fact is that Apple is giving long time supporters a dumbed down version and telling them to go buy FCE if you want more options. if Apple wants us to purchase FCE, great! produce an iLife suite minus the crapware that is iMovie 08 and offer FCE at 50% off… problem solved.
stop trying to be me ‘fake maclover’
So you say you want to produce a PROFESSIONAL product on imovie ? Or, a 50% discount on a pro product like FCE ?
Listen to yourself, you want to be a Pro, with very little investment !!! How bout you quit your day job, take your saving and play Lotto to pay the mortgage ?
Hey! You never know !
The reality is, professionals invested mentally and financially to get where they are, not wanting to move forward, means you personally have little chance of ever producing a professional product. Not because I don’t like you, but because,
you don’t like yourself.
I agree with the MDN Take 100%. The purpose of the iLife suite is to help grow the Mac market share. It should cater to new inexperienced users and get them making movies and showing their Windows-using friends and family what a Mac can do.
there’s a great graphic listed at this url that shows where iMovie 08 is on a scale against iMovie 06 and FCP.
http://www.geethree.com/slick/imovie8.html
The thing is the new interface and editing style are great but deleting features and rendering pluggins poeple have purchased already is not cool. This is a Microsoft style upgrade and definately not what we have come to expect from Apple. Update version 1 could answer the concerns people have been raising – let’s see.
If Apple had not offered iMovie ’06 HD for free to current users, we would have had an entirely different take on iMovie ’08.
Sure ya would have. Tell us all about the last time you made any constructive criticism of ANY Apple product. Face it, you’re a big mouth mindless fanboy without a life…
Period. Good luck on you “News” Site!
Apple has historically made great software. But thanks, IMHO, to the success of the iPod, Apple is rapidly becoming the new Microsoft. MDN is arguing that Apple is justified in “dumbing down” iMovie because that distinguishes it from Final Cut. But here’s something to ponder:
The old Apple would have distinguished iMovie from Final Cut by improving Final Cut. The new Apple (i.e. Microsoft 2.0) has chosen to distinguish its two products by stripping features from iMovie.
It’s obvious what we must do!!
We must dumb ourselves down to match iMove ’08!
It’s the Apple way.
I have come to the conclusion that your are the best satirist since FSJ since no sane person could ever concoct the stuff you write even if they were half serious.
I salute you, sir, as a true genius
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<i>@LorD 1776
Calling them ‘jerks’ is way too kind for these assholes.,/I>
Totally agree LorD.. Why can’t everyone be like you and ignore what a POS iMovie 08 is and just go out and buy it because Steve said to….
I’m like you! Who cares if it’s any good. Steve said it’s the best. I’m Buying… WOOO Hoooo Apple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“The old Apple would have distinguished iMovie from Final Cut by improving Final Cut. The new Apple (i.e. Microsoft 2.0) has chosen to distinguish its two products by stripping features from iMovie.”
i am not sure that a single application is justification for a sweeping insult like that. maybe, just maybe, they deserve a little benefit of the doubt….
…say until this becomes a habit?
Isn’t it possible that Apple wanted to add more features to the iMovie, but because it is a complete ground-up rewrite that they simply didn’t have the time? The new rendering engine, and the new library management, etc. has caused the program to be rewritten, but I would expect that iMovie ’09 would have many of the old features added back in. It’s just like who Mac OS X v10.0 didn’t have DVD playback support, and couldn’t burn CDs, and didn’t have all sorts of stuff we liked in Mac OS 9. The reality is that they just didn’t have time to add all the features in OS X 10.4 into 10.0 from the beginning. Giving people iMovie ’06 for free is like giving us Classic so we could still access some of the old OS 9 features we needed.
Currently there are 239 reviews on iLife 08 at the online Apple Store. iLife 08 has a score of 2.5 stars out of 5 available. Mostly due to poor iMovie reviews.
Mine was but one of the first ten comments, all of them roughly identical in gently chiding MDN and Apple about iMovie’08. So why was this:
the truth is Apple invented a better way to edit video.
period
all this crap is noise
from jerks
aimed at ME? Did I include my .sig? Nope, don’t think so. Nope, still not there. Did I flame anyone? Nope, don’t think so. A couple hundred or so responses to a previous entry were pretty solidly in the “Yes, Apple can make a mistake.” camp. I hadn’t said a word, then. Now some anonymous clown is calling me, and all those other people, JERKS? It seems to me this is unrelated to my comment and strictly a cheap personal attack.
DLMeyer said (something), he must be wrong!
This seems, to me, an excellent reason to institute “accounts”. The protection of “anonymity” is very much over-rated. It isn’t “freedom to tell the truth” so much as “freedom to tell lies” and “freedom to flame” and “freedom from responsibility”.
My name is David L. Meyer and I stand behind my words.
What do you stand for?
Why do people mistake their own expectations with what is? I’ll write a book in my spare time.
Radical changes suggest philosophy changes. Philosophy changes suggest strategic changes. Strategic changes suggest the need for new direction. New direction in Apple’s perceived path suggests the need for increased mass appeal. Radical change given the context of Apple’s success is a sign of strength, even with complaints.
Mac faithful are mac-faithful. For those that have yet to be enlightened, easier is certainly better. Think long term. Think beyond yourself. Think BIG.
Oh, and I stand for sitting.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
for the search impaired among us
All of you folks are STUPID beyond belief. And you call yourself mac users? For crying out loud, you all act like a bunch of wussy pc fanboys the same thing whih you are criticizing MDN for. MDN is not arguing that such features are useless but that iMovie isn’t so bad as many are arguing.
Get a load of yourselves.
iMovie 08 should have been released as ‘iMovie Express’ for beginners along side the HD version.
I can’t even remember the last time I used any software where the latest upgrade actually stripped out a good chunk of a programmes current capabilities. I’d love to know whos bright idea that was that got the go ahead.
There’s no need to defend Apple here – this was just an inane thing to do to your customers.
So MDN adds a take. Hilarious. I’ve never met a soul that couldn’t figure out iMovie 6, even my 80 year old mother.
It’s always Apple’s way and no other way, in the midst of a resurgence, SJ will blow it again with his way and not listening to their customers. Plus, iPhoto now hides your photos in a database, not freely available as separate files on your drive to use.
iLife 08 is definitely a Microsoftian product.
Pinnacle offers “Smart Movie”, a feature rich video eiditing tool for windows for $99.99.
With apple you have 2 choices $15.- for a heavily stripped down iMovie 08 or $300.- for Finak Cut Express.
Nothing in between …:( Bad choice Apple!!
Haha, MDN can’t keep their story straight, Flip flopping pussies!
You call some other story this morning heresy, and now you concede that iMovie 08 doesn’t offer half the features of the pervious version.
Brilliant, just brilliant.
Magic Word: expected
oh, so so fitting.
Does Apple own MD?
ZT, you said “How about moving over to the magnificent Microsoft Windows Movie Maker? It makes digital home movies amazingly easy and fun. You can create home movie masterpieces on your computer using Windows Movie Maker and share them with family and friends.”
In that comment, I think you are right. All these people who are bitching and moaning should consider your suggestion.
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ZT, then you go on to say,” The reality is that image and video editing isn’t any good on a MAC. And it’s proprietary so you’re working in weird Apple-only formats and the drivers for video camera aren’t there on the MAC. The IT guys at work told me so and they should know. They take Microsoft certification exams.Give Microsoft Windows Movie Maker a try! “
I am sorry but the humor is gone. Give it up or try really harder.
NO potential. NO passion Just MS people trying to get our money with as little effort as possible. JMHO
” We believe iMovie ’08 offers a better, easier way for novices to edit video; making video editing more accessible to more people, which we believe was the original intent of iMovie”
Please Guys! Apple will continue to advertise here (as well as Disney) regardless of your MDN “take” on things. If M$ made made a comparable move, you would be on them like flies on sh%t, as well as your fanboy-following.
New releases of software are about upgrading user-interface, options and control, NOT downgrading the afore mentioned. MAC users have always been able to navigate the software and have always been up to the challenge of making the software more usable and productive. Simply put, we’re not accustomed to “dumbing down” as we are to “notching up”.
“MDN Magic Word”… lack, as in, the lack of integrity and authenticity abounds in cyberspace, does this review remind you of the Acer-Ferrari giveaway scandal?
whores!
A reasonable Take this time, MDN. Your Take on the Pogue story hurt your credibility.
Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch.!!!!!!
For all the complainers, let your pocket books do the talking. Don’t buy iLife 08. As a matter of fact, why don’t you just switch to Windows.
If you love iMovie 06 so much you can still keep it and when you go pro, get FCE.
For the rest of us who just make a few home movies here and there, iMovie 08 is the best thing that has ever happened to amateur movie making.
well, I don’t see why MDN needs to be ” ” unbiased” etc
Wow he is so un-intelligent, Who cares life is full of people who hate and dislike;
I reckon MDN rocks. We are intelligent enough to know a feature is missed, But its nice to have MDN stick up, and point out what the intent of imovie is. For the people here which I thought where intelligent:
Life systems are about AMBITIONS AND DIRECTION, Apple are on a direction, I believe they make excellent systems and help humanity.
I back this horse and when sometimes it is hurt I am there to help keep the energy going, if people knocked all th pioneers such as Charles Pearce or the Rights brothers at ther first plane did not have a cabon crew or a In board TV
well gee people
I like this site and I don’t want ” { unbiased information.} I can read CNN etc or any other for this, so called Informed,
But really if can anyone make a better product or have with Digital video for years and dedicated there life to it, let them talk about the Limitations.
Joe fat man and Susies Why can i have free Money,
+++++++++
I want speed in my iMovie. I have no time in my life to piss around learning the old iMovie. I like 08 iMovie. ” Getter Done ! “
IT IS THE FIRST VERSION of 08 iMovie HELLO!!! Go to Final Cut Pro Lite if you want better for you purests.
I just talked a PC women friend into getting a Mac because she wanted an easy video editing program. She saw how easy it was and bought a 2.0 20 inch iMac yesterday. She only bought it because of that. Her PC was fine for all her other stuff. A new Mac convert because of iMovie 08.
+++
Kassandra,
Please point out where MDN “flip-flopped” between their two iMovie “Takes.”
I’ll help you: they didn’t (if you can read and comprehend English).
Show us your contribution?
PS: We should be happy we can have this debate, We are should be happy we have ilife 06
PSS : I have a site iphonewebmail.com
I wish this level of critical rationality was in play when AppleTV debuted – then maybe we’d have one with DVR functionality by now.
As it stands, it’s heartening to see MDN get it’s/his head handed over. Totally stupid ‘takes’ on this topic. Totally substandard software offering from Apple.
To the person who said we should wait to see if this becomes a trend: Why? It makes more sense to get Apple set straight BEFORE this becomes an ingrained way of doing things. Besides, if you consider the hardware end of things – AppleTV especially – their putting out half-done products has already been repeated.
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MDN magic word = right
“It’s only right for a smart consumer to keep on top of these things when they happen.”
Comment from: Odyssey67
what do you do for a Job?
Please and can you tell me, us about your history , what you work with on the mac and how long , really , No joke.
we can debate the Apple TV or the Apple Mac Mini this could be more interesting or the Mail server system.
Cheers
Anthony
While everyone is here and listening,
I can make Joomla websites for people, this is great PHP web system. My-SQL and CSS system. $500 a Site
also : Winston Peters MP for New Zealand is a Looser, If he ever comes to your country do not give him respect.
Also veggies are good for you.
maybe if MS offered XP free to Vista users, MDN would have entirely different takes on Vista. MDN-what a joke
B.
why?
Reckon they should just have tweaked “06” and called it “08”.
Then added “iM Lite” as the present simple version.
That way everyone’s OK.
FCE is nice enough but a steep learning curve for occasional editors.
Based on MDD’s “takes” (and the intellectually vacuous replies of those defending MDN’s insipid commentary) about Apple’s PR blunder, I’d say the motto for iMovie 08 should be…
iMovie 08: the video editor for those who can’t, or don’t want to, EDIT video.
I might be inclined to give the MDN takes some slack, if it weren’t for the fact that Apple (yes, Apple itself) has been churning the PR machine on the Apple website by touting the iLife apps for years – in online article after online article about how professional people in various activities/businesses have been using these “supposed” consumer level apps to produce professional looking videos, documents, etc., etc.
Oh yeah, tell us again how iLife apps aren’t meant for professional use. Tell us, again, why we should be happy that Apple doesn’t want us use them for pro work…even if they are suitable enough.
This attitude isn’t unique to Apple. Anyone familiar with E•Books FlipAlbum software knows this is how they work. Or at least the did a few years ago when I researched FlipAlbum for my business and found out about their restrictions on how an end-user could use it. Even though the low-end version was more than adequate for my purposes, their non-commercial restrictions disallowed its use for my needs.
Consequently, E•Books lost a sale. And not just the sale they obviously wanted to make to me, a commercial user, but any sale at all.
The words to describe this attitude (by E•Books and Apple) are shortsighted…and stupid.
It’s making me begin to wonder if Apple isn’t guilty of the corporate arrogance that so many accused it of. MDN takes and their defenders are giving certainly credence to them and the Mac fanboy/cult claims by guys like Dvorak, Enderle, etc. Never have I bought into such idiotology, but this whole situation makes me wonder.
At the very least, it appears Apple failed to do the most elemental market research of the iMovie user base.
And that doesn’t say much for Apple, either.
Thank you Apple for removing the goddamn bloat in iMovie. The new version is now much, much better. You want to do more sophisticated editing, go get FCE or FCP … or STFU and download the old iMovie turd.
I’m sorry to be the one to tell most of you here the sad news: Apple is not built to serve your whims. They are guided by their own ideas and principles on what’s good for their consumers and for those interested to buy their products. They made using music easy with iTunes and iPod. They made computing a pleasure that a chore with Mac OS X. What they are now trying to do is to make the medium of video easy to do for consumers who do not want to fiddle around for hours. If some of you think you’re so smart then you might have already figured out that you are not the target market for iMovie 08. If you don’t like iMovie 08 then use iMovie 06. That’s why when you install iLife 08 it didn’t get rid of iMovie 06. Apple knew that iMovie 08 is a different application geared towards a different kind of user.
They’re not stupid or greedy when they released iMovie 08. They are trying to give the ability to edit movies quickly and painlessly. If you don’t see the benefits of iMovie 08 for its target, then it’s you who have lost focus not Apple. Apple is still on target.
Now I understand why Steve spent such a long time talking about iMovie ’08 at the recent event.
Firstly, @gow: I just checked my iPhoto ’08 library, they just made it a package folder. If you right-click on it and choose “Show Package contents” all the individual files are still somewhere there. And though they’ve removed the “Show original file” option from iPhoto, we can still copy/paste from iPhoto to the Finder.
@ everyone who says we should suck up whatever Apple gives us, to stop “whining,” or to switch to Windows if we wanted to keep the horribly complex morass that was iMovie 06, I say this: grow up, you sound like 8 year olds!
MDN’s original take on Pogue’s review was WAY out of line, the only thing they could’ve done worse was if they’d said that Pogue (long a Mac champion in the mainstream media when few others were) was selling out Apple in order to generate page hits.
Apple is great but they’re not perfect. Simplicity through limited choices is great to get beginners up and running, but in their software products Apple has ALWAYS provided a way for more seasoned users to access more advanced features. For example, what if Apple removed keyboard shortcuts? Clearly beginners will be confused by those weird symbols next to so many menu items, right?
I’ll bet none of the idiots defending Apple’s iMovie 08 decision remembers the original Mac System 1.0, which could not use arrow keys to move around a text editor. While it was intended to force people to learn to use the then-revolutionary mouse, it was an artificial restriction. What would your response have been to critical feedback on that, vote with your dollars, don’t buy a Mac and stay on DOS!? Such attitudes are utterly defeatist and disgust me to no end.
Get real! Apple is not always right. Steve Jobs is not always right. I agree with both most times, but to NOT call Apple out when they do something wrong is the same as accepting the mediocrity of Windows as being “good enough.” To make excuses for this poor decision, when even Apple themselves has pretty much admitted their error (by offering iMovie 06 for free download), puts you squarely in the camp of mindless cult followers.
MW: a very ironic “progress”
Apple can do no wrong according to MDN. This is why they have so little creditability. I keep their widget handy to see what is going on in the world of Apple but I usually skip over the MDN Take.
@ Jim of Davao:
“Apple is not built to serve your whims. They are guided by their own ideas and principles on what’s good for their consumers and for those interested to buy their products.”
Apple does not serve individual whims, true. But if the vast majority of individual whims complain about something, they’d better respond accordingly.
Windows Vista is failing because Microsoft didn’t listen to their real customers, and delivered a product that not only didn’t benefit anyone who’d actually use it (consumers, businesses), but in many cases actually shafted them.
MW: it’s possible to make something too “basic”
@ Jim of Davao:
“They’re not stupid or greedy when they released iMovie 08. They are trying to give the ability to edit movies quickly and painlessly. If you don’t see the benefits of iMovie 08 for its target, then it’s you who have lost focus not Apple. Apple is still on target.”
Depends–if the movies created quickly and painlessly look or sound bad, will a) you as the producer want anyone else to see them, or b) will anyone else *want* to see it?
MS FrontPage lets users create simple web pages quickly and painlessly, but unlike iWeb, its “simplicity” results in garbage.
I get that Apple’s trying to make it easy to put a video onto Youtube with a minimum of fuss and I don’t disagree with that idea, but give such people such basic options that the resulting video looks or sounds like a complete newbie did it.
Dear Steve Jobs.
You let me down man.
Love, peaPod
Apple is becoming more and more like M$ – the keyword is GREED. Crippled software when upgrading, locking iPhone to limit customer options are bad bad signs about this new greed-driven-mentality by Apple, so sad..maybe Steve and Bill arent that different after all?
Personally, i could never use iLife because it always was too simple… I started FinalCut long before iLife existed. So none of the features in iLife is fitting with my needs anyway.
Of course, i can understand that many are concerned. I have a friend who produced a “professional” movie on iMovie 4.0… Well, somehow it turned out not so bad for a “artistic research”…
Yet, what if an uncle, on birthdays, always gives more then expected to his nephew, for years, and then suddenly gives a “normal gift”? Nephew will be disapointed… Hum!
Put it straight: easy to be disapointed when too pampered…
I’ve noticed that after installing iMovie 08, iMovie 06 was moved to a new folder “iMovie previous version”.
I think that reveals a certain strategy by apple.
I’m planning to do some movie things next weekend, so I’m curious to find out if it’s possible to open an iMovie 08 project in iMovie 06.
“if people knocked all th pioneers such as Charles Pearce or the Rights brothers at ther first plane did not have a cabon crew or a In board TV “
What you have here is that the plane previously had these things, and now you get to sit on an old wooden crate, holding the chicken owned by the lady next to you.
or the Rights brothers
The “Rights Brothers” huh???? Are there the guys who sang You’ve lost that Lovin Feeling????
Frankly I’m glad to see iMovie go this way. I’m so tired of having amateurs call to get help finishing an edit in iMovie. It’s hard enough to do phone help with the minor differences in Final Cut Express.
The only enviable thing iMovie has ever had is “work while rendering”. Love to see that in FCP.
The new iMovie is going to allow a substantial number of novices success with their “home movies”. If you want to do professional editing, spend the bucks and buy FCE, or better yet Final Cut Pro. You get what you pay for.
MW: effect
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(as in “if you wants professional effects, pay for a professional tool “)
@rdbvideo
So you’d rather all amateur, consumer-level video look like something you’d find on YouTube? While nice that Apple’s catering to that crowd, I’ve never seen anything on YouTube that approached the level of a home video DVD.
A big draw of iMovie for a friend is to do up home videos of their new baby, and burn it to a DVD and send to family. A recent Mac convert (Apple can thank me later), he’s already annoyed that during a recent iTunes/Quicktime update purchased songs with Fairplay no longer reliably import into iMovie 06. A known issue where iMovie keeps asking to authorize the track, the workaround so far from Apple is to burn the tracks to CD and re-rip them. Hardly “it just works,” and remember, we’re the ones that laugh at MS when their “PlaysForSure” caused consumer grief.
He’d be absolutely pissed to see iMovie ’08 has removed “professional-only” features like audio fading or heck, timelines!
Yes, iMovie 06 is still available, but Apple should’ve just called iMovie 08 something different like “iShow” while doing a proper upgrade to iMovie.
I’d say 80% of users of the “new” iMovie ’08 hate it. Apple hosed a great app and obviously trying to get people to move to Final Cut Express is they want to do real video editing. And they are doing it in a very Microsoftian kind of way.
The bad news is iMovie is for people that don’t want to spend a tone of money on movie editing software and don’t all the capabilities of FCE. iMovie is priced right for us, FCE is way too expensive.
Let’s send Apple a real message and start sharing FCE 3.5 much in the same way we shared music when it was overpriced online. Start uploading FCE as a free download through Peer to Peer sights. Hie Apple where they will notice it… sales.
Steve Jobs won’t give a crap that we hate iMovie ’08 until FCE sales get canabalized. Steve, put your ego aside and hear us… iMovie ’08 SUCKS!
What I’d rather see is more people not feeling intimidated by video editing. iMovie `08 should provide that.
What makes most YouTube video suck is bad camera work. Look at some of the most beautiful National Geographic or PBS videos. They’re not much more than simple cuts. You can tell a real amateur but the number of “effects” they slap on their project.
If you really want to learn video production, take a class at a community college, and pick up FCE at the educational price of $99. Or, continue to use iMovie `06 and welcome all the new editors that are willing to get their feet wet with the un-intimidating iMovie `08.
As we grow in skill in anything, we take the training wheels off.
If you’re that good, let iMovie go.
Apple always focuses on the user experience first, then stability, then builds the feature set later. Apple does not go the MS route by incorporating all the bells and whistles, then spend the next 10 years fixing them. Apple will see what elements stick, then build on a new platform. They did this with OSX, iTunes/iPod, earlier versions of iLife, iWork, etc.
I don’t like the new version of iMovie because it’s a new 1.0 version amidst the 4+ version of everything else. However, I do believe that the new iMovie is a new platform to build on (and probably a good one), which will take on more features over time. It just sucks being at version 1.0.
However, I think MDN’s arguments are shallow at best. Just saying that the software is intended for an amateur market is a useless comment. One could say the same about iPhoto, or iTunes, and yet it’s platform continues to grow more complex over time. So will the new iMovie08.
Let me start with the timeless sigh of Winnie the Pooh: ”Oh! Bother!”
I am not sure how many of you guys realize what does it cost to create software. Much more then what Apple will make in the short time frame between selling this bundle and bundling it for free with the new Machines. In my opinion greed has nothing to do with it, you may argue it is a poor decision, but not greed, or “Microsoftiness”. For one, nobody is forcing the existing users to upgrade, and even if you did upgrade and hated iMovie 08, you can always reinstall iMovie 06.
Think about it this way, How many people are using iTunes? iPhoto? iMovie? You will immediately see that the number will go down dramatically once it reaches iMovie. I truly believe that Apple is simply trying to reach out for a larger public. You may agree or disagree with that. Myself, I will try iMovie for a few weeks, if I see that time saving features on iMovie 08 are worth it, I will keep it. After all even though I Love iMovie 06, I still have a lot of unfinished movies because I really do not have a lot of time on my hands. If I found out that I am still behind on my movie editing AND I am loosing features, then I will switch back to iMovie 06. The End.
I think iMovie 08 absolutely rocks. There has never been an easier way to edit video, period.
Anyone who wants to continue to use iMovie can continue to do so.
I am honestly lost as to why everyone is complaining.
iLife is a free bundle with new Macs, and is way cheaper than anything that can even claim to be close in functionality.
iMovie ’06 is not easy to use and in my book does not belong in iLife. iMovie ’08 fits right in.
I am a PC-user that recently switched to the Mac. I originally switched because I felt that the Mac offered a better, higher-quality solution to my needs than the PC could — that is, until now…
I just used iMovie ’08 and here’s my honest opinion:
* My PC’s FREE movie editing software is much more capable.
* iMovie has very few transitions and effects.
* iMovie doesn’t play well with music or sound.
* iMovie has no timeline, so you can’t see how long your movie is.
Honestly, this program should of been called iTube ’08, instead of iMovie. It seems to focus mostly upon sending movies to YouTube (which is in legal trouble and will probably go the way of “Napster” here soon).
I used to be proud to produce movies on my Mac and send them to my friends and family (that use a PC.) It was a form of advertising that shouted — look what I can do with a Mac! …And it works!! I have many of my friends and family that are now strongly considering buying a Mac. They are visiting Apple stores for the first time in their life — but, now I must regret that I will have to inform them that a Apple has intentionally decided to trash its ability to produce quality movies — and now, Microsoft Vista’s movie editing program is a much better decision for home movie makers, that is!
Hmmm, I wonder if the PC guy (in the commercial) will ever point out that the Mac’s iLife has now been neutered — it’s a unix… LOL
@Byron. iTube08. great idea
as for the rest, you still have your copy of iMovie 06? Keep using it, as you are obviously not the target for the new(?) version of iMovie. Not sure who is, but methinks it is a by-product of Goggle/YouTube and Apple pal-iness.
iLife for me is mostly about GarageBand, so I am Ok with the new version
Background: I’ve been an Apple user for 15 years. I am one of the biggest supporters of Apple; you could call me a fanboy if you want, frankly, I don’t care. I have also used iMovie since its creation. There have been few things that Apple has really screwed up in the last 7 years, but this new iMovie ’08 is one of them, and I will explain why.
The previous iMovie was easy to use. I have had numerous people who have never used a Macintosh before, let alone iMovie, come over and edit movies on my iMac using iMovie ’06. Every single one of them picked up iMovie ’06 with minimal assistance and finished their movies in one sitting of 3-4 hours or so. Every single one. You can NOT tell me that iMovie ’06 was difficult to use. If you would have said that 3 weeks ago every single person on this site would have laughed at you and gleefully stated that iMovie ’06 is the easiest to use video editing application on the market, including MDN! Because it was. You cannot tell me that the new iMovie ’08 will be significantly easier to use, because iMovie ’06 was already easy to use as it was!
What made iMovie ’06 great is that it allowed anyone to make professional looking videos, with a minimum of effort and experience. iMovie ’08 allows anyone to make amateurish, YouTube-like, Windows Movie Maker like videos, with a minimum of effort and experience. iMovie ’06 WAS (and still should be) one of the best aspects of the Macintosh, as far as creating things with wow to them, along with iDVD and Keynote. It allowed people (who are not, and do not desire to be video editing professionals) to make professional looking videos. iMovie ’08 does NOT. Make a movie with themes in iMovie ’06 and then make a movie with the same content in iMovie ’08 with the simple titling and transitionary capabilities that it has, and ask people which movie they thought was made on a Mac, and which was made on a PC. Guess what they’ll say. And that is one of the main reasons why Apple has significantly dropped the ball with the new iMovie.
All the people who say that everyone who is complaining should upgrade to FCE are totally missing the point. iMovie comes for free, WITH all new Macs. It is a </b>major, free</b> selling point for the Macintosh platform. Not anymore. It is now a basic, stripped down application that is comparable to many of the editing applications on Windows. Previously, there was no comparison. For shit sake, if I wanted to purchase $300 pieces of software (FCE) right after buying a computer, I would buy a frickin’ Windows PC! This is what Windows people have to do! This is what differentiates the Macintosh from the rest of the market! Open your eyes people!
Finally, what disappoints me most, is that iMovie ’06 will likely never be enhanced in any way anymore, and many of the previous features in iMovie ’06 will not be added to ’08. If they were going to add these features in, why not just offer the basic editing structure of iMovie ’08 (with skimming and such) as an option, and leave all the previous features there? Because they don’t plan on adding them back.
Many previous people who said that iMovie ’08 should be called iMovie Express are dead on correct. iMovie ’06 should remain the actual iMovie in iLife. They should rename iMovie ’08 to be “iMovie Express” and they should offer both, and continue to upgrade both. You know what, they could even take “iMovie” out of iLife, and offer it separately boxed, but still pre-installed on new Macs. I would pay $79 for upgrades to it alone, as well as another $79 for iLife with “iMovie Express” (aka iMovie ’08) in it. But Apple won’t do this, and this move will be seen in many years as a major blow and step backwards to amateur, digital home video editing.
I will continue to use iMovie ’06 until Apple offers a similar product again. If Apple never does, I will use the most similar product I can find to iMovie ’06, and I won’t care what platform it runs on.
–mAc
Okay, I admit it — I’m having a blast with the new iMovie.
I found the old one to be a bit clunky in spots — but the new one is a piece of cake. Much easier to add titles and transitions, as well as keeping related projects together in one place which will make it easy to find everything when I put together the DVDs.
I’m probably the target consumer they were going for — comptuer savvy enough to find my way around, but not a total video geek. For my needs, this will work just fine, thank you…