“When Apple releases new products, they’re often hailed as breakthroughs,” Jefferson Graham reports for USA Today. “But with the recent update of its beloved iMovie software, Apple finds itself in an unusual position: defense. Longtime iMovie fans aren’t happy.”
“Apple isn’t apologizing. It says it wants a new audience for iMovie and that the redesign had to happen. ‘The consumer video-editing industry is dying,’ says Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of applications and product marketing. ‘It got crushed by digital photography,'” Graham reports.
Graham reports, “Most camcorder owners never bother with video editing. Yet they will use software programs such as Apple’s iPhoto to manage their pictures and growing collection of video clips from still cameras, Schoeben says. Apple was forced to do a ‘radical reinvention’ of iMovie to get its users to work with their video clips, he says. Schoeben believes video novices will find it easier to edit with iMovie and, thus, use the program more. ‘This may be controversial at first, but long term … we’ll be fine.’
Graham reports, “Schoeben says iMovie has more advanced features than many on the message boards realize. Apple just hasn’t done a good enough job of letting people know about them, he says. More tutorials will be posted online like the ones at http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take by SteveJack: Longtime iMovie users aren’t happy, but average consumers should be ecstatic with the new iMovie ’08; it’s actually a triumph. Just so you know where I’m coming from, in addition to my brief bio below, I am a former 15+ year professional TV producer and video editor. Chances are good that you’ve seen something I’ve edited – most likely on a Mac-based Avid system costing over $100,000.
Schoeben’s right: people weren’t using iMovie because iMovie was too daunting (believe it or not). iMovie used to be and was designed to be a baby non-linear editor (NLE). I hated the thing personally and never used it, either. It was too “consumerish” in spots and too “pro” in others; in other words, a hodgepodge. I moved to Final Cut Pro long ago. What Apple has done with the new iMovie ’08 is what Apple typically does: shift the paradigm. In this case, they’ve done so radically and, in the process, revolutionized consumer editing. When all is said and done, iMovie ’08 will go down as an important transformative milestone in digital editing history.
Apple has shown the world the future and some people whine that they can’t sepia tone it.
It’s no surprise that longtime iMovie users are up in arms – hey, back in the TV stations and production houses where I worked, we used to complain when Avid moved one button or changed an icon with a new Media Composer version! We were used to the way things were, dammit, and didn’t want to change because it slowed us down – at first. With iMovie ’08, Apple has done more than move a button, they’ve blown up and the reassembled the entire app! They weren’t kidding with Think Different.
Longtime iMovie users will have to give the new iMovie a proper chance. I hope that with time, you’ll come to love it as I do. Some won’t and to those I say, it’s your loss. You are most likely already too advanced an editor for iMovie anyway (hint, hint: Final Cut Express – you’ll love it). New users or those that can adapt more quickly will find a fast, intuitive, easy-to-use video editing application in iMovie ’08.
iMovie was meant to be an editing application for beginning editors and camcorder users who wanted to quickly edit footage into shorter, more interesting finished products. iMovie ’08 finally achieves that vision.
Apple deserves credit for recognizing the problem and totally rethinking an application that relatively few of its target audience used. iMovie ’08 will bring video editing to many more people than previous versions, which was Apple’s goal all along.
While I’m disappointed that some iMovie users aren’t embracing change as readily as I believe Mac users should, I can empathize. You used to know how iMovie worked and now you don’t. The temptation to just give up and scream is very real, but change is hard and, in this case, it’s worth it. This whole brouhaha reminds me so much of the move from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X!
iMovie ’08 does need some more effects and a fuller feature set, but the foundation Apple has now laid is very, very strong and I fully expect iMovie to evolve and get even better over time. Start working with it now for simple projects, so you’ll be ready for the next version of iMovie. I doubt future iMovie changes will ever be so radical – Apple’s on the right track now – we’ll just get more features, refinements, and capabilities, but the basic premise of editing will be what iMovie ’08 has now established.
In the meantime, iMovie ’06 HD is there for the taking (and maybe Apple can rework it, rename it, and find a place for it in their lineup between iMovie and Final Cut Express where it belongs). I recommend that longtime iMovie users take advantage and use both applications, but give iMovie ’08 a real chance. Watch the tutorials (http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie) and put in the time; I know it hurts, but “no pain, no gain!” Properly used, iMovie ’08 can create excellent quality product. With a little less knee-jerk and a little more exploration, I think you’ll find that iMovie ’08 is a revelation.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
Please, please,…
Less than 2 years ago, when Mr. Jobs introduced iMovie HD with a LOT of fanfare and the (then) Sony CEO on stage, he catergorically stated it was to be the year of the HD camcoder. iMovie HD was the way forward. Yeah right.
Now we are to accept a product that feels at best “unfinished” like the first (and second) release of iWork. If a year in technology represents so much change as to make Mr. Jobs words take a 180º, then why are so many Aple products laggin behind their PC counterparts? iMovie ’08 is a huge step backwards.
And another thing…
New users/switchers get iLife 08 for free on their Macs. Retail boxed versions of iLife exist for one purpose. To be sold to existing Mac users of those apps (including, and probably in particular, iMovie).
You don’t sell people what YOU think they want, you sell them what THEY want. It doesn’t matter if some people think iMovie 08 is the greatest thing since sliced bread if retail sales of iLife boxed copies don’t fly off the shelves. The existing user base of iMovie is much, much larger than new users will be for quite a long time.
Like many computer users, many existing Mac users wait for reviews before upgrading to new versions of software. Negative reviews and problems tend to make them hold off. Anyone waiting for a “new and improved” version of iMovie may be disappointed.
“New” they most certainly got, but “improved” is clearly nothing more than a matter of opinion.
Until the new iMovie regains the features that were dropped (and I suspect it will over time) it remain unusable for me. And that (the usability) is no opinion, but fact.
MDN, Steve Jack and Steve Jobs have one thing in common:
Amazing ARROGANCE!
There is no justification for violating extraordinarily faithful customers with this ridiculous defense of APPLE’S BIGGEST BLUNDER.
Try all you want – you can’t change the reality. iMovie 08 is a toy, FCE is tedious, complicated, and burdened with too many time consuming protocols – it won’t do what iMovie HD does easier and, oftentimes, better.
iMovie HD is a standout program that Apple has inexplicably condemned to a death that will occur with the launch of Leopard and the next Quicktime update.
Nothwithstanding Jack’s insight(?), the question remains unanswered: what was Apple thinking?
No Choice for HDD Camcorders which use MPEG2
iMovie 06 and Final Cut Express dont support it but iMovie 08 does.
No timeline based editing for the MPEG2 folks
@nobodi “New users/switchers get iLife 08 for free on their Macs.”
Well, we’re suposed to get it.
Just bought my daughter a new macbook last week. It came loaded with iLife 06. After we got it all set up and updated we discovered the problem. Called apple support, they couldn’t send us a copy of iLife 08. Had to return the machine, get a new one, activate and register it in the store so I could check to see that it has the most recent versions of all of the software.
It seems apple is clearing out old stock of macbooks without any plan to update them with new software.
I was thinking about getting one of the iMacs for video editing, with iMovie, I would need to take out a loan, it’s ok for SteveJack he is sorted with what ever he wants. I’m re-thinking about getting the Mac I might just switch back to PC’s, cheeper and more software if this is how Apple and it’s pathetic apologists treat it’s customers.
Hey “habituallinestepper” whats this audio/music inability to edit, are you talking about.
You just click and drag it to the back of the movie picture, and it’s represented as a green boarder on where that song is played. Then you edit the song, so you can adjust it with two verticle bars to indicate when and where the song starts and finishes. This is much better that the previous iMovie 06, where you need to crop numerous times to get it right.
And if anything, audio tracks are best editted in either quicktime or garageband, not in iMovie.
I’ve played with it, it’s faster learning from here than from iMovie 06 and it works.
If you need to do more a
People want a lot of things, like cheap, bargain basement personal computers, for example. But they don’t expect to get them from Apple Inc. There was a time when this company used to concentrate on quality, and not so much on catering to the lowest common denominator.
MW: “Wrong.” ‘Nuff said.
The new iMovie is a huge step backwards on features. It should never have been called iMovie or lined up as a replacement of iMovie 06.
Both apps are targetted at different users. They should co-exist.
If the classic iMovie market is dying, can someone please point me to some actual facts that support this argument? I don’t see any numbers on the table nor do I believe the market is dying.
Apple should not be caring about the market. It should be giving iMovie 06 users an improved version of the app.
RE:”Apple should not be caring about the market. It should be giving iMovie 06 users an improved version of the app.”
I hope you are not leaning toward a career in business…
SteveJack had a number of useful things to say. Too bad he was writing in a language many of us won’t (can’t?) read. At least … not all the way through. More fool, they.
He said iMovie has been returned to its roots. True statement, unwanted fact. We didn’t want it dumbed down to its roots. But for a $15 app?
He said it was putting people off. True, but not those of us who were stretching its capabilities. Still … true.
He said there was room for an iMovie Pro version, an iMovie’08 with the features returned. I said the same thing … yesterday?
Not everyone was happy with the iMovie-that-was. I hadn’t used it in a year (dropped my camcorder … oops) but recall it fondly. Having been a videographer, myself, with fewer creds that SJ, and smaller needs, I was happy with the feature set, though I could see room to improve. I don’t consider this version an improvement, but I spent my $99 (Family Pack) for GarageBand-with-extras, not for iMovie-with-extras. My son gets iPhoto-with-extras out of it (for $20).
iMovie (and GarageBand, and iPhoto) was designed to introduce consumers to the wonderfullness of Apple’s Pro Apps – FCE/FCP, Logic, Aperture. To act as limited-feature “demos”, if you will. I’m sure they’ve done their job, but iMovie had gotten out ahead of itself. Maybe it’s time to introduce “Pro” versions of each … at $79 per.
No .sig this (MW=)time.
Dave
I don’t use iMovie, but the argument about the old iMovie is better because it supports a lot more plugins and themes is not very convincing. Every time there is a paradigm shift, you can’t expect the new thing to be so much superior than the old thing without giving the new one time to grow. It took 6 versions of iMovie to be the way it was and people expect the new version to beat it completely in one shot. It reminds me the days of OS 9 to OS X shift when OS X was dog slow and didn’t have OS 9’s standard features. No one can argue OS 9 is better than OS X now. The shift happens because the old thing was close to the ceiling to grow. Give the new iMovie some time to improve.
“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.”
— James Belasco and Ralph Stayer
Flight of the Buffalo (1994)
I was going to buy the new iLIFE 08, but since iMovie is the app I use the most, I am going to pass.
I am sure I am not the only loyal iLIFE fan who will stop upgrading at the 07 version.
I hate it when companies cater to the lowest common denominator!
Do they think these morons are going to use iMOVIE any more now that it has been dumbed down for them? I think not!
All this will do is screw the people with a brain that actually took the time to learn the previous version!
Everyone be patient, the timeline will make its way back into the product either with an update or a later release. Apple hit upon a really cool way to view video on the fly and assemble movies much quicker, which required a rewrite of the application from the ground up. Becuase they are trying to stay within the confines of a yearly ilife release they put this out, with some features added adn some taken away.
But it will be further refined as time goes on, just as OS X was, just as pages was, just as iMovie was before. And this is also why you can still download imovie 06 for free.
Seriously, if they stopped production of imovie 06 and refused to support it, I could see the griping having merit. Yet you’re not losing iMovie6. Rather Apple is moving from one way to do movies to another, which presumably is much better but which still has to be refined.
For those who prefer the features of imovie 06 is there a reason why you couldn]t assemble the movie really quickly in imovie08, then open the movie back in imovie06 to refine the sound and add the effects you want using the timeline? (or go to garageband to refine the sound instead).
Imovie08 seems much better for adding pieces to the movie to begin with, and imovie06 seems better at refining the movie once its been setup. Until imovie09 has the capablities of both (and Im assuming they will simply add another mode called the timeline mode which displays your movie on a timeline in addition to the way its displayed currenty which you’ll be able to toggle between) why not use the strenghts of both to achieve your results?
There is no need for griping.Noone is losing anything here. you now have two products that you can use instead of one, but there’s no reason why you can’t forgo ever using imovie08 at all.
Sorry Apple, MDN… Dead wrong..
iMovie 08 looks like it was born in the bowels of Microsoft… Guess what? We’re Mac users! If we wanted CRAPPY Microsoft software, we’d buy crappy Dells loaded with Microsoft’s crap… We didn’t. We don’t. We’re Mac users for a reason.. iLife used to be part of that..
I’ve never been more disappointed in an Apple product in over 20 years.
Nice try MDN/SteveJack. Maybe if you had written your original post with that level of thoughtfulness you wouldn’t have born as much of the brunt of this outrage. Since your original post was a steaming load of crap however, and since the position you take is still fundamentally the same (‘Jobs is always right’), you still see the same ratio of pro/con comments here.
The people have spoken – and they don’t like the new iMovie.
The flaw in Apple’s rational, and yours, as to why this will all blow over is that it fails to recognize the argument for what it is. NO ONE is dissing the new way of dealing with the videos (except for the lack of a timeline, or even the option of one – that’s a dealbreaker). EVERYONE appreciates how much faster iMovie 08 is now.
The problem is the hacking off of almost all the useful features.
The problem is not being able to utilize your plug-ins – both free and paid for – anymore.
The problem is not being able to import old iMovie projects very well, if at all.
The problem is that IF all of these issues are ever remedied, it looks like Apple’s pre-existing customers will have to pay for ANOTHER new version (iMovie 09 or 10), when they paid for them all once already.
The problem is having to use TWO pieces of software now, when before you only had to use ONE, to simply work with your video.
The last one illustrates how, no matter how simple 08 now is to use, you lose most – maybe all – of that efficiency advantage by having to figure out which version you can get away with using for any given project. And if you guess wrong, then all your work may wind up needing to be redone, depending on the circumstances.
All of the above could have been avoided. All Apple needed to do was just not jump the gun, and give 08 time to be debugged (I consider not being able to import projects or use pre-existing plugins from previous software with the same name to be bugs), and bring it up to the same feature level as the previous version of the software. Then they simply could have introduced it, say, in time for the Christmas buying season … or (as the name already implies) in the first quarter of 2008 … and literally EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY!
Fair. Logical. Efficient. Profitable. In other words, the kind of solution I’m beginning to think must have been outlawed in this country some time ago when I wasn’t looking.
Apple wasn’t wrong to change iMovie. They were wrong in how they did it. And you – SteveJack/MDN are wrong for not lending your voice to those of us – longtime Apple supporters all – who are simply trying to get them to correct the error.
Wise up.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool mad” style=”border:0;” />
The iPhone and iMovie 08 detractors have a lot in common. In neither case has Apple made a crappy product in its own right, but they’ve made something that is not in line with the expectations of a certain portion of the user base. Or put another way, they haven’t properly managed expectations.
Just as the iPhone was never meant to be a “tiny Mac” that can run Nisus Writer or whatever other crazy desktop app you might think it should, iMovie 08 is not an upgrade or improvement upon iMovie 06. It’s a totally new way of editing video, just as the iPhone is a totally new class of device. The problem is that some people want each to behave like an improved or shrunken version of X product that they are already familiar with.
Sorry guys, but if you want Apple to continue to be an innovation leader, this stuff has to happen from time to time. While I personally find it exciting, I can understand the disappointment from those who were looking for a souped-up iMovie 06. But if you are honest the best complaint you can make is that Apple has end-of-lifed a product you really liked, in favor of something with a different approach. All this whining about a “disaster” or a “dumbing down” reveals a lack of long-term thinking.
Just a question… since it’s about “feature loss” that people are unhappy with, What features have been lost?
@Ryan: “The iPhone and iMovie 08 detractors have a lot in common…”
NO THEY DO NOT. This has nothing to do with wanting iMovie to do something it was never designed to do, or isn’t best suited to do. That’s the iPhone critics, and they are in a very easily identified minority.
With iMovie 08, it is ALL about having it do what iMovie has always done before, going back to version 1.0. Period.
Your thinking in 2 dimensions my friend. This isn’t that kind of problem at all.
“With iMovie 08, it is ALL about having it do what iMovie has always done before, going back to version 1.0. Period.” should read:
“With iMovie 08, it is ALL about having it do what iMovie has always done before, going back to version 1.0. Period. and those people are in the vast majority.”
O67
Great post Odyssey67.
Apple should just add an Advanced button to the 08 interface and put all the 06 features that aren’t in 08 in this Advanced interface. Then everyone would be happy.
Apple has shown the world the future and some people whine that they can’t sepia tone it.
I disagree. Instead, I would say:
Apple’s fans around the world have spoken, and some people whine that they can’t edit their opinion out.
Anyone that ignores the opinion of the masses (and the majority opinion is obviously negative) does that at their own peril.
MND – perfectly stated, Steve Jack.
Thanks… I have been using iMovie 3, (in fact I still have iMovie 3 on my Powerbook G3) and use iMovie 6 on my G5.
Yes the change is radical… but I love it.
Besides, I am no pro… just a novice with editing.
APPLE has got it right.
j