Updated 19 May, 2013, 10:43 am IST

Apple iLife 2011 - Lacks that Extra Something

07 Feb, 2011, 3:56 pm IST | by Jamshed Avari | Mac OS

Every year and a half or so, Apple pushes out a new version of its digital multimedia suite iLife. For some reason, not every app is significantly updated with every release of the suite, so the 2011 package comes with� major overhauls to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand but iDVD and iWeb have been sorely neglected. Still, the three most important programs have received lots of attention.

iPhoto Shop

iPhoto
There’s an effort ongoing to bring the best of the iPhone and iPad to the desktop and iPhoto has thus been blessed with a fullscreen mode. Mac OS programs cannot usually be maximized, which means that fullscreen mode is a massive shift in thinking.

Unfortunately, instead of just occupying the whole screen, the program nearly transforms into an iPad-style app, with black background and a row of icons on the bottom instead of the sidebar. Most things are in the same places, but look completely different. This is quite frankly pointless. We wish it was more consistent and that this was a part of Mac OS as a whole, not just one program. Whether in fullscreen or windowed mode, iPhoto ’11 brings more powerful Faces and Places engines, allowing friends and events to be detected and autotagged for easier reference.

Places now use Google Maps, including the ability to switch between terrain and satellite views. A single button click can generate a slideshow of all photos taken at currently visible locations. A new Places slideshow generates a live Google map in the background, showing all photos' locations. Finally, iPhoto now integrates tightly with Facebook, not just for uploading, but also for managing Facebook albums and following tags and comments that others leave on your photos.

iMovie Maker

iMovie
The latest version of iMovie adds options that will appeal to amateur filmmakers, teens and anyone who enjoys putting their creations on YouTube. The headliner is Movie Trailers, a set of pre-scripted trailers that you create just by dragging and dropping clips. These come in various styles, from an Indiana Jones-esque adventure to a teary Hallmark Channel-style tale. They come with stylized titles, and background scores performed by a symphony orchestra. They’re superbly easy to use and look great, but sadly aren’t even slightly customizable. The software will specify the exact type of shot needed at each stage, and you can’t even change the font colors.

While these will be cute for a while, YouTube will probably quickly fill up with thousands of nearly identical movie trailers. If you want any kind of flexibility, you’ll have to step up to Apple’s Final Cut Express suite. Other improvements come in the form of one-click edits such as instant replays, freeze-frames and jump cuts. A waveform editor lets you adjust audio levels and customize fades. Clips can be sorted and filtered not only by type of shot (i.e. close-up, wide angle) but also by shots with single and multiple faces.

Garage Rock Band 3

GarageBand
This program still remains attractive only to those who want to record music, but has a few new tools that musicians will appreciate. Recordings that don’t keep perfect time can be quantized with a single click. Bands who can’t keep it together can record their tracks separately and then match them all to a single beat. Waveform-level edits allow notes to be stretched out and rearranged, again with timing in mind. Regular features like guitar amps have been expanded with more choices, and even the piano and guitar lessons are more varied and focused (though Indians still can’t download the Artist lessons). The whole things still feels gimmicky though, which might attract casual users but does nothing for those who know their way around a MIDI controller.

Conclusion
There are lots of incremental updates, but we wish these programs could be purchased separately. iPhoto is useful to pretty much everyone, but none of the others really justify the cost of an upgrade if you have iLife '09 already.

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Tags:

Apple iLife , iPhoto , iMovie , GarageBand , iWeb , iDVD , Macintosh , OS X , Snow Leopard , Mac App Store , Macbook , Macbook Air , Macbook Pro

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