Apple iLife ‘11 review

iLife ‘11, the latest version of Apple’s consumer media suite, includes several apps, but only the three tentpoles—Garageband, iMovie, and iPhoto—were updated for the 2011. Since the advent of the Mac App Store, those three apps are now available as standalone programs for the first time, at the incredible value price of $14.99. The suite comes free on new Macs, of course, and it’s Mac-only. Though the equivalent suite from Microsoft—Windows Live Essentials—is always free and runs on Windows PCs, it falls a bit short of iLife’s power and polish.
Aside from the three biggies, the full suite price of $49 also gets you the iWeb site design software and iDVD for authoring disc content. But it won’t get you the suite’s online component, MobileMe, which will set you back another $99 per year. Windows’ equivalent Live services, such as the SkyDrive online storage and photo galleries, by contrast, are free for up to a generous 25GB of storage. MobileMe, however, offers beautiful photo galleries you can sync with iPhoto, as well as hosting for your iWeb sites.If you’ve recently bought a Mac, the suite is preinstalled as part of your purchase, and if you bought the computer, you can get it all for a mere $6.99.
But even if you don’t qualify, the updated apps are a bargain, either as a group or individually. iPhoto ’11 features stunning new full screen modes that take advantage of your Mac’s brilliant display for browsing, editing and showcasing your photos. Sharing your photos is easier than ever in iPhoto ’11, whether you send them by email using one of eight beautiful themes, post them to your Facebook wall with a single click, or play them in full screen with one of 12 professionally designed slideshows. iPhoto ’11 features a completely new approach to creating books and cards with a sleek carousel interface, intelligent book layout and a bookshelf that displays all your projects. New letterpress cards let you combine your photos and text with elegant imprinted designs to create unique wedding invitations, birth announcements, holiday greetings and more.
iMovie ’11 helps you turn your videos into captivating Hollywood-style trailers that are fun to watch and share. You can choose from 15 different genres including Adventure, Romantic Comedy and Epic Drama, each one complete with its own unique titles, graphics and cinematic soundtrack. Powerful new tools make it easy to selectively adjust audio levels and apply sophisticated visual effects like flash and hold, instant replay and jump cuts with a single click. People Finder analyzes your videos and marks sections containing faces, so you can quickly find the perfect clips for your trailer or movie. iMovie ’11 also adds exciting new themes that make your videos look like professional news or sports programs.
Probably the most-used member of the suite, iPhoto ‘11 has been improved in this version with a full-screen view that I wish the other suite members were capable of. Its integration with Facebook galleries, too, is unmatched—you can view your online Facebook galleries within the app, and even see Friends’ comments alongside the pictures. As mentioned, you can also sync photo galleries with MobileMe galleries, and, while those are beautifully presented, they don’t offer face- or geo-tagging.In addition to the Facebook sharing mentioned, iPhoto ‘11 adds attractive formatting for e-mails that you can send directly from within the program. Also new are more professional-quality greeting card and book choices. You also get new slideshow themes, the most impressive of which is the Places theme that utilizes the software’s rich map integration.
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