By Monte Ferguson Apple gave us an early Christmas present in the form of an iLife update.
The group received our review copy of iLife 11 in time for the December
meeting.
Our presenters, Monte Ferguson and Nick Gillim, remarked that not all of
the apps in the iLife suite were updated with this release. In fact only
three apps: iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band received an update. The
other apps received minor updates for compatibility. We then looked at
what the new features of each program were. This time around there is
not one must have feature that you can really fixate on. This is an
update that incorporates a lot of improvements and fixes to existing
features. The overall effect being that you get an improved, and
somewhat expanded feature set.
The easiest way to cover the changes to all three programs was to visit
Apple's web site and view the overview movie. Seeing the features in
action really brings home the idea of how these improvements all work.
Monte mentioned that he has particularly enjoyed the improved social
networking integration features. The new detailed Get Info window is
also very handy. The new full screen mode is also quite easy to get used
to. The feature that looks like the most fun is the new Movie Trailer
feature. It sounds corny but the way they put together face
recognition, and templates really is a lot of fun. One step effects let
you add a special effect and NOT have to wait for it to render. Last,
but not least, the much improved audio editing feature is bound to make
many folks very happy. GarageBand was the last program we covered. Monte
and Nick deferred to Duane Weller for his input on the program. Duane
said that some of the features previously found in Logic Studio or Logic
Express had trickled down to Garage Band. He cited the new Flex Time,
which lets you adjust the timing of notes or sequences, and Groove
Matching, which allows you to pick one music track as the rhythm/groove
track and the other tracks match its rhythm. These are very powerful
tools that have been made very user friendly in Garage Band. The last
feature we looked at was "How Did I Play?" It records your performance
as you play along with a lesson. You could see how this could be turned
into a game or a challenge among friends, much like the video game Rock
Star.
As we wrapped up the meeting Monte and Nick summed up there impressions
of the new iLife. While there was not a single feature that really stood
out as a Must Have item, the consensus was that this was a solid
upgrade. Apple seems to be acknowledging that this is not a major
release by only charging $49 for it. At that price it is a pretty good
bargain. The fellas did note that this release does seem to bring up the
spinning beach ball more often than in iLife '09. Hopefully that will be
addressed with updates shortly. Posted: Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 |
