iLife 05 - Mac review

Creative package for Mac users that promises to multimedia up your life

24 May 2005 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

iLife 05 sees Apple's package of creative applications get an overhaul. We gave the software bundle a spin to see if it really is as creative as Apple profess it to be.

For those who don't know, iLife consists of five titles: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iTunes and GarageBand. iPhoto promises to sort your picture needs, iMovie your basic movie editing needs, iDVD your DVD recording and playing needs, iTunes your music listening needs and finally GarageBand your music making needs.

iPhoto's enhancements sees more formats, more editing choice, better searching, all new books sizes and book design, added project folders, key word tag search, and calendar view so you can see when you took your images. iPhoto also supports MPEG4 and RAW formats.

The application also gives the user more control over image and you can change elements of your pictures such as exposure control, straighten, contrast etc.

iMovie is faster, supports the new MPEG-4 video format, offers more transitions, features non destructive trimming and best of all Magic iMove a button that will download, edit, cut and produce a final film without you doing anything. In keeping with Apple's Hi-Definition vision for future broadcasts, iMovie is also HD compatible up to HDV 720 1400dpi

iDVD doesn't get such a radical makeover as the previous two, it does however feature more animated drop zones, a one-step DVD creation option and 15 new themes.

GarageBand gets a new theme as well. This time round, it's orchestra instruments as well as the ability to now record up to 8 tracks at a time. Music buffs will also be pleased to hear that you can do real-time music notation, pitch and timing fixing and use the vocal transformer to actually improve your singing ability.

iTunes gets the least amount of update within the box, mainly because it's offered as a free download outside the package. It does however get support for the iShuffle among other things.

Verdict

iLife 05 is basically an improvement on iLife 04, with more features and faster programming bringing everything up to speed in line with the latest offerings. At £50 it's probably worth the money if you're looking for a photo album package. Throw in the movie editing package (iMovie) and you start to realise that you're getting two good packages for £50. If you are the least bit interested in making music then GarageBand only adds to that offering.

A worthy upgrade on the previous model with enough here to satisfy the additional cash.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Apple
Price as reviewed: £50
The good: Lots of programmes, lots of upgrades
The bad: Might seem costly if you are only after one of the elements
Quick verdict: This is good value for money with enough upgrades and improvements to justify the outlay.
Score