Customer Reviews

Apple Training Series: iLife 08

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you need a general overview of all the new applications in iLife 08, then this book is for you. The book does a reasonable job of combining all the apps into one overall task (i.e. building a website with photos, podcasts, video, blogs, etc).

If however, you are looking for a more detailed book on video editing, web site development, photo editing, and / or audio production then this book (and ilife for that matter) is not for you.

Other than that, this is a great beginner's book.

According to the description, this book is a training tutorial to familiarize new users with the product suite. Complaining that it is not an in-depth iPhoto reference indicates that the reviewer didn't even read what the book is supposed to be. (Yes, Pogue's Missing Manual is a better fit as an in-depth iPhoto reference, but that's not the point.) The authors do a good job of introducing the products and their functionality to the reader and show how the applications interact. While I might quibble with the approach of focusing on the end-to-end integration, at least I knew that approach was being taken before I got the book. The book delivers what it promises.

It's not too difficult with the iLife suite to open up the apps and work your way around: connect a camera and phots import, open GarageBand and you can generally work out how to play a note. But the iLife suite, with just a little more research, becomes much more powerful and each application becomes far more productive.

Each iLife application is, in this publication, discussed: you begin with the very basis and, by the time each application has been reviewed your in a position to understand what each can do to the point where you're at that 'comfortable' point of being able to do the majority of things you'd like to do on a daily basis. Edit photos, print them, etc. Know how to edit a movie and burn it to DVD.

While those with particular interests are likely to move to titles focused on a particular application, if you're interest is in just using the iLife suite to more fully utilise the applications that come with the mac then this is a book well placed to help you achieve that.

Since iLife 08 comes with very little documentation, it is necessary to purchase something to help you along. This book is very good at getting you started. I am sure there are more in-depth books about certain subjects of iLife 08, but this is a great overall book that includes follow along lessons in each chapter. Very good book.

I went through the entire book without the least difficulty and got a lot out of it. It is well organized going through a logical workflow of iPhoto -> iMovie -> Garageband -> iWeb and finally ending with iDVD. If you have never used iLife before, then this book is an excellent first step.

I bought it for imovie and found it very difficult because it is developed in layers and skipping to the imovie section and trying to start is very difficult. It is like reading a text book. Might be ok for some one taking a class.

There is very little in-depth, detailed information for iPhoto users here. Better off going with the Missing Manual series on iPhoto.

george ollen