Customer Reviews

The Macintosh Digital Hub: An interactive guide to iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Macintosh Digital Hub by Jim Heid sets not only the new standard by which all other Mac books should be judged, but is really the first new-breed of Book / DVD combination to hit the Macintosh landscape.

But MAN is this a great product, , this really is a new standard, one I will hold up and judge other products of this nature.

What is "The Macintosh Digital Hub?" It is a 144 full-color page book with an accompanying DVD, which will play just as easily on your Mac or home DVD player. The DVD itself is not so much bonus material for the book, as most discs that come with books are, but a full-fledged partner of content.

Picture this: A great book that goes into a good amount of detail on iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD to get even the most technophobe newbie up and running, but a DVD partner in which you can actually watch and learn how to do it yourself.

A part of me wanted to write this review and keep the book and DVD separate, focusing on the merits and shortcomings of each alone. But that really cannot be done, as the two are wed in a content marriage of blissful splendor. (By the way, I don't think I have ever use either blissful or splendor in any review or article I have ever written, let along in the same sentence.!)

You can watch the DVD or read the book on its own, but using these two together is where the strength of The Macintosh Digital Hub comes out. They are both excellent examples of a writer not just chasing a paycheck, but one who really wants his or her readership to understand and enjoy the subject matter.

The book is well written, in slightly larger text than other books of its kind. A welcome change for older eyes. The book is full of color screen shots, diagrams, and other colorful items to help get the point of topic across in the easiest and most straightforward way. In fact, almost every page in The Macintosh Digital Hub has a color picture on it.

P>The DVD is also broken up into four main chapters, the same as the book, and you can navigate directly via the menu to the segment within the chapter you want to watch. This is a nice DVD, easy to watch and learn by.

One of the problems I have had recently with books is the price. I totally agree that the content creators should be well compensated for their hard work. But the cost of some of the recent Photoshop book, for instance, is outrageous. How many books can us users afford (especially in this economy) Not very many, I think. But here again, The Macintosh Digital Hub shows not only great content, but also a price point to match. <A companion DVD that is not just sample files and software demos. All content, all the time, at half the price you would expect to pay. My hat is off to Jim Heid, PeachPit Press, and Avondale Media for a job well done.

I strongly recommend The Macintosh Digital Hub.

MacMice Rating: 5 out of 5

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Tim Robertson
http://www.mymac.com/robertson/digitalhub_8.14.02.shtml

This is a very nicely done book, supplemented by a great instructional DVD. One of Apple's recent marketing pushes has been the integration of your Macintosh into the other aspects of your "digital lifestyle," and making your Mac the hub or center of that process. This book/DVD combination introduces you to each of Apple's "i" application: iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD, and shows you how to combine these digital applications.

The book is mostly an introduction to these programs - think of the basic introductory manual which Apple should have included with your Mac, but didn't. The book also includes tips for each iApp from easy to the advanced way to operate each application. The writing is well done and straight forward. I would rate the book on par with the excellent "visual quick start guides" from the same publisher, Peachpit Press, with the added advantage of combining all of the iApps into one book. The book alone would merit 4.5 stars as a solid and well done introductory book.

The accompanying DVD works very well in visually explaining the basic user interface, and takes users through creating a project in each application: burning a CD with iTunes, importing and manipulating pictures with iPhoto, creating a movie with iMovie, and creating a DVD with iDVD. The DVD and book combination work very well together, and represent a great value at this price even before the substantial Amazon discount. Macintosh Digital Hub strikes a good balance between teaching you the basics and giving you a few "power" user tips along the way.

Highly recommended.

My office is littered with "how to" books about computers and software and none can compare to this approach. It's like having someone in the room while you make your way through the learning process. I've always believed you can't just learn how to use these programs and put them away until later. You have to use them every day, and then you will know what you are doing; this approach breaks the ice. This is like the "Teach Yourself Visually" series, only better because the DVD supplements what is in the book. They have others on Word and Photoshop and I will be buying them soon. The only bad thing I can say is buy you copy from Amazon.com for [money], I paid [money] at [name].

Note that as of April 2003, this book has been superceded by the author's newer "The Macintosh iLife, an Interactive Guide to iTunes, iPhoto, iMove and iDVD" which covers newer versions of these applications. I wish I had known that when I ordered this book...

Still, I enjoyed the Macintosh Digital Hub a lot. It is a great overview of the iApplications, explaining their purpose and how to do common tasks in an interesting and easy to follow way. It also points out tips and shortcuts you may not be aware of if you haven't read the documentation (and who really does?)

The book itself is beautifylly laid out (coffee table style) with lots of ilustrations and pictures and the DVD complements it nicely. I'd recomend watching the DVD and then reading the more detailed chapters. This type of book would make a great gift to someone who just got a Mac.

I've had my iMac for about a year now and thought I had become a reasonably successful user of the iLife software (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD). Since purchasing this book, I now realize I have only scratched the surface of possibilities for my iMac as the 'digital hub' of my home. This book/DVD combo provides for the most effective method of learning I've come across in a how-to book; I read about the steps necessary to complete an action- for example, within iMovie, then watch it on the DVD, then try it myself, stopping to pause and review the DVD if I find myself a little confused or unsure of the next step. The book and DVD complement each other perfectly. I am extremely pleased with this book. It has demonstrated the elegance and intuitive simplicity for which I bought an Apple computer. Kudos to the author and editorial team.

This is a great book for a first time Mac owner. With simple, easy to digest chapters on each of the "i" apps. It is well organized and well designed with color photos to illustrate the step-by-step processes. I highly recommend this book to new iMac owners...especially those who own a digital camera.

This book is one of the best interactive tutorials I ever came across.It's very fun and easy to use.It's worth ten times the investment.After working through it you will have a very good knowldge of using the "iSoftware"(iTunes,iPhoto,iMovie,iDVD).
There are also great tips on plug-ins which I woudn't have find elsewhere.The training CD and the bokk work very nicely together.You will love this book!!!

Buy this book and an iMac and you'll never look back! Great read, and an awesome DVD. If your into digital photography, music or making home movies this book shows you how the digital hub applications are so simple a child could use them, but they also are so powerful as a professional I would swear by them.

After fumbling through my iMac's "Help" system, with little success (because I didn't know enough to ask the right questions), this interactive book, with a DVD, about the Macintosh iHub applications (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD) was a "bolt out of the blue"!

It is the best organized, and easily understood tutorial that I have ever experienced in my long computer life
(I had my Boy Scout Troop attendance on punch cards in 1937).

In a short period of time this book had me downloading my "old" VHS movies, creating titles with special fade effects, importing background music, and producing DVDs of my family's "visual history" for my kids and grandkids to play on their TV's. Thank you Mr. Heid!

I hope Mr. Heid follows this up with an "update" that covers the new iLife release.