Apple iLife '04 [Old Version]

Other products by Apple

Product Features

• Includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand music application
• Use iLife to have more fun with digital media
• Easily create professional-quality slideshows, music, movies, and DVDs
• Seamless integration--iLife applications work together better than ever before
• Single installer that updates all existing iLife applications

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001ACK2K
• Item model number: M9364LL/A
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 16, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,587 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Software > Macintosh > Video & Music > Digital Video
  #10 in	Software > Video & Music > Digital Audio > Sound Editing
  #12 in	Software > Video & Music > Music Appreciation

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
iLife '04 gathers the latest versions of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD and the new GarageBand music application in one convenient package with tremendous integration. Customers can use iLife to have more fun with digital media. Powerful new features let them manage music and easily create professional-quality slideshows, music, movies, and DVDs.

Key features include:

• The latest application releases: iLife includes powerful new versions of iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD, as well as the latest release of iTunes and the new GarageBand music creation app.
• Seamless integration: The iLife applications now work together better than ever before. iMovie accesses iTunes and iPhoto media libraries, and it can output projects directly to iDVD.
• Single installer: iLife features a single installer that updates all existing iLife applications.

Product Description
ILIFE 04 RETAIL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for Garage Band alone., February 19, 2004

By	bscepter "bscepter" (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews

I won't even talk about the other iLife apps. Good though they are, the real story of iLife '04 is Garage Band. It is a powerful, easy-to-use non-linear audio editor. Now, it won't be all things to all people. It is primarily designed as a loop-based music creation system. However, you can add non-software instruments (including vocals) as well, filtering them through various effects, including several adjustable guitar amp modelers. The results--for the price--are absolutely astounding.

This program is to music creation what PageMaker was to desktop publishing, lo those many years ago. Unfortunately, that means that everyone with a Mac will now become a 'composer,' but that sort of power-to-the-people freedom is great, in my opinion.

Important note: if you buy it, make sure you immediately install the Garage Band update (version 1.0.1?), which is available at the Apple site. It clears up several issues in the initial release.

One other important note: This program is a total resource hog! You need a fast G4 or G5 processor and at least 512MB of RAM. It also helps if you have a faster hard drive.

(By the way, to the other reviewer who couldn't rename tracks: sure you can. Simply click on the instrument in question, click the "I" button and choose "save instrument." This allows you to rename the track. You can even rename regions within a track. Click on the region and rename it in the name window in the lower left-hand corner of the main window.)

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars iLife 04: the Best got even better!, March 16, 2004

By	Joseph A Henry (The Great White North: Minnesota) - See all my reviews

iLife 04 continues to astound with it's tight integration and unparalleled ease of use. All 4 of the core apps have been upgraded and of course everyone's heard about GarageBand. Probably the biggest improvement of all was with iPhoto.

iPhoto is a true gem but with versions 1 and 2 it suffered from horrendous performance hits as soon as your image library broke the 2000-2500 barrier. Not so anymore. iPhoto fly's with my 3500 image library. With it's organizational abilities and it's integration with Mail, .Mac, iMovie and iDVD, iPhoto is clearly the standard in consumer digital image cataloging apps.

Both iDVD and iMovie received nice upgrades as well. Both are much snappier and responsive on my Mac and both have also included new themes (in iDVD) and transitions/titles in iMovie. I really love iDVD's new Map and Status tab. Very handy indeed! The slide show creation tool in iDVD is very much improved as well and makes creating a professional slide show presentation a breeze.

One problem I had with iMovie was the speed when rendering transitions and titles. That's not a problem anymore. As I mentioned earlier there are plenty of new goodies to play with as well like the "Far, Far away" title effect.

For me iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD are the most important of the iLife 04 apps and all three received major upgrades in performance as well as additional goodies. I already had the latest iTunes and we all know that's the best in class as well so I won't talk about that.

GarageBand is the big "Oooh Aaah" addition to the suite. It really doesn't do much for me but that's just because I have little interest in creating music from canned loops. That's not to say that it isn't a great app. As usual, Apple did the impossible and brought a music production studio to the masses for a ridiculously low price. If I could play an instrument, I do think it'd be a lot of fun to create music with GarageBand. I did play with the app a little and it is very easy to use.

I read a PC magazine review of iLife 04 (sorry I can't remember which mag it was) and they said that if it were possible to assemble equivalent programs on the Windows platform (which it isn't because there isn't anything that integrates like iLife) the bundle would cost upwards of $500. I'd agree with this statement 100% as I provide tech support for both Windows and Macintosh as part of my living and I've yet to come across anything that even comes close in price and/or functionality. It just doesn't exist on the Windows side.

I've done at least a dozen installations of iLife 04 on my own machines (3) as well as clients and have yet to run into any issues like those posted in the first review. Something else is going on and I encourage that person to visit Apple's support page and post some questions.

Also, if you're a pro as it would appear one of the other reviewers is, don't get iLife. It's a $50 consumer product and never intended for professional use. If you're using FinalCut as your editing software you should be using DVD Studio Pro and Soundtrack not GarageBand and iDVD.

For anyone else using previous versions of any of the iLife apps this is a must have upgrade. Just make sure if you want to use iDVD or GarageBand you'll need a fairly powerful Mac. iDVD requires 733mhz G4 and GarageBand needs a 600mhz G3 or better. And yes, you need an internal DVD burner for use with iDVD. With the price of DVD burners so low there isn't any reason not to upgrade if you can.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Microsoft Office for the rest of your life., February 12, 2004

By	Bruce Aguilar (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

iLife '04 is the latest version of Apple's incredibly well received suite of programs for your Mac leisure time. The five applications included in iLife '04 are so tightly integrated that they almost fuse into a single program. Want to include a song from iTunes in your iMovie Project? Simply click a single button. Same if you want to burn a slideshow from iPhoto onto a DVD. No other suite of programs will give you the ease of use and powerful functionality of the iLife apps. Here's what's new in '04:

- iTunes 4 - The critically lauded "best digital music jukebox" adds the ability to share your tunes over a local network (Mac and/or PC). You can also now view the iTunes Music store in a separate window so as not to interrupt the browsing of your collection. Even better, is the ability to back up your iTunes Library onto DVD even if it takes up more than one disc.

- iPhoto 4 - Finding your pictures in iPhoto has never been easier now that iPhoto automatically stores photos in folders by year. If you looking for a photo that was taken in 2001, no need to scroll, simply click the 2001 folder and all the photos you took in 2001 will be visible. When you do need to scroll (or just want to) you'll amazed at how much faster iPhoto can scroll through large collections. Also added are Smart Albums (just like Smart Playlists in iTunes) and the ability to rate photos on a 5 star system. Finally, you can now share your photos over a local network (Mac and/or PC) just like in iTunes.

- iMovie 4 - My favorite new feature is the ability to edit multiple clips at the same time. This saves so much time, as does the incredible speed boost of iMovie's faster rendering speeds. You now also have the option of trimming clips directly in the Timeline without loosing your original footage. Another great help when creating your movie is ability to use Bookmarks to quickly jump to certain sections of your film. One very cool feature is the ability to use an iSight as a digital camcorder. Once your film is complete, you can easily post it on your .Mac hompage by clicking one button. Pretty impressive!

- iDVD 4 - More customization is the name of the game with iDVD4. 20 new themes are included as well as 5 new slideshow effects like Cube and Page Flip. Have you ever wanted your customized DVD to play a movie before the menu screen appears, well now you can with Auto Play intro movies. And probably the best innovation, you can now put up to 2 hours of video on a single DVD.

- GarageBand - New to iLife for this edition, GarageBand allows seasoned musicians as well as no-talents such as myself to create music on their Mac. Thousands of loops are included as are effects and amps. The possibilities are nearly endless. Simply click, a loop, drag it onto the soundstage and drop it. Repeat. Add some effects and you've created your very own song. These songs are instantly available in iTunes and consequently every other iLife app.

So let's see, you get five critically acclaimed, award winning programs for less than it costs to take a family of four out to the movies. And they'll be enjoying this suite long after the memory of the film has faded. This is simply one of the best deals around. Playing on your Mac doesn't get much better than this.