ilife

iLife is a collection of software products created by Apple to create, organize, view and manipulate digital content designed for Mac OS X. As of iLife '05, iLife consists of five components: iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand. The application suite is included with all Macintoshes bought from Apple. There have been two commercial releases of iLife so far:

iLife '04, introduced at MacWorld Expo in January 2004; $49
iLife '05, introduced at MacWorld Expo in January 2005; $79

Origins

iLife is the latest in a line of both hardware and software products which are part of a "digital lifestyle." After his return as CEO at Apple, Steve Jobs began positioning the Macintosh being the hub of this digital lifestyle. The original iMac was the first step in developing this concept. It put a new face on not only the Mac, but computing in general, as PC companies began to change their form factor designs as well. However, despite the Macintosh's design triumphs, its market share continued to dwindle from 9% in the late 1990s to around 3% today. With such a low market share, the continuing retention and development of quality lower-end third-party software developers and applications for the Macintosh becomes problematic. To address the concerns of prospective Macintosh buyers outside of Apple's core design, programming, and media industry niches, Apple has developed a growing suite of high-quality consumer-oriented software with a distinctive unified look and feel. The first versions of iMovie, iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, and GarageBand were released in that order. The first three programs were originally available free via Apple's website, while iDVD was available only with computers that included SuperDrives. In January 2003, the package was brought together as "iLife". While iTunes remains a free program, the latest versions of iMovie and iPhoto are only available through the purchase of the iLife package or bundled new Macintosh computer.

Components

iTunes

Main article: iTunes

iTunes is a digital music jukebox that handles MP3 music files and supports other formats as well. Additionally, iTunes offers access to the iTunes Music Store and synchronizes with the iPod portable digital music player. iTunes can also be downloaded separately for free.

iPhoto

Main article: iPhoto

iPhoto is a photo organizer and editor that lets users store, view, edit, and share their digital photos. iPhoto allows for photo album creation to display pictures on the internet or on CD, creates slideshows for instant on-computer presentation, and imports from most digital cameras with no drivers required (built into Mac OS X by default).

iMovie

Main article: iMovie

iMovie is a video editor that can be used with digital video. The process of film capture by a digital camera in via Firewire is automated, with iMovie allowing users to chop up their videos, add special effects, and reorganize them.

iDVD

Main article: iDVD

iDVD integrates with iMovie to allow the burning of movies onto a DVD with chapters and menus.

GarageBand

Main article: GarageBand

GarageBand is a music-creation application including over 1,000 pre-recorded loops. To create a song, the user only needs to drag loops onto the creation area. The program also supports software instruments and importation from real instruments, such as guitars. iTunes and iPhoto create libraries of music and photos, respectively, that are used by the other applications. GarageBand music can be exported to iTunes, thus making it part of the iTunes library.

Integration

The five iLife applications are designed to work together as a suite. Each program automatically connects to the libraries of the others to make use of their files. Each program interacts with each other in the following ways:

iMovie: add music from iTunes (including GarageBand music) for background music; add photos from iPhoto, "Ken Burns effect" can be applied for panning the image; add chapters to movie, 1-click export to iDVD preserves chapters and creates a Scene Selection menu
iDVD: add music from iTunes (including GarageBand) for menu music or slideshow music; add photos from iPhoto for a DVD slideshow; add movies from iMovie
iTunes: import music from GarageBand
iPhoto: use iTunes (including GarageBand) music in slideshows; 1-click export to iDVD, makes a slideshow in iDVD
GarageBand: export created songs to iTunes with one click

For true compatibility, the libraries created by the applications are included inside the other programs. The iTunes library, for example, actually appears inside the applications that can use it, thus eliminating the need for the user to go and find wanted music. The same applies for photos. iDVD, in addition to accessing these libraries, can find movies created by iMovie on the hard disk by looking in the user's Movies folder. Any music purchased from the iTunes Music Store will be found and can be used by the other applications (with the exception of GarageBand).