CoolMacintosh.com: The Macside: "The Usefulness of the iApplications"

The Mac Side:
The Usefulness of the iApplications

01/24/02

By Nick Canfield
For a while now Apple has been promoting applications that enable the home computer user to be adept with most areas of digital media. And now with iPhoto's release Apple has a complete suite of easy to use digital media programs that cover all the areas a home user can deal with. Apple may not have released it's own Pagemaker but the applications now available are quite capable and offer excellent control over most aspects of digital media.

The best known and most successful of the iApplications is iMovie. iMovie is Apple's hit consumer movie editing software that allows you to turn 90 minutes of raw footage into a 4 minute movie complete with soundtrack, transitions, text, and credits. iMovie is really easy to use and has proven itself as a surprisingly capable consumer tool.

iTunes is the music playing software that Apple has distributed for free. Despite minor annoyances, it is a great program. iTunes organizes songs into categories, Name, Artist, and Album, It fills these by checking an online database. This can be difficult if you have a 56k modem because it eats into your connection speed and you could cut it off when you sign off. Its organizational abilities can put a cramp on your style depending how you organize your songs, but for the most part it is a plus. Besides these features, iTunes has the amazing capability to burn CDs of all kinds very simply, making this process more painless than it should be. Finally, iTunes can convert most forms of sound into most others and has the ability to play them all as well. iTunes is a well-made application that is gaining favor in the Mac community.

iDVD is in my opinion one of the most underrated and under appreciated applications around. Although most think it to be a remarkable program, I find that it is used less than perhaps it should be. iDVD is what iMovie was like when it first came out. This application is amazing, it grants the ability to burn DVDs that can be played by almost every DVD player. You can put most media types onto a DVD, including music, video, and pictures. But what strikes me as most amazing is how easy this process is. The application is so easy to use, putting all the media you want to on the DVD is blissfully simple. However, the best feature is the easy to use interface creation. You can decide how your DVD will look, sound, and how one will navigate through it, and this creation process is easily done. iDVD, although not the most popular application may win popularity as time goes on and home users get more used to the idea of burning their own DVDs.

Finally, the most recent addition to the family is iPhoto. iPhoto is the new photo viewing and editing application. iPhoto boasts an easy to use interface and a well-designed picture finding and viewing system that eliminated lots of labeling and opening time. iPhoto's editing features are by no means up to par with Photoshop's quality or complexity. It is easy to do the basic things, improve picture quality, sharpen the image, crop, and eliminate red eye. There are a few more editing features as well. But the most unique feature in iPhoto is the ability to contact an online publisher and order a hardcover photo album of your shots. iPhoto is a welcome addition to Apple's iApplications.

These applications comprise what I call Apple's Digital Media Suite. I consider this a very capable tool for home users to edit most forms of digital media and create and display their artistic creations. Apple is once again ahead of its industry and has created a complete and easy to use Digital Media Suite for home users.

More The Mac Side Columns:

01/05/02 MWSF Predictions
12/19/01 Mac Movie Making
11/27/01 Has XP stolen the Spotlight?
11/15/01 Rumormill
11/06/01 Choose Wisely: Powerbook or iBook
10/28/01 Music Comes To The Digital Hub: iPod

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Readers Specials

Audible.com
Listen to your favorite news and novels through iTunes.
www.audible.com

eBay
Check eBay daily for the newest Mac stuff! Including new and old systems, software, hardrives, CD-RW's, T-Shirts and more..
www.ebay.com

ClubMac
Check out ClubMac's Blowout Deals daily for specials on Macintosh products!
www.clubmac.com

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Adding RAM is the most cost effective way to boost your computer's performance. Upgrade factory-direct today with Crucial Technology.
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