The Macintosh Ilife 04: An Interactive Guide to Itunes, Iphoto, iMovie, IDVD, and Garageband

Sub-Title: An Interactive Guide to iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie. iDVD and GarageBand Apple doesn't include much documention with their iLife products. This book is a quick and easy way to learn these packages. The large number of illustrations and the two hour movie that's included with the book is just about the fastest way possible to get started. It's a like the Apple philosophy. The basic concept of computers, that they aren't very bright and persist in doing just what you tell them to do rather than what you want them to do is very well brought out. There is good reason that this book is the top-selling book on iLife. The layout of the book is well done. It is intended that each couple of pages covers one task that you might want to do. You could go through them one at a time, but you don't have to. The index will quickly direct you to getting the task done that is the emergency of the moment.

Jim Heid's book is a great guide to all the iLife products. I found it to be very helpful for both the complete novice AND the experienced user. For instance, I use iTunes all the time, but still found all sorts for interesting nuggets of information. My son, on the other hand, was able to use the book (and the accompanying DVD) to learn GarageBand in less than an hour! He was quickly on to creating music of his own. The layout of the book is highly accessible. Rather than imposing pages of unrelenting text, the book is filled with screenshots, diagrams and all sorts of helpful, easy-to-follow instructions. Even with all the pictures, this book is no light-weight. There is a wealth of information on all the iLife products. In my house, I've heard the following said about this book, "he explains things really well". High praise indeed!

This is an excellent book for those who are new to the iLife suite of applications for Macintosh and prefer step-by-step guides. Jim has done a great job distilling these feature rich applications down to their essence and teaching you want you need to know to use them effectively. He also provides helpful tips that apply to each topic in general and not just the application. For example, in the iPhoto section he has tips on how to compose images properly. In the iMovie section he has tips on what chapter markers to use for wedding videos (and other common scenarios). This may seem like nothing but it's the practical hints that allow you to get the most out of these applications. Not just learning about which buttons to push. The included DVD is well done and augments the book with a step by step explanation that you can follow visually. This book is not for intermediate or expert level readers. For those folks I would start by recommending an O'Reilly book that covers your specific topic. For example photographers should try Derrick Story's excellent iPhoto 4 book. You will get more in-depth coverage of all of the features of iPhoto in that book. O'Reilly has an intermediate level book that covers all of the iLife features that was just recently published called iLife '04. I recommend this book instead for beginners.

This book helped me create my first DVD of a camping trip in the California Sierra Nevada range. I was able to set up a slide show with iPhoto, a movie with iMovie, add audio to the movie and slide show from iTunes, and put it all on a DVD with little trouble. The results were good and impressed my wife and friends to no end. The DVD video included with the book gave me a visual of the process, something that is really helpful to my learning style. However, the information in the book was (purposely?) lacking and I had trouble determining how to solve some problems. Overall, however, it was very helpful, clearly written, and I highly recommend it. I am also getting "The Missing Manual" when it comes out (preordered), with the hope that it will fill in the gaps. Some of the gaps could be that my version of iLife is one generation ahead of the one that is discussed in Jim Heid's book (it does not mention Garage Band but the "Missing Manual" covers it). It's difficult to find one book that does the trick, so I recommend the two of them to complement this inexpensive, powerful set of programs.