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iApps that changed your life

M

mateft

macrumors member
Original poster
May 22, 2003
34
0
I got to thinking this morning. If it wasn't for the iApps i would not be the same person I am now.

Before iTunes I would never think about putting my music on my computer. In fact I'de still be using tapes to make my own custom music. Plus I would not have and iPod that changed my music yet again.

iMovie set me off into the film direction for college. Now I am a film major and I owe it all to that iApp. Now I'm in FCP but without iMovie i would never have touched this area.

iPhoto has not done much for me. But it has changed my brother. Now he is all into photos and photoshop.

With my recent PowerBook upgrade with super drive I am only beginning to use iDVD. This has changed my thinking process about my movies.

What have been your experiences? Were the iApps life changing for you too?
 
same here - without iMovie i would never have seriously considered doing video on my computer (used to be a pc (i am ashamed)). Now I have FCP4 and DVDSP2.

wow apple made a few bucks from giving me a program or two didn't they ....
 
I'm a recent switcher but long-time Apple fan. I just always thought I couldn't afford a Mac. All the typical stuff you hear from PC people--"I can get a PC for $500", etc. Apple needs to push the iApps more and try to push the fact that they are free, included with the system and that for many users you may never need to buy additional software. The fact that they don't market this much makes me wonder if iLife will soon lose its free status.

I was actually very successful in making movies on my WinXP box with Pinnalce Studio. Studio has given thousands of users mass headaches but I was one of the lucky ones who was able to use the software to its full potential: edit, render and burn to DVD. But, it still wasn't a Mac, and it still wasn't the iApps.

So, 2 weeks ago I got a refurb 1ghz 17" iMac and I love it. My wife is not a computer person but she loves ordering prints thru iPhoto. We are 100% digital now. I also use iPhoto to email pics to computer savy people.

I also picked up an iPod and now I always have tunes for my 1 hour commute. I haven't organized my collection into playlists yet. I have downloaded a few AppleScripts that make generic playlists. I have purchased 2 albums from iTMS and my wife purchased about 20 Barbara Striesand songs (I know...)

I have already burned 2 full movies to iDVD with excellent results and with absolutely no issues at all. "It just works". I used the "book" theme for my latest movie and my wife almost fell over, she just loved it. I told her it was because I now have the iMac and she forgot that she was upset that I spent the money!

The movies are the killer app for me. We have 2 kids and the grandparents are 7 hours away. I now create movies of the kids and send those off as gifts to the grandparents and great-grandparents. It is a personal gift--much better than a sweater--and they love receiving the discs.

I've tried putting photos and video on the web, sending thru emails, etc. But nothing comes close to the ease of just sticking a DVD in their set-top DVD player. Anyone can do it and there is no issues with quality, download speeds, memory errors, etc.

The older generation also is still very attached to a printed photo. They don't like to view photos on a computer screen--they want to hold it and pass it around. This was (is) such a great feature of iPhoto. It's not cheap, but people don't realize that printing at home is not cheap either. Calculate your cost-per-print and you'll see it add up.

The only issue I have is that I think I've outgrown iMovie. Pinnacle Studio is able to do much more than iMovie--and it should--it is a $99 package. Studio includes SmartSound (Soundtrack lite) and a great titling package--TitleDeko. I actually miss those pieces and I'm currently looking for software on the Mac. I'm also going to start my next project with Final Cut Express.

If anyone knows of good sites for learning FCE please pass them on. Also, if anyone knows of a "Soundtrack-lite" app for OS X please let me know. I want to be able to grab free music, slice and dice it, and place it in my movies.

Thanks. Sorry for the novel!
 
iTunes had a huge impact on me. I listen to my music a whole differen way now.

iPhoto has gotten me take to more pictures now (getting a new digi-cam didn't hurt either). ;) What I really love about iPhoto is how easily it lets you send pix via e-mail or create a webpage for your pix.

iDVD is just awesome. iTunes and iDVD, IMO, are the best of all the iApps. I don't use any of the iDVD themes but it's pretty easy to create you own custom buttons in photoshop and have a completely customized DVD.


Lethal
 
hahaha i remember when i used to be a die hard winamp fan..phh those were the days...then i was dissapointed cause i was getting a mac and couldn't find winamp for it...

itunes rocks

imovie is really cool...used it a few times but i need a vid camera to really get into it...maybe a few years down the road...

recently i've been using ical to control my life...its so useful and easy and quick...did i mention useful?..and quick?..and easy?

unfortnately i don't like ichat (adium rocks in that area)

and unfortnately i really hate iphoto...so many features its missing....and its so crazily slow if you have loads of pics... some major updates have to be involved for me to ever touch that program...
 
I am sure PCs can do the same, but I just never conceived of a computer as a digital hub before my Powerbook. When I downloaded my music collection into iTunes I unearthed so many tracks that I had only listened to once when I relied on a CD player.

I got a nifty little digital camera that I take cycling with me. Its a spypen and is really fun for showing my disbelieving sedentary friends where I go. Just to be able to download into iPhoto, muck about at a really basic level, then stick the pictures on my .mac.com homepage, its insanely easy to keep a great record of life in the outdoors.

The impressive part of iLife is that I have only touched on a fraction of its options, like iMovie. I managed to cut and paste and edit a short movie of clips with no experience apart from thinking how iTunes works. I am sure power users would want more, but to be honest, the level of "work" I can produce is so high compared to pre Mac.
 
Originally posted by billyboy
I am sure PCs can do the same, but I just never conceived of a computer as a digital hub before my Powerbook. When I downloaded my music collection into iTunes I unearthed so many tracks that I had only listened to once when I relied on a CD player.
Click to expand...


Basically anything you can do on a Mac you can do on a PC and vice versa. The difference is that many of those things require additional software on a PC where as it is all pre-installed on a Mac. And, the pre-installed Mac software is usually better and/or easier to use than the low end software on the PC side.

This is where the Mac platform really shines, IMO. Right out of the box you probably get 80% of the software that typical home users use on a daily basis. And, by and large, the interfaces are so well designed that there is little/no learning curve.

I guess the point of my rant is that I agree w/you. :) I'm using my Mac for things I never really used my PC for because the Mac came w/the ability to do X right out of the box where as PCs usually don't.

Lethal
 
iTunes. It just rocks.

Well, it was an easy pun, but so true. I'm sure iMovie is great too, but I can't yet afford a digital camcorder :mad:
I don't care much for iPhoto though. Possibly 'cause its so damn slugish.... and I can't yet afford the digital camera I want :mad:

iCal and Mail a good little apps, but are miles behind iTunes IMHO. It just makes keeping your music on the computer and listening to it so much easier. Boy do I like the look on my friends face's when they see me surfing my songs in iTunes :D
 
IChat AV has changed how I will talk to my family. I live in L.A. and I have only used it with my brother ( so far ) who lives on the other side of the world in Denmark. But the impact is huge!
I can't wait for my mother to try it out, so she can see my kid with the help of iSight and iChat AV. IMO, it's the biggest thing communication wise since email.

I use iPhoto a lot too, mostly because it's free and simple. I will probably not use iMovie, since I already have FCE.
iCal is making my life easier too, good thing, since I'm bad at writing things down in my regular calender.
 
iTunes: Freeware + simplicity + stability + enough features + functionality

iChat (10.2): Freeware + simplicity + stability + some features

iPhoto: Freeware + some features
 
iTunes

Before I switched to the Mac platform, I routinely had only about 30 songs running in Winamp. I rarely listened to music.

Ever since switching to Mac, my music library has grown to almost 700 songs and I've purchased a 15GB iPod which I take with me everywhere.

Music has become a central part of my life; no longer just something I listen to on the radio to pass the time while sitting in the car. :)
 
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