iLife '04: The Missing Manual gives you everything you need to unleash your creative genius with iLife '04, a suite of five programs (available at the Apple store and preinstalled on all new Macs) that is revolutionizing the way we work--and play. Everybody's talking about Apple's unparalleled software package for digital music, photography, video, and DVD creation:

• iTunes 4.6 is digital jukebox software for Mac (and even Windows!) that rips songs from your music CDs onto your hard drive, organizes and plays your music collection, lets you buy songs from the iTunes Music Store, and syncs all your music with your iPod.

• iPhoto 4 pulls photos from your digital camera and then helps you organize and present them--as a slideshow, Desktop picture, screen saver, email attachment, Web page, DVD, printout, or hardbound photo book.

• iMovie 4 turns those old, seemingly endless home movies that bore everyone to tears into short, fun, tightly edited highlight reels that friends and family actually beg to watch.

• iDVD 4 transforms your iMovie productions and digital slideshows into Hollywood-style DVDs that play on everyday DVD players.

• GarageBand is the all-new program that turns your Mac into a digital music-recording studio.

David Pogue, computer columnist for the New York Times and creator of our Missing Manual series (you know, those indispensable books that should have been in the box), wants to make sure there's nothing standing between you and professional-caliber music, photos, movies, and more. His authoritative, witty, all-inclusive iLife '04: The Missing Manual gives you the essentials of every program in the iLife '04 suite. Pogue highlights the newest features and improvements, covers the capabilities and limitations of each program, and delivers, in one volume, countless goodies you won't find anywhere else: undocumented tips, tricks, and secrets for getting the very best performance out of each and all of these life-changing new applications. iLife '04: The Missing Manual: it's your guide to livin the iLife!

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 3 Ratings

Reasonably deep, meant for intermediates - 2004-09-17
Reviewer Rating:
The book has reasonably in-depth coverage of the five iLife applications in iLife '04: GarageBand, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD. The content is not step-by-step for beginners but rather for people that understand the basics of Macintosh applications and have some experience with the applications. The text is well written and illustrations are used effectively. All of the applications, save iDVD, are covered thoroughly. But that's ok since IDVD gets short shrift in every manual.

For true beginners I would recommend buying the O'Reilly manual for the application that you are likely to use the most. For example, I think photographers will get a lot out of iPhoto 4: The Missing Manual. What's the difference? There is more exposition, which eases the learning curve, and there are more tips and tricks. But if you are a Macintosh user with a reasonable amount of experience who is looking for a book that covers all of the applications at a reasonable level, then this book should appeal to you.

For genuine beginners I would also recommend looking at Peachpit Press' "The Macintosh iLife '04".

The book that should have been in the box. - 2004-11-22
Reviewer Rating:
Under the general name of iLife, Apple includes five software packages that are oriented to your creative expression and entertainment. While the programs are nifty, the documentation that comes with them is somewhat less than outstanding. David Pogue, has created a series of books called "The Missing Manual." In this manual, he provides what is missing for the iLife software, the missing manuals.

The five software packages included in iLife include: iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, and GarageBand. Mr. Pogue highlights the newest features and improvements of iLife '04, covers the capabilities and limitations of each program within the suite, and delivers countless goodies not found anywhere else: undocumented tips, tricks, and secrets for getting the best performance out of every one of iLife's life-changing new applications.

iLife '04 - 2007-11-14
Reviewer Rating:
Although I have iLife '06, this edition on '04, which I found second-hand at a bargain price, is good enough for the moment in guiding me around the various components of the software (I am new to Macs and iLife). The recommendation is naturally to find a copy on the version of iLife you've got, but I like David Pogue's book on OS X Tiger, and when I found this book I snatched it up without hesitation.

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Multimedia > iDVD
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