Apple iLife '05

Apple grabs plenty of headlines with its eye-catching hardware designs, such as the recently released Mac Mini. However, Apple's real strength lies in its easy-to-use software, such as the Mac-only iLife suite that it updates every year.

The latest version, called iLife '05, contains new versions of Apple's iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand programs. All this software is supplied when you buy a new Mac, but if you already own a Mac you will need to buy this package to get the latest versions of these programs.

Our favourite iLife program is GarageBand, the music recording and composition software. GarageBand has some nice new features, such as 'musical typing', which allows you to use your computer keyboard like a piano keyboard. This lets you play GarageBand's 'software instruments' (which mimic the sound of real instruments) without having to buy a MIDI or USB keyboard for your computer.

You can also see the notes that you record displayed as proper musical notation, and then edit your music simply by clicking on individual notes with the mouse and dragging them to a different position on the display.

We also like the new Magic iMovie feature that has been added to the iMovie video-editing program. Selecting this option tells iMovie to grab any video clips it can find on your camcorder and then automatically turn them into an edited movie, complete with transitions between clips and even a soundtrack.

When you have finished editing your movies you can transfer them into iDVD to prepare them for recording onto a blank DVD. The upgraded iDVD has got some new editing options that make it really easy to create slick, animated menu pages for your DVDs.

Finally, there's iPhoto, Apple's photo organiser, which now allows you to store and organise video clips as well. This means you can have a convenient central storage place for all your photos and video clips.

Like all the best Apple products, this software is both powerful and easy to use. And, at just £49, it's excellent value for money and can be recommended to any Mac user who is interested in music, video or digital photography. It's a pity this software isn't available for PCs.

Contact:
The Apple Store 0800 039 1010
www.apple.com/uk