Apple killed iMovie. That’s all there is to say about it. While most of the upgrades to iLife and, especially, iWork 08 have been warmly welcomed, the once-venerable consumer application landed with a resounding thud.
You might expect, given the numbering, that iMovie 08 might be an upgrade to iMovie 06 HD, which was a very mature digital video editing suite with fantastic soundtrack capabilities, brilliant iDVD integration and an intuitive timeline for keeping track of overall progress.
But no, it’s actually a completely new application, and it throws virtually all of the great mindshare iMovie once had away. Someone at Apple decided it would be cool to make video editing more like photo library management. Which might be true. What this means in practice is that the program is great at insanely rapid video editing. Find your clips, make a sequence, go.
Which is fine, if speed is your main concern. Otherwise, it’s a significant downgrade. David Pogue probably has the best round-up of what’s wrong with the new program, but it’s too big a list to capture here. Essentially, they got rid of everything, even black-and-white video. Or even the ability to import iMovie 06 projects intact. For very good reason, the older version is still available as a free download. Incredibly, the new program has much higher system requirements than its (nominal) predecessor.
What do you think? Is anyone really enjoying iMovie 08?
42 responses to “So, Apple Really Screwed Up iMovie, Huh?”
I really, really love it. Lots. It’s perfect for when I don’t want to use Final Cut.
I don’t understand what you’re saying about Apple getting rid of “black-and-white video.” If you click “adjust video” you can change the video all you could possibly want, which obviously includes moving the saturation slider all the way to the left to make your clip black and white. Right?
Have you ever thought that they are trying to switch it to more mainstream user instead of the hardcore user. Such as the average person only adds the couple of short videos from the family vacation together. They don’t need the options of 06 because the way they work 08 is better
iMovie ’08 is simply fantastic. I didn’t even understand how to use iMovie ’06 but with ’08 I built a really great movie in ten minutes.
I’ve been leery to upgrade to ’08 because of iMovie, does seem to be a downgrade. :(
While I’m disappointed at the loss of all the bells and whistles, the fact for me is that this is a very productive model for editing – far more so than any previous version of iMovie. I view this as a 1.0 version of a completely new application and I’m sure we’ll see those bells and whistles return soon. The bottom line is that you can get right in and cut with this app, and the older versions of iMovie were much more fiddly by comparison.
I haven’t upgraded my iLife, and am pretty torn about whether the new iMovie is all bad. On the one hand, I do like and have used many of features in iMovie ’06 like sound editing and transitions that don’t seem to be in the new version. On the other hand, I don’t use it very much and I wonder if it was really easy to edit and publish my video I might do it more often.
I don’t really like it at all. I’ve played around with it, and in a way I find it harder to use than the old iMovie.
No Black&White??!?! What about moving the saturation slider to the left?!
Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to make intelligent progress and build for the future.
What some people seem to miss is that installing iMovie ’08 doesn’t uninstall iMovie ’06. Apple just creates another folder for the older program and leaves it on your hard drive. Plus they’ve made it available as a download for owners of iLife ’08. Makes me think Apple knew people wouldn’t be too keen to move on to the new iMovie just yet…
iMovie 08 leaves your existing iMovie 06 intact (in a folder called “iMovie (previous version)”, so if you don’t like the new version, use the old one. Simple.
Personally I think for certain tasks it’s much better, but for others I have nothing stopping me using 06.
Seeing that I still have a G4 quicksilver, it looks like I won’t be using iMovie 08 whether I want or not. From using it in the Apple store I like having all my clips available, but think that it being stripped down so much makes it not worth using. What I want to see Apple do though is make the new format of displaying video clips on the web through iMovie 08 available for iMovie 06.
Ok. Look. It’s already been said 100 times that all the features from imovie 06 are gone. But it has also been said 100 times that imovie 08 is an entirely NEW program. Therefor there is a more than good chance that given time, most features will find there way back into iphoto 08. Give it time and use iphoto 06 until then. I think apple knows what they are doing.
I like it a lot actually (but I never used the previous version). I am very familiar with Pinnacle and while this version does not have a TON of options, I rather like the very easy approachability in this new software. I have already made 4 videos and it was VERY easy.
Maybe future upgrades or software enhancements will bring to this version some of what everybody seems to be missing? I for one, am pretty happy.
My first thought is perhaps Apple dumbed down iMovie ’08 to better fit the marketing of iLife as the simple suite for everyone to be creative with. They can then recommend (read: market) Final Cut Express as the “upgrade” to iMovie ’06 for those who want more advanced features.
Love it. Seriously. I have used ’08 more in the last week than I did any version before it combined. I picked it up instantly, and have been happily editing stuff I’ve had sitting around in boxes for years. I always disliked the old version, so much so that I couldn’t bring myself to ever really learn how to use it properly. This version is much more intuitive for me, as well as faster and more responsive. Some call it dumbed down, I call it useable. Clearly I am not a pro video user, so this works for me really well. Luckily my dual G5 just makes the minimum system cut. Plus, and maybe this is something I was doing wrong in the old iMovie, this version makes much smoother looking exported movies. My old ones always were choppy looking, especially when there was lots of movement onscreen. It was aggravating. Not now- smooth as silk.
I enjoyed David ranting on iMovie. Especially noteworthy were some of his alternate names for iMovie ’08. Maybe Apple wanted to reduce the learning curve (i.e., dumb down), thereby making it easier for new users to jump in and quickly post videos to Youtube and so forth. The problem is they are bound to alienate the established users who liked a mature and productive product, and now will have to look elsewhere to fulfill their needs.
You might want to fix the Pogue link, btw.
I never really got into iMovie 06 because of the learning curve. The new version is a lot easier to use for a novice
However, I agree that many of the criticisms are valid – perhaps they should have split to software into two versions or two different programmers. One for the novice/YouTube crowd and the other for the more serious movie editors.
Perhaps the intention was to use this as a ‘gateway’ software, to encourage new users (especially those who purchased new iMacs)with a more enhanced version reappearing with the upcoming OS X upgrade????
iMovie ’08 would be the perfect consumer video editing app if they would simply bring back all the great text effects and video effects. I found that I really needed to treat iMovie’08 like an entirely new app. There’s no resemblance to iM’06. It took some learning but I’m getting it figure out and am really enjoying it. I can live without some of the video effects, but it is in desperate need in the text department. Why can’t I type some text and put it anywhere I want on my video? Great App, needs some tweaking
I’m pretty new to iMovie but I did do a few projects in 06HD and found it great.
However a couple of months back I bought an AVCHD camcorder so I was delighted to see compatibility in 08.
I’m a complete novice but this works fine for me (Target Market?)
The idea that iMovie 08 lowers the “learning curve” or “makes it easier” or any other of the excuses given for it misses the point entirely. If these were the goals for a new iMovie, or any other application for that matter, then those are what’s addressed in an upgrade, NOT in a rewrite. All the features of iMovie 08 are exactly those not in iMovie 06 while virtually none of the old iMovie features made it into the ’08. Ask yourself if Microsoft would publish a new version of Word while eliminating 90% of its features – oh right, and making it lots easier to use. What would Apple fans say?
I remember approaching iMovie with trepidation several years ago. But nothing could have been easier. Drag the movie clip into iMovie (that’s difficult apparently), drag it into the timeline (ditto), repeat with other clips as desired and save or export to iDVD. iMovie 08 could have added the YouTube publishing menu option.
Clearly, discontinuing the old iMovie was intentional. Apple knew their new iMovie was junk because it was the only iLife application that wasn’t deleted from the installation. They knew people would scream if they lost the old version.
The loss of iMovie – yes, loss, because it’s been made obsolete – made me a little sick about Apple. After being a fan for 20 years, I suddenly don’t look at them the same way anymore. Steve wasn’t straight with us.