iMovie 09. Finally usable...
At last! Apple has installed some credibility in to their junior editor. iMovie ‘08 was a brave new world for their editor which turned out to be an alien one for many of the previously happy users. Apple even doubled installed the newly designed iMovie ‘08 with the old, almost predicting the unrest to come.
iMovie ‘09 is the same core editor but now has features which most editors already have as standard. You’ve now got a proper trim (precision) editor and you can also fade in and fade out the audio which unbelievably you couldn’t do previously. Apple are definitely playing catch up as you also get new stabilisation features and some pre-set filters which are pretty standard fayre.
There is some sympathy for Apple with their most basic of editors. With Final Cut Express and Final Cut itself flying above it what do you put into iMovie and what do you leave out? But I suppose that is taken care of with their pricing, iMovie is bundled with iLife so you could see it as a freebie.
iMovie ‘09 is definitely the software ‘08 should have been and is unsurprisingly a joy to use, almost expected with an Apple branded product. But for me the best thing is the new Maps feature. Remember the way Steven Spielberg used a maps scene to transition locations in the Indiana Jones movies and you’ve got the Maps feature. It works beautifully and has a real wow factor when played as part of a travel video.
For: Finally acts as a standard editor. Maps feature is sublime.
Against: Not enough audio parameters in-built, needs Intel Macs.
