Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iLife
My wishes for iLife '06
This morning at Apple Matters, James Stoup asks the question, "What's next for the iLife suite?" He proposes three great applications, including an end-user CGI tool he's calling "Animator." With Animator, anyone can make their own talking clown-fish or incredible superheros. I think it's a great idea and very feasible. Apple has a history of bringing sophisticated software to home users, like iMovie, iDVD, Garageband and to a slightly lesser extent, Final Cut Express. I can see an end-user animation application fitting nicely within this strategy. When integrated with iMovie and iDVD, it could be a lot of fun.He also describes Site Builder, a website-building application that would bridge the gap between the free wizards some webhosts offer and the pricey big boys like Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive. I know there are inexpensive applications already available that fill this role (Realmac Software's Rapidweaver being my favorite), but to have one designed by Apple that was beautifully integrated with its iLife siblings would be great. More after the jump.
You should read Mr. Stoup's article, as I've only skimmed some highlights here. While condsidering his suggestions, I've come up with a suggestion of my own, tentatively called "Podcaster." I think of Podcaster as a do-it-all application that will record, edit, enhance, upload and publish your podcast. With Podcaster you can select photos from your iPhoto library to use as chapter markers and import Garageband tunes to use as theme music or background audio. Podcaster will also generate a feed for you and publish either to your .Mac account or the FTP location of your choice. Today, producing a podcast usually involves, at the very least, two different applications. I'm confident Apple could get the whole shebang done with a single application, which would be great. They've made retrieving podcasts so easy via the iTunes Music Store, why not make producing them just as simple?
As far as enhancements to existing iApps, I'd like to see video playback available right in iPhoto (for all those .avi movies I import with my digital camera), as well as an option to send videos stored in iPhoto to iMovie. So what do you all think? Have an idea for a brand new iApp? Want to improve on an existing one? Let's hear it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Felipe said 1:22PM on 8-01-2005
actually, video playback for iPhoto already exists, for mpeg files.
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Eric said 1:23PM on 8-01-2005
I think a Podcast creation tool would be fantastic. It would do for Podcasting what iMovie did for movie making. Nice idea. It seems to fit the overall iTunes direction, too. If Apple doesn't do this, someone else will, so let's hope it's Apple.
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Radu Dutzan said 1:26PM on 8-01-2005
I think iMovie needs new titles and transitions, Keynote style. And I hope iLife '06 means iTunes 5...
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morgan m said 1:33PM on 8-01-2005
i think
itunes music store- tabbed browsing
itunes- an instant ipod update button (very important for a forgetful person like me)
itunes-better, faster music video support
imovie- a "library feature" to browse all your finished movies and view them full screen
idvd- an advanced cd burning feature that gives you the options that discblaze and toast give you
iphoto- photo library consolidation
anddddddd......
new application:
ILIFE-
+view all your music, videos, and photos in one place where you can burn them
+with cataloging features like delicious library
+easy navigator version for working with t.v.
+wireless transfer to other computers via drag and drop
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cal said 1:41PM on 8-01-2005
iMovie needs the ability to trim clips, and audio. It could have a 'Quick Edit Wizard' which would let you input the time you wanted to start and stop.
I agree with more effects and transitions aswel.
Anyone else think of ways it could improve?
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Brady J. Frey said 1:45PM on 8-01-2005
I don't know, but if they build a web app that spits out crap code like Frontpage and Dreamweaver do by default, I'm going to be in a hard spot loving apple. That is a very touchy area to get into...
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Tony said 3:21PM on 8-01-2005
Dreamweaver doesn't spit out "crap code". It's very clean. I'm a Macromedia Certified Dreamweaver Developer.
FrontPage, does though.
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Blue Balloon said 3:25PM on 8-01-2005
I would like to make individual software that I really want buy only iPhoto, if Apple will sell if less 20 bucks. I am sold!
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Brady J. Frey said 3:30PM on 8-01-2005
Dreamweaver spits out 'less' crap than frontpage, that's for sure - but even the 2004 is default coding 97' style tables, no doctype, etc. Case example dude, and not meant to be mean, there's 25 coding errors in the front page of your site alone, not to mention much deprecated tagage...
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bryan elkus said 3:49PM on 8-01-2005
One thing i would really like to see in iTunes is collapsible folders. I have too many playlists and podcasts(well thats sorta solved in 4.9 but i think it would be nice in iPhoto too.
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cal said 3:49PM on 8-01-2005
chill out man! Dreamweaver is the D's B when it comes to code! Don't dis!
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ChillyWilly said 6:23PM on 8-01-2005
for iLife '06, i'd like to see for a new app:
- iCast (someone above mentioned podcasting) at at least some sort of wizard or template for GarageBand to create podcasts.
and for updating the current apps, iPhoto 6 could use a couple of features that are missing (and the main reason I still do all of my digital photo stuff on the PC)
- allow users to rename the actual photo filename, instead of just the description when importing the library. PITA to keep track of the cryptic JPG file names when taking them to a 3rd party to be printed.
- allow easier manipulation and management of multiple libraries.
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yinyang said 8:10PM on 8-01-2005
I think something like Comic Life should be incorporated into iLife 06, though Apple should just buy the company out and not do a Konfabulator/Dashbaord on them!!
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Shane said 8:32PM on 8-01-2005
I want nested folders in iPhoto, so I can have a "Family Events" folder that contains sub-folders of the specific events.
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Robert Knight said 4:10AM on 8-02-2005
Here's what I want from iLife (next version)...
I don't want to have to pay $70/year for new software in January that doesn't feel quite bug-free until the June/July upgrade.
Yes, the price is good, but it is pretty unfair to make Joe User *buy* a new UPGRADE every 12 months.
Functionally, I'd like to publish slideshows with the Apple templates to somewhere besides a .Mac account. I like the simplicity Apple has given to beginners, but some of us have moved beyond .Mac and we'd like to put our Apple created content elsewhere. It seems like it would be good marketing for Apple to have their templates show up elsewhere besides .Mac member pages.
A Podcasting tool would rock. ComicLife would make the upgrade worth paying for.
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Wylee Coyte said 4:15AM on 8-02-2005
For the whole suite make it easier to share libraries without having to resort to the miriad of hacks out there. In the real world nobody has a purely personal, never to be seen by anyone else library of books, paintings, music etc. So why in the electronic world should we. The hacks out there are akin to using a chainsaw to cut your way into the library!
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benedict murray said 6:43AM on 8-02-2005
right I know Herr Jobs dislikes the Tellybox quite vehemently but apple could really do with an elegant Television DVR and organiser. With that Apple touch we all know'n'love
Like Tivo to Go but more universal, maybe bring out a nice bit of hardware as well
I am supremely jealous of Media Centre PC and with a TV app we'd be so close
And then the rumours can flood over bout a Video iPod...
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Chris Christensen said 3:28AM on 8-06-2005
I found out today that I know the Apple engineer who worked on podcasting in iTunes. I will see if they take requests. :-)
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Porchland said 4:32PM on 10-05-2005
iPhoto: I'd like to see multiple libraries. It would be nice to separate out broader image groupings to separate work work, personal, etc.
iMovie: new titles, maybe intergate the library with iPhoto for more seamless mixing and matching for projects
iTunes: Smarter Playlists that tweaks the randomization to balance out a lot of content from one artist: just becaues I have every Dave Matthews Band album doesn't mean I want DMB on every mix. I had hoped that this is what "less random" would mean, but it didn't.
iTMS: Radiohead (finally!)
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Chris said 9:13AM on 10-17-2005
#19 - iPhoto already does multiple libraries - Command-Click to launch gives you a "which library this time?" dialog.
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