No upgrade for iLife

C'mon- you gotta be an IDIOT to buy iLife '05 in the last week of 2005 ('05) in this case- do your homework, or switch to Windoze and be content with being a mindless sheep.if you need your upgrade NOW i.e. for work, you should be on a Pro app anyways, Like Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro, Logic, Aperture, etc, etc....................
thanx

I bought a new G5 Quad that was delivered on the day of the iLife '06 announcement. I had to return one of the software titles I bought along with it (an erroneous purchase on my part) and when I was speaking to Apple, I asked them about the iLife '06 announcement. They wouldn't send me a free upgrade, but they did refund me $49 which I used toward the purchase of the $79 iLife '06.

Most importantly, they continued to keep me a happy customer!

I also got iLife 05 when I bought a Mac Mini in December. I knew iLife 06 is just around the corner but when you need a computer, you just can't wait any longer. I too thought Apple would give me a free upgrade but later found that they only give customer free upgrade if the computer is bought after 1/10/06.

To me, it's like paying $79 more for a $599 computer, who in his right mind won't mind that 13% increase?

If Apple would give me an option to, say, download the version when I need it, I'd definitely buy the Mac Mini and download my iLife when 06 is out.

I disagree with the majority here, siding instead with posts #10 & #19. iLife HAS an upgrade price, and it's $79. By the normal standards of software pricing levels, the price of iLife is EVEN LESS than a reasonable upgrade price for the quantity and variety of innovation that goes into all these bundled apps.
There is no full price for iLife. Never was. Look at it another way: If you have a Mac then you have iLife already because it came packaged with you computer, so THERE ARE NO FIRST TIME BUYERS of the boxed iLife app that should be paying full price. Every box of iLife ever sold is, in fact, an upgrade, both in terms of pricing and by definition. Whether you buy in February or December, since you already own it you are in fact upgrading.
Apple isn't obligated to offer an even lower price, lower-than-upgrade, every January; but if they did they should call it something else, like a cycle discount or a box trade-in.

I think we may all be ignoring something here: what is inherently wrong with iLife '05? Is there some feature of iLife '06 that this person absolutely has to have, that iLife '05 doesn't have? If so, then why did he purchase a product that didn't meet his most important needs? If it's not his most important need, and if iLife '05 covers his needs, why is he complaining? I was using iLife '04 well into 2005. I only purchased '05 because I needed to be able to use purchased music in iTunes in iMovie (I purchased a specific song for a baby video). I won't be buying iLife '06 until I actually need a feature it has. When will that be? Who knows. But that month, I'll just lay off the pizza delivery for a week or so, and get it. It's not expensive.

Do not get hung up on the supposedly "latest and greatest", people. That's Microsoft thinking for you (You must have Windows XP! It's so much prettier than Windows 2000!). If if does what you bought it to do, be happy. If it doesn't, why did you buy it?

I was pretty pissed when I bought my 15" iMac in 2002, and they dropped the 17" shortly thereafter (I think it was just a few months - whereas the gumdrop iMacs were 15" for their entire lives). But you know what? That 15" iMac G4 800MHz is still rendering my video today with iLife '05. It does what I need it to do. Faster would be nice. So, I'll get a sweet Core Duo iMac here shortly. Not because it's new, or the latest and greatest, but because I am starting to see a need for more speed, and I'll get the fastest thing out there today, knowing that it'll have legs as long as the fastest iMac I could buy in early 2002.

If you want the latest and greatest all the time, be prepared to pony up the dough. It's just that simple.

I would like upgrade pricing on iLife and iWork.

They offer the family pack for a few dollars more. Why not an upgrade pack for a few dollars less?

I think the clue is in the title iLife '04 / '05 / '06. A pattern is there so unless you need the software urgently it may be best to wait for Janaury. But it is totally annoying if you have just bought something to find out that the new model / version arrives a week later!

iLife isn't a steal when I can buy the Student/Teacher Edition of Microsoft Office for $133. Until Apple offers an upgrade price I'll buy iLife every other year.

Attention students! --> Apple sells iLife '06 to students for $59

...and even better, if you are a U.C. Berkeley student you can purchase it for $39!!! (That's what I did).

Cheers.