[Macworld]

Post your comments for Apple yanks iMovie 6 download, ends era of appeasement here

[mrbach]

Stupid. Just this weekend, I was helping a friend who just bought a new iMac 24, and I thought I would give him an iMovie project of his old house that he grew up in.
iMovie 08 wouldn't import it. So, thankfully, I was able to drag a copy of 06 from my machine and put it on his. Now he can edit and do what he wants with it.
If you are going to dump an old program, make sure the new one can import the old files. Myself, I still use 06. The new design is ridiculous and looks like some kind of Microsoft "make a movie" nonsense. It fills up with every clip you have, with endless, confusing frames of movies.
If I am wrong, then it's still a failure, because most Apple products are intuitive and easy to use. 08 is not. I have no plans to use 09 either.

[Sarahsda]

Looks like Steve is faster than you thought. The iMovie HD 6 disk image URL in the last paragraph 404's ... even after we fix the "ttp://" incorrect address into an "http://". Pity.

[MorrisTheCat]

>It’s easy to see why: iMovie ’09 supposedly brings the re-engineered iMovie up to par with the old one in terms of features.
Supposedly being the very operative word. From what I've been able to tell from articles on the 'net, iMovie '09 still does not support plug-ins the way the older iMovie did. Now, there may be a lot of nice transitions and such in the new iMovie, but there are some very cool plug-ins for the old iMovie that will never work in the new version, unless Apple adds support for plug-ins back in, and somehow I don't ever see that happening.

[pcharles]

I liked the familiarity of iMovie 6 and all those crazy plugins I bought from slik et al, but I can barely remember using any of them in the productions I made. The simple truth is that while the transitions and effects were cool, they made the production look cheap. One thing I noticed as I started working with iMovie and FCE was that television programs and movies used about two or three different transitions and no more.

It is a unfortunate that Apple has pulled this application because it impacts people with legacy files, but I have now found that iMovie 8 gave me pretty much everything I need. So much so that I have not used FCE in some time. I assume 9 will simply enhance this.

I am primarily editing movies for my classroom.

[MacKayaker]

Yep, I tried the link also, but changed the ttp at the beginning with ftp and still no dice.
Thankfully, I already have it archived, should I need it.
The jury is out on iMovie 09, but I'm not excited about them turning iLife into a yearly new release.

[migeon]

I was always a first adopter; the newest OS, a Mac less than about 3 to 4 years old. But iMovie has stopped in my tracks. I love making movies but iMovie 8 and 9 can't make the movies I want. And I found FinalCut Express's interface impossible — made for pros with menu and palette lingo that makes no sense to me. I can't use it without a manual and that's no FUN. I love Macs because they are fun. But until iMovie becomes usable again, I'm staying put — no new OS and no new Macs.

[MacKayaker]

My biggest beef with iMovie 08 wasn't the loss of features, but the more complex workflow and file management required. With earlier versions, a single project file was created and it kept all the users files for a given project all together - nice for a consumer app. With iMovie 08, and likely 09, it's possible for project files to be all over the place and I've seen people struggle with that, sadly enough, that I know it would be a deal breaker for some of the older customers I support - who are the ones I see having the time to actually use movie editing software - typically to document family history - something younger folks often don't have or take the time to do.



File management in iMovie 08 and likely 09 is conceptually more like a pro level video editing app. I understood it from my time with Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express - and After Effects. Not smart, compared to the simplicity of earlier versions. Video editing is complex enough, without forcing people to work more like a professional at it.

[OriginalMacRat]

Note that iMovie 09 is nothing like iMovie 06. It is a heck of a lot more complicated. Apple seems to have forgotten their target audience and listed to too many people who should really be using Final Cut.

[hillstones]

I think everyone that hates iMovie '08 already owns iLife '06 and also has a copy of the stand-alone installer.
I installed iMovie '08 in order to upload clips to my MobileMe Gallery, and iMovie '08 is nothing but a pain in the ass! As one person said, random clips stay in the event pane forever, and dragging and dropping them didn't work to get them in the project pane. iMovie '09 will be no better either. They need to fire Randy Ubillo if he couldn't understand how to use iMovie '06. iMovie '08 and '09 removed the ease of use that made the original iMovie so easy to use. Thankfully iMovie '06 is a universal binary, so when I do upgrade to an Intel Mac, I can still use it.
I have no use for iLife '09, so that is one to skip.

[Bob_Hudson]

I bought a new plug-in set for iMovie HD just today. I digitized some 16mm film from 1944 and one section of the film had been flipped so everything was a mirror image. I actually opened up iMovie 08 hoping it might have something to do that, however it offers image rotation but not flipping (and using it briefly, made me again realize what a nice, easy to use program iMovie HD is - I've been using iMovie since version 1 when it had some real problems).

I have had Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express, but really there's not much I can't do in iMovie HD and anything it can't do can be taken care of by a third-party plug-in. iMovie HD is, well, an attempt to reinvent the wheel.

[donnst]

Wow, I have the total opposite experience from everyone else here. I love iMovie 08, and look forward to the new features in 09. Not the "restored" features, but the new stuff that HD never had, that's dead simple to use.
It wasn't that I couldn't use HD, I'm plenty technical, but it was just too fiddly to just throw something together quickly that looked good. I don't have hours upon hours to spend managing movie projects or making a family movie for the grandparents, (much as I wish I did) and 08 totally does the job, quickly and nicely. I don't, and I'll bet the notional parents and other "non-technical" users don't even scratch the surface of what you can actually accomplish with 08--it's enough. If you're a serious budding filmmaker, or otherwise need to do professional-level editing, aren't you better off with some version of Final Cut anyway? Right tool for the right job, and 08/09 is the right tool for the level of amateur movie maker that also uses iPhoto for their photos instead of Aperture.

[btc2]

Find it here:
http://en.kioskea.ne...-1238-imovie-hd
Get it while it lasts. It's still the best and easiest-to-use version of iMovie ever. The "replacement" is still garbage at best.

[btc2]

iMovie used to be the best reason to buy a Mac. Now, with iMovie6 no longer generally available, you might as well pick up a cheap PC with Adobe Premiere Elements. Yeah, the new version is THAT BAD.