It comes with the computer?

Here it comes, ANOTHER MAC post.
I feel I need to mention a bit about what comes with the MAC. Aside from the gorgeous UI (which Vista is finally going to have at the expense of Apple) the MAC comes with a whole slew of software for doing all those artsy things you’ve always wanted to try. The following is a run-down of these pieces of software.


1. iPhoto. iPhoto is a photo manager that has the ability to capture and organize your digital images. Not only will iPhoto read the metadata from your digital pictures and organize them based on date. Also, the ability edit these meta tags allows you to make your image database VERY searchable and very easily organized based on virtually any criteria. In addition to the incredible organization tools within iPhoto, there are several cool projects that you can create using iPhoto. One of these is a photo book. There are numerous templates you can choose from including such themes as Wedding, Travel, and a very sharp Contemporary layout. The way this works is, you choose a theme, then you simply drag and drop your pictures into the place holders within the book, there are place holders for picture titles, and comments with each picture as well. Once you finish your book, you can then upload it to Apple and they will print a HARDCOVER book for you! And it is relatively cheap too. You can also make calendars, invitations and things like that and Apple prints them for you…..And they look very professional.

2. iMovie. iMovie is a home movie editing program along the lines of Windows Movie Maker. I haven’t used Movie Maker more than one time so I won’t try and compare iMovie to it. iMovie is VERY intuitive like iPhoto, and it is to get around in the software. It, like the other Apple iLife programs comes with some really great templates already installed, or if you’re creative, you can start from a blank slate. To use it all you need to do is plug in your MiniDV camcorder, and capture video from it. This is very easy to do, just plug the Firewire cable in, hit the record button in iMovie, and the camcorder will AUTOMATICALY start playing (provided you have the camcorder set to VCR mode, or playback mode). Once you have all the video captured, you just do like you did in iPhoto, just drag and drop things into the video place holders, and into the time line. You can also drag and drop MP3’s into the audio timeline to make a soundtrack, you can drag photos from your iPhoto library or even from contacts in your address book. It’s crazy that you can drag and media from anywhere on your MAC and drop it into your movie.

3. iDVD. The name ought to tell you everything, it is a DVD authoring program. This program, like the aforementioned comes with several beautifully designed templates for making a Hollywood style DVD. You can make a stunning intro sequence, full fledged menu system, and even picture slide shows with cool transitions between images. The ideal way to use it is to take a movie already created in iMovie and drop it into iDVD, throw in a cool theme for the intro, add a menu and BAM! A very pro looking DVD. Good job Apple.

4. Garage Band. I’ll be perfectly honest here, I have NO MUSICAL TALENT AT ALL. So, that being said, I am not the best judge of this software. I have however played around with it. And for someone with no musical skills, I whipped out a pretty cool techno song that was 8 minutes long. I know that for some people making techno isn’t talent, so we’ll save the arguments for another post.  But I HAVE heard “real” music made with Garage band by a musician friend and co-worker, and I’m here to tell you it is very high quality work when done by someone with talent. You can just plug your electric guitar right into your MAC and play into Garage band. Very cool


So that’s all of the multimedia software INCLUDED with your new MAC. There are other excellent applications included such as iCAL (a calendar/scheduler), Address Book (that one ought to be self explanatory), Automator (this will get an entire post to itself), and Spotlight, oh, and Expose` (how in the world could I forget that one!?!?) and the Dashboard.

All of these will get covered as time permits, and as I learn the functions and possibilities of each.
So far my journey into MAC-hood has been great fun, and I would urge ANYONE who is considering a new PC purchase to at least give the MACs’ some serious consideration.

That’s all for now.