No More iPhoto or iMovie Downloads

[MacRumors]

CNet reports on the new announcements at MacWorld and reveal Apple's new iLife strategy:

The iLife package, including GarageBand, iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto and iMovie will cost $49, or will be free with new Macs, Jobs said. The company will no longer provide free downloads of iPhoto or iMovie, a strategy it seriously considered last year and that could anger some customers.

Indeed rumors of this strategy met angry responses last year when this plan was leaked.

iDVD has never been a "free" download due to the size of the application, and GarageBand appears to be of similar proportions. iPhoto and iMovie will now be bundled with iLife ($49) and with new Macintoshes exclusively. Meanwhile, iTunes remains a free download.

[Ambrose Chapel]

sigh

[ipoddin]

uh oh...the floodgates are gonna burst open now...

[edesignuk]

Another reason to be pissed off with todays events, honestly, do they want to loose customers??????

If they think I'm paying $49 for an iPhoto update (which is all I'd want), they've got another thing coming...

*starts up IRC*

edit: reminds me a bit of the whole iTools to .Mac thing

ok, I've done enough moaning for one night (justified IMO I might add), I'm off to bed to calm down...

[Grimace]

This had to happen eventually. Having the free for a while was nice.

The price for the package is extremely reasonable.

[eyeluvmyimac]

needless to say, it does indeed suck. but I suppose it was also inevitable.

It's worth it though in my opinion, especially with edu discount, $29 isn't bad.

I can hear it coming though, the stampede of pissed off mac forum residents. Prepare yourselves, shields up.

[ac2102]

I was wondering how we were expected to download such vast updates!

Oh well, i will just have to fork out for iLife when i next need to make a movie, browse 25000 photos or record some music!

As it is, the current package suits me just fine, but i can certainly see a personal use for all those new features in the future.

As long as itunes updates remain free then i will be happy.

-ac2102

[szark]

As long as the point updates are still free, I can handle this.

If we had to pay for ANY updates...

Besides, they needed the extra download bandwidth for iTMS.

[h'biki]

Originally posted by edesignuk
Another reason to be pissed off with todays events, honestly, do they want to loose customers??????

Um. If you weren't going to be paying anything for it in the first place, then they're really not losing customers, are they?

Hopefully they offer a decent up-to-date program for new buyers. (ie one year free upgrades).

[jeffff]

I can't imagine why anyone would complain about having to pay 10 bucks apiece for five of the greatest apps that ever came down the pike. Come on!

It's not like the old apps expired. What's Apple supposed to do? Spend millions in R&D on these apps every year, and then give them away? In what universe?

Do you work for free?

The bottom line is, these apps are great, I like 'em, I use 'em, and I'm ordering the upgrade today. I can't believe they're only charging me 49 bucks.

[latergator116]

Oh great! And I wanted to get the new imovie because imovie 3 was so much slower than 2.

by far the worst expo.

[odditie]

I'm a college student, and I have to say, the quality of these programs are more then worth the money they are asking for the iLife package, so tighten your belt a little and shell out the $49 and be happy with the great quality of the products that Steve has helped us all enjoy.

Chris

[dho]

The lack fo a free download is disapointing,

but I will whip out my $100 apple gift certificate in a few weeks regardless.

49 isnt so bad compared to the competition

could be much better hoowever

[caveman_uk]

Originally posted by edesignuk
Another reason to be pissed off with todays events, honestly, do they want to loose customers??????

If they think I'm paying $49 for an iPhoto update (which is all I'd want), they've got another thing coming...

No-ones making you buy it.

Personally all I want now is the iphoto update but the other stuff falls into the 'nice-to-have' category and I quite fancy playing around with GarageBand...

£39 isn't a lot for what you get and it's quite a bit less on educational if you qualify.

Personally I'm ambivalent about todays event. I've got an ipod and I'm not in the market for a new mac at the moment so mostly the hardware stuff is just nice to watch right now. Software is of more interest to me so today was kind of OK...

[lindmar]

I agree,,
I already placed my order.
49 bucks... geezz.
good luck getting any single peice of software for that cost..

Some people have lost their minds complaining about this...


People expect too much from Apple..
pay the 49 dollars and quit yapping, this is a great deal..

[iJed]

This has to be the most disappointing MacWorld since Apple announced that they would charge for iTools.

EDIT: Ok this has put me in a really bad mood now. I paid my Panther upgrade price and expected to get my iApps updated with it. Now how much do I have to pay a year? $130 for OS + $100 for .Mac + $50 for iLife. This is getting ridiculous!

[QuiteSure]

$49 is ridiculously low for everything you're getting. While I don't think I'll be using iMovie again, I do think I'll play around with Garageband and, of course, iPhoto. Apple probably has such huge file sizes for everything (and wants to keep it all neatly coordinated) that it didn't make sense to allow it to be used piecemeal.

OR, here's another way of looking at it:

iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband are FREE, but not compatible without the new version of iDVD, which cost $49 (which was consistent with the most recent upgrade)

OR, here's another way of looking at it:

It's free with a new computer, so deduct $49 from the price that you're going to pay for the new computer, and you'll be getting a bargain! Kind of like waiting until November to buy your computer so you can get Panther for free!

[latergator116]

I can't imagine why anyone would complain about having to pay 10 bucks apiece for five of the greatest apps that ever came down the pike. Come on!

ummm...because they were free about five hours ago.

Besides I don't want to be paying for iPhoto, iDVD, and Garageband when all I want is iMovie.

[edesignuk]

Originally posted by caveman_uk
No-ones making you buy it.

True, and I do realise that. But the current iPhoto is s-l-o-w, any update to make it run at a decent speed I expect for free, like a service pack type of thing.

[AMPrkm]

I am *not* convinced that CNet knows what it's talking about. It is very possible that they simply went to MacRumors, read some of the panicked messages about the sky falling, and decided that was sufficient confirmation to say there will be no free downloads. They offered no source, and have a poor track record of journalistic integrity anyway, especially when it comes to Apple.

MacRumors should know better than to take CNet on its word, so unless you guys have independent confirmation, I still say downloads will appear on the 16th.

[Grimace]

Seriously, in a year - people will have forgotten that these were once free download/updates.

If they had ALWAYS made you pay, you wouldn't think anything of it.

If you don't need the updates - don't cry about the price. If you really want the updates - or the AMAZING Garageband software - $49 is a steal.

[evilbert420]

What a bunch of whiners. $50 for all that greatness... and it's not FREE so it SUCKS.

Go buy cheap PCs and run LINUX if you can't afford $50 for 5 great applications. Or run the old versions.

Seriously... some of you are embarassing.

[VicMacs]

no complaints... just wait till someone you know gets a new mac

no, really, buy this, it's cheap. for waht it does and how much you use it... its well worth it...

die mini ipod! DIE!

[blueBomber]

I'm assuming these will be included in os updates as well? Though I am (mildly) upset I just shelled out for Panther and now some of the core pieces of software get pay only updates, when 10.4 hits I would like to know that the iApps included will be the newest ones available and not some cruddy version they stuff into the system.

[Ling]

Whatever. I think it's an amazing deal (as a student) and I'll shell out 30 bucks happily. Now $50 is a little steeper. But you're getting 5 great programs. Before everyone goes ballistic and flames Apple...take a deep breath and think about what iLife has done for you.