New Mac Purchases Bring iLife '11 to Users' Older Computers

[MacRumors]

Apple's new computers shipping with Lion do not include physical restore media and instead utilize a hidden recovery partition to allow users to reinstall their system software should the need arise. But as noted by Macworld, reinstallation of the iLife '11 software included on new Macs occurs via the Mac App Store, which recognizes the machines' iLife licenses and links them to users' Apple IDs during the initial setup process.

But one key feature of the Mac App Store is that a single purchased license permits downloading of the software to any machines owned or controlled by the person linked to that Apple ID and logged in with the account. That key feature means that the iLife licenses issued to new computers via the Mac App Store permit users to download the software to their other Macs that may not have been upgraded to the latest version of iLife.

Purchase an app on your laptop, and you can launch the Mac App Store app on your iMac, click the Purchases button, and install that same app without having to purchase it again.

The iLife license you get when you set up one of the latest Macs is no different. Which means that if you haven't yet gotten around to upgrading to iLife '11, buying a new Mac mini or MacBook Air essentially gets you iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand for all your Macs running OS X 10.6.6 or later (since you need at least that version of Snow Leopard to run the Mac App Store). And this isn't sneaky or dishonest--it's right there in the Mac App Store's software license.

The report notes that the policy only applies to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, as Apple is in the process of phasing out iWeb and iDVD and does not offer them for download via the Mac App Store or include them on the new MacBook Air and Mac mini. The applications were included in the boxed version of iLife '11, but did not receive any meaningful updates from the iLife '09 versions, meaning that users with fully-updated iLife '09 installed are already running the most up-to-date versions of iWeb and iDVD anyway.

Article Link: New Mac Purchases Bring iLife '11 to Users' Older Computers

 

[King Flamez1]

i'd trade it for iWork '11

 

[King Flamez1]

I'll miss iDVD a little bit, it was so much easier adding titles and hyper links on DVDs to make them look professional on an easy to use piece of software. Hope they integrate some features in iMovie or another program in the future

 

[BruiserB]

Does it work with Lion too? If you buy a new mac with Lion, can you upgrade your other machines?

 

[Gibson424]

How?

I can't seem to get it to work. I have an '09 iMac with old versions of iLife but got an '11 MacBook Pro with all the new stuff. None of the iLife apps show up in my App Store. Do I have to register them or something?

 

[nunes013]

Does it work with Lion too? If you buy a new mac with Lion, can you upgrade your other machines?

i would think this would be the case as long as your machine has the specs to support it.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Does it work with Lion too? If you buy a new mac with Lion, can you upgrade your other machines?

I want to know this also

 

[Yuppi]

Does it work with Lion too? If you buy a new mac with Lion, can you upgrade your other machines?

This may be only partially helpful, but I got a Lion upgrade voucher (bought it after 5th of june but before Lion release) and that did work for all my machines.

But I am wondering about the iLife thingy, does that mean I have to remove it from my new iMac and can then get it for free from the app store? (currently don't have my iMac at hand to check)

 

[shartypants]

I'll miss iDVD a little bit, it was so much easier adding titles and hyper links on DVDs to make them look professional on an easy to use piece of software. Hope they integrate some features in iMovie or another program in the future

Apple has embraced the cloud so I guess they view DVDs as ancient history , one less thing for their engineers to worry about. But it would still be nice to have some kind of a DVD like wrapper (UI with menus) around our home movies...?

 

[Clive At Five]

It's sad that my gut reaction to this was that it was somehow "gaming the system." It's funny how software companies, EULAs and DMCA have conditioned us to (or at least me) to feel that way. =P

Regardless, I'm glad companies are (slightly) moving back towards looser copyright policies. Now if only Nintendo would let me download the NES titles I still have in cartridge form to my Wii...

-Clive

 

[PeterM11]

Oh really? I had no idea that they weren't shipping new macs with iWeb an iDVD at all.
That kinda sucks. I really liked iWeb and it's simplicity of use. Nothing else really does it for me like iWeb. iDVD was kind of neat but that's an obvious move since they're trying to phase out the optical disc now. Like the above comment said, maybe they'll add some iDVD stuff into iMovie. Kinda doubt it though.

 

[the vj]

I wonder how that is going to work in other countries where there are not access to iTunes store due currency limitations.

 

[nagromme]

I had totally forgotten that my new Air will mean a new iPhoto too! Looking forward to that. (As for iMovie and GarageBand, I’m hooked on the iPad versions.)

If iLife upgrade downloads are free in future (time will tell) then before long, iLife apps will basically not be paid anymore. Once time passes and most people are obtaining those apps by getting new machines, which will ultimately happen.

(But I’d certainly pay the App Store’s low prices occasionally for significant upgrade versions, if it comes to that.)

 

[ssdeg7]

Does it work with Lion too? If you buy a new mac with Lion, can you upgrade your other machines?

No, it doesn't work that way. Apple only gives you iLife because when you restore your Mac with online recovery everything gets eliminated and since all Macs come with iLife and Lion doesn't have iLife then they need to give you a way to get iLife back, so they decided they would associate iLife to one of your accounts

 

[qrayg]

I can't seem to get it to work. I have an '09 iMac with old versions of iLife but got an '11 MacBook Pro with all the new stuff. None of the iLife apps show up in my App Store. Do I have to register them or something?

Please read the article. It only works if you buy a Macbook AIR or a new Mac mini. Neither machine comes with a restore disc and both machines have Lion pre-installed. I'm willing to bet your Macbook came with a restore disc because it has an ODD.

 

[mex4eric]

I won't believe it until someone actually does it. If I buy a MacBook Air today, you think iLife will appear "Installed" in my Mac App Store?? Good luck! Show me.

 

[MacSince1990]

Of course.... iLife '11 doesn't actually work on *old* computers...

 

[BoxOfSnoo]

No, it doesn't work that way. Apple only gives you iLife because when you restore your Mac with online recovery everything gets eliminated and since all Macs come with iLife and Lion doesn't have iLife then they need to give you a way to get iLife back, so they decided they would associate iLife to one of your accounts

Yeah in some cases it does. My wife got a new iMac just before Lion was released, and we used the voucher code from the Up To Date program. It added Lion to the App Store for all registered machines (also using it on my 24" 2008 iMac).

iLife doesn't show up though. Maybe because they know this Mac was shipped with a DVD?

 

[manu chao]

Oh really? I had no idea that they weren't shipping new macs with iWeb an iDVD at all.
That kinda sucks. I really liked iWeb and it's simplicity of use. Nothing else really does it for me like iWeb.

I guess Apple thinks the era of the mass market creating HTML pages is over. Most people use gallery or blogging services instead (Flickr, Instagramm, Tumblr or heaven forbid Twitter, Facebook and Google+).

 

[thatisme]

I won't believe it until someone actually does it. If I buy a MacBook Air today, you think iLife will appear "Installed" in my Mac App Store?? Good luck! Show me.

Yep. It does. I was able to update my old iMac and mbp with iLife 11 that came on my new air....

 

[tivoboy]

same

Yeah in some cases it does. My wife got a new iMac just before Lion was released, and we used the voucher code from the Up To Date program. It added Lion to the App Store for all registered machines (also using it on my 24" 2008 iMac).

iLife doesn't show up though. Maybe because they know this Mac was shipped with a DVD?

i had a similar experience. bought a new MBP (well, actually a refurb but it was broken on arrival so the apple store gave me their top of the line 15" for about free. thank you apple store) and it came with SL, but I could do the uptodate program for a free lion download/install. That all worked fine, but things like ilife don't show up. I'm not sure if they ever will. I'm surprised that the new MBA and or mini, which must come with a USB install key, no? are the only ones for which this would apply?

 

[Astro7x]

It's a shame they eliminated iWeb from iLife. It really is a great little program if you want to create a simple website from a template. I did a website for my wedding with it only because it was super easy for my wife to use too, and publishing with one click was a heck of a lot easier than explaining to her how to use an FTP.

 

[AP_piano295]

Awesome now I can get the far less useful version of iMovie, for my old macs...

 

[tigress666]

Well here's something to think about... this linking to your Apple ID also means you can't sell the mac with the software you bought on the app store unless you want to let the buyer keep the Apple ID.

So... does this mean the person has to buy Lion if they buy a Macbook that came with Snow Leopard originally? Or even more interesting, do they have to buy Lion if the computer came with Lion (I'm guessing having it on a partition means it can still be installed with a new Apple ID on this one though)?

Also, people are acting like this is new that it is easy to "game" the system to put new software that comes with a new computer on older computers... you could do that when the software came on DVD too, you just used that DVD on any other compatible mac.

 

[nprtmn4evr]

I want to know this also

I have an old Mac Mini, and just got my new Air last week. I was able to upgrade the iLife apps on the Mini for free, but I had to pay to upgrade to Lion. When I used the Mac App store on the Air, I had to upgrade my iLife apps, so I'm assuming the App Store registered the fact that I downloaded the update and considered it as a "purchase" for my account. Since I didn't have to update Lion, the App Store must not have logged it as a "purchase" (even though it says installed).