Where are the iLife '05 rumors?

[sigamy]

Anyone know what is coming in iLife '05? I'm hoping for 16:9 support for iMovie and iDVD. Speed improvements and nested albums in iPhoto. Speed and stability in iDVD.

I'd also love to see a new app, fxStudio--special effects for iMovie--like After Effects or AlamDV but with iLife ease-of-use. Lightsabers everywhere!

 

[rdowns]

I wouldn't expect a new iLife before Tiger comes out. What better way to push Tiger and iLife sales if iLife can exploit new Tiger features?

 

[Mechcozmo]

It will come out sometime before December 31st, 23:59:59, 2005, hence the name:
"iLife '05"

My insider contact can't let me know any more information without voiding his non-discloser agreement... he may have already...

 

[spaceballl]

iPhoto could really use an update. I think it needs a complete restructure from the underside up. iTunes is great the way it organizes your files. If you look in the iTunes Music folder, every song is in its folder via artist/album. Ever looked at the iPhoto Library folder? It is filled with an impossibly unorganized array of folders that don't resemble the actual folders in the Photo Library... They just need to make its file structure more logical, improve speed, and maybe add a feature or two.
-Kevin

 

[sigamy]

iPhoto could really use an update. I think it needs a complete restructure from the underside up. iTunes is great the way it organizes your files. If you look in the iTunes Music folder, every song is in its folder via artist/album. Ever looked at the iPhoto Library folder? It is filled with an impossibly unorganized array of folders that don't resemble the actual folders in the Photo Library... They just need to make its file structure more logical, improve speed, and maybe add a feature or two.
-Kevin

I have to disagree with you on the iPhoto Library. Albums are not physical structures in the file system. I believe that this is the same for Playlists in iTunes. If you go into the iTunes library do you see folders for your playlists?

iPhoto's folders start at Year and then go down to Month and Day. Within a day are the photos uploaded that day. How else could they have chosen to organize the files/folders?

I'm one of the first to agree that iPhoto needs improvements. It needs some optimization and stability improvements. Heck, it just crashed on me an hour ago while making a Book.

iTunes can store by artist/album because this metadata is instantly and more importantly AUTOMATICALLY added to nearly every tune imported into iTunes.

The key to any organization/indexing/searching system is GOOD DATA. Most people do not enter keywords/descriptions/titles for their photos. Most people import the photos and the filename stays "P1001700.jpg" forever. So all iPhoto has is the date the photo was imported and a meaningless filename. There really isn't much it can do...

And I'll ask once again, why do you need to go to the Finder to get a photo? The only time I need to to this is for uploading images to eBay or ofoto. It is a pain to find some pics but using a combo of iPhoto and the Finder I can usually find the pic with little pain. iPhoto is supposed to be *the* Finder for photos.

 

[jimjiminyjim]

Getting a bit off topic, but honestly, <rant>why can't camera manufacturers embed information in each photo? You know... have a tiny battery that should never need replacing so that the camera can remember the date and time. Embed that in each photo taken. Add all the stats... what mode it was shot in, what resolution, basic settings (100, 200, 400, 800) you know. That would be some reliable data at least. And honestly p1001093?? Couldn't they come up with better file names than that???? </rant>

Yes, agreed with whoever it was that said wouldn't they want iLife 05 to take advantage of the operating system of 05? Yes indeed.

 

[cemorris]

Getting a bit off topic, but honestly, <rant>why can't camera manufacturers embed information in each photo? You know... have a tiny battery that should never need replacing so that the camera can remember the date and time. Embed that in each photo taken. Add all the stats... what mode it was shot in, what resolution, basic settings (100, 200, 400, 800) you know. That would be some reliable data at least. And honestly p1001093?? Couldn't they come up with better file names than that???? </rant>

Your joking right? Cameras have had this for many years now. It is all in the EXIF data of the jpeg photo. Just select show info when you have a photo selected in iphoto and all this info is available.

I would like to see a script that tells me what photos are in my library that I have not put into an album somewhere. I have over 7000 pics and never browse by my entire album. So I worry there might be some photos out there that are lost.

 

[jimjiminyjim]

Ummm.. no, I wasn't joking. And, umm... thanks for enlightening me. The file name irritant still itches though.

 

[wordmunger]

The only time I need to to this is for uploading images to eBay or ofoto. It is a pain to find some pics but using a combo of iPhoto and the Finder I can usually find the pic with little pain. iPhoto is supposed to be *the* Finder for photos.

I don't even do it then. I just select the photos I need and export them the desktop. The point of iPhoto is to provide a better way to find and organize photos. The finder is a silly way to organize visual information; iPhoto offers a quick way to do an intuitive, visual search for photos -- exactly what I need to find what I want.

 

[spaceballl]

I have to disagree with you on the iPhoto Library. Albums are not physical structures in the file system. I believe that this is the same for Playlists in iTunes. If you go into the iTunes library do you see folders for your playlists?

There is an option in iTunes advanced preferences which is called, "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized." Its subheading then states, "Places song files into album and artist folders, and names the files based on the disc number, track number, and the song title." Sounds like damn good organization to me. Of course they are not listed by playlist. Songs can be in multiple playlists and playlists are also irrelevant to song ID3 tags.

iPhoto's folders start at Year and then go down to Month and Day. Within a day are the photos uploaded that day.

This is all good in practice, but when I uploaded all of my old pictures to iPhoto, iPhoto thinks that those photos were taken when they were uploaded, when in fact, many were taken years before. iPhoto offers no solution to modifying old pictures' dates.

The key to any organization/indexing/searching system is GOOD DATA. Most people do not enter keywords/descriptions/titles for their photos. Most people import the photos and the filename stays "P1001700.jpg" forever.

Damn straight. I went to Europe for four months and came back with hundreds and hundreds of pictures. Am I really supposed to go through and label each picture?

The key to any organization/indexing/searching system is GOOD DATA.

In the case of iTunes, yes. Songs with so many different pieces of tag/metadata info. Photos don't inherently have this. I have a seperate "album" for every event/vacation that I took pictures at. Those are basically like folders in iPhoto, but they do not translate into folders in the file system. Perhaps this is because, like a playlist, pictures can be in mulitple albums. This is fine, but there still needs to be some rhyme or reason to the underlying file structure of iPhoto.

And I'll ask once again, why do you need to go to the Finder to get a photo? The only time I need to to this is for uploading images to eBay or ofoto. It is a pain to find some pics but using a combo of iPhoto and the Finder I can usually find the pic with little pain. iPhoto is supposed to be *the* Finder for photos.

1. Sometimes there are online photo sites that I want to order prints from as their rates are lower than the iPhoto rates.
2. E-mailing pictures. I don't use the Apple Mail program. I use Thunderbird for my office account or GMAIL for my personal account. As of now, I have to drag files ontot the desktop or "export" them from iPhoto before they can be e-mailed. There is no quicker way to locate them in my "iPhoto Library" folder.
3. Using photos in other non-iLife apps. This is the same as my e-mail thing. There's just no easy way to get to them.

So those are my answers. That being said, I still use iPhoto as my photo organization software of choice, I guess mostly because there is a LACK of choice out there. I heard iView Media is pretty cool, but it costs money... Here's to wishing for an iPhoto update!

-Kevin

 

[BornAgainMac]

I would like to see a script that tells me what photos are in my library that I have not put into an album somewhere. I have over 7000 pics and never browse by my entire album. So I worry there might be some photos out there that are lost.

Yes, perhaps a smart album that shows all photos that don't belong to an album. Also I want to force delete something. This means I want to be able to delete a photo from an album and also the library with one click.
It would be nice to find and remove dups easily.

I bet the people that know details about iLife '05 won't talk because they know Apple will pounce on them.

 

[spaceballl]

I would like to see a script that tells me what photos are in my library that I have not put into an album somewhere. I have over 7000 pics and never browse by my entire album. So I worry there might be some photos out there that are lost.

Me too!!! I would love to see that script too!!
-Kevin

 

[Applespider]

This is all good in practice, but when I uploaded all of my old pictures to iPhoto, iPhoto thinks that those photos were taken when they were uploaded, when in fact, many were taken years before. iPhoto offers no solution to modifying old pictures' dates.

I'm sure I had this problem but resolved it by clicking on the 'roll' of film that those pictures were in and changing the date for that. I'm sure it changed the date for all those photos inside - yes, it doesn't help timeline within that but it's a start. I think you can also select the pictures (in an open roll) and choose a date for each of those too.

As far as entering keywords for all your pics. It's timeconsuming and a pain in the backside but it does help you find them later. I haven't gone through them with a toothcomb but on my NFL pics, I have gone through and put in team names etc so that I can easily find the pics of a team over various years.

 

[AmigoMac]

I'll give you a tip ...

.Mac homepage software ... Edit your site offline and sync when you are online...

 

[mrgreen4242]

I'd like to see an iDraw type program... something that integrates with iPhoto for editing, and in between iPhoto and Photoshop somewhere in terms of power... ie, more than just red eye and touch up tool, but not a full blown editor with layers, etc. A program similar in utility to Paint Shop Pro for Windows would be about right...

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I am still hoping for the support of embedded JPEG's in the Canon RAW format. The Digital Rebel has sold well enough that I think that it would be a good match the Mac consumer.

 

[Rod Rod]

I'd like to see an iDraw type program... something that integrates with iPhoto for editing, and in between iPhoto and Photoshop somewhere in terms of power... ie, more than just red eye and touch up tool, but not a full blown editor with layers, etc. A program similar in utility to Paint Shop Pro for Windows would be about right...

Mac Paint returns for OS X! There is such a huge need for it. This shouldn't necessarily be considered part of iLife. It should be an included app though, like Address Book or Chess.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Mac Paint returns for OS X! There is such a huge need for it.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic there or not.

This shouldn't necessarily be considered part of iLife. It should be an included app though, like Address Book or Chess.

I figure that iLife would be a good place to put iPaint, just so you could call it iPaint!

 

[Abstract]

2. E-mailing pictures. I don't use the Apple Mail program. I use Thunderbird for my office account or GMAIL for my personal account. As of now, I have to drag files ontot the desktop or "export" them from iPhoto before they can be e-mailed. There is no quicker way to locate them in my "iPhoto Library" folder.
3. Using photos in other non-iLife apps. This is the same as my e-mail thing. There's just no easy way to get to them.

You're right, and whoever said iPhoto needs a complete rework is so spot on. Why is it so slow? Ever seen photos work on WinXP? You open a window with your photos, and they show up. With iPhoto, you try to switch to the next photo, and the photo doesn't show up clearly for a second, sometimes longer due to rendering time or something Its a bit embarrassing telling people how great Macs are to use when it can't even handle photos quickly.

But meh, the organization issue is my biggest peeve. And the worst is when I try to change the name of a folder!! Say I go on a "WINERY TOUR". Well, I don't remember the exact date of every single event of my life, so I tend to enjoy renaming my folders to indicate an event. I know you can do this with ALBUMS in iPhoto, but its still harder to find the real photo than it should be. I want to name folders whatever I want. Come to think about it. If iPhoto handles things so well, then why is it so "non-intuitive??" Very un-Apple like. They need a SHOW IMAGE FILE option, similar to the Show Song File option in iTunes. That way I don't have to scramble around in FINDER to find my file.

 

[Rod Rod]

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic there or not.

I figure that iLife would be a good place to put iPaint, just so you could call it iPaint!

Yup I'm being serious. There is no Mac Paint type of program for OS X. One of my friends was on a mission to find something like it. He's a recent switcher and he wanted an MS Paint equivalent. He found Photoshop to be very weak for drawing. He didn't want to learn Illustrator. He just wanted something simple. He tried out every drawing program on versiontracker and didn't find anything like MS Paint.

Anyhow he's since lost his PowerBook, but I only brought him up as an example. People want Mac Paint for OS X.

The reason I wouldn't include Mac Paint in iLife is it'll be a very lightweight, simple program, like iSync or iCal. Those two apps aren't part of the iLife suite but rather they're standard apps included with OS X.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Yup I'm being serious. There is no Mac Paint type of program for OS X. One of my friends was on a mission to find something like it. He's a recent switcher and he wanted an MS Paint equivalent. He found Photoshop to be very weak for drawing. He didn't want to learn Illustrator. He just wanted something simple. He tried out every drawing program on versiontracker and didn't find anything like MS Paint.

Anyhow he's since lost his PowerBook, but I only brought him up as an example. People want Mac Paint for OS X.

The reason I wouldn't include Mac Paint in iLife is it'll be a very lightweight, simple program, like iSync or iCal. Those two apps aren't part of the iLife suite but rather they're standard apps included with OS X.

I see what you are saying, but I think that a Paint equivelent program would be a bit on the weak side... If you have ever used, or get a chance to use, Paint Shop Pro by Jasc Software for the PC, that is about the 'power level' I am thinking. It can easily do all the things paint does (and as easily, I should add)... drawing, painting, easy shape creation, and so on, but can also do alot of the things Photoshop can do... closes, magic wand selection, blurs and distortions, etc, but nearly as powerful as Photoshop.

I haven't tried Photoshop Elements before, so that may be the kind of thing I am talkign about, I don't know! If it is APpl shoudl partener with them to bundle it with iLife, or make a package of iLife + Elements for $99 or less, as a way to sell more 'full' copies of PS, and also to push more copies of iLife '05 when it ships.

 

[jimjiminyjim]

To be honest, I would be happy with a speed boost to all of Apple's iApps. They generally feel unresponsive. I enjoy loading classic for the couple of apps I still use in it, because it just feels so snappy!

The apps I'm most irritated with are addressbook, ical, and iphoto. editing anything in all three takes much longer than I expect. Sometimes they feel about as responsive as Abiword. Thing is, abiword is only in its early stages of OS X development. Addressbook, iCal, and iPhoto are not.

 

[Rod Rod]

I see what you are saying, but I think that a Paint equivelent program would be a bit on the weak side... If you have ever used, or get a chance to use, Paint Shop Pro by Jasc Software for the PC, that is about the 'power level' I am thinking. It can easily do all the things paint does (and as easily, I should add)... drawing, painting, easy shape creation, and so on, but can also do alot of the things Photoshop can do... closes, magic wand selection, blurs and distortions, etc, but nearly as powerful as Photoshop.

I haven't tried Photoshop Elements before, so that may be the kind of thing I am talkign about, I don't know! If it is APpl shoudl partener with them to bundle it with iLife, or make a package of iLife + Elements for $99 or less, as a way to sell more 'full' copies of PS, and also to push more copies of iLife '05 when it ships.

I guess what I want is a basic painting app and you want something relatively fully featured.

You're right about bundling iLife '05 (or '06?) with PS Elements. That would greatly increase the proportion of legitimate PS licenses.

 

[JFreak]

And I'll ask once again, why do you need to go to the Finder to get a photo?

i ask this too. you can find your photos a lot faster with iphoto, and then, after you have located what you were looking for, you just DRAG AND DROP the photos wherever you need to use them. i can't believe this why there would ever be a reason why it would be absolutely necessary to browse through the photo library via the (file) finder.

iphoto is the (photo) finder.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

i ask this too. you can find your photos a lot faster with iphoto, and then, after you have located what you were looking for, you just DRAG AND DROP the photos wherever you need to use them. i can't believe this why there would ever be a reason why it would be absolutely necessary to browse through the photo library via the (file) finder.

iphoto is the (photo) finder.

I assume that if you need to use a photo from iPhoto in one of the rare Mac OS X applications that isn't drag-and-drop-savvy, you can drag the photo to the desktop or something, then open it from the other program. That's the way I'd do it if I used iPhoto (I don't own a digital camera).