iLife '04 Arrived!

[ElDiabloConCaca]

My local FedEx guy just stopped by and handed me my iLife package. I can confirm some things we all expected:

The iLife package comes with ONE CD and ONE DVD. On the CD is installers for iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie. On the DVD is installers for iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand.

I chose the DVD. There is one installer package alias located on the DVD, apparently linking to a hidden directory for the actual install packages. No amount of surfing the CD through the Finder would reveal any other separate installer packages. Some navigation through the terminal reveals that there is a hidden "Packages" directory that contains the individual installers.

Install took about 20 minutes on my G4/400 PCI. GarageBand is a hefty install -- between 2 and 3 GB, and there weren't any custom install options to de-select any components of GarageBand -- you gotta install the full 2 - 3 GB.

Well, I'm off to play... I'm sure there'll be a GarageBand thread started sometime within the next few hours as people start receiving iLife 04!

[btoneill]

Mine is sitting on my front porch waiting for me to get home

Brian

[Zammy-Sam]

lucky you...

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Dude, you gotta play sick and go home. You need a good head-start on GarageBand, because if that's the app you were waiting for like I was, I assure you -- you'll be up ALL night.

I am pretty damn impressed with GarageBand. I just put together a three-minute song in about 30 minutes playing around with as much as I could. What's even cooler is that GarageBand saves single files in the range of 150k - 250k, so sharing a song with someone else that has GarageBand is extremely easy. Of course, they could edit your song to their heart's content, but this is a consumer app and not a pro app.

I am impressed. Next purchase in the channels is that $99 MIDI keyboard. If GarageBand is this much fun without any kind of input, then I can only imagine what it would be like with that keyboard.

[Urbansory]

lol, play sick huh, like that dude in the Sharpie commercial that painted his face with a highlighter.

I might swing by the Apple store this weekend and get my copy, no big rush yet, 1 less distraction from what I need to be doing anyway.

[flash]

About the install DVD: The main install package is an alias. I was able to get to a directory full of sub-packages by selecting the install package icon, and hitting Command-R.

All those packages looked complicated, so I went with the full install.

I've only played with Garage band, and it's a COOL piece of software. Litmus test: (1) I was able to create a nice-sounding song from loops in <5 minutes, and (2) I was able to get totally unexpected and surprising results while goofing with a vocal track that I screamed at my laptop. So it's easy enough to jump into, and complicated enough to keep you in.

To use the onscreen keyboard for midi tracks, you'll need a good, fast mouse finger. You CAN edit the tracks afterwards (dragging notes around &etc.) but my progress slowed considerably. Luckily I've already ordered a keyboard, so I have that to look forward to. Now I just have to get my acoustic guitar miked.

[breuklen]

Looks like I'll have to visit the Apple Store in SoHo this weekend. I am so not a musical person, but my niece and partner would probably love GarageBand and maybe one of them will teach me a thing or two.

[Arden]

That's the beauty of GarageBand: you don't have to be a musician to enjoy it! All you have to do to start making music is be able to click and drag. You could spend hours doing nothing but arranging loops.