iLife 09 user Feedback/Tips/App Updates: (later reports first)

(not tried this personally but posting as a FYI.)

Panorama Problems w/iPhoto 09 (not tried this personally but posting as a FYI)

"Panorama Problem in iPhoto
Here's my problem which I have posted in the Adobe forums, the Apple iPhoto forums and as a bug report to Apple for iPhoto '09. I now make my panorama in Adobe Photosho Elements 8 and import it into iPhoto.

A. When I would make a panorama, here's the steps I took:
1. Take pictures with my camera.
2. Import into iPhoto'09.
3. Assign titles to pictures and export into folder on desktop.
4. Open Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 and import photos from desktop folder.
5. Let APE 6 create panorama and then save it back to the desktop folder.
6. Import it using iPhoto'09. Edit it using enhance, crop, straighten, and adjust if necessary. It worked perfectly.

B. I updated to Snow Leopard. When I imported it into iPhoto'09 and did the normal edit's everything slightly changed. As you can see in the attached movie (NOTE: I cannot add a movie file, but I did add it to the same question in the Adobe forums (http://forums.adobe.com/message/2364338).) The finished panorama would change sizes. I assumed that it was an interacting between iPhoto'09, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 and Snow Leopard. So, I ordered Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

C. I installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and it's still doing the same thing. Note it only changes size when I click on a panorama picture. The 3rd picture was a normal size single picture.

I have an Early 2009 24 inch iMac (2.93 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo) running OSX 10.6.1. Anyone have any suggestions or did you have the same problem and what corrections did you do?
-WB"

iMovie 8.0.5 Update: (From the Oct. 13th news page)

"About iMovie 8.0.5 (link now to 8.0.6)
This update improves compatibility with a number of devices and fixes other minor issues, including:

• Improved compatibility with camcorders using the iFrame video format
• Improved compatibility with importing video captured on the iPod nano
• Fixed problems with resizing the iMovie window during playback

The update is recommended for all users of iMovie '09.
System Requirements: OS X 10.5.6 or later"

There's also a couple related support docs updates today - iMovie '09: About the iFrame Video format and iMovie '09: Camcorder Support
G4 Users If none of the iMovie 8.0.5 changes matters to you, just stay with your current version. But thanks to "RunAway" (again), the offsets for iMovie 8.0.5 have been added to the info on iMovie 09 patching for G4 Macs.

GarageBand 5.1 Update: (From the Aug. 3rd news page)

"About GarageBand 5.1
This update addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and fixes a number of other minor issues. The issues addressed include:

• GarageBand track effects and Audio Units can now be added to a guitar track
• Improved support for Apogee audio interfaces
• Faster switching to full screen in Magic GarageBand
• Improved access to audio monitoring settings

This update is recommended for all users of GarageBand '09
For detailed information on the security content of this update, see
About the Security content of GarageBand v.5.1"

BTW - On Aug. 11 Apple updated the doc on GarageBand '09: Guitar input may not appear on PowerPC-based computers (TS2520 no longer online) with a note "This issue is resolved in GarageBand 5.1."

iMovie 8.0.4 updated patch/edit info for G4 Mac use: Once again thanks to "RunAway" for the updated offsets for 8.0.4 added to the iMovie 09 patching for G4 Macs. (See post for details and links to editors, etc. and as always, make a backup copy of the iMovie app before editing it.)

iMovie 8.0.4 Update: (from 7/16/2009 news page)

"About iMovie 8.0.4
This update improves overall stability and fixes a number of other minor issues. The issues addressed include:

• Fixed a problem with incorrect rotation when working with video created by iPhone 3GS
• Resolved instability when adding multiple beat markers in some languages
• Corrected an issue where iMovie could become unresponsive after using fine-tuning controls beyond the stabilized portions of a clip

The update is recommended for all users of iMovie '09. "

(G4 Mac owners - remember updates overwrite your edited/patched iMovie app.)

iPhoto 8.0.4 Update (from 6/30/2009 news page)

"About iPhoto 8.0.4 Update (102MB)
This update addresses a rarely encountered issue involving photos imported into a previous version that could affect overall stability, and corrects references to a few points of interest and location names that were labelled incorrectly.
The update is recommended for all users of iPhoto '09.
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website:
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2797 (no longer online) titled "iPhoto '09 may quit unexpectedly after updating to iPhoto 8.0.3" "

iMovie 8.0.3 updated patch/edit info for G4 Mac use: As usual, iMovie updates break (overwrite) the patch/edit for G4 Macs. But once again thanks to "RunAway" (who sent the original patch info) I've updated the iMovie 09 patch/edit for G4 Macs original post below with updated offsets for editing the iMovie 8.0.3 executable. (See that post for details and links to editors, etc. - and as always, make a backup copy of the iMovie app before editing it.)

iLife 09 Apps and Related updates: (Jun. 4, 2009) I won't repeat all the info in the docs (listed in the front page news), but here's the download pages:

• iPhoto 8.0.3 Updater
• iMovie 8.0.3 Updater
• iDVD 7.0.4 Updater
• iLife Support 9.0.3 Update
• Digital Camera Raw 2.6 Update

iMovie 8.0.2 Update: (4/14/2009) Here's the info from Software Update:

"iMovie Update 8.0.2 (24.1MB)
This Software Update fixes an issue with projects having a size of 0 KB. Attempting to open these projects would cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly at launch.
(Mentioned in Apple support doc TS2684, but no longer online.)
This Software Update also addresses a problem where full-screen mode could not be accessed on some systems. "

Here's the iMovie 8.0.2 updater download page. (Applying this will overwite any previous edit/patch for G4 Mac use but the imovie 09 patch for G4 macs post has now been updated w/offsets for 8.0.2.)

iMovie 8.0.1, iPhoto 8.0.2, iWeb 3.0.1, iLife Support 9.0.2 Updates (3/26/2009) Appears in software update, I use the download updaters. The iLife Support update as usual requires a restart. Here's the (terse) info from software update for each of them w/links to their download page:
(FYI - For readers that used the G4 Mac edit/patch info here back in January, this update will overwrite the previous executable file. However I've updated the G4 edit/patch info below to include the offsets for iMovie 8.0.1.)

"iMovie Update 8.0.1
This update improves overall application stability as well as addressing minor issues related to usability."

"iPhoto Update 8.0.2
This update improves overall stability and addresses minor issues in a number of areas, including Faces, Places, photo sharing, and slideshows."

" iLife Support 9.0.2 (restart required)
This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. It is recommended for all users of Aperture, iLife 09, and iWork 09"

"iWeb Update 3.0.1 (no longer online)
This update addresses issues when publishing to an FTP server and other minor issues."

FYI: I don't use iWeb (or publish to mobileme) but I've had a couple readers say since applying this update they can no longer publish to MobileMe. One reader called Apple support about it and was (eventually) told "We seem to have a bug that some users are experiencing that keeps them from publishing and causes program errors." However this may be (another) case of server side problems at Apple, as some later said it was working again. (But one reader said it worked again one night, but the next day saw problems again.) Apple's iWeb discussion forums has several threads on the subject. (iWeb forum no longer online.)

Problems w/iPhoto 08 created Slideshows in iPhoto 09:

(added 3/23/2009 from emails last week)
"iPhoto 09 corrupts or loses custom settings, (transitions, Ken Burns, slide timing etc.), in slide shows created with iPhoto08. Try it and see.

(You mean when playing in iPhoto 09 or if exported?
(I just tried a few (simple) slideshows I had from the past in iPhoto 09 - they looked fine on this AL iMac (10.5.6 w/all updates including all iLife 09 updates))
The problem we have is that shows created in iPhoto 08 with customized Ken Burns, timings, titles and in one case order of slides, are not the same when viewed after installation of iPhoto 09.
Many of the settings are lost and the show compromised significantly.

We took the machine to our local authorized outlet and they un-installed 09, replaced it with 08, brought up an older 08 slideshow from the Time Machine backup drive and then installed 09 again. The results were the same. 09 messed with the 08 slideshow settings. (Cost me $56 by the way to have this confirmed).
I believe this situation is genuine and I don't believe I am alone with it.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1017&message=30853393
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1946307&tstart=0

As I have said in an E-Mail to an Apple rep, this situation should carry some kind of warning, at least in the Read Me file on installation.
We lost a lot of work on a 145 slide presentation that is now almost useless.
I presume iWork 09 does not do this to existing 08 spreadsheets or there will be some REALLY unhappy folk, not that I am any less happy.
-James M."

iPhoto 8.0.1 and iLife Support 9.0.1 Updates (from 3/3/2009 news page)

"About iPhoto 8.0.1 Update
This update improves overall stability and addresses minor issues in a number of areas, including internet connectivity, keyword import, and slideshow export."

And a new iLife 09 Support update:

"About iLife Support 9.0.1
This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. It is recommended for all users of Aperture, iLife '09, and iWork '09."

Apple PDF manual for GarageBand 09 (w/tutorials) (from Feb 12th news page) Matthew sent a link to an Apple manual (PDF) on GarageBand 09 (GarageBand_09_Getting_Started.pdf) that "Includes a tour of the GarageBand window and step-by-step tutorials to help you start creating music and podcasts with GarageBand". If anyone spots any other posted PDF's on iLife 09 apps, let me know. (They have online tutorials, but it's nice to have a local/offline doc.)

iMovie 09 Hangs at Startup with Single-User Perian Codec Install: (from Feb 11th news page)

" ok, since you made me investigate this and to make sure I'm not crazy... (3 other iMovie 09/Perian 1.1.3 users noted no problems in reply to Garth's post on Monday)
Perian gives you two choices for installation, all users or just me (the logged in user).
When installed for 'just me' (~/Library/Quicktime/Perian.component) - iMovie hangs, when installed for all users (/Library/Quicktime/Perian.component) iMovie is fine.
Easy to replicate
1) Shut down all apps
2) Open two finder windows - one for ~/Library/Quicktime (user home folder), one for /Library/Quicktime
3) Open iMovie with perian in either place (not both) to see differences.
Guess I'll have to go file a bug now.
-Garth"

I wrote the users that had reported no problems with iMovie 09/Perian, two replies so far said they had a multiuser/system-wide install. (BTW - This really seems like an iMovie 09 issue (not Perian). Perian's reply (trac.perian.org/ticket/396) says users should report it to Apple.)

More iMovie 09 on G4 Mac Feedback: (ref: earlier posts on patch, etc. for G4 Mac use)

(added 2/9/2009)
"I was able to get iMovie 09 installed and running on my PowerMac (MDD) Dual G4 1.42GHz, 2GB ram. On installation; I was finally able to install after a long process of trial an error, ended up going back to the original mod of changing one false to a true.

On Running (patched) iMovie on my MDD Dual G4:
It seems to start up fine, skimming works as before. Was able to import DV clips and iMovie HD projects. On my one minute, 3 segment test clip (16, 22, 32 seconds), I was able to try several things. The clip trimmer was helpful for setting where I wanted to start the music and there was only a slight delay in skimming. Dragging the yellow handle produced a noticeable where the handle would catch up to the pointer as you stopped. But it worked. Project properties offered 5 themes which were applied in seconds but in my case it only added Titles at the beginning and end, no transitions were added between the clips - maybe they need to be longer.

The share to Mobile Me had the same reaction others (w/patched iMovie on G4's) experience: said I wasn't signed in when I was. I could not upload the project. I was able to upload with the original iMovie 7 so something has changed. Perhaps they have added another check somewhere so if you are using substandard hardware, it gives you the "sign in" error.

One problem that came up when I would choose to import. Once when scrolling down the window it came to a point where it stopped scrolling down and the spinning beach ball went on for a while (about 5 miniutes). Finally all went back to normal. Then a second time I resized the window and once again it all came to a halt. After it finally redrew, it was still hung showing only part of the files in the folder. When this happens, this message appears in console:/usr/sbin/spindump[6575]: process 5577 is being monitored. After several minutes all is fine again, but when I click beneath the blue bar on the right, it hangs again for about 30 seconds. Then I can select what I want to import. After the reinstall below it now does not hang.

I did have a hang when trying to import a Final Cut Pro movie which I found out later was missing a file needed for viewing in FCP. iMovie hung and would not recover. I did a force quit. On restart of the app, the spinning gear is present. It never stopped after an hour I decided to delete programs, receipts, preferences then reinstall. Once reinstalled it appears to be working fine.
-Jim"

GarageBand Update: (Feb 4, 2009) Available now via Software Update or (I prefer) the GarageBand 5.0.1 download page.)

"This update improves overall stability and addresses specific issues with downloading lessons from the Learn to Play Lesson Store. It is recommended for all GarageBand '09 users"

Matthew had told me he had some problems at times downloading lessons last week, although on Monday I had no problems downloading the 16 additional (free) basic lessons (2 thru 9 for Guitar and Piano). I assumed his problems were due to very high early demand on Apple's d/l servers at that time.
BTW: for those using the PPC Mac workaround for GB 09 lessons here, this update does not affect that. (Some wanted to know before they applied any GB updates.) Here's a mail from Joachim (who sent the workaround originally):

"Just downloaded the 5.0.1 update and ran GarageBand... All of the workarounds for Learn to Play (on PPC Macs) still work. I just ran the Guitar Lesson 1 and it worked just as well as before the update.
-Joachim B."

iMovie 09 Feedback:

(2/2/2009)
"iMovie 09 is REALLY great. A couple of things I noticed that are fixed, and now makes iDVD 7.0.3 look better. Setting chapters in iMovie is back and it's quite easy. Drag and drop. Very accurate. Also, when you send the work to iDVD, the processing is faster and what it sends is a dvd-format ready file, as we know, but now when I check the files for errors, there are none. I always got those before. It also by default sets the "auto start" feature. No dragging the asset to that window.

The GUI is also so much better. Intuitively, just click on the feature (transition, clip, audio, etc) and a dialog will pop up that's easy to understand. I'm getting to love this program a lot.
-Bob"

The new editing features in iMovie 09 (demo'd during the MWSF Keynote) was one of the main reasons I wanted to buy iLife 09.)

Workaround for GarageBand Learning Lessons on PPC Macs: Joachim sent a follow-up that he's found a way to play the GB 09 "learning" lessions on his PPC Mac (PowerBook G4):

(Feb 1, 2009)
"I've got the "Learn to Play" feature in GarageBand to work on my PowerBook G4. (There is a message in the learn to play section saying that it requires a dual-core Intel processor.) I did it by manually opening the lesson files located in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Learn to Play/Basic Lessons/
I did not have to make any modifications to GarageBand. They work perfectly as long as I have all of my Applications closed. More RAM should help, I have 1.25GB now (ordered a 1 GB stick yesterday from OWC).

However, downloading new lessons presents a challenge. I found the web address: http://store.apple.com/us/lessons/home where the GarageBand store is located. I downloaded a free lesson after finding the web address for the lesson via the Web Inspector. The lessons download in a Installer package. The package will not install, but you can get the lesson by extracting the Payload file using the Flat Package Editor. (Right click, "show package contents") Also I found hints at a Mac App Store. I found the following user agent in the GarageBand executable: os=%@AppStore/1.0 (Macintosh; U; %@ %@; %@) %@PPC Mac OS XuserAgentString = %@
-Joachim B."

Patch/Edit for iMovie 09 on G4 Macs: (Revised again for latest iMovie updates)
(Note/FYI: Patched iMovie/G4 users have reported problems "exporting to MobileMe" from iMovie with both patched iMovie 08 and 09 versions. I don't know if that's changed with any of the later updates.)

(added Jan 31, 2009 - later revised w/iMovie update offsets)
"I managed to patch iMovie 09 to work on my G4.
It's a bit slow on start up but seems working well (I didn't tested with a real project yet)

Here the position where new values must be replaced.
(Some freeware hex editors I remember are 0xED (www.suavetech.com/0xed/0xed.html) and Hexedit (sourceforge.net/projects/hexedit/). As with iMovie 08 patching you edit the iMovie file inside the imovie app/package - right click on iMovie app, "show package contents", the iMovie executable file to edit is inside "Contents/MacOS" folder/directory. Some also make a backup (duplicate) of the original file just in case you make a mistake. Updated info for offsets in later iMovie updates. (thanks to "RunAway"))

For iMovie 8.0.6:
Position: New value
• 16c568: 4E 80 00 20
• 16c348: 4E 80 00 20
• 16c268: 4E 80 00 20
  
  For iMovie 8.0.5:
  Position: New value
• 16c584: 4E 80 00 20
• 16c364: 4E 80 00 20
• 16c284: 4E 80 00 20
  
  For iMovie 8.0.4:
  Position: New value
• 16bd38: 4E 80 00 20
• 16bb18: 4E 80 00 20
• 16ba38: 4E 80 00 20
  
  For iMovie 8.0.3:
  Position: New value
• 16bf0c: 4E 80 00 20
• 16bcec: 4E 80 00 20
• 16bc0c: 4E 80 00 20
  
  For iMovie 8.0.2:
  Position: New value
• 162f84: 4E 80 00 20
• 162e00: 4E 80 00 20
• 162d20: 4E 80 00 20
  
  For iMovie 8.0.1:
  Position: New value
• 162ff4: 4E 80 00 20
• 162e70: 4E 80 00 20
• 162d90: 4E 80 00 20
  
  For iMovie 8.0.0 (original version)
  Position: New value
• 15fb9c: 4E 80 00 20
• 15fc7c: 4E 80 00 20
• 15fe00: 4E 80 00 20

(for the record I asked what G4 Mac he had)
I've the last model of iBook G4 12" w/768MB RAM. (last iBook G4 12in (mid-2005) IIRC was 1.33GHz 7447A (no L3) w/ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 w/32MB vram)). Have not yet tested all the functions. All that I can say is it's a bit slow starting (but I have a slow HD too). I think that all features will work on g4 because of the official support of g5, just more slowly...
(I asked about GarageBand 09 Learning feature. (Update - see later post above for PPC workarounds))
I can speak only about iMovie because it's the only component of iLife 09 I've installed and I'm interested in.

(I asked if he used Pacifist to install apps from the Disc installer pkg (bypassing the normal installer's system check) or just edited the script.))
No, ironically in this case using pacifist takes more time than editing iMovie.dist (inside iMovie.pkg) to make the function installationCheck() always returning true ;)
-"RunAway""

Similar installer check edits were used for OS installs also. (Although now there's a "helper" utility for Leopard installs on 'unsupported' (lower speed, etc.) Macs.) And that reminds me of old articles here on edits to Install Final Cut Pro (FCP 4.5/HD) on PCI/Pre-G4 Macs (from 2004) and an even older article from 2001 on edits for Final Cut Pro 3 Realtime Effects Perf. Tweaks on lesser CPUs.

Complaints/Tips on "Unknown Faces" in iPhoto:

"Can you post this question for others to see.
I've been using iPhoto for the last few days tagging faces. Every once in awhile, a face will pop up as "Jen could be in this set", but it's really, say, Bob. (while you had "Bob's" photo there - was there any way to ID it as "Bob" at that time? (Answer - No. See reply below)) I reject that photo for Jen, but then it goes into "Unknown Face" la-la-land.
Is there any way to get an array of photos with "Unknown Face" in them?!?!? Otherwise you have to hunt and peck in order to find that particular photo again - how frustrating!

Otherwise I'll agree with other folks - it's a really cool feature!
(I don't have my iLife 09 copy yet but asked if he searched the app's Help info)
It's not in the user/help guide, and it appears it's one of those "oops, we didn't think of that" features that Apple forgot - it's all over their forums.
(reply to question if he could have tagged "bob" during the original "Jen" training)
Not really. Here's what I found out:
You tag a face. Then you go to that faces page, and you get that picture, and it will suggest others. You then can select any picture and tag the faces individually, or hit "confirm name" - in that page, you can only confirm or reject, you can't re-name or "throw it back". Once it's rejected, it's gone into "unknown face" land forever.
-Dan R.
(The former HP Mac Guy :-)"

If anyone has a suggestion/tip - let me know.
Replies:

" If you're in the faces area viewing all faces for a given person, and you see a list of "potential matches" below, but you notice one of them belongs to someone else, just skip hitting the "Confirm Name" button. Double click the face and the entire photo will be displayed. THEN hit the name button and set the face to the appropriate person. Click done and then click on the photo once to return to the list of matches. Magically, the incorrect match is now gone and you can continue with the rest.
-Tim D."

I also wrote "Ben" (that sent the Face Detection Training Tips and he sent some suggestions:

"In order to get a set of photos that have all unknown faces in them, create a smart album and set the NAME field with the logic "does not contain" and leave the field for criteria empty. This will capture the photos that have no named persons. This is not ideal as you maybe looking for a photo with only ONE unnamed face and any number of named faces. But it is something, helps you get large number of unknown faces to name.

The other thing you can do is when you get the suggested photos from the face you are training and the photo suggested is for someone else you want to name. Cancel the Confirm Name (Do not click DONE). Select the photo that you want to name, somewhere in the suggested area. Unfortunately, there is no way I can tell you can actually preselect the photo. Flag the photo. Select flagged photos on the left side drop down list. Select photo you want to name. Select Name. Name the face.

Both of these methods are cumbersome or incomplete, but it may help...
-Ben"

Every iPhoto 09 user should send Apple a feature request on this (via iPhoto menu's item to send Feedback). Hopefully a future update will address this.

Notes from PB G4/1.33GHz user on iMovie 09 (patched): Here's a mail from yesterday (w/later reply added) from the PB G4 owner also running iMovie 09. (Includes note about GarageBand 09 learn feature.)

(from Jan 30 mails)
"I just got iMovie '09 running on my PowerBook G4 1.33GHz w/1.25GB RAM running 10.5.6.

(I asked about performance, any features that didn't work, etc.)
I used iMovie '09 more extensively last night. All of the features work like they should, including stabilization, maps, precision editor and the new themes. I imported video from my Canon ZR930 MiniDV camcorder successfully via FireWire. CPU usage when using iMovie '09 was around 50 to 90 percent, however memory usage was very low. (how large was the movie/imported file?) Although it ran a little bit sluggish at times, performance was still very good. I personally thought it ran a little bit faster than iMovie '08 did.
There were no problems that I am aware of when I used it for about an hour.

(I also asked if he'd check to see if GarageBand 09's "learning" feature really required an Intel CPU)
As for GarageBand 09, there is a message in the learn to play section saying that it requires a dual-core Intel processor. I will see what I can do tomorrow.
BTW, I am running it on a 15 inch PowerBook G4 (1.33GHz)
(I asked if he had problems Exporting to MobileMe from patched iMovie, as some have reported)
I cannot publish to MobileMe also. I am looking into the iMovie code to find out what is preventing it from publishing.
-Joachim B."

Update: See Joachim's later post above regarding workarounds for Learn to Play lessons (apparently that's just another "check" done by the software.

iPhoto Face Detection Training Tips:

(Jan 30, 2009)
" I want to give a few tips to make iLife 09 (iPhoto) face detection training a bit easier.

1. Use the OPTION key to change the status of the click to toggle reject/accept when confirming Names after face detection.

2. Use the mouse to draw a box around photos so that you can select numerous photos at a time when confirming names.

3. Depending on whether you have to reject a lot or accept a lot of matches, use the option key and drawing a box to set the status of the majority of photos and then point and click to reverse the status of the minority.

4. Use the smallest icons possible so you can drag select as many as possible.

5. Train only just matches the first couple of times you begin training a face to improve detection (don't bother rejecting faces), and leave the remaining as unchecked status. After a few rounds, the best matches will appear at the top of the suggested named list. It then becomes easier to use the bulk selection method I suggest as more photos will be grouped together.

6. You need at least 10 or so photos to get good face matching. It seems from what I can tell that the algorithm they use develops multiple archetypes of faces for a given person. So that you can get good matching throughout a persons fat years, child years, old years, etc... Do not expect to get good matching if all the photos of the face you are training are young, but you want to start detecting the "older" you. Get a few "old" photos and the algorithm will then train that archetype and include them in matching.

I think the face detection and matching is definitely worth while, especially when using smart folders and the NAME field to find photos of the people you want in a group photo (and want to exclude as well).

Good luck and have fun! I think it is an incredibly useful tool in iphoto and worth the upgrade price. I have 14,000 photos in my library and it has been so much fun rediscovering old photos.
-Ben"

FYI: Apple had posted some Face related docs including iPhoto '09: Improving face recognition results and iPhoto '09: Faces not detecting all images of a person in your library? (Apple articles no longer online.)

(Jan 29, 2009 - updated Jan 30)
"iLife 9 - Somewhat of a letdown
1. iPhoto - No more large view in the iPhoto window. You have to view Full Screen. Granted, it's nice, but not how I want to preview. Won't let you put "Show in Full Screen" in the tool bar to compensate for the lack of a large preview.
(a reply from another iLife 09 user)

"...It is true you cannot fully magnify a photo with the slider anymore, but you don't have to go to full screen to preview. Just hit the spacebar when selecting a photo! (that also works in previous iPhoto version.)
-Ben"

(Bob's repy to Ben's tip) Very good. Thanks. And you can arrow through once in this view. Not as nice as being able to scroll, but...

You have to keep redoing and redoing Face Recognition. I have 10,000 photos. Pretty cumbersome. If it just had the "not a match" button, that would be fine, and let the software presume the rest were "a match". Lots of clicking. (see Bob's tips above)
Nothing new in "Calendar" maker.

2 iDVD - Not updated on the DVD. This needed some improvement too.
(he later wrote)
iMovie 09 is a big jump from 08. Lots more features and much better GUI. Scrolling through a lot of video in the source window is still slow to redraw (some times doesn't), but scrolling up and down fixes that. This may be the update that finally makes me dump iMovie HD 6.0.3.

(later comments sent on Faces)
If you do it like 7-8 times on each face, it gets accurate. Then, and here's the issue, you will need to go back and look through "approved" photos for mistakes. there will be only a few, but they are harder to find within 2-300 photos (I have 10,500 photos).
BTW, the Face Training tips the guy offered made the feature useable. Big thanks to him.
-Bob"

Although there was no major update to iDVD, Apple released an iDVD 7.0.3 update (and iLife Media Browser 2.0 update) on Jan 26, 2009.

(Jan 29, 2009)
" So far, so good with iLife 09, although I have only used iPhoto so far. My copy, which I bought at the Apple Store Tuesday night, is a Family Pack and has iDVD 7.0.3 on it. It also shows the iLife Media Browser Update which I had already installed.
My initial run with face detection was relatively short, but I don't have too many photos in iPhoto. The one face I tried worked quite well. I keep my photos in a separate folder and use Photoshop or Elements to work on them.
My wife uses iPhoto a lot, especially for albums, and has quite a number of photos in her library. After I guinea pig it, I will install it on her iMac G5. I'll get a better read then and let you know.
-Ken"

Matthew said he received his iLife 09 copy and that it checked for updates (like the Media browser). He also commented on other things like his Macbook taking a long time converting/doing face detection with his large photo lib. (Not very accurate for his photos IIRC, but he didn't write in so I can't remember/post all his comments.) He was interested (as am I) in the new Garageband (instrument teaching) and iMovie editing features.

iLife 09 related Apple How-To/Troubleshooting Docs: (OLD Links, many may no longer be online)

(list updated Oct 13, 2009)
• iMovie '09: About the iFrame Video format
• iMovie '09: Camcorder Support (updated for iMovie 8.0.5)
• GarageBand '09: Guitar input may not appear on PowerPC-based computers (old doc updated to note GarageBand 5.1 update should address this)
• iLife '09: Music and Photos may not be accessible from your Media Browser
• iMovie '09: Motion JPEG clips cannot be imported from some hybrid cameras
• About iPhoto 8.0.3 (details on fixes)
• iPhoto '09: Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• iMovie '09: Motion JPEG clips cannot be imported from some hybrid cameras
• iMovie '09: Footage recorded in Digital Cinema Mode may cause jittery playback
• iMovie '09: Unusable iMovie projects may cause iMovie '09 to unexpectedly quit (Apple)
• iMovie '09, iMovie '08: Video issues with Panasonic camera models DMC-ZS3, DMC-FT1, and DMC-TZ7
• GarageBand '09: No sound from guitar when playing lessons
• iLife '09 and '08: Reinstall iLife after Archive and Install or Migration Assistant
• iPhoto: How do I change the theme or type of my book, card, or calendar?
• iPhoto 6 and later: Rebuilding the iPhoto library (revised again)
• iMovie '09: Properly ejecting a Sony Webbie HD camcorder
• iMovie '09: Sony Webbie footage stutters during import preview
• iPhoto '09: Improving face recognition results
• iMovie '09: Developer version of Safari 4.0 may cause unexpected quit
• Using iMovie with NetBoot or a network user account
• iPhoto '09: Faces not detecting all images of a person in your library?
• iPhoto '09: Editing photos in iPhoto will not refresh image in free Flickr gallery
• iPhoto '09: Missing slideshow themes (number available depends on your CPU/vram)
• iPhoto '09: Managing image location accuracy
• iPhoto '09: Updating to iPhoto '09 may disable some third-party plug-ins
• iPhoto '09: Publishing edited photo does not refresh image on Flickr
• iMovie '09: Stabilization limitations with CMOS-based camcorders
• iMovie '09: Canon 5D Mark II may cause iMovie to unexpectedly quit
• iMovie '08 and '09: Cannot see or control camera
• GarageBand '09: Templates missing after Logic Studio installation