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Never been more disappointed

To new customers of iMovie '08 I want to make it clear. It is a disappointment. The program is polished and intuitive. However, it is the FIRST time that I have experienced a LOSS of features. The removal of the video editing features is appalling.

Also forcing all of the application windows into one screen reduces your viewing / editing ability markedly.

What really annoys me, however, as a longtime Apple Evangelist is the obvious change in their attitude to us as customers. Dumbing down a much loved application in order to to force an upgrade to Final Cut. I would have preferred a more honest approach.

Yours with sadness

Dual G5, Mac OS X (10.4.10), Multi-Mac and Web user

Posted on Aug 16, 2007 8:07 PM

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32 replies

Sep 11, 2007 2:57 PM in response to David Wardell

Remember, iMovie 08 is NOT an upgrade of iMovie 06. It is a completely new application. I use both iMovie 08 and 06 depending on what I'm trying to do, each has its strengths.

iMovie 08 is a wonderful program assuming that you're using it for what it was designed to do, assemble simple videos to share on the Internet.

I use iMovie 06 (with iDVD 08) if I think I will ever put the movie on a DVD.

Sep 11, 2007 3:24 PM in response to Ziatron

I'd planned on explaining why, but after typing for a few minutes and realising I was on the brink of a very long post, I deleted that which had been written in favour of the following statement on this matter.

iMovie 08 will grow on most (but not all) of you that are expressing this dissapointment.

(if it were possible that your libraries of themes, titles, transitions and effects could be magically imported into im08, would you not see im08 in a different light)
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Sep 11, 2007 7:54 PM in response to DRPJQ

i love imovie 08 vs 06. its far easier to use, has much better import export control and is the most intuitive video program i have used. i can make family movies in a half an hour with editing and special effects and publish them to web gallary and itunes. there has to be a tool to get 99% of the population to be able to actually use their computer for video creation and there are tools like final cut for the other 1% of power users. to complain about spending 80 dollars for all of the apps is just not reasonable. we use garage band, the new iphoto has much more capability and its all integrated.

Sep 12, 2007 10:18 AM in response to Winston Churchill

iMovie 08 will grow on most


I don't see how this can happen, most users I know have gone back to iMovie 06. I use both iMovie 06 and iMovie 08. The more I use iMovie 08, the more I discover that iMovie 06 is vastly superior for most jobs I do.


(if it were possible that your libraries of themes, titles, transitions and effects could be magically imported into im08, would you not see im08 in a different light)


Well sure. Add, a Timeline, Chapter Markers for a DVD, Share to iDVD, plug-in support, Save Frame, audio on import, editing to the exact frame and it would be a joy to learn a completely new application. (and yes I know iMovie 08 can do some of the above but with much more difficulty than iMovie 06.)

It seems to me that it would be a whole lot easier to add some of the good features of iMovie 08 to iMovie 06 than the other way around.

Fortunately Apple lets us use both versions, and the choice of which program to use is usually a simple one.

If I want to make a DVD of my movie I use iMovie 06. For sharing on the Internet I use iMovie 08. Of course the difficulty here is that I have to learn 2 programs.

Some of my Windows friends use Pinnacle Studio, it's like iMovie 06, iMovie 08 and iDVD 08 in one simple application. (Bootcamp anyone.)

I'm confident that we are just going over a bump in the road and in the near future the fans of iMovie 06 and iMovie 08 will be using the same program.

Sep 12, 2007 11:00 AM in response to Ziatron

Some of my Windows friends use Pinnacle Studio, it's like iMovie 06, iMovie 08 and iDVD 08 in one simple application. (Bootcamp anyone.)


yepp, that is iM on steroids.. 😉

the main difference between Windows and Mac is:
Windows is options.
Mac is simplicity.

Options is great.. and a great opportunity to get lost (my father-in-law uses it.. 'dancing titles' is all I have to say...)
Simplicity is great ... but to the price of limitations.

speculation is not allowed on this board, but I mostly doubt, that iM will 'develop' into direction of options.. it needs very few features (iM08 invented by a scuba diver.. no wonder, why it lacks audio 🙂 ) ... and the new 'skimming' offers a never-seen-before User Experience, I would wish as an feature for FCE4 ..

if you want 'all options', use Final Cut in its both flavors...

Sep 12, 2007 4:06 PM in response to DRPJQ

More than one commentator has made the following point dismissing the original poster's disappointment with iMovie '08: "it is a completely new application." In each case the person making that point has said it as if it were blindingly obvious to everyone that it is a new application with very different features and therefore anyone disappointed that iMovie '08 is not a successor product to iMovie '06 is the real problem, not the product (or, more accurately, the product name) itself.

Dismissing discontent by using the "it is a new application" mantra, however, completely ignores the detail about the "iMovie '08" product name. Since it is common practice across the computer industry to roll out new software products that feature updated feature sets that build on and expand the features of the prior software (as opposed to removing key features of prior software) with numerically increasing numbers (e.g., v.1, v.2., etc.), any rational consumer should be able to rely on Apple, in going from iMovie '06 to '08 to follow the same practice, particularly since Apple has done so before and did so with other pieces of its release of iLife here (see, e.g., iPhoto).

If Apple wanted to present an entirely new product it could have (a) renamed it (signaling that it was a different product); or (b) clearly described the features that were no longer included. Apple chose instead to keep the naming convention while changing key features of the product, so the fault for any misunderstandings is Apple's, not the consumer's.

Underlying the dismissal is also an assumption that everyone should follow news about Apple product releases closely enough to know that the new iLife's feature set has been reduced in the newest release. Again, not a rational assumption. Consumers should be able to rely on the brand, the promotional materials, as well as the custom and practice in the industry, and should not be forced to resort to search Apple's support bulletin boards to learn that key features of an existing product have been removed in the newest release. Since Apple used the brand, failed to follow industry custom & practice and failed to educate their customers (particularly their existing iMovie '06 customer base), the fault lies with Apple.

Sep 12, 2007 10:48 PM in response to Richard Roberts2

Since Apple used the brand, failed to follow industry custom & practice and failed to educate their customers (particularly their existing iMovie '06 customer base), the fault lies with Apple.


well written, but not really new news.. (this kind of 'discussion' is going on for weeks.. )

a) lots of commentators mentioned the automobile industry.. a '63 Stingray is quite different to the actual one 😉
b) ... Apple 'adds' iMHD6 to iM08 .. it is no 'all or nothing', ...

as an ex-marketing guy, I would have like to see a new name (iVideo?) for a new app too .. on the other hand, 'brands' are so worthy ... iMovie stands for easy beginner video editing. can you try it (you tell us no Profile, wether your Mac supports iM08)? it is a sensational User Experience.. with room for improvement 😉

Sep 13, 2007 5:59 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

as an ex-marketing guy, I would have like to see a new name (iVideo?) for a new app too .. on the other hand, 'brands' are so worthy ... iMovie stands for easy beginner video editing. can you try it (you tell us no Profile, wether your Mac supports iM08)? it is a sensational User Experience.. with room for improvement 😉



I agree.

I'm really disappointed in '08. I work with high school students and iMovie '06 was a great stepping stone to working in Final Cut. There was some transfer of skills. It seems like '08 is too "dumbed down" and the loss of features is disappointing, to say the least. I'm sure that there will be updates, but I won't be installing '08 at this point. There's just no advantage for my students.

Never been more disappointed

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