idvd is not included with my new mac do I have to buy ilife 11?

I doubt very much if Apple will reconsider their decision to drop iDVD. Especially if the post I read in which one user reported he talked with Apple Support higher ups and was told there were patent/copyright or some similar issue that made it not worth continuning is true.

So get one of the iLife 11 boxed versions while they are still available at the online Apple Store.

I am also bitterly disappointed at not having iDVD on my 3-week old MacBook Pro. I have completed the iDVD web feedback form (mentioned here previously), and phoned AppleCare a couple of times without result.

I nicely made the point that I believed my laptop included iDVD as part of iLife, and did not want to pay GBP £44 to get software I already have installed. The very helpful Apple rep asked his supervisor, who said that I got iLife 'free' - I made the point that you pay a considerable amount extra for Mac hardware because it is supposed to come with essential software, unlike certain PCs where you pay extra for the equivalent quality iDVD.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to order a boxed set of iLife 11 just for iDVD.

I am not impressed Apple.

I also think it as a form of thievery on Apple's part. I was trying to burn a disk for the first time, and couldn't since (surprise!) iDVD is not loaded on my 3 month old MacBook Pro. I went to the app store, and bought MPV's Core iDVD '11-101 for $19.99, thinking that it had the iDVD program on it. It doesn't. It is a worthless tutorial for iDVD without the iDVD program. I complained to Apple service people, and they said iDVD was being "phased out". Well, why didn't they say that upfront before I bought the darned thing!!! Now, I also bought the DVD Creator program at their suggestion... it worked once! Now it won't accept any movies (home videos) for burning. What a rip off!!!

I do have iDVD '09 on my iMac at home... it came pre-loaded. Is there any way I can transfer that program to my new MacBook Pro?

You could try inserting the disk from your iMac that contains the iLife application, probably one titled "Applications Install Disk" and see if you can run the Install Bundled Software Only installer on your MacBook pro. The disk should look like the iMac disk in this screenshot:

Click to view full size

Since you don't have to boot into that disk to reinsatll the apps it might work on your new MacBook Pro.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it, but to no avail...When I hit the "Install Bundled Applications" icon, I got a message that said "This package will run a program to determine if the software can be installed." When I hit the "continue" button, I got the following message: "Alert. These applications are either already installed on your computer, or this computer is not compatible with this disc. Make sure you're using the installation discs that came with your computer".

So, the short of it is that this did not solve the problem. I still have no iDVD program on my MacBook Pro. Thanks for trying!

Hopefully you haven't bought iLife '11 yet (although I'd still say it's worth $50 if you want to author DVDs).

You can definitely do it, if you have iLife '09 on your iMac and iLife '11 on your MacBook Pro. You have to copy the iDVD '09 application file and the themes from your iMac to your MacBook.

I tried to do a straight install from the iLife '09 disc and I couldn't get it launch (not compatible with my MacBook or Lion, or both?).

It's mental that you can have a licensed copy of iLife '09 (w/ iDVD) and a licensed copy of iLife '11 (w/o iDVD) and Apple won't doing anything for you. I had the exact same issue.

I am bitterly dissapointed with Apple. After making the decision to upgrade to Lion because of iCloud etc, and to the detriment of lossing some PPC apps, I now find that I cannot use iDVD6 even thought it is a universal app.

I also complained to the UK support centre only to be told that I have to buy the complete DVD iLife '11 package even though I have downloaded iPhoto and iMovie from the app store.

The fact that I have already paid for iLife '09 and should, by rights, be able to continue using it does not seem to compute with Apple.

I have invested quite substantially in this company and now I find myself having to pay more through no choice.

Following my message above, I gave up complaining to Apple and went and got a new sealed copy of iLife '11 from eBay for about GBP £12. It installed perfectly and is now merrily burning DVDs with Lion 10.7.1. I'm still mightily annoyed with Apple though.

Apple support informed whist very helpful that it is Apples overall plan to encourage the diskless society, which I said isn't useful when involved in media / film projects!

I have had an i mac a week however have been involved with a media project with a youth work team I used to manage in Somerset which utilised I Macs

What a pain!

I have had to buy i Live 11 and at the moment use Nero on my Windows 7 PC!

Then, if we are to be diskless, then why keep iMovie and the like?

I use iDVD a lot for projects that can never be diskless!!!!

I agree - am with you !

Just a pain and Apple on this one not really considering the needs of people who utilse apple equipment for media projects

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/what-is.html#home

Burn DVDs superfast.

After using iMovie and iDVD to edit and apply the finishing touches to your home movie, use the 8x SuperDrive on MacBook Pro to burn it to DVD in no time. Since the SuperDrive writes to double-layer discs (DVDs with nearly 9GB of space), it’s great for backing up data, too.

Of course, you can also burn your movie to a DVD. Just choose iDVD from the Share menu. Included with iLife ’11, iDVD lets you create a full-featured DVD, complete with customized menus and buttons. If you’ve added chapter markers to your movie in iMovie, they show up in iDVD, too.

These words are copied from Apple's web site. I purchased a MacBook Pro in September and found out two weeks ago that I did not have iDVD on the computer. I called the phone number and after 3 people and 60 minutes, they argeed to send me a disk of iLife 11 that has iDVD on it. The 1st person was sure I had it, since they looked at the web site and saw it was written there. The 2nd person did not have the authority to help me, but was able to pass my call on to another person. This person, after I told him that the web site said that my purchase would have iDVD, was agreeable to sending me a disk. I got the disk in less than one week. Hang in there on the phone and get what you should get.

Maybe not copyright problems, but possibly licensing issues.

iDVD uses MPEG2 technology which Apple had to license from the MPEG LA - and that license requires royalty payments, probably for each copy of iDVD. This is also why the Apple QuickTime MPEG2 Component is sold rather than distributed free.

So, when Apple discontinued iDVD it also brought to an end their development expense & royalty expense for the product.

In a market that is clearly moving to online delivery rather than physical DVDs it's not hard to understand why Apple made the choice to EOL iDVD and DVD Studio Pro.

Here's a short video from CultOfMac about how to transfer iDVD '11 (actually iDVD v7.x) from another Mac that you own to your new Mac with Lion: Restore Missing OS X Features. Same basic purpose as Migration Assistant, although manual transfer in this case.

I just did this to migrate from my old Mac (Snow Leopard) to my new iMac (Lion). Note: after transferring the app & templates folder, I also downloaded & installed the iDVD 7.1.2 update. This is required if you are running iDVD on Lion. Install the update before running iDVD for the first time.