Getting Started

Welcome to the official Apple training course for the iLife '05 suite of productsiTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand. You don't need to have any special background to get started, other than having a Mac (and perhaps a healthy curiosity about what you can really do with it). Learning iLife really means learning to live digitally; you're not so much learning to use new software as learning how to comfortably integrate your Mac into the niches in your home, school, and work. The iLife tools are only part of the pictureand this book is not so much a training manual as it is a way to show you how to enrich your world by weaving digital audio, photos, and videos into many aspects of your life.

Even if you're a longtime Mac user, delving into these interesting and fun applications may be something you've put off, having chosen instead to focus on other, perhaps higher-level software tools. It's time to take a look at these (deep breath) life-altering products. Instead of teaching you all the geeky details of these hip tools, I'm going to concentrate on how real people really use them. I may even skip entire areas of functionality, all with an eye to having fun, achieving quick success, and forming a foundation of confidence from which you can build.