iLife gripe

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Slipface - 31 Dec 2004 05:22 GMT

So I just received iLife '04. The installation instruction card says
that GarageBand requires a 600 MHz G3 or higher and iDVD requires a
G4/733 or higher. No sweat, I have a G4/733.

But it also requires a DVD drive to install them?!? How many G3/600
era computers came with DVD drives? My G4 didn't, and I don't recall
any G3s with DVD.

On top of all that, I already have a more recent version of iTunes than
came in iLife, so that means I can't make use of 3/5 of the apps that I
just bought.

I love Apple, but this is lame. I don't suppose there's an
unpublicized way to order Garage Band and iDVD on CD-ROM for folks like
me, is there?

thanks,
_dennis

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Reginald Dwight - 31 Dec 2004 07:56 GMT

> So I just received iLife '04. The installation instruction card says
> that GarageBand requires a 600 MHz G3 or higher and iDVD requires a
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> era computers came with DVD drives? My G4 didn't, and I don't recall
> any G3s with DVD.

My iBook is a G3 and has a DVD drive.

> On top of all that, I already have a more recent version of iTunes than
> came in iLife, so that means I can't make use of 3/5 of the apps that I
> just bought.

That'll teach you to read the box. iTunes is a free download anyway - if
you bought iLife for that app you need a checkup. There are FOUR apps
that you pay for technically speaking and it clearly tells you that you
need the DVD drive. The apps are huge and it would be very impractical
to use CDs.

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MMM - 31 Dec 2004 08:19 GMT

> I love Apple, but this is lame. I don't suppose there's an
> unpublicized way to order Garage Band and iDVD on CD-ROM for folks like
> me, is there?

These apps are just way too big for a CD.

iDVD is more than 1GB big and only makes real sense when you have a
Superdrive. Otherwise you can't burn the DVD to disk.

GarageBand is about 2GB big. Think about the number of CDs necessary...
BTW: JamPacks are also DVD-only.

Markus

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Wayne C. Morris - 31 Dec 2004 08:32 GMT

> So I just received iLife '04. The installation instruction card says
> that GarageBand requires a 600 MHz G3 or higher and iDVD requires a
> G4/733 or higher. No sweat, I have a G4/733.
>
> But it also requires a DVD drive to install them?!?

Yep, that's right. It also says so on the side of the box, and on the
iLife '04 web page. Obviously you forgot to check the system requirements
before you spent the money. (Or before you put it on your Xmas list, if it
was a gift.)

> How many G3/600 era computers came with DVD drives? My G4 didn't, and I
> don't recall any G3s with DVD.

The B&W G3 could be purchased with a DVD drive. So could the G3 iBooks.
Those are just two examples.

Besides, the system requirements don't say you need a Mac that was *sold*
that way; lots of people upgrade their Macs with faster processors and
better drives. My G4/667 didn't come with a DVD burner, but it has one now.

> On top of all that, I already have a more recent version of iTunes than
> came in iLife, so that means I can't make use of 3/5 of the apps that I
> just bought.

I knew before I bought iLife '04 that I wouldn't be able to use iDVD or
Garage Band until I got a DVD burner. But I felt the improvements in
iPhoto 4 alone were well worth the cost of the package.

> I love Apple, but this is lame. I don't suppose there's an
> unpublicized way to order Garage Band and iDVD on CD-ROM for folks like
> me, is there?

No, you can't get them on CD. The reason they're on DVD is that neither of
them would fit on a CD, even by itself. Besides, iDVD would be pretty
useless without a DVD burner; it'd be like having iTunes without any
speakers or earphones.

If you want to run those apps, you'll just have to buy a DVD burner.
They're not very expensive, under $100 for a brand-new Pioneer internal
DVR-108 or A08. It'll probably also burn CDs a lot faster than the CD
drive you currently have.

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Gregory Weston - 31 Dec 2004 12:51 GMT

I've got one right next to me. An iBook Dual USB 600.

> On top of all that, I already have a more recent version of iTunes than
> came in iLife, so that means I can't make use of 3/5 of the apps that I
> just bought.
>
> I love Apple, but this is lame.

The DVD drive requirement for iDVD and Garage Band is disclosed on the
packaging and every piece of promotional literature from Apple. You do
know that DVD drives can be bought, right?

G

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BreadWithSpam@fractious.net - 31 Dec 2004 13:32 GMT

> > So I just received iLife '04. The installation instruction card says

...

> > But it also requires a DVD drive to install them?!? How many G3/600
> > era computers came with DVD drives? My G4 didn't, and I don't recall
> > any G3s with DVD.
>
> I've got one right next to me. An iBook Dual USB 600.

My dualUSB iBook *500* had a combo drive. Even the older
toilet-seat-cover iBook 466 could read DVDs (and CDs - no
burning).

The thing about the way Apple did iLife that seemed stupid
to me was that even though the package came with two discs -
one DVD and one CD - the former including iDVD and all and
the latter only iPhoto and the smaller stuff - when I put
the CD into that iBook and tried to kick off the install,
the installer noted that it was a DVD compatible drive and
refused to proceed and insisted I use the DVD copy instead,
even though it wasn't going to install anything more from it.

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Anders Eklöf - 31 Dec 2004 13:29 GMT

> So I just received iLife '04. The installation instruction card says
> that GarageBand requires a 600 MHz G3 or higher and iDVD requires a
> G4/733 or higher. No sweat, I have a G4/733.

> But it also requires a DVD drive to install them?!? How many G3/600
> era computers came with DVD drives? My G4 didn't, and I don't recall
> any G3s with DVD.

I have one - a 400 MHz iMac DV from 1999, and GarageBand works just fine
with some limitations. I also have a 450 MHz G4 Cube with DVD-ROM. For
my iBook/500 I decided to have a CD-RW instead - combo drives were too
expensive 4 years ago ..

As others have said, neither iDVD or Garageband would fit on a CD.
Besides - what would you do with iDVD without a DVD burner ?
Maybe prepare a project and move it to another computer ...

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sbt - 31 Dec 2004 14:25 GMT

My G3/400 PowerBook (Pismo) came with a DVD drive. Two machines ago, my
Blue & White G3 tower came with a DVD drive. Notice, it only has to
"play/read" DVDs, not burn them.

> On top of all that, I already have a more recent version of iTunes than
> came in iLife, so that means I can't make use of 3/5 of the apps that I
> just bought.

iTunes is a free download, as noted on most of the promotional
material. It is only included with the four "pay-to-play" apps for
completeness.

> I love Apple, but this is lame. I don't suppose there's an
> unpublicized way to order Garage Band and iDVD on CD-ROM for folks like
> me, is there?

No, they are way too large for a CD, over 3GB for the two of them.

> thanks,

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Slipface - 31 Dec 2004 18:35 GMT

Thanks, gang. Yes, that was my bad for not looking closely enough at
Apple's iLife webpage. In my defense, however, the note about
requiring a DVD drive was in the tiniest print on the page ;-) Makes
sense about the file size not fitting on CD.

I did not buy iLife for iTunes, I was just commenting that, in total, I
purchased more apps than I was able to use. I don't have a DVD drive
but I do plan to edit my digital movies on this computer, and was
hoping to install iDVD on my work computer so I could do whatever
editing I needed to do to create a DVD, then transfer the work files
via CD to my work computer, which *does* have a DVD burner. But I'm
not sure if iDVD would have worked that way. I figured I might have
had to install iDVD on the work computer. Either way, I can move my
iMovie files to my work computer to burn to DVD, but all the editing
will be done on my home machine.

Now to debate whether I should add a DVD drive to this older computer
or just wait until I can afford a new iMac :)

thanks,
_d

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Brian Reynolds - 31 Dec 2004 19:54 GMT

[snip]

>I don't have a DVD drive but I do plan to edit my digital movies on
>this computer, and was hoping to install iDVD on my work computer so
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>computer. Either way, I can move my iMovie files to my work computer
>to burn to DVD, but all the editing will be done on my home machine.

You can use iDVD on a machine without an DVD Burner. I installed it
on my 800MHz iBook G4 (at the time the SuperDrive wasn't an option for
the iBook) and it simply popped up a warning on install that I would
have to move the project files to a machine with a SuperDrive in order
to actually burn the DVD.

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Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / December 2004

iLife gripe