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See a sample reprint in PDF formatOrder a reprint of this article nowGadget of the Week | SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2010 Portrait of an Artist By TIERNAN RAY | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Apple's latest release of iLife, a software suite for photos, movies and music, offers upgrades for presenting and producing your photos, video and music. ArticleComments + text size -

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When I got back from my vacation in St. Martin, I wasn't just another guy with a good tan. I was well on my way to becoming a coffee-table-book author.

Thanks to the latest release of iLife, Apple's collection of software for photos, movies and music, I was able to quickly turn my snaps from the trip into a handsome coffee-table book. The iPhoto software helps you flow a bunch of photos into an attractive layout. Pick some page colors, write some text and then press a button; off she goes to Apple's servers. Within days, you receive in the mail a hardback book that anyone would be proud to display in a living room. For sure, my coffee table will never look the same.

View Full Image

iLife '11

Price: $49
Features: Makes it a breeze to polish and present photos, movies and music.
Website: www.apple.com

That's not iLife's only trick. With iMovie, Apple provides templates, assembled as genres—action/adventure, film noire, etc. Simply click video clips you've already got on your computer and they'll appear as a sequence in your chosen genre. Apple automatically adds credits and titles, and original movie scores recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra; they sound just as good as Double Indemnity or Vertigo. It shaves hours off the process of making a home movie, while vastly improving the results.

The third program that gets an upgrade is GarageBand, the home studio application. Among other things, it now makes sure the recording tracks of each band member sync up with the performer with the best rhythm (or any rhythm, for that matter).

Of course, there's nothing in iLife to bail you out if a spouse or a band mate complains about all the time you spend with the program. But at least you'll have something to show for your trouble—a book, a movie or a sweet little song.

E-mail: tiernan.ray@barrons.com

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