Apple iLife '08

Pros: A full suite of apps for making movies, DVDs and songs

Cons: Most of the best features require a $99/year .Mac account

Summary: iLife '08 is a great suite of apps for anyone who purchase a new Mac (it comes pre-installed). However, for those considering paying the price just to upgrade, I would advise against it. Here's why:

iWeb - Google Maps integration is wonderful. It'd be a great way to coordinate directions to a party or wedding reception. The ability to have personal domain names are a great addition. Unfortunately, you will need a .Mac account (which costs you $99 per year) to take advantage of the feature. THe upgrade allows instant theme switching, which is great, but should've been in the first version of iWeb.

iDVD - This pretty much remains the same. No complaints, as it has been a good app for quite a while and remains to be.

Garageband- This one is neat. Magic Garageban (which shows you the instruments on a "stage") and multi-take recordings are great!

iPhoto - A nice set of feature that allow skimming a collection - very cool! .Mac Web Galleries are also very cool... however, again, it doesn't do you any good unless you pay $99 per year for a .Mac account. Events is a nice bit of organization and the ability to download select photos from your camera is well over-due and very welcome.

iMovie - Whoa! Probably my once-favorite app is now definitely the worst. The videos are organized into Events (like iPhoto) and that is great. It's also great that iMovie is now the central location for all the movies on your computer as it is a nice organization app. However, editing movies just plain suck: No more timeline view; no more multiple audio tracks; fewer effects and transitions than iMovie '06. It's a completely new app... and that is NOT a good thing. I understand that iMovie is supposed to be basic, but that shouldn't mean functionless.

Overall, I'd definitely wait for iLife '09 or until I buy a new Mac before I upgrade. There just aren't enough GREAT features to justify shelling out $80. Plus, the ones that are GREAT require another $99/year fee to use them. No thanks.