iLife for Windows

I haven't been posting much to iLife for Windows recently, and I apologize for that.  Part of this comes from the fact that I've been playing around with Sony's Imagination Studio Suite 2 since the summer and I have to say I really like using this software.  It provides a lot of the content creation benefits of iLife, although not all, without having to purchase a Mac.

One of the first things that stood out for me when using iMovie vs. Sony's Vegas Movie Studio (part of the Imagination Suite) is that iMovie is pretty simple to use, and is similarly limited in its editing abilities.  And Vegas Movie Studio doesn't quite have all of the extraneous title and other video prettiers that iMovie has. That said, I don't actually miss it when I'm using Vegas.  Sometimes it feels like these are included to pimp up what might not be as solid content.  With Vegas Movie Studio, you get straight into the editing interface, which is different from iMovie.  It's not quite a fair comparison between these two programs, Vegas Movie Studio has more to compare with Final Cut Express than with iMovie, and it shows when editing your workflow.

That's just my quick take, I like both packages, but Vegas Movie Studio does have a little more of a "grown up" feel to it.

Snoochie Boochies!

Benson

I've been playing around with bits and pieces of Sony Software's new Imagination Studio Suite 2 for a little while now, and from what I've seen so far I like it. Sony Vegas Movie Studio 10 appears to be an upgrade from 9, not just from the user experience (which I like as it's a little darker gray) but also because Sony Software's Facebook page is starting to host how-to videos for the different software packages. It's a nice touch.

For those of you who purchased the original Imagination Studio Suite and couldn't get the Cinescore plugin to work, I haven't heard back from Sony about that issue - I'll try to call them again and see what's up.

In the meantime, Sony Software has decided to just release various music clips that you can add directly to your video or audio piece instead of using Cinescore.  A lot of the songs (if not all of them) appear to be from the Cinescore theme packs, and each of the song packages (there are about 15 or so) have a variety of different clips to work from (from 15 to 180 seconds, usually 4-5 variations of each song) so in the end Sony claims you have 360 pieces of music to work from - technically true although I would beg to differ a little bit with them.

That said, so far I am impressed with the new Imagination Studio Suite 2's video package. I'll let you know if there are any changes in the audio packages soon.

Benson

Well, Sony Creative Software recently released their new Imagination Studio Suite 2, as well as Sony Vegas Studio, Sound Forge Audio Studio and ACID Studio updates.  I'm downloading the trials now and hope to have an updated review in the next few weeks.  If they are anything like the first Imagination Studio, I expect these reviews to be very positive!  But if you can't wait for the review (but really, why wouldn't you want to wait for my review ;) ) then if you check out Sony Software's Facebook page, they have discount codes for each of the above programs through the end of the month! Saving $50 on Imagination Studio Suite 2 would drop the price to under $135!

More soon!

Benson