Even though the music is pre-recorded, there is still a lot of room for creativity. Little music ability is required too so don’t be intimidated by the thought of writing a whole song. Just remember to have fun with it.

Here are a few tips on how to create a song.

Garageband at work

Getting Started

Open a new project and click on loops. Input the title of your song and choose where to save it. Before getting into the good part, choose a tempo, signature and key. Most of the loops function at 80, 90, 100, 110 and 120 BPM, so you’ll want to choose one of these tempos depending on how fast you want your song to be. Try the key of C or A major and a time signature of 4/4 as the majority of the library is set at these keys.

Find the Loops That You Like

Now the fun begins. On the right side of the screen, you’ll see different instruments, moods and genres. Browse through the various loops under each category and find which ones you like. You can listen to each one by clicking on them.

To add them to your song, all you have to do is drag them to the left side. This will open a track which will give you volume options. To extend the loop, click on the upper-right hand part of the bar and drag towards the right.

Structure Your Song

Song structure is really not that important — especially if you’re making a song for personal use — but it’s always good to have a have a plan in case you get stuck and don’t know what to do next.

Most songs that you hear on the radio follow the popular verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo/bridge-chorus formula with the chorus being the catchiest part of the song.

To make things easier for you, choose a loop with several versions. “Blue jazz piano” for example, has 8 different riffs all in the same tempo and key. Loops like these are meant to be in the same song so you can assign 3 of these riffs to be your verse, chorus and solo or bridge.

Fine Tuning

Analysing and playing your work

Once your song is done, you might want to think about fine tuning it.

After putting all of the elements together, some of the instruments cancel each other out giving the song that “muddy” sound. This is normal. To give your song a more refined sound, adjust these three things:

Volume - A simple way of balancing your mix is by controlling the volume output of each instrument. For example, you might want to make the vocals slightly louder than the instruments or turn up the volume of the guitar for a heavy rock song. You can also pan the sound and make it come out on the left or right speaker.

Effects - To access the effects window, simply click on the “i” icon on the lower right-hand side, then click on edit. A new panel will come out and you will see several empty slots where you can apply different effects such as amp simulation, distortion and overdrive. Below the slots are two boxes where you can adjust echo and reverb.

EQ - Changing the EQ of a song is not totally necessary but will really change the sound of your mix if done right. In case you don’t know what it is, EQ is the control of the bass, mid and treble frequencies of a sound. Let’s say the keyboards are clashing with the guitars. It would be a good idea to lower the frequencies of one of the instruments so one of them “sits back” in the mix while the other becomes more prominent. It’s better than having both canceling each other out fighting for space on the song.

Try playing around with the EQ graph and see if you can get a better sound out of the instruments. If it doesn’t work out you can always turn it off. You can find the EQ graph below the effects slot just above the master echo box.

Exporting the Song

To export your song as an mp3, click on share at the top of the screen and choose send song to iTunes or export to disk. Exporting to disk gives you the option to choose the quality of the mp3.

Planning on Using Your Song to Soundtrack an iMovie Video?

What could be better than adding your newly created song to your iMovie videos? Simply click on the music icon on the right side of the iMovie interface to locate your song. Then click and drag it onto the video window.

Piece of cake right?

If not, you can always use Garageband for Karaoke!

Using Garageband, there’s a way to reproduce popular songs. It has the capability to remove the individual instruments or melody, making it possible for you to mute the vocals and sing over it like you would do with a karaoke machine. You could also mute the guitars and play along as if you were rehearsing with a full band. Follow these three easy steps:

Step 1: Get Your Song

Download a MIDI file of the song by searching the web. Cool MIDI and Midi Database are good places to start.

Step 2: Mute Vocals

Open a new Garageband project then click on “Loops.” Locate the MIDI file you downloaded and drag it onto Garageband where it says “Drag Apple Loops here.” You will see each track appear on the left-hand side, and if you’re lucky, each track should already be assigned to their respective instruments. Now, all you have to do is mute the part you would like to sing or play over, do a little bit of tweaking, and you’re ready to go.

Some MIDIs, however, assign each track to Pop Flute by default. If this is the case, proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Assign Each Track to an Instrument

The best way to do this would be to “solo” each track by clicking on the button with the headphones on the track panel, and then listening to each one carefully. Once you’ve identified the instrument, click on the “i” button on the bottom-right corner to find the corresponding software instrument. Be sure to check the regions as some of them already tell you what instrument they’re supposed to be assigned to.

You can easily find song lyrics or guitar tabs with a quick online search.

Now that wasn’t too hard, was it?

All you need is Garageband from the iLife suite.

Announced during Apple’s “Back To The Mac” event, the Mac App Store has been anticipated by users for weeks as developers readied their Software for Apple to approve. Apple opened the doors to the Mac App Store today in addition to releasing Mac OS X 10.6.6 – an update to Snow Leopard. The Mac App Store, which requires the newest version of OS X (10.6.6), can be downloaded via Software Update. The store houses over 1,000 Apps including the individual Apps that make up iLife and iWork for sale at $14.99 and $19.99 respectively.

“With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps.”

Bloggers and users seem to be happy with the Mac App store. Apps that originated on iOS such as Angry Birds and Twitter are generating positive reviews albeit with mixed reactions for the later. However, not everyone is happy with the Mac App Store.

Many users are claiming the majority of Apps are horrible and developed by sloppy coders. The situation has even prompted the creation of a blog (NSFW) highlighting the design atrocities available on the Mac App Store.

It’s funny how two people can have completely different reactions to the same thing.

I watched the big press event yesterday live, with my wife popping into my home office here and there to check things out. I caught myself dozing off a bit while iLife ’11 was being introduced, mostly because I rarely use the suite. Yes, it’s got some cool features, but nothing that really gets me going. “Just get to the new MacBook Air!” I kept thinking.

A few hours later, my wife walks back into the office. “I want iLife 11. Now. Seriously, can we go to the mall and pick it up?” I couldn’t believe it, but she really wanted the software pretty bad. We didn’t buy it – I’m picking it up today after work – but it was pretty crazy.

See, she’s all about the new features in iPhoto, particularly the stamped cards and new books. She made a book for her mom on mother’s day, and we were both very pleased with the results. Now we can send out Christmas cards with our kiddo on them, and all at home with minimal work. It gives her a fun project to work on, and it makes life easier.

The only real thrill for me is with iMovie. I’m excited to see the new audio features, because that was a problem I had with editing in the past. Hopefully this helps a lot.

More hands on reviews coming.

Apple has issued an update for GarageBand just a few days after the product was released. The 5.0.1 update is a 26.7 MB download available from your Software Update.

It offers stability improvements and fixes some issues with downloads from the “Learn to Play Lessons Store”.

In an attempt to appease them Apple responded by making iMovie HD available for download so that users had a choice.

Yesterday, however, that situation changed. iMovie ’09 has been released with iLife ’09, and it supposedly addresses many of the issues people were concerned about, and Apple is ready for customers to move on to the new experience offered by the re-imagined iMovie.

I, for one, am looking forward to trying out iMovie ’09. The software looks great, and even though I’ve been using the traditional form of Non-Linear Editing Systems since high school – I’m fine with the change in style that iMovie represents.

How about you?

You can get iLife ’09 for only $9.95 plus tax.

All you have to do is complete the order form and provide a photocopy of a dated, itemized sales receipt or packing slip that indicates you have a qualifying machine.

The program ends on March 28, 2009. Click Here for full details.

Australian and New Zealand residents can finally order Photobooks, calendars, postcards, and prints directly from Apple. A feature that we’ve had in the states for over two years.

Before this official release customers wanting to use the service had to either use a third party solution, or have a friend in the US.

Picturebooks start at $39.99, calendars are $26.99, while postcards and greeting cards range from $1.99 to $2.69 with individual prints running 29 cents.

To use the new service you will have to have iLife ’08, and you’ll have to upgrade iPhoto to version 7.1.2.

via apc

Between now and February 28th 2008, you can save 20% on photobooks and calenders from Apple. It might be a good time to think ahead for a good Valentine’s or Mother’s Day present while you can save a few bucks.

If you’ve never printed a book through iPhoto, you should really give it a shot. You’ll be amazed how professional they look, and how cool it is to know you put it together yourself.

When you check out you can enter the following codes and save the 20% –

Book: NAWinterBook08
Calendar: NAWinterCal08

Thankfully, Apple has given in on the ridiculous ringtone limitations of the iPhone. In the latest update of Garageband Apple has added a new way to “share” what your created (or imported and chopped) music. Now you can make custom Ringtones, send them to iTunes and sync them to your iPhone.

Of course, DRMed tracks from iTunes can’t be imported, but you can always burn those to a CD, then re-import them to work around it. Or you can just save the time and pay .99 cents more for the Ringtone feature in iTunes.

It’s your call.

I think both the Mac Daily News article, and the USA Today piece, do a very good job of explaining that Apple is looking to get people interested in using their video in the way they’re interested in taking photos. That’s what the goal of iMovie ’08 is – and I think it does a very, very good job of making editing fun, easy, and in no way tedious.

from the article:

“Apple isn’t apologizing. It says it wants a new audience for iMovie and that the redesign had to happen. ‘The consumer video-editing industry is dying,’ says Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of applications and product marketing. ‘It got crushed by digital photography,’”

“Most camcorder owners never bother with video editing. Yet they will use software programs such as Apple’s iPhoto to manage their pictures and growing collection of video clips from still cameras, Schoeben says. Apple was forced to do a ‘radical reinvention’ of iMovie to get its users to work with their video clips, he says. Schoeben believes video novices will find it easier to edit with iMovie and, thus, use the program more. ‘This may be controversial at first, but long term … we’ll be fine.’

Also – suck it iMovie ’08 haters.

I kid.

In other news, At&t sent text messages out to all users (not just iPhone users) stating that they will be moving to summary billing. You can still view your complete bill online – and At&t will send you full paper bills if you need them.

Of all the things I can do with my Mac, the iLife suite is one of the things that I love the most. Mainly because the applications are simple to use, and are a perfect way to introduce new users to the world of OS X. The iLife suite has always been a top notch product, especially for the $79 price of admission, so the real questions, I suppose, are should existing users upgrade to it, and how easy is it for new users to jump into…

For existing users, it’s all going to depend on what programs from iLife you use regularly (and we’ll get into that in more detail in a minute). New users are going to find a suite of 5 very easy to use applications that make creating professional quality content extremely easy to do.

iPhoto ’08

iPhoto ’08 has received a pretty substantial upgrade over the ’06 version of the software, primarily with the addition of Events. Events are a very clean way to help organize your photos into more manageable groups. Basically, iPhoto takes the information from your photos and groups them together by the day the photos were taken. Once they are grouped together, you can “skim” through an event by moving your mouse across the event, giving you a quick glimpse at every photo in that event.

Usually this will put the “event” that you were at (i.e. – wedding, birthday party, etc.) all together in one collection of photos. If the automatic sorting doesn’t quite do the job (say the event lasted more than 1 day, or only part of the day’s photos were from a specific event), it is very easy for you to either add photos to an event (by simply dragging them into the event), or separating them (by selecting the first picture you want separated and simply clicking “split”).

There are also some fantastic new printing options that give you the power of a portraits studio right on your Mac. You can print mats, multi-picture layouts, and more with just a few clicks. Honestly, this feature has motivated me to get a high quality photo printer, and I’m done paying for high priced photo prints.

There are also some enhanced tools for making your images look as good as possible. They are very easy to use, and very powerful. You might find yourself having fun just playing around to see what kind of effects you can achieve.

If you’re a .Mac subscriber, there is another major component that you’ll want to know about – .Mac Web Gallery. This is a very useful feature that not only enhances iPhoto, but really helps justify the $99 a year price tag for the .Mac service.

The Web Gallery is simple to use. You select an event, then click “Web Gallery”. You’re then given options to make the gallery private and to event select user names and passwords to allow only those you wish to see the pictures access. Once you have uploaded the gallery, you can click a link in iPhoto to view the gallery in almost the exact same way you view your photos in iPhoto, even with event skimming.

If you want, your family and friends can download the photos at full size, and can even add to the gallery themselves by uploading photos, or even emailing them directly to the gallery’s unique email address.

These galleries are also viewable on your iPhone, and you can send photos taken with the iPhone directly to your Web Gallery with a click of a button.

iPhoto ’08 is a great program with some really significant improvements that should please both existing users and new users alike. For me, the iPhoto upgrade is worth the $79 price tag by itself.

iPhoto Rating: 5 out of 5

iMovie ’08

The biggest change to the iLife suite this year is iMovie ’08 which is a COMPLETELY different application than its predecessor (a fact that has caused some controversy online). iMovie HD, the previous iMovie application, is much similar to a non-linear editing suite like the pro products Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. It is much more simplified than those programs, but still features a similar layout and feel.

iMovie ’08 is a completely different beast. iMovie ’08 is designed for you to quickly assemble a movie from all of your personal video footage. It is very much an iPhoto for movies. While testing the application I was able to create a 5 minute movie using clips from 2 different video sources in a matter of minutes. From start to finish my entire project took less than 20 minutes to complete.

It features one-click YouTube uploading, and even syncs with .Mac Web Gallery allowing you to upload and share family videos (privately or publicly) in higher than DVD quality.

If you are familiar with previous versions of iMovie, or non-linear editing systems in general, you are either going to hate iMovie ’08 or you’re going to have to learn the simplified way that movies are created with this application. I find it to be exceptionally easy to use, and to take the pain out of making a home movie for those of us who don’t want to be mini-Spielbergs. I don’t want to make an epic masterpiece, I just want to put the footage together in a pleasing way, quickly. That’s what iMovie ’08 does, and it does it well.

There is one place where iMovie ’08 fails in my book, though, and that’s with audio. The way you add audio, and the sound effects editing seem overly complicated compared to the rest of the application, and really don’t give you the freedom that they could, while still remaining simple.

Some existing users are furious that Apple has changed iMovie on them, making the plugins and things they have purchased for iMovieHD useless, since they do not work with the completely new iMovie ’08 application. Fear not, dear reader, if you want a more “professional” styled applicaton, iMovie HD has not been retired. In fact, if you purchase iLife ’08, Apple has made iMovie HD a free download, giving you a sixth application absolutely free.

So in iLife ’08 you have a choice. Superfast video editing and management with iMovie ’08, or slightly more complicated, and slightly more powerful editing with iMovie HD.

iMovie ’08 Rating: 4 out of 5

GarageBand ’08

The latest version of Garageband has some visual enhancements as well as the addition of multi-track recording, Arrangements, a Visual equalizer and more. The most “fun” addition to the application is “Magic Garageband” which allows you to audition different instruments into the genre you’re playing. Letting you create a virtual band to play with before opening a project fully.

I got the impression that the previous version of Garageband really focuses on podcasting, but this new version very much puts the focus back on music. Not to say that the podcasting features don’t work. I actually produce my daily podcast with Garageband, but as far as “focus” goes, Garageband is definitely for those of you with a song in your hearts.

Gargeband is, by far, the most complicated of the iLife applications, but is incredibly powerful if you consider the price. You will be hard pressed to find a music or podcasting application that is capable of doing this much for the price.

Gargeband does have some flaws, though. It isn’t very good at handling long recording sessions. For example, if you’re podcasting, it really gets laggy after about an hours worth of recording time. I also wish there were more voice enhancing effects for possible audio drama production, and other fun things like that. Plus, I wish there were more effects for adjusting audio like noise reduction and normalization (if they’re in there I can’t seem to find them)

Still, those minor flaws aren’t that much to speak of. A musician might be able to give you a better idea of the nuts and bolts of Garageband (and I welcome them to in the comments below), but I find Garageband easy to use, and well thought out. It has the steepest learning curve and is the most “pro” of all the iLife applications, so keep in mind if you’re not familiar with this type of audio editing, you’re going to have to learn it…but it’s worth it when you do.

Garageband ’08 Rating: 4 out of 5

iDVD ’08

There isn’t much to say about iDVD ’08. It is the least updated of all the iLife applications, with only the addition of a few new templates and higher quality video being the key updates. Personally, I don’t see any increase in the image quality on the DVDs I’ve produced with it. The new themes are as impressive as ever, but iDVD feels almost tacked on this year. Like Apple doesn’t really care about it.

Jobs even spoke of the application in a dismissive tone when unveiling the products, saying that “some people still want to make DVDs”. Apple has always been a forward thinking company, but I think they might be thinking of dropping the DVD a little sooner than they should be.

iDVD ’08 Rating: 3 out of 5

iWeb ’08

iWeb is another great tool for users who are just starting out on the web, or those that simply want a quick, professional way of publishing a website or blog. The program is incredibly easy to use, allowing you to create a site from the included templates in a snap.

If you’re looking for a more advanced way to build a website, this is not the application for you. It’s simple, easy to use, and very hard to get “advanced” with.

One thing that I think is worth mentioning in this review is that, despite popular belief, you don’t HAVE to use .Mac to publish your iWeb site to the web. You can use .Mac – but you can also choose the “Publish to Folder” option that will save all the necessary files for your site in a folder on your Mac, that you can then upload to a server of your choice.

The new web widget additions are useful and well implemented, even if I don’t want to view Adsense ads on every personal site on the web.

Another minor complaint is that the templates seem to be heavily focused on building sites for photographers. That’s great for photographers, but I’d like to see a few more general themes in the future. I also wouldn’t mind seeing some theme packs from Apple, much like their Garageband Jam Packs.

iWeb ’08 Rating: 4 out of 5

So, that’s each application reviewed individually. Overall, I think iLife ’08 is well worth the cost to both new and existing users. Obviously if iMovie HD is your primary iLife application, you might not need to update, but if you’re an iPhoto, Garageband, or iWeb exisiting user, I think you’ll find some very worthwhile stuff in the ’08 suite.

New users will love these applications. They are easy to use, and really show you what you can do with a Mac.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

“I even bought iLife just to install iMovie 8 next to my versions of Avid and Final Cut Pro,”

Stop right there chief.

iMovie isn’t made for you.

iMovie ’08 is an application specifically designed to make it easy for people with very limited video editing skills to put together a nice looking video in a very short time period. When testing the software this weekend I was able to put a video together from start to finish in under 20 minutes. It was a breeze to use, and very easy to get started with.

The application is completely built from the ground up, and complaints that Apple “mislead” users into thinking otherwise is an out and out lie. “Completely redesigned to help you make movies in minutes.” That’s the description of the application on Apple’s official site. What part of “Completely redesigned” is hard to understand?

Now, if the application completely replaced your version of iMovie HD, and then made it so you couldn’t open any of those old projects, I could completely understand being upset…but it doesn’t do that. iMovie HD stays on your machine, and users who want iMovie HD, but purchased iLife 08 only, can even get iMovie HD as a free download from Apple.

The idea that advanced users would sit in a forum and bitch about ANYONE making software that was easy to use and well made for beginners just makes my blood boil. If you already have Pro tools on your machine then SHUT UP and let the newbies get some software designed for THEM for a change.

iLife is not designed for PRO users. It never had been and never will be. iMovie ’08 rethinks the way that you construct a home movie to make it less like a pro tool, not because they’re trying to “dumb down” the software, but because not everyone wants to mess with advanced non-linear editing when they just want some shots of the family vacation on DVD.

iLife cost $79. There are 5 applications in this suite for that price. That means each application is $15.80.

That means you’re paying $15.80 for iMovie ’08, and you’re getting iMovie HD thrown in for free if you don’t already have it. Even if iMovie ’08 is the worst thing you’ve ever tried, and you just can’t stand to use it…you still have iPhoto, iWeb, iDVD and Garage Band.

FOR $79.

For the 3 of you that are going to jump up with “iMovie ’08 is the only reason I bought iLife ’08″ – then to you, I say – DO SOME RESEARCH BEFORE YOU BUY A PRODUCT!!!! It’s NOT HARD. Hell, there is a 20 minute video showing you how iLife ’08 works.

And again – to this small number of users I would like to remind you – the universe does not revolve around you, we still exist when you close your eyes, and it would be awesome – just awesome – if you shut up about the fact that an application was released that isn’t designed for you.

iLife 08 Review (this episode recorded with Garage Band 3 and the quality sucks, btw – but I have it figured out, so it’ll be fixed tomorrow), Apple news and more!

Special thanks to Richard for the new logo! New some design work done? Click Here to take a look at Richard’s official site!

You can subscribe via iTunes, or by RSS feed, or…

you can directly download the episode right here.

In addition to that, you should be able to play every episode of the podcast directly in your browser by using the widget which is now located in the side column of the site. Just click on the headphones to play the podcast inside the widget with full audio controls.

Note – I misunderstood the info on the iMacs, and there is no 17 inch model.

Special thanks to Richard for the new logo! New some design work done? Click Here to take a look at Richard’s official site!

You can subscribe via iTunes, or by RSS feed, or…

you can directly download the episode right here.

In addition to that, you should be able to play every episode of the podcast directly in your browser by using the widget which is now located in the side column of the site. Just click on the headphones to play the podcast inside the widget with full audio controls.

Now on Apple.com you can view a 20 minute guided tour of how iLife ’08 works and is used. This is very similar to the tours that Apple produced for the iPhone prior to its launch.

Click here to view it online, or download it for your iPod or AppleTV.

The new iMac was announced at the following price points: 20 inch $1199 and 24 inch $1799.

Features include: Up to 1 Terabyte of storage. ATI Radeon HD graphics card, up to 2.4GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, up to 4 gigs of ram

iLife 08 was announced with major updates to iPhoto, an entirely new version of iMovie, as well as iDVD, Garageband, and iWeb.

iWork 08 was announced with new effects in Keynote, better wordprocessing in Pages (plus 140 new templates), and Numbers, a new spreadsheet application.

Both iLife and iWork are $79 and available today.

.Mac was updated to 10 gigs of storage and the new .Mac Web Gallery. The price remains $99 for a year membership. It is available today.

There is also an update to the Mac Mini today, but we do not yet know the details on it.

10) Intel Partnership/Boot Camp

Apple’s decision to partner with Intel, and move Apple Computers to Intel chips created an opportunity for users that had never existed in computing before…the ability to run BOTH OSX, and Windows XP on the same machine. Apple’s released of the software dubbed “Boot Camp” made it virtually effortless to install Windows on your Mac, and keep access to both operating systems a snap. This simple innovation opened up a whole new world to Windows users, and allowed Mac users to have access to Windows features they wanted, without giving up their favorite computer and OS in the process.

9) Mac Mini

If it’s one thing Apple is good at it’s innovating design. The Mac Mini is a robust computer packed in a case that is no larger than six CDs stacked on top of one another. It is a perfect computer for college students or families on a budget, and it’s amazingly compact design makes it a great fit for users without a lot of desktop space. The Mac Mini was the smallest PC being commercially produced when it was unveiled in 2005 (with comparable features), and PC makers quickly attempted to copy the small-scale design of this little Mac powerhouse. The mini was preceded by the Apple G4 Cube, another visually impressive, and compact computer, but the Cube had several problems that kept it from being a success.

Newton

Apple’s Newton was not a success. The device, coined a Personal Digital Assistant by then Apple CEO John Sculley, was introduced in 1993. It was not the first PDA, even though Apple did invent the term “PDA”. The Newton did, however, heavily influence the future of the Personal Digital Assistant. One could argue that the Newton was the pattern for all PDAs that came after it. Had the Newton’s handwriting recognition been up to snuff, we’d probably still have Newtons today, but when you look at a Blackberry or Palm, Apple fan’s can’t help but be reminded of this innovative, portable device.

7) iLife

iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, and Garage Band. These iLife applications have taken what were once cumbersome and time consuming tasks, and made them simple, easy, and best of all, professional looking. From making professional quality home movies, to DVDs, photo albums, songs, and podcasts, the iLife suite of apps have become an essential part of the Mac experience, and have given thousands of amateurs delusions of grandeur.

6) Powerbook 100 Series

Apple didn’t invent the laptop…but the did re-invent it with the Powerbook. The Powerbook 100 series, released in 1991, took the world by storm with the seemingly small innovation of pushing the keyboard up toward the screen, leaving the lower part of the laptop for the user to rest his/her palms on. The dark cases, and innovative trackball use also help the original Powerbooks get noticed. If you walk into any electronics store today you’ll find that almost every laptop being built follows the design pattern of these first Powerbooks.

5) The Macintosh

The Macintosh wasn’t the first computer to use a Graphical User Interface – in fact it wasn’t even the first Apple Computer to use a GUI – but the Macintosh computer changed the way the world used computers forever with it’s advanced graphical capabilities and intuitive GUI. The Macintosh was the first computer to make Desktop Publishing possible, and it’s the reason most “artists” and publishing companies create their projects on Macs to this day. The Macintosh has evolved into Apple’s current lines of computers, the iMacs , Mac Mini, Macbooks, and more, but the original Macintosh system will always be an icon, and an innovative product that changed the way we use computers…and what we use them for.

4) iMacs

Design. It makes people take notice. Apple decide to use design to make the world take notice of it’s computers, and it started with the “blueberry” iMac in 1998. Soon more colors followed, and the colorful iMac became a staple of 90s iconography. In the new millennium, the iMac has continued to evolve twice, with each system becoming more compact, and more amazing than the last. The iMac line shows no signs of stopping as we head into the latter part of the 00s, and with Apple’s design team behind it, it is sure to continue being an innovative force for computer design for many years to come.

3) OS X

In the 1990s Apple’s OS was feeling dated and attempts to create a next-generation OS through the Taligent and Copland projects were unsuccessful. Luckily, Steve Jobs – then working at his “new” computer company, NeXt – was working on something that would change the computer industry forever…then it was called OPENSTEP, but Apple saw potential in the OS, and NeXt was purchased by Apple – bringing Jobs back to the company for the first time since 1985. In 2001, Mac OS X finally arrived, and it changed computing forever. The beauty and simplicity of the OS was immediately recognizable, and users stood up and took notice. Competitors took notice too…and if you look at Microsoft’s upcoming Vista OS, you’ll notice more than a few passing similarities to OSX. Since 2001 there have been 4 major upgrades to OS X, with a 5th one due in the Spring of 2007, and each time the OS has become more innovative. From simple things like expose making it easier to manage yourmulti -tasking, to features like Spotlight completely changing the way you search for files, OSX has set a standard in Operating Systems that has yet to be matched.

2) iPod

The iPod is one of Apple’s biggest success ever. The iPod has dominated the MP3 player market since early in its release, and has never let go. Apple completely changed the music industry with the release of the iPod, and the iTunes music store. The iPod is currently in it’s 5th Generation, with rumors of new evolutions of the product (by way of a widescreen iPod, and/or iPhone) in the near future. Even with challengers like Microsoft hoping to knock the iPod off it’s throne, it is unlikely that Apple’s digital video, music, and game player will be losing ground anytime soon. The future looks very bright for the iPod, and Apple as a company – and this little player deserves a lot of the credit for that. The iPod’s innovative design, and integration with iTunes has truely made it one of Apple’s greatest innovations.

1) The Apple II

Introduced in 1977 and manufactured until 1993, the Apple II was one of the first, and most popular personal computers ever built. The Apple II was THE standard computer in American education throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s (in fact, you can probably still find a few running in schools today). This was the computer that introduced most of us (25 and up) to personal computing…but education wasn’t the only place the Apple II was popular, it was popular in business – and with families as well. Most notably after the release of Visi-Cal – the first ever spreadsheet software – that originally ran only on the Apple II. Even after the release of the Macintosh, the Apple II held strong as Apple’s primary computer for years. With it’s innovative software, hardware, and price-point, the Apple II took the world by storm, and will forever be one of Apple’s greatest innovations.