Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction to the Macintosh digital hub.
Review: This is a very nicely done book, supplemented by a great instructional DVD. One of Apple's recent marketing pushes has been the integration of your Macintosh into the other aspects of your "digital lifestyle," and making your Mac the hub or center of that process. This book/DVD combination introduces you to each of Apple's "i" application: iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD, and shows you how to combine these digital applications. The book is mostly an introduction to these programs - think of the basic introductory manual which Apple should have included with your Mac, but didn't. The book also includes tips for each iApp from easy to the advanced way to operate each application. The writing is well done and straight forward. I would rate the book on par with the excellent "visual quick start guides" from the same publisher, Peachpit Press, with the added advantage of combining all of the iApps into one book. The book alone would merit 4.5 stars as a solid and well done introductory book. The accompanying DVD works very well in visually explaining the basic user interface, and takes users through creating a project in each application: burning a CD with iTunes, importing and manipulating pictures with iPhoto, creating a movie with iMovie, and creating a DVD with iDVD. The DVD and book combination work very well together, and represent a great value at this price even before the substantial Amazon discount. Macintosh Digital Hub strikes a good balance between teaching you the basics and giving you a few "power" user tips along the way. Highly recommended.
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