At the press event unveil iLife ’ 08 , Steve Jobs yell the fresh version of Apple ’s cortege of digital lifestyle apps “ the biggest sweetening to iLife since we invented it many , many years ago . ” The same could not be say of iDVD ’ 08 . Compared to its suitemates , the videodisk - authoring app saw only modest changes — improvements to functioning and encoding as well as fresh theme — and direct up only 30 minute of Jobs ’ 45 - minute iLife preview .

The scant attention paid to iDVD ’ 08 is a far war cry from retiring versions of diligence . iDVD ’s launch in 2001 gave consumers the power to create their own DVDS and help Apple solidify its leadership position in digital video .

But times have vary , and not just for iDVD — this spring , when Apple enclose a revamp interpretation of its Final Cut Studio rooms , it did so without usher in any changes to DVD Studio Pro , the high - end version of iDVD .

If Apple is moving away from DVD — and the lack of tending shew both its videodisc - authoring apps suggest that the troupe is — it ’s only because it ’s stick to the lead of its customers , executives importune .

“ The grocery is moving away from the DVD , ” say Rob Schoeben , Apple ’s frailty president of applications product marketing . “ ’ We have a great answer for making videodisc and we fine tuned it for this going . If you need to make a videodisk , we can help you make a really good one . ”

But more and more , customersdon’twant to do that . With broadband connectivity becoming more widespread and video - communion sites likeYouTubegrowing in popularity , people are n’t calculate to put their picture on a disc — they need it on the entanglement .

“ People take in digital distribution as less of a hassle , ” suppose Gartner research frailty president Mike McGuire , who agrees with Apple ’s Schoeben that the variety is “ client - push . ”

Credit high - velocity cyberspace connections and degenerate computers for getting masses habituate to receiving entropy immediately — wherever , whenever they want it . That need for prompt gratification has now come to media , as well .

“ What people really want to do is share their content in a much better way , ” Schoeben said . “ .Mac Web Gallery is straightaway , fast and easygoing . The market has move away from videodisc and we have deliver a solution . ”

Apple embraces digital distribution

This shift away from DVDs is not just happening among Mac user , but all over . Ross Rubin , director of analysis at market - research firm NPD , witness more established forms of media generate ground to the “ emerging phenomenon ” of digital dispersion .

Consumers visiting YouTube are quite contented to ascertain a two - arcminute video have from a digital photographic camera or electric cell speech sound because it forgather their expectations . Apple has been able-bodied to take advantage of the popularity of YouTube by incorporating it into two of its newfangled Cartesian product : Apple TV and the iPhone .

But Apple is address this growing requirement in other areas as well . deliberate its .Mac online service . For year , Apple has enabled its user to publish contentedness on the Web through .Mac . Homepage and photo galleries published through iPhoto are almost as common as computers these days .

However , change in iLife ’ 08 — not to mention new .Mac feature — offer a glance into how serious Apple is about enabling distribution for its customer . highlight its declaration was the .Mac Web Gallery , a new way for users to partake picture and television online .

utilize web 2.0 technology , .Mac World Wide Web Gallery yield drug user the power to work up professional looking Web Sir Frederick Handley Page to show - off all of their of import culture medium . What ’s more , it ’s immediate .

“ With .Mac Web Gallery , in a little catamenia of time users can be take in advantageously than DVD tone medium , ” Apple ’s Schoeben aver . “ This new creation is a lot faster and makes a better experience for the viewer . ”

Apple also give .Mac substance abuser 10 GB of computer storage blank space to keep all of the mass medium they expect will be upload and take in online . That is 10 times the amount of space useable antecedently .

What about pros?

But videodisk authoring goes beyond just consumers . The professional market will be using videodisc for many years to come , NPD ’s Rubin said . And that make the want of a DVD Studio Pro update even more puzzling — specially with some drug user ask musical accompaniment for Blu - ray disc burning to seem in Apple ’s pro DVD - author putz .

Schoeben declined to discuss features in future product dismission , but did orient out that DVD Studio Pro does have support for the HD videodisk data formatting . What ’s more , Apple belongs to the Blu - ray organization , which is responsible for promoting the next - generation optic disc formatting .

iDVD not going away

Back on the consumer front , digital distribution might be all the rage these days , but that does n’t imply the DVD does n’t persist in to enjoy far-flung habit . A recent study from NPD found that consumers are tedious to move aside from their be DVD players because those devices still knead for them .

And while Apple may be sitting back on the new format , its competition is n’t . With the firing of CS Production Premium Suite , Adobe is hop to capture Blu - ray - craving customers with Premiere Pro CS3 . Together with its companion product Encore CS3 for Mac , Premiere lets you author once and then output to Blu - re Disc , DVD and Flash SWF for the entanglement .

For that reason , do n’t expect Apple ’s videodisk products to fleet away , even as the company underline digital distribution .

“ iDVD plays a character , ” Schoeben state . “ There are times when iDVD is the killer app for many people . ”