Digital Hub (Book and Region 1 DVD set) [Paperback]

The Macintosh Digital Hub by Jim Heid sets not only the new standard by which all other Mac books should be judged, but is really the first new-breed of Book / DVD combination to hit the Macintosh landscape.

But MAN is this a great product, , this really is a new standard, one I will hold up and judge other products of this nature.

What is "The Macintosh Digital Hub?" It is a 144 full-color page book with an accompanying DVD, which will play just as easily on your Mac or home DVD player. The DVD itself is not so much bonus material for the book, as most discs that come with books are, but a full-fledged partner of content.

Picture this: A great book that goes into a good amount of detail on iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD to get even the most technophobe newbie up and running, but a DVD partner in which you can actually watch and learn how to do it yourself.

A part of me wanted to write this review and keep the book and DVD separate, focusing on the merits and shortcomings of each alone. But that really cannot be done, as the two are wed in a content marriage of blissful splendor. (By the way, I don't think I have ever use either blissful or splendor in any review or article I have ever written, let along in the same sentence.!)

You can watch the DVD or read the book on its own, but using these two together is where the strength of The Macintosh Digital Hub comes out. They are both excellent examples of a writer not just chasing a paycheck, but one who really wants his or her readership to understand and enjoy the subject matter.

The book is well written, in slightly larger text than other books of its kind. A welcome change for older eyes. The book is full of color screen shots, diagrams, and other colorful items to help get the point of topic across in the easiest and most straightforward way. In fact, almost every page in The Macintosh Digital Hub has a color picture on it.

P>The DVD is also broken up into four main chapters, the same as the book, and you can navigate directly via the menu to the segment within the chapter you want to watch. This is a nice DVD, easy to watch and learn by.

One of the problems I have had recently with books is the price. I totally agree that the content creators should be well compensated for their hard work. But the cost of some of the recent Photoshop book, for instance, is outrageous. How many books can us users afford (especially in this economy) Not very many, I think. But here again, The Macintosh Digital Hub shows not only great content, but also a price point to match. <A companion DVD that is not just sample files and software demos. All content, all the time, at half the price you would expect to pay. My hat is off to Jim Heid, PeachPit Press, and Avondale Media for a job well done.

I strongly recommend The Macintosh Digital Hub.

MacMice Rating: 5 out of 5

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Tim Robertson
http://www.mymac.com/robertson/digitalhub_8.14.02.shtml

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.