Probably one of the things I was least excited about in the iLife ’09 suite was iMovie. I sold my HD camcorder last year which was becoming a dust collector, but mostly it was due to my dissatisfaction with the over-sensitive microphone. So, with no videos to edit I wasn’t too interested in what was new to iMovie.

Late last night I opened it up to have a look around to see the new features. The UI is pretty much the same as ’08. I think there are a few cosmetic differences mostly on buttons and also the new Project Library pane which is hidden until you click it’s button and it slides out.

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When you create a new project you are given the opportunity to have a theme. You can choose from None, Photo Album, Bulletin Board, Comic Book, Scrapbook and Filmstrip. I created a very quick demo video using the Comic Book theme.

Apart from adding a few titles to videos I created last year, I haven’t spent any extensive time in iMovie ’08 but found that it was quite a basic program. One of the first things I noticed in iMovie ’09 were the newly added animated titles, aswell as Maps and Backgrounds. These are a lot of fun. I put together a very quick transitions demo video after 2am this morning to show just some of the new features added. The globe blows me away and will be great for holiday/travel videos!

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I’m now considering buying a Kodak Zi6 HD Camcorder in the months ahead just to give me a good excuse to waste more time in iMovie ’09. If you enjoy shooting video then I think you’ll enjoy the improvements in this. A few people have asked me to compare ’09 to ’06 and all I can say is I don’t know as I never knew ’06. I downloaded it free from the Apple site last year, but it never wanted to work for me.

Despite my disappointment over the Flickr integration in iPhoto ’09 yesterday, I have to say that iMovie ’09 has restored my faith in the iLife ’09 suite and if anyone asks I’d say yes, it’s well worth the upgrade.