iMovie HD 6 Free for iLife ’08 Owners

People who’ve rushed out to buy iLife ’08 or a new iMac are discovering that the new iMovie ’08 is completely different from previous versions. As I noted yesterday (see “A Few Important iMovie ’08 Notes,” 2007-08-08), iMovie ’08 is missing several features (such as themes or DVD chapter markers) that you may be accustomed to.

The good news is: if you’re upgrading to iLife ’08, your previous version of iMovie HD 6 remains intact, giving you the option of editing video with either application. But if you’ve just purchased a new iMac that comes with iLife ’08 pre-installed, you didn’t have that option until today.

Apple has now made iMovie HD 6 available free for owners of iMovie ’08. The installer checks to see if iLife ’08 is installed, so it’s not a gift to owners of earlier versions of iMovie. iMovie HD 6 is a 154.6 MB download.