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Apple to release iLife ‘09 on January 27

Apple on Monday announced that its iLife ‘09 multimedia suite of consumer applications, announced at Macworld Expo earlier this month, will become available on Tuesday, January 27.

Apple focused the majority of its time on iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, adding new features in each of those applications.

Among the changes in iPhoto are new features called Faces and Places, allowing users to tag people in photos and where the photos were taken. iPhoto also adds integration with Flickr and Facebook.

GarageBand has new amp models for guitar players, as well as a new Magic GarageBand Jam function. This allows users to add instruments, jam along with compositions, and record the music.

iMovie adds an expanded timeline and automatic video stabilization. iMovie now identifies jittery motion and reduces it by comparing frames of video to subsequent and previous frames.

iLife ‘09 will come pre-installed on new Macs, and otherwise costs $79. The iLife '09 Family Pack, which includes five licenses, will be available for $99. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95.