Needed a new home computer so have splashed out on an iMac.

Hoping for some advice on a couple of things.

1). Software. I use the Adobe suite at work, but loathe to sign up for Adobe creative cloud just to use Photoshop and Premiere now and again for home stuff. Any recommendations on free/cheaper options for photo & video editing? Any other software I should be considering too would be great.

2). Music. I’d like to use the Mac to play music through our flat, both in the bedroom and lounge. Ideally controlling it through wireless (the Mac is in a small office off the lounge – so I think this rules the Apple remote out). I have an Apple TV, but that would mean having to have the TV on which I’d like to avoid.

Yu can get airplay stuff that hooks into hifi set ups. Yu basically stream the music from the apple device to the airplay device which acts as an aux in to the hifi.

1. Photo editing: Pixelmator – £10.49

I assume you’ve got the iLife suite pre-installed, in which case try iMovie and iPhoto before splashing cash anywhere else. You may find they give you everything you need with the advantage of being very tightly integrated with the O/S and each other.

As for music, AirPlay is the answer. Remember you can use Airport Express for AirPlay, which is like Apple TV but without the pictures. It can also be used to create wireless networks: I use mine to give me a bit more coverage in the garden by putting it in the shed with some speakers for music too.

You can get Photoshop for free, as long as you’re happy to use CS2. Which isn’t that old at all, really.

http://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html

PS don’t dismiss Apple TV either. If you’ve already got one, give it a go. I’m so lazy now I rarely put a record/CD on, preferring to use Apple TV to play music through the hi-fi from the library on my iMac.

+1 for Pixelmator, ’tis a good application for the money.

iTunes is pretty good for music as it stands, but consider something like Audacity for editing and maybe VirtualDJ for mixing if you don’t fancy going for something like Traktor. I might also suggest Plex if you want something to work as a media centre.

Thanks for the suggestions – will take a good look at AirPlay.

Top tip on free Photoshop too – cheers.

You can get Photoshop for free, as long as you’re happy to use CS2. Which isn’t that old at all, really.

8 years is old-ish.

http://opensourcemac.org/

http://www.freemacware.com/

GIMP is good for photoshop like work but its free. Inkscape is also open source for vector illustration, think Illustrator.

Also check out ebay for older versions of PS. If you know a teacher/student, or are one, you can pick up educators versions for mucho cheapness. I got CS5.5 design standard for £45.

GIMP for Mac is pretty decent now, just make sure you switch it to “single window mode” under the Window menu.

Sonos works well with the iMac, then iPads, phones as controllers.

Really can’t recommend enough, I listen to loads more music since I got it.

I urge you to at least see how you get on with what you’ve already got before splashing any more cash. You may find that iTunes, Apple TV, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band work a treat for your home needs. You’ve got everything you need; the question is whether it is advanced enough for your editing needs. Only you will know that after trying it

Creative Cloud subscription isn’t that much if you can access the education/charity discount. Lightroom isn’t expensive and better than Photoshop for most editing tasks.

BTW my TV has an option to switch the picture off so it still works streaming from AppleTV. Airplay is awesome IMO.

I’ve tried Gimp and really don’t like the interface is Pixlemator a better interface?

Oooh Education discount I still have my student card somewhere.

I’ve tried Gimp and really don’t like the interface is Pixlemator a better interface?

Yes. Very Photoshop-esque. Only a tenner as well.

Or, as I know you like Flying Meat, Drac, there is always Acorn. £35, though.

For a lighter photoeditor, try seashore (http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.html)

Yu can get airplay stuff that hooks into hifi set ups. Yu basically stream the music from the apple device to the airplay device which acts as an aux in to the hifi.

If you have an iOS device, then just install Remote on it and you have control over iTunes playback. If your Mac is near your audio system, then you can get a hybrid TOSLink that feeds an optical signal from the headphone socket to the optical in on most modern amps. Airport Express in other rooms with active speakers is going to give you a potential house-filling sound.

Cheers Jamie I’ll check out pixlemator.

I ended up with Aperture for picture editing which wasn’t cheap but it’s very good (used to have lightroom on PC and don’t miss it although it was a bit much for what I was doing). I HATED iPhoto although apparently it’s better if you create multiple albums. Found it very slow and not intuitive at all.

That pixelmator looks good.

I do however like iMovie. Use it on my iPad mini as well. Still I am coming for Windows Movie Maker 😉

I use Lightroom4 for photos and iMovie for video. Give iPhoto a try first if you have iLife installed.