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Windows Live Movie Maker 1.0 is now live

Aug. 19, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

Sorry about the confusion yesterday, but Windows Live Movie Maker 1.0 is now live. Here's the word from Microsoft:

Today, Microsoft is releasing its new Windows Live Movie Maker application globally.  As the first application within the Windows Live Essentials suite optimized for Windows 7, this free download – available at http://download.live.com -- makes it easy for Windows 7 and Windows Vista users to create beautiful movies from their photos and videos and share them with friends and family.

With Windows Live Movie Maker, people can:

  • Use Auto Movie to create a great-looking video in under one minute that includes transitions, a title, captions and a music soundtrack.
  • Share movies across TV, PC and mobile device
  • Publish directly to YouTube – with other online sharing sites to come.
  • Save their creations in HD*
  • Import and edit content from Flip Video and iPhone*

To learn more and see real movies created by Windows Live Movie Maker, please visit www.moviemakerpreview.com or check out the Windows Live team blog post.

Or just check out my review. :)

Discuss this Article 15

Ocean
on Aug 19, 2009
One question I have is: how does this product compare with the competition, like iMovie? The review gave it thumbs up, but it's kind of in a vacuum.
Ocean
on Aug 19, 2009
I asked because my boss bought a iMac last winter just for iMovie. This does seem like a good defense against those kinds of purchases. For what its worth, PC Magazine reviewed too and gave it thumbs up. "Windows Live Movie Maker lacks some of the snazzier features you find in iMovie, such as video stabilization and all the Hollywood-style themes with animated titles and sophisticated transitions. But for ease of use for simple, everyday tasks, Microsoft's program is hard to beat. " http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2351745,00.asp
techfan
on Aug 19, 2009
I was hoping WLMM 1.0 was also made available on XP. Oh, well... just another reason to look forward to Windows 7! One of the things I really like about WLMM 1.0 on Windows 7 is that it'll support QuickTime files. Right now there's no way to edit .mov and .mp4 files on XP. Maybe once QuickTime X comes out, its trimming feature will also be in the Windows version of it, but I'm guessing by that time, I'll be on Windows 7. Still, having QuickTime X on my Windows XP machine will be a nice addition, if it has the trimming feature.
resplendent
on Aug 19, 2009
The lack of a real Timeline view negates all the cool stuff they added (Ribbon, Publishing features) and makes it practically unusable for me. I hope they consider bringing it back in a future release.
Bruno H
on Aug 19, 2009
This is the same mistake that Apple did with the iMovie Fiasco. I am no heavy video editor. I just like to cut down my videos and do some light editing now and then. But this version of Moviemaker doesn't cut it. First there must at least be an option to use a timeline. Then there must be an option to crossfade music (as the old Moviemaker did). And the crossfades and other effects must have at least options to finetune them. God for me that I saved the Install files for MovieMaker 2.6 as that version is better than this dumbed down crap. I can se why they did this (for beginners I suppose its fine) but at least keep the program backwards compatible. And finally why are the Window Live Team blog not open for comments? At least give us hope that you listen and can fix the problems for the next version.
Ocean
on Aug 19, 2009
>>iMovie Fiasco<< Time to put up or shut up. Tell us why its a fiasco...
USArcher
on Aug 19, 2009
I'm liking what I'm seeing. Posting to online video hosting services is not really my thing..unless its an instructional video. I'm more interested in polishing home videos of the grandchildren and having them readily available...no limits (other than ISP). The one criticism I have is that you cannot add content from a network folder. The first thing I do is transfer camera photos/videos to the network folder. Now I have to be mindful and patient to transfer content back to the PC just to make a video collage. Why?
techfan
on Aug 19, 2009
This looks great! WindowsVideos - Introduction and Walkthrough - Windows Live Movie Maker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lYVLPBXpg&hd=1
trieste
on Aug 19, 2009
"If it's a photo, you can determine whether (and how) it pans and zooms while onscreen, in a nod towards Ken Burns. (Heads-up, Apple fans: Microsoft had it first.)" Programs have been panning and zooming for years, Apple were, I believe the first to have a menu item 'Ken Burns Effect'. Even Ken Burns didn't claim to have 'had it first'.
rr0de74@live.com
on Aug 19, 2009
@Ocean just google iMovie 08 reviews and you will see. Apple dumbed it down, and got rid of a lot of stuff. Many were upset, it got horrible reviews. Even David Pogue trashed it. I know this because my wife is reading the iMovie 09 missing manual and I read the Intro where he trashed it.
Backup77
on Aug 19, 2009
@USArcher There is a workaround to get content from a network folder. Check out Rafael's link here for the info. http://www.withinwindows.com/2009/08/18/add-video-from-your-networked-st...
Sir_timbit01
on Aug 19, 2009
About to download to try it out...I just want to know if it's better than Vista's MovieMaker, or did they pull an Apple and dumb it down like iMovie 08. Yeah, I know iMovie 08 introduced some new features but they also stripped out a lot of useful ones too. At least you can run both versions of iMovie...
USArcher
on Aug 19, 2009
@Backup77...thank you thank you thank you !!!
Bydia
on Aug 20, 2009
All I wanted to do was download the Movie Maker, but have to use the websetup installer. First it said I already had the movie maker. So I had to manually remove the older version. Then the install said that besides installing the Movie Maker, the other programs needed to be updated. No way to say no... so I preceeded with the process. It said I only needed to download 160+ MB. No problem I have 2Mbps download should only take a few minutes.... I had it run for several HOURS!!!! The progress bar moved very slowly. Finally, I gave up... I don't want to leave my notebook running all night unattended as it gets too hot. Microsoft, please give me a way to download the whole package as a single .msi and let me install it offline.
roblind
on Aug 20, 2009
I certainly appreciate the intention of this kind of video editor. I think three levels of software is emerging: hobbyist, consumer/enthusiast, and pro-level. One thing I hoped for with this release has indeed occured: upon opening the program my RAM meter goes up only 4% (on Windows 7 RC). That's in contrast with consumer/enthusiast programs like Premiere Elements, Vegas Movie Studio, or VideoStudio which use considerably more. I'm happy to embrace this hobbyist level of software; it's really quite effective - and free!. If find the next level of software, while certainly more powerful, incredibly difficult to figure out - even when trying to accomplish the same things as Movie Maker! If the user needs more, they can simply upgrade to consumer/enthusiast and go through the learning curve (Lynda.com has great tutorials). Overall, I think the Windows Live team has met their goal well. I'll be using this often.

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