[Update: According to a source I trust, the bug has not been fixed. I haven’t been able to replicate it in a project where I originally saw the bug, however.]
It appears that Apple fixed an unusual but maddening bug in iMovie ’09 8.0.3. As I detailed in “iMovie ’09 Tip: Speed Clips 2,000%,” the Speed control in the Clip Adjustments inspector isn’t limited to the preset tickmarks on the slider (which let you change a clip’s speed to anywhere from 12.5% to 800%). By entering a value in the slider’s text field, you can set the clip’s speed to any number between 5% and 2000%.
Unfortunately, a bug in iMovie messed up audio in the project when exporting the movie to iDVD or movie files; it could affect audio in any clip within the movie, not just the clip that had been sped up or slowed down.
According to my testing, however, that bug seems to be fixed in iMovie ’09 8.0.3. (Which means the last tip on page 120 of the book—which is now available from Amazon!—can be ignored.)
Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 
I have the iMovie 09 in the version of 8.0.3 and my speed feature is definitely not there at all, no matter what video format I try. Is there any fix for this, such as something that Apple has provided as a download?
Jennifer,
I don’t understand what you mean by “my speed feature is definitely not there at all.” When you double-click a clip, you should see the Inspector, a separate window. In the Clip tab of the Inspector, you’ll see a Speed slider.
Jeff
I have to same problem as Jennifer – In the Inspector, it simply says the clip must be converted before speed can be adjusted. So I click ‘convert’ and it tells me its converting but once finished, doesn’t change anything.
To clarify – The speed slider isn’t there. 😦
Jennifer – In case you check back on this. My issue was solved by going out of the project into another one, then going back into the project Exiting the project seems to ‘save’ to convertion. Solved the problem!
I’m having a problem converting a clip
When ever I click; “Convert Entire Clip”
The loading thing pops up but then a little window pops up saying ; “This clip cannot be converted. Error -50” ????? And it says this on EVERY clip?! D: what do i do????!
Sydney, what format are the clips in? You might also open Disk Utility and run the Verify Disk (under First Aid tab) to make sure that iMovie isn’t having trouble locating the files.
jeff,
im having the same issue as sydney. Im using .avis from an standard def flip video. I ran disk utilities as you suggested with no resolution. The issue is exactly this: I am attempting to create a time lapse video using several different clips. All of this footage comes from the same camera. I’m aware that I must “convert entire clip” in order to be able to adjust the speed to my specifications. Half-way through this process, imovie began giving me the following error message: “This clip cannot be converted. Error -50”. So now i sit with some of the clips converted and the others not. This applies to every clip and not just one specific. I am no longer able to convert any of my footage from any clip. This just randomly happened midway through converting the clips individually. Taking a look at the clip in quicktime’s inspector, here is what is seen:
clip that has been converted: http://files.me.com/toddstolarski/ipq4rf
clip that cannot be converted: http://files.me.com/toddstolarski/orv46o
here is a snapshot of my quicktime codecs folder: http://files.me.com/toddstolarski/ajfj86
Additionally, when attempting to move rejected clips to trash nothing happens. At first attempt, it showed a progress bar and ironically, began to fill up my hard drive. the items never made it to my trash bin nor were they deleted. now, with each subsequent attempt, i click on the available icon only to have it depress for a moment, followed by nothing. the rejected clips remain. how can i get rid of them?
whenever I change the speed of one clip it won’t let me select or change the speeds of any other clip?
I have a different problem, where all it says is “Analyze the clip” which I did, but obviously it doesn’t need to be converted since I took it using I movie. BUt the speed bar is still boot there!
PLEASE HELP!
JJF, Analyze Clip refers to image stabilization, not speed. Is the clip still in the Events browser? Move it to your project first, and you should see the speed control (or the Convert Entire Clip button, which then leads to the speed control.)