Digital Photo Printing Review
Surveying digital printing options
We found the most recent review of digital photo printing services at Information Week, where reviewer Don Reisinger evaluates four photo printing services for overall quality, cost and ease of use. There is also a fairly recent review at The Wall Street Journal and older reviews at Consumer Reports and PC Magazine. These reviews all compare the quality of prints, price, ease of use and editing tools of various sites. Unfortunately, recent professional reviews with clearly explained testing methods are sparse, making up-to-date comparisons hard to find.
Many transitions have taken place among digital photo printing services. Popular sites Sony ImageStation and Yahoo! Photos have both ceased operations. Yahoo! Photos simply shut down, while Sony ImageStation was acquired by Shutterfly. In addition, Kodak dropped "EasyShare" from its name, now simply calling itself Kodak Gallery. PhotoWorks (which began its business more than 20 years ago as the film-based Seattle FilmWorks) was acquired by American Greetings.
Though most of the reviews we read are generally positive, one company has received more negative comments than other digital photo printing services. RitzPix does well with some reviewers, but receives poor marks from others. RitzPix is mentioned in a December 2006 review by Tony Hoffman of PC Magazine. He says that print quality is generally good but calls their website "a nightmare." A more recent article in the July 2008 issue of Information Week dubs RitzPix "easily the worst print service," and rates it low in overall user friendliness.
Reviews say that using online digital photo printing services generally costs less than printing your own photos at home, but doing it yourself offers a better level of control and immediacy. Printing at home will generally cost between 17� and 30� per photo, not including the cost of the printer itself.
