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Photo-Sharing Software Reviews
Updated May 2006
For years, consumers had only one quick method for sharing digital pictures with far-flung friends and family, and that was e-mail. But e-mail delivery is far from perfect, and if you've ever had a friend send you an uncompressed 8-megapixel photo file, you'll know why. Image files are notoriously large, and can clog up recipients' inboxes -- if they reach them at all (many messages bounce back to senders because of too-large attachments). Next came Web sites where consumers could post their pictures for friends and family to view and download. But these online photo-hosting services have their own share of problems. They can get costly and some will shut down your account if you don't pay for storage space, buy prints or other products at least once a year. It also takes time to upload and download images, especially with a dial-up connection. The best, most recent review
of photo-sharing software can be found at PC Magazine, where editors compare
five photo-sharing programs, including three new programs in a beta-test phase.
In addition to this roundup, PC World also provides good coverage of peer-to-peer
applications like Hello and OurPictures. Consumer
Reports has a general article on photofinishing and photo sharing and though
it lists many services in a chart, no ratings are assigned. Reviewers don't always agree
on what makes the best photo-sharing sites. Some seem content with simple
applications that will quickly and easily swap high-resolution photos -- albeit
without any bells and whistles. Others favor programs with timely features
such as camera-phone, video and blog support; these photo-hosting reviews focus more on the
ability to view pictures than to print high-quality copies. A few programs don’t fare
as well as Hello and OurPictures (now called PhotoShow)
in reviews. Reviews don’t like that Electric Shoebox (*est. $30 per year)
can send photos but not receive them. SendPhotos Gold
(*est. $30 download or $35 CD-ROM) also gets docked points since it's e-mail
based (e-mailed photo files can take too long to download). PC Magazine reports
that the free Qurio photo-sharing software is feature-light
and runs very slowly on older machines. In a nutshell, it's "a decent
option for photo-sharing novices" but "other peer-to-peer apps do
more."
... Continued
Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
As you can see, experts say several photo-sharing applications have merit, and in our research, we found that each has strengths and weaknesses, which may account for the lack of an overall winner. Advertisement
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Photo-Sharing Software Reviews |
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* Pricing information is approximate as of the time this report was written and is based on observed market selling prices and/or list prices. Actual selling prices may differ.
