Summary: Simple yet brilliant consumer program
Comment: This is a brilliant concept--a relational database hidden behind a simple-to-use home consumer program!
I can "tag" all my photos and then search for them by a single tag, multiple tags together, date, timeline, calendar layout, caption--just about any which way I want. And tagging all my photos didn't take nearly as long as was afraid it would, because by using the control or shift key I could tag multiple photos with single or multiple tags, all in one click and drag of the icon(s).
What I love about this program:
--The easy and fast tagging system, as described above.
--The metafile info, which allows me to see why some photos turned out and others didn't.
--The calendar view, which allows me to visualize which photos were taken on which day, and which day produced which photos.
--Seeing all my photos quickly and easily. There's no long wait for thumbnails or previews to appear when searching my hard drive for that one photo I want.
--The quick and easy editing tools, which are geared to the average home consumer. You don't need to know a lot about the technical aspects of editing photos in order to fix them.
--The intuitive nature of the program. A previous reviewer didn't like the "kindergarten" icons, but this is a simple consumer program. It's not rocket science.
MINOR drawbacks:
--The tag categories are fixed, though you can create your own subcategories. My guess is that this will be changed in future versions, as this seems to be a common complaint.
--I had to play around with print settings in order to figure out how to print borderless prints on my HP 7350. I succeeded by selecting "4x6 size" and unclicking the "Clip to..." box in the Layout dialog box. For a while, I was afraid this problem would be a deal breaker but it just took some experimentation.
MAJOR drawback, for the more advanced consumer user:
--Lossy JPEGs!!! When photos are edited with Photoshop Album, they are resaved as JPEGs, thereby losing quality. I want to be able to edit a photo with PSA's easy tools, and then save the edited photo in a lossless format. I know I can open my Photoshop program from within PSA, make my edits, and then save the file as a .psd. But then I can't take advantage of the no-brainer tools in PSA. I'm hoping that future versions will have a choice of formats for saving edits. Are you listening, Adobe?
My bottom line is that this is an easy-to-use consumer program for those who want to organize their photos with a hidden yet powerful database (or who don't even know what a database is!), and who don't want to learn to use advanced photo-editing software. This program is for the grandma and grandpa who are novice computer users, for the point-and-shoot photographers, and for anyone who wants to organize all their photos. More advanced users will want to do their editing in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements from within PSA. That seems like a fine trade-off for the ability to organize and find photos quickly and easily, to me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Adobe product strictly for amateurs
Comment: While Photoshop Album has many exciting features, it is not a professional product comparable to other Photoshop products. The major flaw is that it constantly freezes up, sometimes with error messages, sometimes without. I have gone to the Adobe website for support, but am so overwhelmed by the number and complexity of suggested cures that I do not wish to begin. Ultimately, I had to remove it from my hard drive.
Anothr flaw, thumbnail filenames are not visible in either the catalogue or work space. I have nearly 10,000 files currently organized by the sequential numbering system that my Nikon Coolpix provides, including a detailed technical description of each photo. But instead of file numbers in Photoshop Album thumbnails, I get exclusively the date and time. While dates and user supplied tags, which Photshop Album provides, are acceptable methods of organization, filenames, which the program does not provide, are invaluable when working on specific projects, especially large ones like weddings, birthdays, holidays, family gatherings and such, which may contain several hundred files. When I open a folder of 300 digital wedding photos,for example, all taken on the same day, the date and time visible on Photoshop Album thumbnails are of no value-I need my original filenames, especially if I wish to retrieve, edit and save the original photos in different formats often with different photoshop effects. Without filenames, the program seems designed primarily for amateurs.
Another problem, when I move files around in the workplace, the program always snaps back to the beginning. If I switch, for example, file 124 with 126, the program executes the change then automatically snaps all the way back to the beginning row of files, forcing me to scroll after each switch back to the area I'm working in. This yo yo effect is very inefficient and thorougly annoying.
I have contacted Adobe, but no response. My advice, if you are a pro looking for a great way to organize thousands of files, wait for Photoshop Album 2.0. Maybe somebody out there in Seattle is really listening to customer complaints and will make the appropriate changes.
Customer Rating:
Summary: More bugs than an August picnic
Comment: This program received Editor's Choice, which will certainly make me think twice about purchasing based on this criteria again.
The question isn't "what won't this software do?", it is what WILL it do?
Junky photo output, a tag system which was designed by a kindergarten class, more crashes than rush hour in chinatown.You will spend more time trying to use work-arounds, than simple drag & drop principles.
Do not buy this product. Look on the Adobe forum, and see exactly how many people echo this sediment. Oh, by the way, Adobe gives you "one free call", and then they charge you. Picking what you want to complain to them about would be tougher than telling the genie my one wish. Maybe you want to call them and say the boxed version doesn't even load. Their web site acknowleges this with an upgrade, but only after you tear your hair out tinkering with your config, etc.
Adobe, how about re-releasing a professional piece of code; not second rate shareware quality. (an insult to fine shareware actually)
One other thing, there is a free demo on their site. Try this first. It's probably a big mistake they have posted this demo, as it is a negative sales tool.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great software!
Comment: I bought Photoshop Album software about six weeks ago and absolutely love it. It's easy to use, installed perfectly with Win 98, and I have had no problems with it at all. I also have Photoshop Elements 2.0 but prefer to use Album because of it's ease of use and features. I use the software for digital images as well as scanned images from family film photos. Slide shows are great as well as the tagging system.
I've seen some critical reviews of this software but these run counter to my experience which has been totally positive. Highly recommend this product!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Adobe hits a home run
Comment: I read a lot of comments on this product - both positive and negative - before buying it. I ultimately decided that the range of features offered by Photoshop Album - multiple-CD backup, photo organization/tagging, slideshows, single-click edits and auto-resizing for email - plus the excellent interface and Adobe's reputation were worth the risk that those who don't like the product are right. Turns out they're not. I love the interface, the tagging/organization is easy, fast and simply fabulous. I'm running the product on a WinXP platform with 256MB of RAM and have had no performance problems whatsoever. This is a great product and I highly recommend it.