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Picasa Web Albums is Google's Web photo-hosting service. Users get 1GB of free hosting, and images can be uploaded and manipulated using Picasa, Google's free desktop photo management application. Users who want additional storage can shell out up to $500 a year to bump up the hosted space to 400 times the size of the free hosting service.
Much like everything else Google, Picasa is exceptionally straightforward to use, with a tabbed interface offering three options--My Photos, Favorites, and Explore--the last of which lets you browse the public photo library. Next to the tabs, you'll find a prominent Upload button for adding photos to your albums, which you can set to various levels of privacy. Within your albums, you have the option to view a slideshow, share via e-mail, make a collage or movie, order prints, and edit various aspects.
We really like the integration between the desktop and Web application. Similar to .Mac and iPhoto, Picasa makes it really simple to take photos from your desktop and publish them online for others to see. We're also fans of the built-in geotagging that lets you set where photos were taken either by single photo, or by entire albums. It's a great way to browse photos if you feel like exploring.
Picasa 3:Publisher's Description
From Google:
Transfer, find, organize, edit, print, and share images, all with this easy-to-use product. Watch Picasa automatically organize all your pictures into elegant albums by date. Having all your photos in one place means no more time wasted searching for folders or files. The program works with JPEG, GIF, BMP, PSD, and movie files and is compatible with most digital cameras; it detects your USB driver and imports pictures into albums. Editing tools include cropping (standard or custom), removal of red-eye, and enhancing--even switching from color to black and white. Create slide shows set to your MP3s. Integration with Picasa's free Hello instant picture-sharing software lets you share hundreds of photos in seconds and chat in real time. E-mail photos with Picasa's built-in client to take the guesswork out of compressing images, and order photo-lab quality prints or print at home with no mistakes. You can also make instant backups to CD (or to other hard drives) of your photo collections, to organize your photos using labels and stars (just like with Gmail), to write captions for all pictures, and to organize videos as well as pictures.
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All versions:
4.2 starsout of 1,546 votes
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Current version:
4.2 starsout of 97 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Great bit of software - intuitive, quick & Googleable."
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Makes handling large numbers of images very easy and is obviously very Googleable, linking in easily to other products in their stable. FREE storage space is great and even when it is exhausted, buying additional space is very cheap.
Cons
None worth mentioning.
Summary
Try it!
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"great for organizing and editing"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
installed quickly easy setup
Cons
None yet i can see
Summary
Good to great aesy to use graphics program
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"Quickly fix your camera pics easily"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Finds all pictures even those you have forgotten or didn't know you had.
Quick and easy program to get to grips with.
Fix under over exposure easily.
It's free.Cons
For the price, none that I can think of.
Summary
Why pay for a program when you can get a very good freebe that does the same or better job that paid for software!
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"A great program"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Easy to use.
Cons
None as of now.
Summary
It is a very good program.
Updated on Feb 27, 2011 -
"Wonderful Product"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Does almost everything
Endless FeaturesCons
Because of all the features, there is a major learning curve.
Be prepared to read help files.Summary
Amazing App for free!!
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"I enjoy Picasa."
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
I enjoy Picasa.
Cons
I enjoy Picasa.
Summary
I enjoy Picasa.
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"Very good for keeping photos"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Very good for touch up enhancement to photos
Cons
There are not cons as far as I am concerned
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"Only minimally fair"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
I don't really have any aspects of this programme which attract me at all. It is highly intrusive.
Cons
It collects everything, but everything, making it difficult to find what one wants. As I have them in other folders, much more accessible, I don't need to use Picasa at all. And on deleting from the lh column, the items are also totally deleted.
Summary
I think that it's ridiculous that Picasa wants to take over the photo workload on my PC, when I haven't given it my approval to do so, and I don't seem to be able to find anywhere how to stop it doing so.
And once it decides that it's going to start downloading from a folder, the only way to stop it is to close the programme. Trying to stop it any other way and it doesn't accept one's commands.
I find Picasa to be an appallingly intrusive photo and document acquisition programme. The fact that deleting items from the lh column actually deletes them from my PC is utterly disgraceful. In fact the only way out of this dilemma is to delete the items from Picasa, close Picasa and then go to the Recycle Bin and re-establish the captured data back in the original folders or files. To have to do this is diabolical, especially when I have';t even been given the opportunity to decide if I want Picasa to capture the items.
And once it decides that it's going to start downloading from a folder, the only way to stop it is to close the programme. Trying to stop it any other way and it doesn't accept one's commands.
It is a disgraceful pgm, totally un-necessarily intrusive, and if I had appreciated this right at the start I would never have downloaded it - at least for my purpose, for which MS Photoworkshop deals perfectly adequately.
I strongly suspect that there's some sinister aspect of Picasa, some security aspect which is designed to capture documents. Do they then get secretly transmitted to some external surveillance organisation? I'm not being paranoid, but the un-necessary features of Picasa I have described above seem to be very strange.. -
"Not Recommended"
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Scans entire hard drive and catalogs photos - fairly good editing features. Free
Cons
Creates duplicate folders up to SEVEN TIMES with multiple photos
Summary
Used to use this program to manage and massage photos on hard disk(s) but the duplicate folder problem is just too irritating.
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"Has more capabilities than similar software."
Version: Picasa 3.8 build 117.29
Pros
Easy to work with. does what I need for photos.
Cons
None at this time.
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