FotoTime - No Frills Service
Written: Oct 14 '00 (Updated Oct 14 '00)
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I am the proud owner of a new digital camera. Therefore, I am in the process of testing out some of the many new, online photo services. FotoTime.com was my first experiment with a company that specializes in storing and printing digital pictures. In general, the service was fine, but their software could use some improvement.
FotoTime.com offers a variety of products and services. I experimented with their free software, their online photo storage, and their gift service.
Free Software
FotoTime.com offers free, downloadable software that allows members to catalog and edit their photographs on their PC. In addition, the software can be used to upload pictures to FotoTime.com’s web site for online storage.
Although the software was free and easy to install and use, I was less than impressed with its functionality. The software is capable of importing pictures from a scanner, digital camera, or from a directory on your PC. It is also able to organize the pictures into various albums on your computer, and can perform some basic editing. In my opinion, the basic editing functions are where this software is most lacking.
The software can rotate and flip pictures. It can even convert them to black and white. However, it does not have the ability to crop photographs. In my opinion, cropping is just too important to be left out of even the most basic software. I have abandoned the FotoAlbum software in favor of Adobe ActiveShare, which came free with my digital camera.
Online Storage
Digital pictures can eat up a lot of hard drive space. One of the best features of FotoTime.com is that they offer unlimited storage space for your digital pictures. Storing pictures online not only allows members to free up their own hard drive space, but also share them with friends and family without needing to build a web page or go to the trouble of manipulating email attachments.
The online interface is quite similar to the FotoAlbum software. Members can organize their pictures into various albums, edit pictures online, or print photos using their own printer.
In addition, members can generate links to their pictures that can be shared with others. Online Albums can be designated as public or private. Public albums can be viewed, but not edited, by others. Personally, I love online photo sharing, because it means I no longer have to worry about making copies of my pictures for friends and relatives.
Gift Service
Like iPrint, FotoTime.com sells personalized gifts. Currently, they offer:
11 oz mugs - $11.99
15 oz mugs - $14.99
T-shirt - $16.99
4 coasters - $19.99
Mouse Pad - $10.99
Key Chain - $6.99
Puzzle - $13.99
Desk Clock - $14.99
Wall Clock - $26.99
Refrigerator Magnet - $5.99
Luggage Tag - $8.99
I ordered a desk clock, and it arrived in less than a week. The quality was good, the clock is cute, and I am quite happy with the service. However, if you have never used iPrint before, they quite often offer similar products free for first time customers. My husband was able to get a mouse pad for the cost of shipping and handling from iPrint, and I was able to get a mug totally free.
Other Services from FotoTime.com
Besides gifts, FotoTime.com offers picture printing services. Their prices are similar to other such services; however, there is one major difference. Sites like ofoto.com currently offer several free prints for new customers. FotoTime.com has no such offer. Consequently, I have decided to give my picture printing business to ofoto or snapfish, and save FotoTime for free online storage space.
Conclusions
All in all, FotoTime.com is a decent service, but they lack just enough to make me go elsewhere for most of my photo needs. Sites like iPrint and ofoto are offering excellent promotional offers for customers like myself, but FotoTime does not. For a freebie lover like myself, that can make all the difference.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
amykhar
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Member: Amy
Location: USA
Reviews written: 320
Trusted by: 480 members
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