Photo/Video sharing service

[BillK]

Hello everyone,
Incase anyone's interested, I just wanted to share with you the new photo/video sharing service that I just started using. (I was previously using Shutterbook)
Please checkout my webpage at http://bkimura.phanfare.com when you get a chance and let me know what you think. My goal here isn't to promote the site but to share with everyone another KOOL way to share your wonderful hiking experiences with your friends and familes. I'm a high-tech geek myself so I really get excited about these type of things. Please don't miscontrue my intentions here. Enjoy!

- Bill

 

[Chip]

It's a good looking site. Is it yours and not a public photo service ?
I didn't see any home page info ala Shutterbook.

 

[BillK]

Hi Chip,
It's a public site. They offer a 30-day trial which is what I'm doing currently. You can find more information at www.phanfare.com. My big draw to the site was the video uploading capabilities that Shutterbook didn't offer. If you go to the end of my Greenleaf Hut or Tecumseh albums, you'll see some videos that I took with my digitial camera. The slideshow is also really cool. They have a client for both Windows and MAC. (I'm currently using a MAC)

- Bill

 

[DougPaul]

The slideshow is also really cool. They have a client for both Windows and MAC.

Just a couple of notes:

1. Not everyone uses Windows or a Mac.

2. If you have to download a client, it is a security risk. One can never tell what might be hidden within.

Doug

 

[Chip]

Hi Chip,
It's a public site. They offer a 30-day trial which is what I'm doing currently. You can find more information at www.phanfare.com. My big draw to the site was the video uploading capabilities that Shutterbook didn't offer. If you go to the end of my Greenleaf Hut or Tecumseh albums, you'll see some videos that I took with my digitial camera. The slideshow is also really cool. They have a client for both Windows and MAC. (I'm currently using a MAC)

- Bill

Thanks Bill. The photo image quality looks good. Do you think so ?
I'll check this out. What's their commercial interest, eventual fees ?

 

[BillK]

Chip, I suggest you take a look a their website. There's a wealth of information there. The site is advertisement-free (unlike many other sites), but you'll pay $54/year for a subscription. I've experiemented with many other photo sharing services over the past months, but this is by far the most superior. The other thing that really impresses me with Phanfare, is that their support is phenomenal. They guarantee a 1-hour response time, and you can call them directly. Again, my big draw to them was that I was looking for a site that would support video uploads. If you're not interested in videos, then it may be overkill considering the price. The storage is unlimited, with an 8GB monthly bandwidth limitation. They also backup your data on a nightly basis, so if your machine at home was to crash, you can retrieve your photos/videos back from Phanfare on DVD, or just download them yourself. On average, I've been able to push a 2MB photo up to their site in about a minute. (I obviously have broadband) You get a free 30-day subscription with support, so I suggest that you download the client and test it out. All the management is done via the local client. If you have any questions/concerns, just zap an email to [email protected], and I'm certain they'll get back to you within an hour or so. I've been pestering the heck out of them the past couple of days with questions, and they've been magnificent.

- Bill

 

[BillK]

Chip, in regards to image quality, the client pushes up a web-sized image almost immediately to their site, and then performs a full image upload in the background. They don't down-size your images like most sites do, so your viewers will have access to your full images at whatever resolution your camera is capable of.

- Bill

 

[Clown]

Just a couple of notes:

1. Not everyone uses Windows or a Mac.

2. If you have to download a client, it is a security risk. One can never tell what might be hidden within.

Doug

Sure there's linux and unix and Solaris... but how many people use those on personal computer?

That is a nice site BillK. Is it free for the first 30 days, then you have to pay?

 

[DougPaul]

Sure there's linux and unix and Solaris... but how many people use those on personal computer?

More and more every day--I started with Unix in 1976, now Linux since 1994.

This problem shows up most often with MS-specific websites. It becomes particularly serious when it is a government or commercial public service site.

The smart designer sticks to the universal standards to make his website accessible to all. (Such standards do exist...)

So perhaps this will be a nice website, but it looks like some of us will be unable to view it.

Doug

 

[BillK]

DougPaul, I'm also big Unix user myself. In fact, I've been a Unix admin for 14 years now so I understand your concerns. I'm sure if there's a big enough demand for it, they may come out with a Linux port down the road. It may be worth asking if it's on their radar screen. (I'll do this out of curiosity) I think they're going to be adding management via the Website as well, for those who prefer not to use a client, or that use a platform with no client support, such as Unix/Linux. Right now, all management is done via the client.

Clown, yes exactly. It's free for 30-days when you sign up for the demo. After which you'll need a subscription, which is currently $54/year, or you can pay monthly I believe. (They even offer a lifetime membership) As I had stated earlier, if you're not interested in sharing your videos, this is probably overkill based on the price. There's plenty of free photo sites out there or sites that charge much less. However, there aren't too many video sharing services at this juncture. You really have try this product out to fully appreciate it. I'm a big software junkie and I've yet to find a single flaw/bug with their service. It's quite spectacular. My hiking partner is also starting to use it as well. Either way, please feel free to to bookmark my website or share it with others. I plan to post photos and videos there for all my future hikes.

- Bill