Pix Picks
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The chances are good that you or someone close to you has gotten an email in the last 24 hours from Snapfish.
Or Shutterfly.
Or Kodakgallery.
If not those sites, then the next tier of online photo services.
Photo-sharing sites are angling for your attention in order to grab more of the ever-growing digital photo business. With the prevalence of digital cameras -- among this holiday season's most-requested gadget gifts, according to the Consumer Electronics Association -- and the growing usage of cell phone cameras, online photo-sharing is sending old-fashioned photo albums into oblivion.
Replacing those crinkly old pages is a whole parade of online gee-whizzery to let you create photo albums for the digital era, not to mention mugs, notebooks, calendars and other image-emblazoned goodies.
Here's a look at the best photo sites out there and why we like them. Bear in mind that this list is not intended to be comprehensive. The Internet is rife with smaller photo-sharing sites, such as Webshots, Yahoo Photos and ClubPhoto. For this story, we'll focus on the big three of Shutterfly, Kodakgallery and Snapfish.
Shutterfly
Shutterfly earns points and praise for ease of use. The site is a cinch to navigate and relies on bright oranges and greens as well as a simple interface to guide users around the service. Option tabs across the top of the page include "add pictures," "share online" and "order prints," make it all very simple and intuitive. The site also offers memory books, photo cards, keepsake bracelets, tote bags, necklaces, key chains, cosmetic bags and purses on which to splash your images. You can even insert your kids' photos in books with their favorite characters, such as Clifford the Big Red Dog or Angelina the Ballerina.
Plus, in a nod to the scrapbooker contingent, the site recently started offering a new printing solution that lets "digital scrapbookers" upload and print high-quality photos. On Shutterfly a standard 4 x 6 print costs 19 cents. Shutterfly also offers a prepaid option where you get 200 prints at 15 cents a pop if you pay $30 in advance.
Kodakgallery.com
Kodakgallery.com weighs in at 15 cents per print. The site's strength lies in the breadth of its selection, says Dory Devlin, an advisor for Yahoo Tech.
Kodakgallery.com added a new line of "classic photo books" that uses Martha Stewart products, such as linen covers and calendars. As with Shutterfly, the site relies on easy-to-use tabs that let you bounce back and forth to upload, share, buy or shop. The online store includes gigantic poster-sized prints all the way down to teeny stickers. You can also brand your clothes with photos: onesies, aprons and long- and short-sleeve T-shirts. "They have beautiful photo books and nice choices above and beyond, and the quality is quite good," Devlin adds.
Finally, Kodakgallery lets you send photos from your cell phone to the site and from the website back to the cell phone.
Snapfish
Then there's Snapfish, which brings value to the table. Snapfish charges 12 cents per print, which is a great price if you have a lot of pictures to order. The quality can be a bit lower than the others, according to Devlin. Snapfish offers such standard gifts as mousepads, calendars, mugs, posters and cards, but its fans are primarily coming there for the price. Says Devlin, "You are either going for a high quality and a lot of options, or a Snapfish, where you get the basics and quality is good at 12 cents a print."
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