Tuesday, January 18, 2005

First geeky post of the year
I haven't been posting that many pictures here lately because I've been having a grand old time playing with Fotolog and Flickr. These two are free photo-sharing sites with options to upgrade to a more fuly-featured set (usually more posting options and files/ bandwidth).

Both have their pros and cons; but hands down, imho, Flickr has the best technology, better pricing, and better service. I'm not affiliated with either company, just a consumer for now...

Flickr
Even with a free account, there's a generous 10MB monthly upload limit that's counted in bandwidth, not the size of one's photos. But the best part of flickr is possibly the tags feature, which allows a user to assign key words to photos -- and eventually do searches with them. These tags, for instance, happen to be my favourites: graffiti, stencils, stickerart, and stickering. It's also got a bunch of uploading mechanisms, like the organizr client (post via drag-and-drop) from your desktop, and capability to post via cameraphone and email. My second favourite option is the notes feature, which enables users to add virtual stickie-notes to their photos.

Flickr is also currently offering a 30% off sale on beta purchases of "pro" accounts -- $41.77. Included you get a 1GB monthly upload limit, unlimited photo storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited photo sets (i.e., albums), permanent archiving of hi-res original images, and ad-free browsing and sharing. I also like the little icons associated with each user, the substantial profile page, and did I mention the tags?

Fotolog
If you pay either $5/ month or $45/ year in advance, you get a daily upload of 6 photos, 100 comments per day, and the ability to edit/ delete/ re-upload your photo and captions within 24 hours. As a "free" member, you get: a daily upload limit of one; 10 comments per day; and 10 minutes to edit/ delete/ re-upload your photo and captions. Other benefits for being a paid member include being listed on the homepage, in the patron directory, and a few other insignificant (to me) little tidbits I really could care less about.

No searchable tags, no photosets, no other organizational capabilities. Perhaps what attracts people to Fotolog is the sheer no-frills simplicity of it, perhaps, and the community. The streetart/ graff kids seem to have embraced this site like no other, and critical mass is definitely here, not on flickr ... just yet.

I've been trying it out for a couple of months and regularly encounter problems with uploading my one picture. You can upload multiple times and post nary a thing. Or you can attempt to upload multiple times and post multiple pictures of the same photo. Today I somehow managed to upload two different photos, unintentionally getting around my one-a-day limit. I've heard anecdotal evidence of the "gold camera" members having a better experience, but also the same difficulties as the free members. Fotolog is certainly not getting any cash from me any time soon. If the trial experience is less-than-satisfactory, what incentive is there to pay for a less-than-optimal site?

posted by claudine |Added at 5:25 PM| | flickr, fotolog