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Reviews:
Photo Book Services

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     Home » Review: Photo Book Services

Photo Book Service Reviews

With a huge selection of options from hardcover or softcover to magazine-style or classic leather or linen cover, Photo Books come in dozens of sizes, styles and prices to suite a variety of purposes. What a great way to display your wedding photos, baby pics, vacation photos or other special occasion pictures. Instead of getting individual prints made then spending hours manually inserting them into a photobook or cutting and pasting a scrapbook, a digitally prepared photo book is the way to go.

I tried out a variety of photo book sites and found several that stood out from the crowd.

  • For sheer variety of photo book sizes and creative options (you have the option to upload PDFs of photo pages you created with your own software package) and especially price, Viovio shines. Viovio also has a great online community for sharing your creations. Read full Viovio Photo Book Review.

  • I found the easiest site to use with excellent creative options was SmileBooks. After downloading their free software I could customize my photo book, which resides on my hard drive; I didn't have to upload each individual photo. Their templates are completely customizable to move and resize. Plus, Smilebooks has an interesting collection of page backgrounds with real photographs. You can even use your own images as page backgrounds. Smilebooks also has the thickest paper of the sites I visited: 135lb compared to a standard 100lb. Read full review of SmileBooks.

  • Polaroid My Memories Suite is a top notch, easy-to-use photo album software program for creating photo books, scrapbooks, DVD slideshows and greeting cards. Crossplatform - works on PC and MAC. The standard suite includes a set of themed designer templates on separate discs - Holiday Designer, Travel & Wedding Designer, Family Times and Kids & Sports. The deluxe package also includes a large, hardbound personalized photobook (up to 26 pages) and four personalized greeting cards. Read full review of Polaroid My Memories Suite

  • Of the mainstream online photo services I found that Shutterfly stands out for its ease-of-use and fast service. Most people use Shutterfly's basic photo books templates, which unfortunately are not customizable. However, Shutterfly also gives you the option of uploading jpegs of pages you created with your own software (such as Photoshop Elements) and placing them into photo books.

All companies reviewed produce high quality photo books on acid-free archival paper with a variety of cover choices from hardcover casewrap to leather and linen.

Below is a chart featuring major photo book services listing major features and ratings. Next to come are individual detailed reviews of each service.

Photo Book Services Rankings
COMPANY SmileBooks Viovio Polaroid My
Memories
RATINGS (out of 5)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Quality
5
5
4.5
4.5
4
4
4
Ease of Use
5
3.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4
3.5
Features
4.5
5
4.5
4
4
4
3.5

Customer Support

4.5
4.5
4
4.5
4
4
4
Prices
  
  
  
 
Promo Discounts
yes
 
yes  
yes
yes
yes
 yes 
PHOTO FINISH OPTIONS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Glossy
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Matte
 
yes
 
 
yes
 
 yes
Digital Silk Paper
 
yes
 
 
 
 
 
White Borders
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes 
Acid-free archival
paper
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes 
Extra thick/Heavy
Paper
135lb
 
 
 
 
 
 
SIZES
5.5x5, 8x8,
8x11 , 12x12, 16.5x12, 11x14

2.5x3.75, 3.5x3.5, 5x5, 5.25x3.5,
5.5x3.5, 5x7,
6x9,7x9, 7.75x5.75,
8.5x8.5, 8.5x11
9x7, 10x10,
11.5x8.5, 12x12,
12.5x10, 14x11

6x6, 8x8
8.5x11,
11x8.5,
12x12

4x6, 5x7,
8x8, 8.5x11,
12x12
2x3, 4x6,
5x7,
7.75x5.75, 8x11,12,12
4x4,
7 1/8x6 7/8
11.5x8.5, 12x12
5x5, 5x7/4x6, 10.25x9
14x12
COVER STYLES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Casewrap
 yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
 yes
Leather
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Linen
yes
 
yes
 
 
yes
 
Velvet
 
 
 
 
yes
 
 
Softcover
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Hardcover
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Spiralbound
 
 
 
 
yes
 
Cover picture
window
 yes
 
 
 yes
 
yes
 yes
Removable Dust
Jacket
 
 yes
 
 
 
 
  
FEATURES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Web Software
 
yes
 
yes
yes
yes
 yes
Free software
download
yes
 
 
yes
yes
yes
 yes
Templates
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Choice of Background Colors
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Text-only layout
yes
yes
yes
 
 
yes
Full Bleed layout
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
 
Use Photo as   background
yes
yes
yes
 
 
 
 
minimum pages
26
none
26
20
20
20
free photo album sharing
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Photo   organizing
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
hi res uploads
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
photo gifts
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
sHIPPING
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ave. processing time
2-7 bus. days
4-14 days
min. 7 days
3-5 bus. days
3-5 bus. days
5 bus. days
3-5 bus days
in-store pickup
 
 
 
yes
yes
 
yes
overnight delivery
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
2-day delivery
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
canada delivery
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
international delivery
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
CUSTOMER SERVICE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
money back guarantee
free reprint
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
phone support
yes
yes
yes
email support
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
online chat
 
 
 
yes
yes
yes
FAQ
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
online user guide
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
yes
yes
user forum
 
yes
 
 
 
 
 
Password
protected Account
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes