Any good programs like Picasa for Mac?

[beestripe]

Originally Posted by monkey.net

I am also looking for a picasa replacement. The main issue I have with iPhoto is that it want's to manage my picture folders. I hope I have missed something. The issue is I have 5+ years or so worth of digital pictures in folders that I have sorted by date. I don't want iPhoto to re-arrange them for me. I want the folder structure to remain the same and iPhoto to just scan them. This way I am not stuck to iPhoto if I choose to change in a year. Any thoughts?

Roger

This is precisely the concern I have had too, ever since iPhoto was introduced. iPhoto's nonsensical filing system is just ridiculous. The problem could simply be solved if iPhoto gave you an option not to import pictures into it's filing system, but rather keep them where they are. iTunes allows this type of option with MP3 Libraries so why not iPhoto?

I've recently converted my mother to a Mac from Windows - well, mostly. She now loves her PB, but refuses to transfer her archive of photo's until a Picasa for Mac (or equivalent) becomes available, I can't blame her.

Picasa is simply excellent FREE software, and I'm sad to say Windows users do have a one-up against us with this program. The only issue I find bothersome with Picasa is that its thumbnail database is kept in order by invasively leaving tracking files in every folder on your Hard Drive/s that contains a picture image. Obviously though, this is how Picasa works so effectively and probably worth the potential inconvenience.

iPhoto is great for showcasing a moderate selection of your favourite photos, but I would never recommend it for archiving purposes. You load in too many Pictures, even a full blown G5 can end up struggling to efficiently render access to it's own thumbnail library. It's just flawed software engineering and iPhoto should be overhauled entirely to rectify it. As for retrieving pictures out of it's filing system without using iPhoto, Forget about it.

[monkey.net]

There is a little bit of good news. iPhoto 06 does now let you not import your pictures. The funny part is all they have done is create a alias in the same folder structure. This is a little bit of good news. However the performance issue is still very present.

[ex2bot]

monkey.net, have you personally tried the new iPhoto? I heard performance had increased. Of course, at Macworld it was demo'd on Intel machines.

I have "only" 1400 pictures in iPhoto (iLife '04) and the performance is good on my DP1.8 GHz G5 with 1.25 GB RAM. But I will be updating to '06.

We'll see how it goes.

Doug

[beestripe]

That is good news monkey.net

I notice Apple claim to have overhauled iPhoto 06 and it now has -
"Blazing Performance" - Words to *DaZzLe* you, I say.

How does it really compare with Picasa now?

[monkey.net]

I have it installed but I don't have tons of pics loaded in it yet. I did not use 05. Perhaps I will load all my pics in this weekend.

roger

[chuckewe]

If you just want a down-and-dirty viewer/sorting program, try free beta of Adobe Lightroom, download from Adobe.com or MacUpdate.

[fryke]

or rather: don't do that. it's only the beta that's free. once the product goes final, it should compete with Apple's Aperture - and might cost like the professional software it's supposed to be! So: Rather try _not_ locking yourself in.

I'd say iPhoto '06 - with its option to not tamper with your file/folder structure - is worth another try.

Another thing: Since iPhoto _does_ have good management with meta-data, it should basically never be a big problem to switch to _another_ good program that handles meta-data. So *I*'d just let iPhoto handle the stuff the way it wants to. You don't really have to look at the folder structure, since _iPhoto_ should be the way to look at the photos.

[ex2bot]

Macworld's review indicates they found iPhoto from iLife '06 _is_ significantly faster.

I still haven't tried Picassa. I'm sure it's going to be VERY slow.


But only because I'm running it in VirtualPC.

Doug