2. Added Security, Slideshows And Hard Copy Archival

You can prevent unwanted traffic from browsing through your files by password protecting directories; alerts sent to friends through the Phanfare contact system have the password included. It allows for the image data to be served via an image call from your local site, so you don't have to waste your server DL cap on the hosting of large images or videos. While you have unlimited storage, video uploads are limited to 10 minutes in length and 2 GB in size. Likewise, the limit on photos is 20 MB. For video this isn't enough to store a high-res DVD in a single file but is plenty to allow for files used for video edits and extremely high-quality photos. If you're flying to a remote location and your laptop craps out you've still got the ability to quickly access your files and get back to work.

Phanfare features photo/video slideshows complete with captions, music and transition effects. Again, nothing spectacular but it beats hauling out the projector and slides. The slideshow component is extremely easy to use and auto-generated from your content. This is a great tool for families and friends to keep in touch and "spice up" the presentation a little. I'd like to see a video editor and some enhanced photo tools but this isn't a huge issue as most professionals requiring more will utilize local applications to produce their masters prior to upload.

With a lifetime membership of $299 you receive a free DVD archival process of your photos and videos; additional recovery DVDs with any of the packages are $25 per disk. The site is integrated with such names as Kodak, Shutterfly or Snapfish if you want to make hardcopy prints of your photos.

Conclusion

Phanfare is a good solution for a secure, offsite repository for your images and video files. The price is a reasonable $5.95/month or $299 for a lifetime membership. This is worth it simply for showcasing your images to family and friends and if you experience a local crash/data loss. Your images are automatically compressed to make viewing more manageable over the Web but users can download high-res originals for printing with no compression. Even the smaller Web versions in your gallery are of high quality with very little artifacts/compression residue. The ability to access the originals is very convenient if the lower resolution isn't satisfactory or if you want to make hard copies of your photos. If you're a Photoshop/graphics power user you probably won't get too much out of Phanfare's photo editing feature except for quick and dirty touch-ups. Professional photographers/videographers who would use the site for a client staging/proofing area can prevent viewers from downloading high-res imagery and master files.

Part of Phanfare's target market is aimed at those who don't have or want an advanced technical know-how on how to post/share pictures and create slideshows. It's quick, easy and lets tech newbies take advantage of sharing their memories without having to resort to bulk e-mail and file attachments. Finally, pictures from a 6MP camera take up one heck of a lot of drive space - take just 50 photos of a family BBQ, Grandma's birthday or your buddy's bachelor party and you can easily eat up ~200 MB in raw image data. Phanfare lets you securely store these offsite and save your much needed drive space. The full resolution/raw image data is also a plus for professional photographers needing access to high quality master files from any computer with an Internet connection.

Phanfare offers a 30-day free trial, so if you think their service would be of use head on over to www.phanfare.com and give it a go.

Author's Opinion

I could derive great utility from this solution solely for the off-site storage/archival backup. Another plus is the high-resolution availability of master files and great quality slide shows/slideshows for friends, family and clients. While I was hesitant towards anything bundled with a local app, I can see how the hybrid software system saves time and allows for organization of your files locally when combined with a "hands off/behind the scenes" Website manager. Speedy server response when updating, downloading or browsing files makes for hiccup free access. Recommended.