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Preciousss · Jan 14, 2004, 12:18 AM

So does anybody know if the new iPhoto lets you burn picture discs that can be read on other computers without iPhoto installed on them (PCs and older Macs)? I had a friend come up to visit me and we took lots of pix with my camera. I tried to be all cool by assuring her I could burn a disc for her to take as a souvenir of her trip, but she gets home and can't even open them on her PC. I also have over 1,000 images that I need to distribute among 50 people, 49 of which have PCs.

This is my biggest gripe with (the current version of) iPhoto: I need to use the Finder to make picture CDs. Any idea why there's this cross-platform oversight/negligence? And any alternative programs that will solve my dilemma for these 49 people waiting for their CDs?

Thanks

Gee4orce · Jan 14, 2004, 02:19 AM

I burnt a CD with iPhoto 2 and was able to read it fine on a Win'98 machine. Are you sure the problem doesn't lie with your friends PC ?

BuonRotto · Jan 14, 2004, 08:45 AM

iPhoto doesn't make Picture CDs (tm) per se, they would have to license that technology from Kodak.

That said, the above poster is correct that your should be able to browse the data CDs that iPhoto produces on a PC, just that it copies your iPhoto's library structure to the CD verbatim, so the images are tucked away in nested folders labelled by date.

I don't think iPhoto changes that system, but a better idea might be to export the pictures to an html web page (not your .Mac homepage), save the export to your desktop and burn the folder you create there to CD. The users can then open up the index html file on the CD and browse the images in their web browser before copying or downloading them.

Troll · Jan 14, 2004, 08:52 AM

Actually, I've been meaning to ask a related question. Why does iPhoto 2 tell you how much space the selected photos take up but when you want to burn, suddenly they take up more? I guess the answer is that it stores thumbnails and such? Does iPhoto 4 handle this a bit better. I mean it really is hit and miss at the moment unselecting a few till they fit on the CD.

Preciousss · Jan 14, 2004, 10:13 AM

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
I burnt a CD with iPhoto 2 and was able to read it fine on a Win'98 machine. Are you sure the problem doesn't lie with your friends PC ?

Wow, thus is certainly news to me. I was under the impression from this thread that this wasn't possible. What do you think all of these people were missing?

For my part, I didn't want to be condescending to my friend and tell her to look in all of the folders for the pictures on the CD I made for her (I did know that it re-creates iPhoto's directory structure). So there's a distinct possibility that she didn't drill down far enough. I'll email her to find out for sure, and experiement some more on my end with Win2K and XP Pro boxes at work.

Thanks for the help. I hope it really works

Old Toad · Jan 14, 2004, 06:45 PM

Originally posted by Preciousss:
Wow, thus is certainly news to me. I was under the impression from this thread that this wasn't possible. What do you think all of these people were missing?

In order to burn a CD of jpgs that "dark side" computers can use, you must EXPORT the images to the CD and burn rather than use the Burn button from within iPhoto.

1 - insert a CD into the tray while in the Finder.
2 - go to iPhoto, select the images you want to burn and go to File->Export->File Export tab. Then take it from there.

Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.

CharlesS · Jan 14, 2004, 09:07 PM

Originally posted by Preciousss:
So does anybody know if the new iPhoto lets you burn picture discs that can be read on other computers without iPhoto installed on them (PCs and older Macs)? I had a friend come up to visit me and we took lots of pix with my camera. I tried to be all cool by assuring her I could burn a disc for her to take as a souvenir of her trip, but she gets home and can't even open them on her PC.

You didn't do it right. The first thing you have to do is to let her try to hook the camera up to her PC. After she tries this, and it doesn't work, and she installs the software, and the software doesn't work, and she F's around with the stuff for an hour with no luck, and gives up and decides she'll have to call tech support later, then you say, "it's OK, I have a Mac." And you hook the camera up to your Mac, get the pictures off, burn a CD (using Export, as Old Toad described), give her the CD, point out the fact that you didn't have to install any software whatsoever, and be on your merry way.

I did that this Christmas when my Dell-using aunt had this problem. The funny thing is, the year before, I helped the same aunt with her camcorder. She took video footage, and she also used a feature of the camcorder which allowed it to take still photos. And neither the video footage or the still photos would work with her Dell... go figure.

Toyin · Jan 14, 2004, 10:11 PM

Originally posted by Old Toad:
In order to burn a CD of jpgs that "dark side" computers can use, you must EXPORT the images to the CD and burn rather than use the Burn button from within iPhoto.

1 - insert a CD into the tray while in the Finder.
2 - go to iPhoto, select the images you want to burn and go to File->Export->File Export tab. Then take it from there.

Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.

Agreed, definitely export the photos. The backup function of iPhoto recreates the iPhoto Library, which has multiple copies of individual pictures and their thumbnails as well. The thumbnails are especially irritating because they have identical names except for a '._' before each file.

Gee4orce · Jan 15, 2004, 02:50 AM

Originally posted by Old Toad:
In order to burn a CD of jpgs that "dark side" computers can use, you must EXPORT the images to the CD and burn rather than use the Burn button from within iPhoto.

1 - insert a CD into the tray while in the Finder.
2 - go to iPhoto, select the images you want to burn and go to File->Export->File Export tab. Then take it from there.

Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.

I don't recall having to do any of this at all, or what the resulting format was, or where I've put the CD :/ I'm pretty sure I just used the Burn button in iPhoto.

If you'd prefer a simpler structure, and a nice index page, then the thing to do is to export your photos as an HTML page, and then in the Finder burn that onto a CD.

I somehow thing we are making a meal of this - like I said before, I did this so easily and without even trying that I can't actually remember what it was I did.

CharlesS · Jan 15, 2004, 04:46 AM

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
If you'd prefer a simpler structure, and a nice index page, then the thing to do is to export your photos as an HTML page, and then in the Finder burn that onto a CD.

For heavens' sake, why? Just export the files to the CD-R icon on the desktop. It's fast, easy, and the files all get named after the titles you've given the photos.