I have never been a huge fan of Flickr, even though I have had an account for quite a while. I use it as a secondary backup for all of my photos as well as for sharing with friends and family. Trouble is, the UI is not intuitive and it seems impenetrable to any of my relatives over age 45. And all of the talk about Yahoo's wavering commitment to the platform has me thinking about alternatives.

I have thought about Picasa, given its integration with my other Google services. Not as much storage, but buying more is cheaper than my annual Flickr pro account fee. How easy is it to upload from iPhoto or Aperture? How easy is it to selectively share photos with friends / family / public (like the Flickr guest pass)?

There's lots to like about MobileMe, but in my experience, the service is extremely slow and page sizes are massive. Takes forever to load on older computers or slower connections.

So what is everyone else using? Picasa? MobileMe? Something else?

I host using DropBox. That's for this thread alone, as far as photography's concerned. I have a dedicated site for my business, but I try to keep the two functions separate. Never had a problem with DropBox; it's fast and efficient. But it sounds like you really want an online photo gallery... I'd go check out Picasa.

MobileMe just sucks, period. I hope they actually do revamp the hell out of it and make it free.

Thanks Max. I use my Flickr account for hosting photos posted to forums, but I like your dropbox idea. And I agree with your view on MobileMe; I just wanted to be diplomatic. There are a lot of ardent supporters around here.

I used the service for three or four years, back when it was called dot.mac. But each passing year left me less satisfied with what I was getting for my money. Pretty thin gruel, you ask me. Then they went and called it "MobileMe." Can I just say here how much I loathe that name? It sounds infantile and self-absorbed. I CANT' STAND THAT FURSHLUGGINER NAME.

I hope I've made myself clear.

Apple is supposed to be retrofitting and supercharging their cloud service. About time, I say. I hope like hell they rebrand it while they're at it.

Yo, crawford: have a good day.

Photobucket is dreadful, Once you add enough photos to put a bandwidth strain on your free account, they grey out the images until the first of the next month--unless you get a paid upgrade.

Last year, when I wanted to start doing some online photo sharing, I reviewed the license terms for several of the well-known photo sites. (Non-pro accounts.) AFAICT, all of them--except Flickr--state that they can use your photos for any purpose. Without compensation or even notice!

I'm no great photographer but if I got lucky and got a really good shot, I wouldn't want to give up my rights.

Craig

You might also have something provided by your ISP. Try logging into webmail and see what else is available to you.

A sample with Shaw:
Shaw Photo Share (http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/11543732470-1223141838-56471/)

Rogers is aligned to Yahoo, so they direct you to Flickr. I think that they used to offer a pro-level account, but dropped it down to the free level of service.

Here are a couple of proven and popular premium hosting sites which offer quite sophisticated options.

ZenFolio:
Site
Zenfolio | hosting service for photo galleries | a place to learn and enjoy photography (http://www.zenfolio.com/)
Features & Pricing
Zenfolio | Features and Plans (http://www.zenfolio.com/zf/pricing.aspx)

SmugMug
Site
Photo Sharing. Your Photos Look Better Here. (http://www.smugmug.com)
Features & Pricing
Unlimited photo uploads (http://www.smugmug.com/photos/photo-sharing-features/)

Thanks KPS. Have you used either?

Thanks KPS. Have you used either?

No, but I frequent several pro photo sites and the two I suggested for you to look at are the most regarded and popular within that crowd.

Like you, I have Flick (the Pro paid version) at this time, but I'm seriously considering switching to Zenfolio's $50 option. That's only $15 more per year that my Flickr Pro acct.

Here's a feature that would entice me to switch: the ability to easily transfer photos from one host to another. Uploading takes forever and in the age of capped bandwidth, it takes a bite out of my monthly limit.

Does such a service exist?

I use the following:

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting (http://www.imageshack.us)

Best there is IMHO.

Here's a feature that would entice me to switch: the ability to easily transfer photos from one host to another. Uploading takes forever and in the age of capped bandwidth, it takes a bite out of my monthly limit.

Does such a service exist?

Don't know, but you can use Migratr (http://www.callingshotgun.net/about/migratr/) to transfer between supported hosting services. Click the link for supported sites ---donationware. One caveat--- it's Windows only.

Another, slightly different option:

Upgrade your account to get the full jAlbum experience! (http://jalbum.net/accounts)

Both free and paid accounts - and they use the JAlbum skins. :)