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Online slide shows are so 2006. While a number of sites still offer the ability to make them, most of the bells and whistles used to enhance them just look crude.
It's not surprising that video websites such as YouTube now dominate.
So I wasn't expecting much when I went to Animoto.com, but within an hour I was willing to dish out the $30 (Dh110) to buy the full service.
The result was of a much higher quality than I expected. This is the site that takes your photos, and instead of just showing them in order, turns them into a video complete with your choice of music.
While the site does offer some very cool features, users have to be patient. Even a 30-second clip can take 10-20 photos, which means a 10-20 megabyte upload.
You'll have to upload a song too, unless you want to stick with the stock music collection offered on the site. Even after uploading, you still have to wait for the video to 'process'.
However, if you've already uploaded the pictures to another site, such as Picasso, you can import them directly, which saves a considerable amount of time.
The site is still in beta testing, so it doesn't work flawlessly. The site froze on me while I was 'remixing' one video, and I received a few error messages which turned out to be false.
There is also a five-megabyte limit on uploaded files, but the site won't stop you from trying. It will just dump after you've waiting for it to upload. However, that wasn't enough to stop me from making several videos with little fuss.
Anyone can use the site for free to make 30-second videos. You can make a full-length video for $3 (Dh10) or you can just buy the full-service.
You can also post your videos to YouTube and a number of social networking sites, but you can only download the videos you've paid for.
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