iLife 101: Switch from Picasa to iPhoto

If you've ever thought about giving up Google for your photo management, David Alison has good tips on moving from Picasa to iPhoto. For the unfamiliar, Picasa is the big G's photo-management software, originally available only on Windows and now made for Mac (since the beginning of 2009). When my sister the Windows user came to me for an equivalent to iPhoto, I set her up with Picasa and she's been happy since. Combined with Google's free Picasa Web Albums option, the app makes it easy to get your photos online for far-flung family and friends.

When installed on a Mac, Picasa will let you store images wherever you like, and it takes a "hands-off" approach to images in your iPhoto library, as the app's authors know some users will want to run both. Instead, if you ask it to edit a photo that's in your iPhoto library, it will ask to make a copy first.

Windows users who are switching to the Mac and looking to jump from Picasa to iPhoto ought to check out David's article. He lists the basic differences here, and explains how to switch here. His instructions are simple and readable and should have you up and running in short order. Enjoy iPhoto!

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Source: http://www.davidalison.com/2008/06/switching-to-iphoto-from-…

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If you've ever thought about giving up Google for your photo management, David Alison has good tips on moving from Picasa to iPhoto. For...

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tauw

Why is a link to this year-old article on the front page of TUAW?

For me, the Mac version of Picasa is far more intuitive than iPhoto, and I'm assured of interoperability with my web albums, where I've backed up all my photos and most of my videos.

Tell me again what iPhoto does better than Picasa -- in mid-2009?

July 27 2009 at 11:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James Gonzalez

Great News! Now I can tell all of my new Mac using buddies that started using the MAC!

July 24 2009 at 10:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ben Stafford

iPhoto is great until you realize that there is no free way to share photos online unless you use google with iPhoto to share online

July 24 2009 at 4:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

apflydragon

btw, i hate weblogs,inc comments login system =.=

July 24 2009 at 3:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

apflydragon

well, i used to be a hardcore picasa fan back on windows but on mac, it's not so cle

July 24 2009 at 3:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

justin

I just switched this week from iPhoto to Picasa. I had so many issues getting my albums uploaded to MobileMe, and speed issues with iPhoto, taking 30s to a minute to launch, I just got tired of it, and decided to check out Picasa.

I had already been using a Picasaweb upgraded account, but there's no synchronizing with iPhoto, just uploading with a plugin. With Picasa, it's a full sync of my photo albums, online and offline, and even Google Maps Geotag data syncs back down. I have to say, Google's got it right with this one.

iPhoto user for last 5 years or more, but I have to give it up to the Google. I migrated all my albums three days ago, backed up my iPhoto Library (just in case), and deleted it from my hard drive.

July 24 2009 at 2:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply