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Macworld ‘09 came with exciting new products and launches and one of them is the all new iLife ‘09 which will be moved to Apple’s very own Clouds. iLife includes iPhoto and iMovie and both of these apps are packaged with exciting features.

iPhoto is a response to Google’s Picasa and therefore I thought it to be necessary to compare extensively the features of the two and so here they go:

1. Pricing: Picasa is Free whereas iPhoto costs 79$ and 99$ for family pack

2. Organizing Photos: Picasa helps in organizing your photos in one place and categorizing them for future viewing. Photos can be placed categorically in separate folders and Picasa 3 has also given the option of moving the entire folders in the HD or within Picasa main folder.Cons: There is no photo tagging or naming which means you end up searching for them manually and organizing each set manually whereas iPhoto has an amazing feature of categorizing your photos by “Who, Where and When” but it has to be done manually. Besides, its Faces technology offers face recognition and searching same faces within your albums and group them together. This ofcourse was much needed feature.

3. Geographical Tagging: Picasa has no such feature BUT if you have shot your photos from a GPS enabled camera or your iPhone then your photos are automatically geo-tagged so for example if you want to search for your 18th birthday photos which you celebrated at Eiffel Tower then simply type in Eiffel Tower and the photos will jump out.
Besides, if you dont have a GPS enabled camera or iPhone then you can also manually tag individual photos or collectively tag a whole album. Its really an innovative feature!

4. Editing & Effects: In Picasa you can use the Retouch tool to remove unsightly blemishes and improve photo quality. It can also help you to restore old photos with marks, water stains, and scratches to excellent condition. You can also remove Red eye and give your photos a professional look whereas in iPhoto you can remove red-eye, adjust exposure, brightness, and contrast and add instant one click effects like convert color photos to black and white, give them a classic sepia tone, add a vignette border etc. Crop to frame your subject.

5. Slideshows: Photos, videos, and music can be combined into a movie as a Windows Media file. It can then be shared with friends by uploading it directly to YouTube.You have complete creative control – change the music sync, the slide duration, and slide transition style, among other things. Supported audio formats include mp3 and .wma. You can also add text slides whereas in iPhoto you can create a slideshow using new slideshow themes. Each theme includes professionally designed layouts, titles, and transitions that make a perfect backdrop for your photos. You can embed any song from iTunes library. Slideshows can be customized even further by saving it as a project. Then you can reorder photos, set the length of time individual photos remain onscreen, or, with some themes, choose different transitions. The slideshows can be synced to iPhone or iPod..

6. Screen capture: In Picasa 3 you can directly capture screen aswell as web cam stills right into your Picasa 3 but in iPhoto if you want to capture screen then use the old bob’s way.

7. Online Publishing: Automatic publishing to your Youtube or Flickr account is not available but you can do that by adding Picasa plugins whereas in iPhoto you can directly publish to your Youtube and Flickr by simply a click!

8. Sync: Changes to already uploaded photos in your Picasa Web Album are automatically synchronized by Picasa 3 whereas in iPhoto photos can be synchronized using iTunes to sync them to your iPod or iPhone to enjoy and share on the go. Or photos can also be Synchronized to Apple TV and they can then appear on your widescreen TV in full HD quality.

9. Printing in custom covers: No custom covers for printing in Picasa BUT iPhoto makes it drag-and-drop easy to design your own softcover book, wire-bound book, or hardcover book — complete with a photo-wrapped cover and matching dust jacket. You can make your travel books even more special with custom maps that use location data from your photos to illustrate your journey. personalized photo calendar can also be created. You can also send photo greeting cards and postcards featuring your friends and family. Or order professional prints in a variety of sizes and have them shipped directly to your door..

10. Travel Maps: Non existent in Picasa BUT iPhoto ’09 makes travel books with custom maps that illustrate your journey. It uses the location data from photos to generate a beautifully rendered map showing the countries and cities visited. Or you can type in the names of places you’ve visited to create a travel map in any photo book theme. Every map is fully customizable. You can show a point-to-point path of your travels, change the order of the cities, and mark points of interest.

Conclusion:
So all in all, there are pros and cons in both but if pricing is not a problem for you then I would recommend you go for the more features packaged in iPhoto especially its all new Geographical Tagging and Faces and One-click publishing features. Picasa will surely catch up and if you have a bundle of photos already on Picasa and moving them to iPhoto could be hectic for you then I would recommend you stay where you are as the photos you want to share on Facebook and Flickr do get tagged and organized and so all the offline features are available for your Picasa stock.

I would appreciate your comments and suggestions.