Nikon has offered a photo sharing service for quite some time and recently made improvements. With a claimed user base of over a million and a half it is not among the largest sharing services but offers some nice features. You do not have to be a Nikon photographer to set up an account at myPicturetown. Two levels are offered: a free account with 2 GB of storage and a fee-based “Gold” account with more storage and additional features.
The site requires Adobe Flash Player and the user interface has some unexpected quirks, it is also unexpectedly slow in operation. In addition there is an up-loader app you install on your computer that used Adobe AIR. 
Sharing photos is by email – somewhat like sharing a SkyDrive album. I prefer a clean web address like you get at Flickr or Picasaweb, but that is not available. The generated email message is quite pleasant and looks like the one shown here.
The “View photos” link is extra-ordinarily long, not something to be typed by hand. If you wish to share in a way other than the email link, an URL shortening service is advised.
One nice feature is that you share just one album. The recipient can view the photos an a pleasant slide show, but cannot view the rest of your site. In my opinion that is a definite plus.
You can define the background of the album with several color and design options. The layout and appearance are attractive and functional. When the visitor gets to the album it looks about like this:
Clicking a thumbnail on the right displays it in the space on the left. The little play button, 
,
in the lower left starts a slide show, with music! The viewer has a set of tools to set the transition speed and effect and to pick the type of music track. Not much choice there, I don’t like any, but this is a nice touch.
The viewer can also download the set of photos in the album as a ZIP file.
Take a look at my album, either image above links to it, and see if this is something that would appal to you and your friends.
.:.
© 2011 Ludwig Keck
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