iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Beyond iPhoto

Depending on how massive your collection of digital photos grows and how you use it, you may find yourself wanting more file-management power than iPhoto can offer. Maybe you wish you could organize 50,000 or 100,000 photos in a single catalog, without having to swap photo libraries or load archive CDs. Maybe you’d like to search for photos based on something other than just titles, keywords, and comments—perhaps by file type, creation date, or the camera model used to shoot them. Maybe you have a small network, and you’d like a system that lets a whole workgroup share a library of photos simultaneously.

To enjoy such features, you’ll have to move beyond iPhoto into the world of digital asset management, which means spending a little money. Programs like Extensis Portfolio ($200, http://www.extensis.com), Canto Cumulus ($100, http://www.canto.com), and iView MediaPro ($160, http://www.iview-multimedia.com) are terrific programs for someone who wants to take the next step up (Figure 14-8). (All three companies offer free trial versions on their Web sites.) Here are a few of the stunts these more advanced programs can do that iPhoto can’t:

• Create custom fields to store any other kind of information you want about your files—dates, prices, Web addresses, and so on.

• Track graphics files stored in any location on a network, not just in a specific folder.

• Catalog not just photos, but other file types, too: PDF files, QuarkXPress and InDesign documents, QuickTime movies, sound ...