Photo & Video: Four Great Sites for Sharing Pics
Glidedigital.com
This site's beautiful interface links to a dozen services, including photos, video, and music. A downloaded application makes it easy for either Mac or Windows users to upload material, or they can be sent via the Web. Once there, it's easy to send a file to a friend by E-mail-they actually get a link to the file on a special Glide page. But a free account holds only 300 megabytes of media.
Grouper.com
Grouper is among a rash of new websites (others include videoegg.com and jumpcut.com) that make it easy to edit video on the Web. You fire up your account on Grouper's site, upload video, and then cut the footage to something more manageable. The editing tools are rudimentary, with no fancy fades, but there's no limit to the videos you can post or share, as they actually remain stored on your PC.
MediaMax.com
YouTube.com remains the king of the 20-second video that you want to share with the world. For sharing a longer home movie, Mediamax offers the best deal out there—25 gigabytes of free storage and 1 GB of free downloads. But the free account doesn't allow files larger than 25 MB: Paid accounts start at $5 a month.
Sharpcast.com
Sharpcast shares photos and videos over the Web and much more, including the nifty trick of sharing photos among your several computers, hand-helds, and cellphones. Add a photo at home, and it appears on your work PC. Rotate it there, and it's rotated at home. Oh yeah, sharing is easy, with online photo albums.
This story appears in the November 20, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.