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I bought this new version because I love the photo show made by the version 2.03, hoping there is a great enhancement in the new version. The product lives up to my expectation - show styles in the new version have improved a lot! Though not all styles favor my taste, it is my choice, and there are plenty of styles to choose from. Moreover, the Picture Pro edition let me change themes easily, for example, I can paint my own book covers and design pages for the 3D flipping book, and change the room and table settings.

One new feature I like particularly is the "My Albums" list. Now, I can keep a track of my built albums (I've built a lot!) and make any change of any album whenever I want to. I don't understand why there is a need to save, as one reviewer wrote. The album I built is the copy that saved from the preview. I can make the change of the copy using the same GUI controls I use during preview. There is no need to dig into the album files. Perhaps the reviewer is commenting on the version 2.03, which cannot be applied to this version.

I am an amateur photographer, and occasionally use Jasc Paint Shop to do some preliminary photo editing works. I didn't expect that 3D-Album Picture Pro come with a great photo editor, and did not even give it a try until the last weekend when I decide to create my own book cover. Holly cow, I can't believe that an album software come with such a powerful photo editor that is even better than my dedicated editing software. Jasc's tube brush is always my favorite but making my own tube is rather difficult. In Picture Pro, I simply create an image group and then drag and drop image into the group. I am very impressed by the Picture Pro's 3D layer styles and vector illustration tools.

I clicked the book cover image in the Photo Show page, choose the edit menu, and the software brings the book cover directly into the editor where I can put my own design. I can switch back and forth between the Photo Show page and the edit page until I get a happy result.

I bought the version 2.03 about one and half years ago. I remember there was a problem with my old HP laptop (not with my desktop) with S3 video card. The software will crash after running about 5 minutes. The support told me that the crash is due to the bug in the S3 video driver and upgrading the driver will solve this problem. But S3 video card was quite old and the support from HP was discontinued. I eventually got my new Dell Inspiron with GeForce FX. Both the old and new version now run smoothly without any problem. So, before buying the software, you should have a check of your computer. A decent 3D video card such as nVidia's GeForce or ATI's Radoen is the key, no matter how fast your CPU or how much memory your have.

Some people really love this program, but I don't get it. What bugs me the most is that it doesn't use the standard windows buttons and layouts. I must be really dumb, but I can't figure out how to save my slideshow because there is no save option! So if you want to create an album and make a few changes and save it as something else (so you can compare the two), as far as I know, you can't. After checking the help groups and reading tips, I sort of found out how to do it, but it was so complicated. I had to go into the file I originally saved and make changes there, not in 3D Album itself. How convoluted!

But I could put up with that if the albums themselves worked. I tried two different albums, both had the same problems. They would freeze after flipping through a few pages. The album would end, the book would close and yet my pictures were still flipping in mid air. The shortcut created on the desktop would open the album but noting else, it would crash everytime.

If you want a really good photo editor and a good slideshow (it won't have 3D backgrounds, maybe if you create them) try Ulead's PhotoImpact XL. For the price you get 1000 times more product and it works 100%

I have the old version 2.03 and upgraded to the new version about 10 days ago. The new version is a huge upgrade. I was surprised to find that the new package contains almost all tools for my photo needs. It is no longer a picture show only software. Its photo organizer, printing, and editing features are as powerful as those professional tools. But what set this software apart to other products is still its 3d picture show tool. For these who want create movie-style picture shows, this is a must-have. Lots of new 3d styles and new controls are added in the new version. More selections. The DVD movie capture is integrated in the program.