Home > Consumer Reviews > PINNACLE S INSTANT PHOTO ALBUM ( 210100304 )

Oh my... I brought this product so I can do slideshows on a VCD with the "proper beat" of the background music but apparently it does not recognize my Dell CDRW drive.

1. Ask for a Trial. This thing does not have a trial version.
Now I'm stuck with a product that can't can't recognize my CDRW.

Note: Most of my other software like Roxio, iTunes, Windows Media Player can "see" and burn with my CDRW. This is the ONLY product i've used that can't.

2. Support Sucks! - Go to their website. They'll convince you to use their website to look for support even though it's useless.
They responded to me with a "generic" email instead of trying to help solve my problem. Still waiting for a simple question of "Do you support my CDRW" drive?". Try calling their support number (not even an 800 number) and they still try to push you in using their website.

Again, to avoid getting stuck with something useless, don't buy unless they can give u a "trial version" like some of the "real" big companies like Jasc Photo album.

Oh my... I brought this product so I can do slideshows on a VCD with the "proper beat" of the background music but apparently it does not recognize my Dell CDRW drive.

1. Ask for a Trial. This thing does not have a trial version.
Now I'm stuck with a product that can't can't recognize my CDRW.

Note: Most of my other software like Roxio, iTunes, Windows Media Player can "see" and burn with my CDRW. This is the ONLY product i've used that can't.

2. Support Sucks! - Go to their website. They'll convince you to use their website to look for support even though it's useless.
They responded to me with a "generic" email instead of trying to help solve my problem. Still waiting for a simple question of "Do you support my CDRW" drive?". Try calling their support number (not even an 800 number) and they still try to push you in using their website.

Again, to avoid getting stuck with something useless, don't buy unless they can give u a "trial version" like some of the "real" big companies like Jasc Photo album.

I own this software and have to say it DOES work.
First, after you install it, you have to download the new drive update if necessary (which I needed), second, make sure you install the latest updates from their website (I didn't need to since my version was the latest) and most importantly if you have Roxio Easy CD Creator in your system, you will have to remove it in order for Instant Photo Album to work. Somehow these 2 programs do not get along. I learned that from Pinnacle's website and once I removed Roxio, Instant Photo Album worked and burned fine.
I made a few dvd slide shows and so far I've been lucky. Also a friend of mine who owns it was having the same problem, once he removed Roxio he had no problems burning his slide shows.
I don't know why some people have problems I guess me and my friend were lucky.
I also own Pinnacle Expression to burn my home videos onto dvd and never had a problem... so far!
Now I'll be buying Pinnacle's Intant CD/DVD and give it a shot.

I was really excited about the ease of this product until I tried to save the project to a disc. It won't recognize my burner. I went to the support web site and downloaded the patch - it still won't work. Just generic responses to email inquiries. I don't reccommend it.

I hadn't done my research and I went to the store to buy something to replace my DVD-X show software. Not one of the five salespeople could tell me anything specific about any of the software they sold except that "it's all good". However, the fifth salesperson assured me Pinnacle is the best. She said they always makes a great product. Based on what she said and the product description on the box, I bought this. I will never buy one of their products again. None of the transitions and special effects you were supposed to impress your friends with will work with high resolution pictures. Huh? I have a 3.1 digital camera. I'm stuck doing slide shows without zoom and pan? The feature that sets the pictures to the beat of the music is questionable as to whether it does anything. Same thing with the fades and disolves. I couldn't see anything that resembled a fade or a disolve and there is no fine tuning of any of the features-or should I say feature-that works. You can set the duration of the slide increments of 1,2,3 seconds etc. Wow! Photo editing was weak with the red eye feature and the focus correct. This product is inferior and what it advertises itself to be is not what it is. It is a waste of your time and money.