Smilebox: A Different Take on Photo Sharing

Wonder what you're going to do with all the great photos you're going to take this weekend? Especially all the spectacular fireworks shots Christopher Null and Robin Raskin have given us some pointers on how to take. You could organize them with whatever photo editor you've got on your PC. Or email a few to friends and family.

But if you're looking to do something a little more snazzy without posting photos to the web on a blog or a family social networking site, check out Smilebox. The easy-to-use site launched this week with a new twist on photo sharing. Smilebox offers hundreds of templates, music selections, and text tools to design digital scrapbook pages, slideshows, greeting cards, and postcards.  

Smilebox takes the storing and editing functions we've grown accustomed to up a couple of notches. The creators, including president and founder Andrew Wright (previously founder of RealNetworks' RealArcade), are targeting moms, especially ones who like to scrapbook and who care about presenting photos in a special way. People who want a keepsake, not just a photo. But I think kids would have a lot of fun creating photo messages on the site, too. 

Smilebox offers all this at a nice price point. The service can be downloaded for free. You can email a basic version of the design to family and friends for free—with a short ad. Or you can purchase the premium version for a one-time fee of $1.99. If you think you'll become a regular digital scrapbooker, there's an unlimited subscription for $4.99 a month. Recipients don't need software to open what you send.

Anyone who has put just a few Creative Memories scrapbook pages together knows you part with quite a few dollars and lots of time for one pretty page of photos. Smilebox offers hundreds of templates, music choices, words, and sounds that allow you to make something quite unique.