Howdy you’ll,

I don’t know where this belongs.

Here’s the story.

I just discovered that I have Roxio PhotoSuite on my computer.

I think I would like to buy the bigger bundle (Easy Media Creator) with all the Roxio Programs but it depends on wither this program works or not.

I just opened a photo and tried to figure out how to add music to it but it is very obtuse and refuses to offer the slightest clue.

If someone could direct me to some kind of a tutorial that might make this simple little task just the slightest bit user friendly, I could try it again and decide wither I want to proceed with Roxio or just dump it and use Adobe, Corel, Microsoft etc instead.

It depends on whether or not you have a computer that will handle it. Go here to find out.:

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/creator/...quirements.html

The photosuite you have now is probably a stipped down one, and it sounds like you want to make a slideshow with pics & music. What you have probably can't do that. With the v 9 suite, you can, if you meet the system specs Bruce pointed to.

He means a 'stripped' down version.

In other words, it doesn't contain all the features of Easy Media Creator. You can see all the features available through a link at the www.roxio.com home page.

Yes that's what I meant ML Guess I need to get my spell checker back in working order

This is copied and pasted from the “Help" that came with it)

Sound File
Specify the sound file to play while a selected slide or transition is on-screen. You can specify different sound files for different slides and transitions, as well as a blanket sound file that will play during the entire slide show. Two sounds can be heard simultaneously. This feature is especially useful if you wish to assign music to the entire slide show, and a short commentary to each slide as it is displayed. Attach sound files to individual slides and/or transitions through this dialog, and specify the overall sound file through the Slide Show - Properties dialog.

It says that I can do what I would I like to do but doesn’t explain how.

All through “Help” it says “select” something (photo in this case) and perform some task on the selection.

I put the cursor on the photo in the work area ("Get" mode), left and right click and there is no response.

I do the same on the thumbnail and there is a sound but nothing else.

I don't see any knid of selection tool anywhere.

In the “Organize” mode, I can’t get the photo to appear in the work area and everything on the left, except Album, is grayed out and will not respond to anything.

Any ideas?

What version is it? The folks here are more familiar with the PhotoSuite that is part of the EMC suites. Slide show projects are done in VideoWave, not PhotoSuite in the EMC suites.

Hi Grandpa,

I see you must be about my age. I was in the Air Force during the Viet Nam Era but I was stationed in Spain and Germany the whole time.

This Photo Shop is an old version, 4. It either came with the computer or maybe a camera, printer or something I bought….don‘t know.

I was messing with this little free thing from Microsoft called Photo Story when I noticed this Roxio thing and decided to see what it does. Apparently it’s supposed to do about the same thing but the help files are about as intuitive as a 747.

There is a lot about WHAT it will do and how wonderful it is but the HOW to do it parts are a dead end.

Select, select, select……ok, but how when nothing responds and I can’t find any kind of a selection tool.

Hi Lynn,

Grandpa just responded:

jmdraft at msn.com,

grandpabruce has just posted a reply to a topic that you have subscribed to titled "PhotoSuite Tutorials?".

The topic can be found here:
http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?...view=getnewpost

There may be more replies to this topic, but only 1 email is sent per board visit for each subscribed topic. This is
to limit the amount of mail that is sent to your inbox.

Unsubscribing:
--------------

You can unsubscribe at any time by logging into your control panel and clicking on the "View Subscriptions" link.

Regards,

The Roxio Community team.
http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php


and here is what I replied:

Hi Grandpa,

I see you must be about my age. I was in the Air Force during the Viet Nam Era but I was stationed in Spain and Germany the whole time.

This Photo Shop is an old version, 4. It either came with the computer or maybe a camera, printer or something I bought….don‘t know.

I was messing with this little free thing from Microsoft called Photo Story when I noticed this Roxio thing and decided to see what it does. Apparently it’s supposed to do about the same thing but the help files are about as intuitive as a 747.

There is a lot about WHAT it will do and how wonderful it is but the HOW to do it parts are a dead end.

Select, select, select……ok, but how when nothing responds and I can’t find any kind of a selection tool.

Edited to make email address unreadable to spammers

These are PUBLIC Forums, searched by google and other search engines, which in turn are searched by spammers seeking to "harvest" email addresses for spamming purpoes.

It is NOT recommended that you post your email address here.

Also, you should've continued in the thread you had already started, not start a new one.

Lynn

Well Now Lynn, I realize how wise and exalted you are and you’re just way too smart for me so I’m just going to abandon this little exercise in futility for now.

I didn’t begin by saying anything rude to anybody so here’s the deal.

I began my computer adventures as an Aircraft Controller in the United States Air Force, half a mile under a mountain, in the NATO War Room, Germany in 1963 and I’ve been screwing around with them ever since.

I don’t believe in the existence of experts so I’m certainly not going to pretend to be one but I’m not new to this, my IQ is 186, I haven’t given anybody any reason to insult, scold or lecture me and I ask you to please not respond to me as if I were an ignorant moron.

Of course, you’ll probably just ignore this and reply with something so very, very clever but nobody else is going to like it much either and you’re never going to be very popular.

In the past 30 plus years, I’ve spent between $30 and $40,000.00 on software and I’ve seen some real messes…..many are still on my many old retired computers. This doesn’t mean I will knowingly spend one penny on anything that I think might be just more junk.

So far, this Roxio Photo Suite 4 is among the most obtuse pieces of crap I have seen.
Yes this is an old version that I only just realized came with the computer….or some camera or printer or something.

If I can’t get this version to do anything, I’m certainly not going to want to buy another one. I know other companies make comparable products that are more intuitive.

Meanwhile, God forbid I should upset the balance of the universe or inconvenience you anymore by initiating a new topic in this holy forum (it’s not my world) so I won’t cause you anymore trouble for now.

Are you running Windows XP? You might not be doing anything wrong. The program may not totally work in XP.

Yes, XP and I’m beginning (by trial and error and zero help from help) to get it to do what I want.

In a lot of the programs from 5-6 years ago, they hadn’t yet figured out how to write help or put up any kind of prompts
As you work.

It seems, you can’t just begin working on a single picture. You have to start an album first and then put pictures in it before the program knows you’re out there. Then you add music etc. by changing the properties of each photo via its property dialog.

Maybe the newer versions are easier but I know the similar Adobe programs (Photoshop, Photo Album, Illustrator are much more intuitive so I’ll probably just get this thing to do what I want and then abandon it……we’ll see.

Thanks for your responses.

Adobe programs more intuitive? Not in my experience, but everyone has different styles of editing.

I agree with Bruce. Version 4 isn't made to work in XP.

Many of these programs have free 'trial' versions. I'd suggest that you download several and try them first.

However, I'd suggest that you download only one at a time and uninstall it before you try the next one.

QUOTE (ml @ Mar 14 2007, 01:13 PM)

Adobe programs more intuitive? Not in my experience, but everyone has different styles of editing.

I agree with Bruce. Version 4 isn't made to work in XP.

Many of these programs have free 'trial' versions. I'd suggest that you download several and try them first.

However, I'd suggest that you download only one at a time and uninstall it before you try the next one.

Ok Fellers thanks,

I figured it out and got it working my way.

You can add the music and get it to make a little slide show with nice little effects and zooms and sways and waltzes etc.

Now I know what it does and I have done with it what I wanted it to do.

And now that I’ve aggravated myself with it enough to be curious about the newer versions, does anybody happen to know where these trial versions are…..I know, Google it…..but if anybody knows off hand…….?

My eyes are not good anymore and I can’t read this little bitty print so if you’ll could just jack up the font size a notch or two, that would be nice.

When you mention Photo Shop in the second sentence of this post, is that what you meant or did you mean Photosuite. From this point on it seems a bit confusing because some of the responses have been taking it as Photo Shop by Adobe, but when I read it, it sounds like you might have meant Photosuite, because that is what you have been talking about earlier.

Glad to hear you got your slideshow done. The trial version you want, is that a trial version of Roxio or of Adobe?

Long thread for such a short time. May I suggest that if your computer is running XP SP2 and it has a good video card or you can upgrade the video driver, that you TRY the full version of EMC 9 at this location. It is probably more than you want but there are a lot of useful tools. As was suggested earlier, try using VideoWave to create the slide show and to add music. There are some helpful hints and tricks here.
The entire manual is here. One item, the program requires a pretty high screen resolution to get everything to work correctly. Once an application is open, you can reduce the resolution to an extent. The trial of V9 may be able to give you an idea on if you will be able to see the screen.

Thanks for serving our country.

Sorry for the confusion.
Yes, I meant to say Photo Suite and not Photo Shop.
Thanks for all the useful responses.
This is what I just sent to Digital Photo Magazine:
Howdy you’ll,

Maybe it’s on your website somewhere and I just don’t see it….maybe not.

I’m looking for some kind of comparative review/evaluation lists of photo story, slide show etc. software.

I want something that does what Microsoft’s Photo Story is supposed to do. It’s free but doesn’t deliver and of course there’s no support. I don’t mind buying something if it’s any good.

Do you’ll have, do or know of source/sources of such reviews?

If you only want to manage images and create simple slide shows, perhaps one of these would be sufficient.
Also look at pcmagazine and cnet for reviews of software.
I still like Photosuite or because of experience Photoshop.