Your Pictures Sing and Dance with PhotoJam

Known for its Web animations and games, Shockwave.com now offers software to convert your plain photos into an audiovisual package you can share.

Online photo galleries have been around a while, but PhotoJam offers an easy way to create multimedia slide shows of your images, complete with a soundtrack and visual effects. PhotoJam provides a selection of music and various templates for your show, including collage, old films, and art films.

The new functions become available Wednesday in PhotoJam 2.0, which will be available for download. Also new is the capability to share your media presentation by sending an e-mail invitation, which links to your work at Shockwave.com.

While PhotoJam Trial is a free download, PhotoJam Pro costs $29.95 and adds more style choices, photo editing, full-screen playback, and a screensaver option. PhotoJam 2 Pro also lets you archive your media show by publishing it to a CD-ROM or a personal Web site.

Designed for mass consumers, PhotoJam allows people to mix their media within the Web environment in three simple steps, says Chad Richard, executive producer for Shockwave.com.

First, select a folder where you have stored the images you want to use. Then you select the music you want to accompany your images.

"We've included 100 songs broken down into ten genres," Richard says. You can also download and use MP3s, but copyright restrictions prevent you from sharing by e-mail any PhotoJam shows that use music except that from the site. Shows with your own music can be saved on your hard drive, however.

In the third step, you choose a style for your show.

"This is the magic of the application," Richard says. "You can choose anything from a simple fade or storybook effect to an art film style that resembles an Andy Warhol work."

Once you've selected your music and style, PhotoJam starts playing your show. But even within the playback screen, you can change the music or style.

While you play back, a Show icon offers options for adjusting the speed of the transitions and changing the music or style, Richard says.

PhotoJam Pro users will also find a screensaver option, as well as functions to publish a show to the Web, he adds. "PhotoJam does all the HTML for you when you publish a PhotoJam to your Web site."

The Pro version also lets you add captions to your show and edit, rotate, and arrange your images.

A Share icon lets both Trial and Pro users send e-mail invitations to view their PhotoJam show, Richard says. "Trial users can store and host their PhotoJam for 9 days at Shockwave.com, while Pro users get 30 days and the option to save their show to a CD-ROM," he says. Recipients can send your PhotoJam on to others for further sharing, Richard adds.

Countless Web sites offer tools for creating photo albums and editing, storing and sharing your photos online. However, the closest video competitor, the SmashCast tool on PhotoPoint.com, which lets you build a slide show of still images with music, requires you to store your creations on the site.