Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

62
The Digital Photographer's Software Guide
OS: (Server) Windows 2000 (SP4), XP, Server 2003 (SP1), and Vista; Mac OS X version 10.5;
SOLARIS 8
RAM: 128MB minimum
Supported file formats: More than 130 file formats
Price level: Cumulus Server Solutions from $2,500
Address: Canto GmbH, Alt-Moabit 59-60, 10555 Berlin, Germany;
Canto Software, Inc., 221 Main Street, Suite 460, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States
www.canto.com
Expression Media
Vendor: Microsoft Corporation
Purpose: Digital asset management tool for cataloging and managing 100 different media formats
Description
Expression Media is a management tool for professionals who need to catalog and organize
their digital assets for easy retrieval and presentation. It is based on iView MediaPro,
a product that is still widely used by photographers and was acquired by Microsoft in
2006. It provides integrated search tools so that you can find your files quickly wherever
you have stored them: in folders, hard drives, DVDs, or on a network.
The six words Microsoft uses to describe what Expression Media does are “import,
organize, search, annotate, repurpose, and archive” digital files. The files in question do
not have to be images. They can be PDF documents, video, or any digital media you
care to name.
To the surprise of many, Microsoft launched a Mac version of Expression Media along
with the Windows version. From a photographer’s point of view they are more or less
identical. However, the Windows version contains a video encoding tool called
Expression Media Encoder. It brings additional functionality lacking on the Mac version.
It will let you import, crop, and enhance video from different sources, helping you add
metadata, markers, and overlays. With its gift for cumbersome terminology, Microsoft
calls this technology “Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere” (WPF/E), but
it represents a big step forward in publishing video for cross-platform viewing on the Web.
Comments
Like many organizations, Microsoft is betting that photography will become videography
in the not-too-distant future. If it does, this product is ready and waiting for it. If
it does not, you will have spent only a little bit extra on a facility you may never need.
Expression Media still has excellent facilities for handling still photographs, quite apart
from its forward-looking features.