Being a dedicated Geek Girlfriends blog reader really paid off for Maureen Houtz- she won a ScanDigital gift card! After entering the giveaway, she was very hopeful that she’d win the gift card because she says, “I’ve been struggling with boxes of photos for some time now.” She always wanted to get this project started the right way and had her fingers crossed. Lucky for her, she won!
Now Maureen, Marriage and Family Therapist and owner of CornerOffice from Ventura, California, found the solution she’s been searching for to organize and preserve her old boxes of photos. She always felt overwhelmed with the thought of tackling this project, but knew the importance of doing so. Fortunately, ScanDigital was to her rescue!
When she dug out her old boxes and began sorting through them, Maureen felt her lack of organization would be a problem. She never put her photos in albums and arranged them, but can now skip that step altogether. With our service, it’s as easy as drag-and-drop. Seeing how easy it is to reorganize her newly digitized images, Maureen is relieved to know that it’s not too late to get her memories in order.
In the past, she had tried scanning some old photos herself but grew frustrated with the time it took as well as the lack of quality she was able to produce. Every time she’d go back to do a little more scanning, she’d find herself confused and would have to re-teach herself how to use her equipment. She had given up. That’s why she was so happy to learn about ScanDigital and then given the opportunity to try our service.
Maureen was thrilled with our service and anticipates sending us more material soon. She used her gift card to convert some of her own baby photos to digital format and found the process very easy and enjoyable. She also plans to send in her Mother-In-Law’s reel to reel film as an 80th birthday present. These reels date back to the 1930’s and she wants to enjoy them together as a family.
Maureen has being visiting Geek Girlfriends since its inception because she finds it fun to learn about new gadgets. The site provides witty ideas on how the average person can implement a little tech in their lives. It’s a place for people who like technology but need a little guidance keeping up to speed. We’re happy that owner of Geek Girlfriends and author of new book How to Be a Geek Goddess, Christina Tynan-Wood sees the value in ScanDigital’s service and offered a gift card to her readers.
Read her original post below:
Christina Tynan-Wood on Jan 13 2009
Dear Geek Girlfriend,
I have a question that I assume others have as well. I’m older than the “fully digital era” of kid photos and am jealous of my young friends whose kid photos are all digital. They are able to make lovely photo books from their photos. They don’t have huge plastic tubs full of prints cluttering up the house. All my photos are prints. Do I have to scan each one and submit upload the scan to one of those these online photo storage places? Tell me there is an easier way?
Jealous
Dear Jealous,
Of course there is an easier way! In fact, I’m in the same boat you are in. When my kids were all adorable and pink, I used a film camera. So I have boxes of prints and an embarrassing quantity of undeveloped film. Even my home movies are on old formats I can no longer play.
Oddly enough, there is an easy solution for the undeveloped film. Sites that invite you to upload digital photos, will often also develop film for you, store digital photos on their site, and send the negatives back to you. (This is also great if you buy one of those disposable cameras on vacation.) I used these services back when digital cameras were a luxury when my kids were young. But Shutterfly.com, for one, still does this.
Prints are a bit more trouble because someone will have to scan those. Some scanners are better than others, though. Big professional scanners can do a pile of photos at once. Some will scan negatives. Those are both easier options than doing each print by hand. But I’m assuming you don’t have one of those scanners. There may be a photo service in your area that will do this for you but who wants to leave the house? (Okay, that might be just me.)
Check out ScanDigital. This place is exactly what you have in mind. From the Web site, generate a shipping label and slap it on a box. Then drop your photos in that box and ship it off. When your photos (or videos) arrive at ScanDigital they will be professionally spiffed up (yes, that’s the technical term), scanned, and uploaded to the Web. Then your prints will come back to you with a digital copy—you decide if you want them on DVD or hard drive. The service is not cheap. But I guess memories aren’t cheap either — especially when they are memories of kids. It will cost you $.48 minimum per print. Bulk packages start at $89.95. (Use this coupon code — 2029196172 – so they know I sent you.)
Since most of us probably have some photos lying around that we would like to bring into the digital age, I contacted Scan Digital to arrange a giveaway. And they were happy to do it! So I have $50 of ScanDigital service to give away! Thanks Pamela!
This contest closed on January 31, 2009. Congratulations Maureen!
Excellent post. Congrats Maureen!!
I want to build up my own 40+ feet motor yacht.