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FotoTime.com: No longer Free

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2 dollars a month is a decent fee for what they are offering, without the banner ads. To move to another site that will surely join the charging fee concept is a waste of time, unless..........Does Sony have an official photo sharing site?
 
Lance said:
2 dollars a month is a decent fee for what they are offering,
without the banner ads.
Click to expand...
Not as decent as FREE. :)
Lance49911 said:
To move to another site that will surely
join the charging fee concept is a waste of time,
unless..........Does Sony have an official photo sharing site?
Click to expand...
Official? If you count their sponsoring of ImageStation.com, I suppose.
 
Rocket says,

Can anyone be a bit surprised by them charging a fee after building such a huge client base. I think that was their intent right along....so be advised....the rest will follow suit shortly.
 
Rocket said:
Can anyone be a bit surprised by them charging a fee after building
such a huge client base. I think that was their intent right
along....so be advised....the rest will follow suit shortly.
Click to expand...
What is it that someone was told by their grandfather so long ago? 'That's the way the game works. Give it to them for free until they think they can't live without it; then charge them for it.' Or something like that.

Whether they will ALL do it is still a question. For instance, what I wonder is will ImageStation.com keep their service for free as a way to leverage Sony's digital imaging initiative. If anyone has the capital to just pump into something like that while still turning a lot of revenue with their other imaging products, it's Sony.

Having said that, I think that your dire prognosis is probably about right. :-[

A shame....
 
Rocket said:
Rocket says,

Can anyone be a bit surprised by them charging a fee after building
such a huge client base. I think that was their intent right
along....so be advised....the rest will follow suit shortly.
Click to expand...
Their client base will be eroded away as fast as it rose...I will
be shutting down my albums there in the days to come....
permanently.

yeah sure, get all those zing ppl over and then pull the carpet
from under their feet.... BYE BYE FOTOTIME!!! Dishonesty
never pays.
 
Hi Ulysses and all,

I was saddened by the demise of Zing, as I like them a lot. I pretty much started over again using Fototime as Photopoint had changed to a fee based service, and I really liked the storage services offered by Fototime better.

I have to be truthful and admit that even though each of the above sites offered print services etc. I had no intention to take advantage of those services. I simply wanted a storage site for uploading and sharing my photos, including the ability to act as a host for posting them here on dpreview and other such sites. I would bet that the majority of users, including STF members were of the same intention as myself.

Speaking for myself, i will begin to look more carefully at the remaining sites including Fototime and decide which one provides trhe best services in the areas that I have needs. A nominal fee for these services seems perfectly in line to me, as I am constantly amazed at the services offered and te incredible advances of the technology over the past few years.

Although it may be hard emotionally to pay for a service that was previously offered for free, the nominal fee suggested by Fototime certainly can't be hard to manage for most of us. It will feel good to me when I finally decide which site will "get my business" to not have that nagging feeling of personal dishonesty and freeloading. :-)

Some of the "complaining" I have seen about this trend towards fee based services in some ways seems a bit like "biting the hand that feeds us". I don't have my own website for photo storage/hosting sharing and from what I have seen on STF and the Samples and Galleries Forum few others here do either. It would seem that the apparent feeling that free photostorage and sharing is akin to a "God Given Right" like air, sunshine, and breath, is turning out to be a false belief. Curt A.
Ulysses said:
http://www.fototime.com/pages/subletter

Man, this is getting to be a regular thing. :(

--

Ulysses
http://www.pioneeris.net/ashton/F505V/megalist.htm
F505V Gallery Mega-List
Click to expand...
 
Curt A. said:
Hi Ulysses and all,
I was saddened by the demise of Zing, as I like them a lot. I
pretty much started over again using Fototime as Photopoint had
changed to a fee based service, and I really liked the storage
services offered by Fototime better.
I have to be truthful and admit that even though each of the above
sites offered print services etc. I had no intention to take
advantage of those services. I simply wanted a storage site for
uploading and sharing my photos, including the ability to act as a
host for posting them here on dpreview and other such sites. I
would bet that the majority of users, including STF members were of
the same intention as myself.
Speaking for myself, i will begin to look more carefully at the
remaining sites including Fototime and decide which one provides
trhe best services in the areas that I have needs. A nominal fee
for these services seems perfectly in line to me, as I am
constantly amazed at the services offered and te incredible
advances of the technology over the past few years.
Although it may be hard emotionally to pay for a service that was
previously offered for free, the nominal fee suggested by Fototime
certainly can't be hard to manage for most of us. It will feel good
to me when I finally decide which site will "get my business" to
not have that nagging feeling of personal dishonesty and
freeloading. :-)
Some of the "complaining" I have seen about this trend towards fee
based services in some ways seems a bit like "biting the hand that
feeds us". I don't have my own website for photo storage/hosting
sharing and from what I have seen on STF and the Samples and
Galleries Forum few others here do either. It would seem that the
apparent feeling that free photostorage and sharing is akin to a
"God Given Right" like air, sunshine, and breath, is turning out to
be a false belief. Curt A.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything your saying Curt, but we all fell for the dangling carrot trick :o( that's left a bad taste in our mouths.
Oh well, I'll just have to brush up on my html.
Cheers
 
I'd pay fototime-like prices for a photo sharing service that does what I need.

So far, the only one I like enough to be willing to pay for it is Fotki.

The Fotki site says that they are still in beta. I have no idea what their business model will be once they go "live." But I'd certainly pay in the neighborhood of $30/year for the service.

Fototime doesn't have the password/sharing features that I want.
 
Hi HotShoey,

I am probably more than a bit too trusting, but I think that what may have happened to Fototime as it did for Pbase is that they didn't invision the magnitude of users that would be flooding in after the closing of Zing. Many of these new clients would be using the site only for photo storage/sharing/hosting as I do. Pbase found that they were growing too fast and needed to modify its' services offered and ask for "subscriptions" especially for those wishing to use the site for photo hosting. Curt A.
HotShoey said:
Curt A. said:
Hi Ulysses and all,
I was saddened by the demise of Zing, as I like them a lot. I
pretty much started over again using Fototime as Photopoint had
changed to a fee based service, and I really liked the storage
services offered by Fototime better.
I have to be truthful and admit that even though each of the above
sites offered print services etc. I had no intention to take
advantage of those services. I simply wanted a storage site for
uploading and sharing my photos, including the ability to act as a
host for posting them here on dpreview and other such sites. I
would bet that the majority of users, including STF members were of
the same intention as myself.
Speaking for myself, i will begin to look more carefully at the
remaining sites including Fototime and decide which one provides
trhe best services in the areas that I have needs. A nominal fee
for these services seems perfectly in line to me, as I am
constantly amazed at the services offered and te incredible
advances of the technology over the past few years.
Although it may be hard emotionally to pay for a service that was
previously offered for free, the nominal fee suggested by Fototime
certainly can't be hard to manage for most of us. It will feel good
to me when I finally decide which site will "get my business" to
not have that nagging feeling of personal dishonesty and
freeloading. :-)
Some of the "complaining" I have seen about this trend towards fee
based services in some ways seems a bit like "biting the hand that
feeds us". I don't have my own website for photo storage/hosting
sharing and from what I have seen on STF and the Samples and
Galleries Forum few others here do either. It would seem that the
apparent feeling that free photostorage and sharing is akin to a
"God Given Right" like air, sunshine, and breath, is turning out to
be a false belief. Curt A.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything your saying Curt, but we all fell for the
dangling carrot trick :o( that's left a bad taste in our mouths.
Oh well, I'll just have to brush up on my html.
Cheers
Click to expand...
 
Frank C said:
Rocket said:
Rocket says,

Can anyone be a bit surprised by them charging a fee after building
such a huge client base. I think that was their intent right
along....so be advised....the rest will follow suit shortly.
Click to expand...
Their client base will be eroded away as fast as it rose...I will
be shutting down my albums there in the days to come....
permanently.

yeah sure, get all those zing ppl over and then pull the carpet
from under their feet.... BYE BYE FOTOTIME!!! Dishonesty
never pays.
Click to expand...
Britain isnt exactly a rain free zone, yet we pay through the nose for water since the 'privateers' got it given to 'em (sorry musnt mention politics). However, arn't we being a bit hard-nosed about expecting free sites like fototime, which are afterall a part of our hobby, and how much has each and everyone of us spent already on cameras, computers, printers (aye and ink & paper)... Indeed this forum is mainly kept going by threads on "should I buy this or that camera", and we're not talking chicken feed.

I wonder how much it costs to set up and run a site like fototime. The fact that we are able to see words AND pictures on dpreview to help in our quest to be better photographers is down to pbase. fototime etc etc, and if we do not support them financially now, they wont go back to being free, they'll just dissapear, probably. Those who move thier picture around the globe in search of the last free site will have to swallow a huge chunk of humble pie when they go cap in hand to their old site and say... "please can I come back, HOW MUCH???? okay. i' ll pay anything... just let me in". he-he :)
Larry G
 
Larry G said:
Frank C said:
Rocket said:
Rocket says,

Can anyone be a bit surprised by them charging a fee after building
such a huge client base. I think that was their intent right
along....so be advised....the rest will follow suit shortly.
Click to expand...
Their client base will be eroded away as fast as it rose...I will
be shutting down my albums there in the days to come....
permanently.

yeah sure, get all those zing ppl over and then pull the carpet
from under their feet.... BYE BYE FOTOTIME!!! Dishonesty
never pays.
Click to expand...
Britain isnt exactly a rain free zone, yet we pay through the nose
for water since the 'privateers' got it given to 'em (sorry musnt
mention politics). However, arn't we being a bit hard-nosed about
expecting free sites like fototime, which are afterall a part of
our hobby, and how much has each and everyone of us spent already
on cameras, computers, printers (aye and ink & paper)... Indeed
this forum is mainly kept going by threads on "should I buy this or
that camera", and we're not talking chicken feed.
I wonder how much it costs to set up and run a site like fototime.
The fact that we are able to see words AND pictures on dpreview to
help in our quest to be better photographers is down to pbase.
fototime etc etc, and if we do not support them financially now,
they wont go back to being free, they'll just dissapear, probably.
Those who move thier picture around the globe in search of the last
free site will have to swallow a huge chunk of humble pie when they
go cap in hand to their old site and say... "please can I come
back, HOW MUCH???? okay. i' ll pay anything... just let me in".
he-he :)
Larry G
Click to expand...
Got it in e-mail... £16.70 in UK given exchange rate of 0.697. Larry G
 
Curt A. said:
"God Given Right" like air, sunshine, and breath, is turning out to
be a false belief.
Click to expand...
Personally, I don't really care whether it's God-given or ISP-given. :)

It is simply too bad.... for a lot of people.

Here's a scenario for you (and not necessarily one that I personally believe):

What the Internet had done for a lot of folks worldwide was make them all a part of that global family. When a lot of items and sites were for FREE, there was a greater opportunity where everyone could participate and stand on a level playing field, regardless of social status, financial income or other segment of the population. We've had the introduction of FREE photo sites, for example, where people could freely share their skill, their interests, and their lives. Now, we have the gateway of the dollar again, which will once more stratify people into the "haves" and the "have nots". The Internet, strewn with tolls and collections, will become a place only for those that can afford it rather than a place for all to share. :-)

My own rebuttal:

Then again, if one can afford their digicam, isn't it rather double-tongued to say that you'll pay for the device, but you won't pay someone for their work and space to help you display your productions?

No matter how you look at it, it's still a shame. It is not what the Internet was intended to be, for better or for worse.
 
Works out to 178 pics from my S75 ( 1.4MB per image). That's still a lot, considering I mainly want to share pics with my friends and family and they can download them if they want. But it does mean a purge every now and then...
 
Hi Ulysses,

I sure hope that the scenario you painted doesn't turn out to be fact, in terms of further deliniateing the gap between the "have and have nots". Based on the direction the photo sharing sites have been heading lately however, it would seem that if the "survivors" don't do something TO survive, perhaps we might all be "have nots" in this area. I personally think that Fototime's full year "surcharge" for additional space beyond the 250 mb is pretty out of line. Other than that the charge seems fair for this "have" (not too much) :-) I suppose that the "have and have-not" labels are all relative as well. My feeling at times of "have Not enough" is ridiculous in the face of the reality that some folks might consider my "have" as an unreachable treasure.

All of the discussion and banter is all just for "fun" in the long rin anyway, because the fee based sites are seemingly here to stay for better or worse.

Wouldn't it be interesting for Phil to offer photo storage and hosting, even if for a fee??? Curt A.
Ulysses said:
Curt A. said:
"God Given Right" like air, sunshine, and breath, is turning out to
be a false belief.
Click to expand...
Personally, I don't really care whether it's God-given or
ISP-given. :)

It is simply too bad.... for a lot of people.

Here's a scenario for you (and not necessarily one that I
personally believe):
What the Internet had done for a lot of folks worldwide was make
them all a part of that global family. When a lot of items and
sites were for FREE, there was a greater opportunity where everyone
could participate and stand on a level playing field, regardless of
social status, financial income or other segment of the population.
We've had the introduction of FREE photo sites, for example, where
people could freely share their skill, their interests, and their
lives. Now, we have the gateway of the dollar again, which will
once more stratify people into the "haves" and the "have nots". The
Internet, strewn with tolls and collections, will become a place
only for those that can afford it rather than a place for all to
share. :-)

My own rebuttal:
Then again, if one can afford their digicam, isn't it rather
double-tongued to say that you'll pay for the device, but you won't
pay someone for their work and space to help you display your
productions?

No matter how you look at it, it's still a shame. It is not what
the Internet was intended to be, for better or for worse.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Ulysses and all,

I just ran across this post which I have copied to here fro the News Discussion Forum. The author Mitch certainly seems to put this issue into an interesting perspective:
"I would suspect,on average, that those of us in this forum are viewing
said forum on a machine which cost between $1,000-$2,000. Attached
to those machines is no doubt a printer of some sort varying in cost
dependent on its photo-quality printing capabilities. If you don't already
have a digital camera, chances are you're contemplating the purchase
of one. And don't forget the storage medium (CFI, CFII,Smartmedia,etc.).
And your paper and ink costs. Add-on lenses and filters for the camera.
Image editing software, etc.,etc., etc. Not to mention the monthly
ISP fee to allow you to participate in all of this in the first place. All of
a sudden, less than $2.00 a month is a no-can-do? Am I missing something?"

Mitch
Ulysses said:
http://www.fototime.com/pages/subletter

Man, this is getting to be a regular thing. :(

--

Ulysses
http://www.pioneeris.net/ashton/F505V/megalist.htm
F505V Gallery Mega-List
Click to expand...
 
Curt A. said:
I sure hope that the scenario you painted doesn't turn out to be
fact, in terms of further deliniateing the gap between the "have
and have nots".
Click to expand...
While I may not necessarily believe the entire scenario I raised, I do think that there will be negative consequences as a result of this swift shift in method. Stratification is inevitable.

For instance, imagine this: You have a youngster in a NY inner city, who wants to raise his perspective above and beyond his view of the streets. His family buys him a $300 camera so that he can develop a desire and talent. He learns of and signs up via a library computer a free photo album site where he can store some of his growing archive of images. He shares these with friends at school, his photography class, and obtained buddies on the Net. Suddenly, his Zing.com album is shut down; his PhotoPoint album is expired; his FotoTime album costs $23 that he doesn't have.

I guess maybe it's time that the kid goes and finds a job at the age of 14, or else wait until he can escape the conditions of his environment before he can pick up where he left off.

Then again, in his environment, maybe photography is the last thing he need worry about.
Curt A said:
All of the discussion and banter is all just for "fun" in the long
rin anyway, because the fee based sites are seemingly here to stay
for better or worse.
Click to expand...
I do wonder at times whether or not even the fee-based sites will survive. Will enough folks pay all of these sites to make it feasible. Or will they have assumed that these things really ARE rights? It's an interesting and compelling question. :)
Curt A said:
Wouldn't it be interesting for Phil to offer photo storage and
hosting, even if for a fee???
Click to expand...
Now that WOULD make me sit up and pay attention. I might even count the change in my pockets, just in case it turned out to be a good offering.
 
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