From The Shoe Box To The Desktop

ScanCafe

ScanCafe CEO Sam Allen.

In this week's All Tech Considered, we take a peek at your old photos and how they can make the transition from old albums and shoe boxes to the digital world.

We talked to ScanCafe.com about their photo scanning and restoration services, although there are plenty of other options if you're looking to bring your photos and videos to the 21st century. Among them:

• As owner Scott Crossen points out in a blog comment for the segment, his company DigMyPics.com does its photo scanning in the U.S. His company and ScanCafe have exchanged words in the past.
  
• Sheet-fed scanners like the HP Scanjet N6010 aren't perfect, but they might speed up batch photo processing over the traditional flatbed scanner.
  
• Data Robotics, makers of the Drobo storage/backup device I mentioned in the piece.
  
• A few photo storage/sharing sites: Shutterfly, Flickr, PhotoShelter, DotPhotoPro, Snapfish, SmugMug.
  
• Pixorial.com, recently launched, will convert your home videos by mail and allow you to edit them online.
  
• All Tech's Flickr group, where you can contribute to our photo exhibit project.
  
• Several options from Pinnacle for getting video footage onto your computer.

Got more sites and tips? Please post them in the comments.