COOLECT
Review by Team Digital

http://www.coolect.com
Digital Organizer – rrp $39.95
Download a free trial!

Coolect software is a fun and easy "get organized" software that helps you to get your photos, media, journaling and more all together in one application to give your memories meaning. All you need to do is create your contacts, enter your events, import your photos and start connecting - coolecting. Once your media is coolected, you can then publish (share by email) or print a media album that has been created using those connections saving you time and searches.

Coolect installed with no troubles and it's a fun program. Easy interface, very cool. Adding contacts and getting photos connected can be done very quickly, plus adding journaling. It is a very intuitive program and I could manoeuvre without having to stop and check the help menu (although it's great too!).

Not just for photos...By creating different users, you can use coolect to make different collections that are separate. If you like to collect music, art, and more, this program can help you organize your collections. If you scrapbook, you can create a coolection of your layouts of your family, connect them with events and contacts and publish them in an album to share by email or print.

As you go through your imported photos, it is easy to see how many items you still need to connect by looking at the tabs on the top of the user interface.

Powerful Search...Coolect makes it easy to find that item you are looking for - just enter your keyword into the search bar. Anywhere that keyword is found in the text, coolect will bring it up as a result of the search. You can also click and drag an item into the search bar, and anything with that connection will come up as a result of the search.

Help along the way...Coolect has helpful video tutorials to show you how to work in the program. If you get stuck, just click the "show me" button.

COOLECT and SCRAPBOOKING

Coolect may be an incredibly helpful tool for digital scrapbookers, especially when planning theme albums or DVD presentations. It would work well for power scrapbookers as well, for planning multiple pages.

I have my digital photos organized pretty well and am happy with my system, but I don’t have a system at all for journaling, audio clips, videos, dates of events, contact info, etc. I sometimes keep journaling (so I don’t forget!) in emails, text files, or Word documents, and thow them in some folder. I also have audio and video clips of events that I want to use as well as my photos. When I scrap, I just use the photos and the journaling (should I be able to find it!). To do a theme album or DVD presentation of an event, Coolect would help me link everything together.

From our trip to Thunder over Louisville, I could have all my photos of jets, planes, bombers, friends, and fireworks PLUS my video clips of the kids playing with sparklers, Josh on the evening news, and the Stealth Bomber PLUS the notes I jotted down so I wouldn’t forget (it was six months ago) PLUS the event on the calendar so I would know the date and day PLUS our friends’ contact info in case I had any questions!

For my son’s first year of school, I could have my photos and scans of his artwork PLUS an audio clip of him saying the Pledge of Allegiance PLUS video of his Christmas program PLUS journaling where I’d written all the funny things he’s been saying PLUS different events on the calendar throughout the school year.

I could also have all my layouts from 2005 linked together. Or all my layouts about my husband, or son, or baseball, or kayaking, or anything. All conveniently linked together.

Now I could scrap with the photos and journaling or create a presentation with those plus video and audio. Or I could create a presentation with my themed layouts. Or I could use Coolect to make an interactive album presentation with all of them.

I have all my media linked already, so I just choose an album and drag and drop pieces on each page. I can add pictures, layouts, audio, video, journaling, and even add titles and descriptions. When people view my album, they see the pages exactly as I designed them, but Coolect makes them interactive. They can click on any photo or layout to enlarge it. They can also listen to any audio clip or watch any video clip. So it’s more than an album, it’s more than a presentation, it’s an interactive experience! You can view it and even email it to friends or family. It does require the recipient to have the Coolect Album Player (The player is available for free at www.coolect.com and that info is included in the email).

Viewing this program, it looks simple and intuitive, but it’s not always clear how to make connections or add media or when to save or publish. So be sure to check out the helpful video tutorials for great explanations. The album covers and pages are very plain and not necessarily something scrapbookers would put in a printed album. But the ability to have interactive pages makes it well worth checking out. And the creativity of scrapbookers could take care of that issue anyway. It doesn’t support transparent png files, so you can’t embellish album pages very easily. It does support jpg files, so background images can be inserted, but if you click on one, it will cover your photos. You can also insert mats, then insert your photos on top. Again, just be careful not to click on one or it will cover your photo. I found this a bit tedious so I will just hope for improved backgrounds from Coolect in the future.

So Coolect provides well organized linked multi-media collections, plus interactive albums. Your viewers can not only see your photos and read your pages, but they can explore them close-up, listen to audio, and watch video as well. All in a single, convenient album file you can email or burn to CD or DVD

Being a scrapbooker, journaling is a very important aspect to my layouts. Before COOLECT I had to organize my photos in one program and keep my journaling in another. WOW, to be able to click a button, type out what happened and then associate the photos to go with the journaling, I love it. No more searching for the photos that goes with the story. A++ to Coolect for this wonderful ability.

MAKING AN ALBUM WITH COOLECT

Making an album to share with your frineds using Coolect is easy. Here is what the front of a sample Album made by Margie looks like.

And this is the inside of the album.

You can click on any image in the album to enlarge it and then click on it again to return to the album.

You can add audio files and video files.

Turn pages by clicking the arrows on the bottom corners.

And you can easily email your album to friends and family by clicking the link. It even tells you what size it is before you send!

Click here to view Margies finished sample album.

Click above to view the interactive album made with Coolect - including photos, text, audio, and video! (1.7 MB) To view this album you will need the FREE Coolect Album Player (3.5 MB).

Try before you buy!!! – you can download a free trial of Coolect from http://www.coolect.com