Expression Media
Expression Media is a management tool that catalogs and organizes digital assets for easy retrieval and presentation. Based originally on iView MediaPro, a product that is still used by photographers and which was acquired by Microsoft in 2006, Expression Media provides integrated search tools to help you 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 need not be images. They can be PDF documents, video, or any digital media you care to name.
Expression Media lets you publish to a variety of formats, including web, print, image libraries, and interactive Silverlight galleries. The software is available for both Windows and Mac, but the Windows version contains a video encoding tool called Expression Media Encoder which brings additional functionality. It will let you import, crop, and enhance video from different sources, helping you add metadata, markers, and overlays.
Comment
Expression Media has excellent facilities for handling still photographs, but is also ready for the time when videography outstrips photography in popularity. It is not heavily promoted by Microsoft -- and you may have to search for it among the hundreds of MS products available. Trial versions are available.
Tech info
- OS: Windows; Mac OS X
- Price level: Approx. $200
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft provides the operating systems and tools upon which most of the PC world is based. For photographers it offers application software for viewing and organizing image files.
From the same vendor:
- Visual Studio
- Expression Studio
- Office
- Windows
- etc.
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