Instead of getting numerous prints made, I decided, about a year ago, to start making books for each year to document our family.
It’s a great way of decreasing clutter, and the cost is probably about the same after you factor in the price of prints and the album in which to put them.
I had to backtrack a bit, completing 2007, 2008, and 2009 this year. I used iPhoto (iPhoto 8, iLife ’09) for the first two and switched to Blurb for 2009.
I just got the 2009 book in the mail today, so I was anxious to see how the two books stacked up against each other.
You can see from below that the iPhoto book (on top) is a little bit bigger than the Blurb book.
iPhoto book (on top). Slightly smaller Blurb book on bottom
Blurb book with lustre finish
Software Usability
I found both pieces of software relatively easy to use although Blurb did not work very well at all on my PowerBook. It wasn’t until I upgraded to the MacBook Pro that it was usable.
Blurb has A LOT more layout options and flexibility. I especially liked the ability to customize any layout and save it as a template for later use. The page on the right in the bottom book is a custom layout. I switched the middle photo box for a text box.
Blurb book (on bottom) with custom layout
I should note, however, that iPhoto has a number of pre-determined themes, such as Travel and Family Album, that can be very effective in quickly creating a particular look and feel to a book. iPhoto also has a great map feature where you can insert a map page and then add pin points for places visited. To my knowledge, Blurb does not have anything comparable.
With all of the options comes an extended time to complete the book. I don’t have any firm numbers, but I know it took me considerably longer to compile the Blurb book than it did the iPhoto one–endless tweaking takes time.
Finished Product
Overall, I thought the finished products from the two companies were very comparable. The bindings in both seem strong. The paper quality is very similar, and the covers appear equally sturdy and well constructed.
Since the Blurb book is a bit smaller and I had more pages in it, the gutter was a bit bigger than in the iPhoto books, but the image quality was about the same in both.
I do think on the next Blurb book I will get the full image wrap, so the front cover image is printed directly on the hardcover. The iPhoto book came with both the image wrap and a dust jacket. I like the dust jacket because I put a little summary of the year on the inside flap, but the blank bookcover without the jacket is kinda blah. If anything ever happened to the dust jacket, I don’t have the title or year anywhere else in the book…something to remember for the next one.
iPhoto book (on top) with full image wrap
iPhoto book (on top). Similar dust jackets. Slightly different end paper.
Price
Blurb–Hardcover, dust jacket; standard landscape 10 x 8; 80 pages; premium paper; lustre finish
40.95 + 6.99 shipping = 47.94
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iPhoto–Hardcover, dust jacket; standard landscape 11 x 8.5; 66 pages
75.53 + 3.78 tax + 7.99 shipping = 87.30
Summary
With a significant difference in price, yet a similar quality, I will be going with Blurb for the 2010 Family Album.
Comments on: "iPhoto vs Blurb" (2)
Thanks for the summary, I’d been looking for a comparison for a while now. I also like your idea of doing a yearly photobook as kind of a reference copy of the year.
I assume that since you make no mention of it in the review, you saw no significant difference in print quality (resolution, color presentation, etc.) between the two books. Is that correct?
Thanks for your question. No, I did not see any significant difference in print quality. I would say the iPhoto book has a very slight advantage; the colors are just a bit richer than in the Blurb book. For my purposes of documenting family life though, either are quite acceptable.