iScan

That (along with my "iFax" software wish) is a good idea. They could "Apple-ize" (meaning, make what was once needlessly complicated and convoluted actually simple and fun) your standard scanning process.

A unified shell or front end that somehow (through plug-ins or whatever?) worked with different manufacturer's scanners. And, of course, have it work right out of iPhoto (makes the most sense, right?).

Not everyone (like me) is quite there yet on the digital camera front, so providing all us latecomers with a simple, quick and hassle-free way to scan our albums and shoeboxes full of 3x5 and 4x6 photos would be nice.

By the way, HP sells that cool little scanner JUST for this purpose. It's about the size of a paperback book and meant for scanning photos (maximum size is 4x6). But, it has no Mac support whatsoever (just Windows ME, 2000 and XP).

I wouldn't mind if Apple partnered with HP and produced something like this, a small photo-sized scanner (with Apple styling, of course...white, clear plastic and so forth) that worked seamlessly with iPhoto and Apple's "new" (see above) scanning software.

Sell it for about $79 or so and watch it fly off the shelves at the Apple retail and online stores (and mail order catalogs).



Digital cameras rock, but there are tons of people (and even more photos) that haven't migrated to the digital realm yet. They'd use the hell out of iPhoto if they could simply get their photos quickly and easily into digital format. Even after a few years of strong digital camera popularity, fact is there are bazillions more photos out there in 3x5 and 4x6 prints that are just begging to be scanned, digitized, retouched, cropped, organized, shared, printed, etc.



[ 01-10-2003: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>

The Image Capture framework handles scanners as well as digital cameras. It uses a TWAIN interface, so the scanner just has to be TWAIN compatible. It's just that all these scanner makers are making PS plug-ins and other non-standard drivers for their equipment and the equipment lacks TWAIN support. It's there, it's mainly up to the hardware makers to play nice.

I agree, a scanning program would be nice

my Epson StylusSCAN 2500 used to use TWAIN in OS 9, and Mac OS X knows it's there, I use GIMPPrint, what more does it want? surely I can use it somehow.

Andrew

A scanner package would be nice. But is scanning as still as popular or widely used as it used to be? I am not sure? I just thought perhaps because lots of people have digital cameras that they dont really need a scanner too. (Home users that is).

[quote]Originally posted by Andrew Xt:
<strong>my Epson StylusSCAN 2500 used to use TWAIN in OS 9, and Mac OS X knows it's there, I use GIMPPrint, what more does it want? surely I can use it somehow.

Andrew</strong><hr></blockquote>

Have you tried it with Image Capture? Since I have a Canon LidE scanner, I can't be sure how you go about this.

[quote]Originally posted by trevorM:
<strong>A scanner package would be nice. But is scanning as still as popular or widely used as it used to be? I am not sure? I just thought perhaps because lots of people have digital cameras that they dont really need a scanner too. (Home users that is).</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yeah, it's definitely moving that way (to digital cameras and all), but - as I say in my post above - there are tons of people who a) still haven't bought a digital camera or b) who HAVE one, but would still like to get their older, traditional photos into digital format for organizing/sharing via iPhoto or whatever.

Maybe this isn't Apple's place and all (and not something they want to delve into). That's cool. But the fact still remains that not everyone is toting a digital camera around...and I'd venture to guess there are more "shoebox/photo album" owners out there (still) than digital camera owners.

It'll change, for sure, over the years, but right now there are still tons of people (like everyone in my family ) who'd LOVE a cool, 1- or 2-step method to easily (and hassle-free) get all their photos into pixels.

But again, I do concede that this may not be Apple's problem or business...



I guess that's why there are nice, $59 scanners at Office Depot? Shame none of them seem to work perfectly and easily with OS X (which was kinda the whole gist of this thread).

I think the answer is incredibly simple.

Incorporate a slot-loading cd player/scanner.

I mean think of it... you have this slot... just slip your picture in, it scans it, and you get your picture out.

(Okay... I hope all of you know a joke when you read it.)

If you just have a box of pictures to scan it would be cheaper to go to Kinko's and scan them.

I seriously doubt it... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

[quote]Originally posted by neutrino23:
<strong>If you just have a box of pictures to scan it would be cheaper to go to Kinko's and scan them.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Here in Australia Kinkos is so damm expensive. To print out one black and white page of a Mac in there costs $1.00.

You can go to your local Photo developer and for a small fee of like $2.00 or so they will put your developed photos on CD's. &lt;-- thats a good deal and gives you the best of both worlds in a way!

While I do wish iPhoto had scanner support built in, Image Capture works just fine for my simple scanning needs. It's got a nice simple interface.

Like others have already said. Image Capture will detect a supported scanner when it launches...I've found the interface quite simple, except for the ambiguously labeled drawer.

Pretty much all the consumer level Epson scanners are supported by Image Capture...and since those are the best scanners, there's no problem, right?