Digital Picture Frame

After my son's graduation ceremony, there was a reception planned. A note was posted by the teacher asking people to sign up for baked goods and drinks to bring to the party. Not being the greatest cookie baker and having shot a ton of pictures throughout the year, I decided instead of bringing another plate of cookies, I would bring a digital picture frame with a slideshow of the kids from the year.

This was my first time using a digital picture frame and I was thrilled to see how easy it was to use. I set up my Claire USA 7" beech wood frame at home and attached it to my computer with the included USB cable. My computer instantly saw the frame's hard drive and I was able to copy my photos into the picture frame in just a few seconds.

Then, I used the very cool remote control that came with the frame to scroll through the photos and run them as a slideshow. I got my family in the room and they all thought it was amazing. We were mesmerized by the frame and what it could do.

Music to Our Ears
Now for the really cool part. As I looked through the menu options on the frame I noticed there was sound… yes, I said sound!! So I downloaded a few songs to the frame and in just a few minutes, I was playing a slideshow to music of the kids throughout the year.

My son thought I was a hero. He grabbed onto the remote and ran the show over and over again. He loved seeing his classmates at their Halloween party, Thanksgiving turkey lunch, gingerbread house party and all of the other events throughout the year. The music really made it special.

The frame also has 128 MB of internal memory and a multi-card reader. You can just pop your memory card into the frame to download your photos and bypass your computer all together. I organized my photos into a folder on my computer so that was a convenient way for me, but I can see a lot of benefits to using the built-in card reader too.

A Great Gift
I think I will buy one of these cool little frames for my mom and whenever we go to visit, I can bring my memory card and download new photos for her. All she will have to do is decide which room in her house will get the honor of the having the frame.

Digital picture frames are readily available now at most stores. There are wooden ones, like the one I used, as well as acrylic, and they have other cool features like an alarm clock and calendar.

Getting back to the party… I showed up a few minutes early to get a good spot for the frame and as people came up to get a plate to munch on baked goods they were drawn in. A crowd grew around the frame as the parents and kids watched the year pass by to Linus and Lucy, you know that great Charlie Brown song. The pictures of the kids, the music, the way the photos dissolved in the slideshow all made for a contribution that was better than just another plate of cookies.